This morning I exercised, doing stationary bike and lifting weight. My weight collection finally has everything I need, there’s always room for improvement. A second set of 45 lbs plates would cover the heaviest weight I’ll ever use and my heavy bags still need hanging. My main fitness goal is losing weight, but thanks to weight gained and living off the land I’m stronger than I ever was. I don’t want to lose that strength and right now it’s more useful than looking good, still as I’m getting older being overweight with cause health problems. Technically problems have already started when I tried to run for exercise and strained my heel, that was around the beginning of the year and first thing in the morning it’s a struggle to walk. There’s another issue of my leg going numb when I lay down, likely something pinching from old back injuries and extra weight. All this considered, I’ll try to put my focus into cardio, that’s where the heavy bags would be appreciated since hours of spinning wheels gets boring after a couple decades. Eating healthier is the best option, with a baby it’s hard to eat right or even to find time to eat. I haven’t actually started counting down the days until school starts, but I’m waiting for it. The baby is old enough to give me a break, but juggling that and a toddler leaves little me time.
My new character is a Crusader, I have to figure out what that means and who that is. There’s many popular stories of crusaders, but to me the base is a warrior of the Holy Spirit. Staying thy sword is important, knowing when to use it more so. My choice of the crusader as with the king is a reflection of current culture, I see a lot of European countries getting rowdy over refugees in their country. This morning I saw a video of a house on fire in Ireland supposedly the house of a bad person, the comments had many people wishing to start a new crusade. Who do they go after though, a good idea of upper and lower class are those that move the pieces and the pawns themselves. History tells me wars are pawns against pawns while the royal family continues undisturbed, even gaining riches and property. Outside of praying, I don’t know what can be done in that fight; raise my kids the best I can. It’s an ancient battle against evil, the Hittites of the Bible still rage against God. God doesn’t need me to win that fight, in fact the fight has long been won. All this leads me to a state of stagnation, I need more information and preparedness for when I’m called upon.
We’re beginning to settled into the new house as my queen goes to work this morning it feels like a normal Monday and start of the week. For me and the princesses, there’s not a lot of normal, thankfully they have reliable sleep patterns. The elder princess likes to run laps around the house and I’m not about to do that, so I meet her on the other side. This morning she decided not to go around, but turned back and sat down crying because I wasn’t there. There’s countless toddler tantrums I haven’t recorded over the last couple month. Currently we’re watching an episode of Paw Patrol with a ghost and we’ve probably seen it 100 times. Then at night I get a request to tell a story with each member of the Paw Patrol and a ghost. The Little Princess is as chill as ever, recently we decided to push her more since at this age her older sister was crawling over everything. For starters I’m keeping the little princess on her feet more and throwing her in the air, which apparently I haven’t done before. My older daughter was treated rough because I didn’t know any better, I learned from that and now the younger girl is held with soft hands. Goes to show how hard it is to raise two kids the same. As for me, I’m still figuring out what I’m doing, counting down the day until school starts and I’ll have some free time. My current action is to build momentum and get the ball rolling.
Following the plan laid out yesterday, how was your day? My day gets a thumbs up. Today I shaved and that’s an achievement for any day. My queen grilled some steaks and baked a pie, what more could a person want to eat. In the morning my princess found a tortoise walking around. I ordered some armor for my return to podcasting as a Crusader and decided to not worry about learning video editing programs because Canva will do most of what I need for social media. We’ve got Bible study later.
Happy birthday Winnie, today he turns 11 years old, PS and I took him for a walk to the open field. The Discord for my podcast was in a fiery discussion which has rekindled the fire in me to begin motion for my online presence. I’d encourage anyone that sees this to join the Discord because it is the idea to rate every day with a thumbs up, thumbs down or middle that has me excited. I’m figuring out the podcast, it’s coming. I’ve been learning video editing and music editing with guitar and piano. Yesterday I had what I would describe as my first serious workout in years. Frost is thawing.
King Cooper discusses the need to break down traditional literature to explore new ideas and themes. He critiques Shakespeare and introduces works by Voltaire and American folklore, emphasizing the importance of storytelling in understanding culture. The conversation also touches on the evolution of the show and future plans for a new setup.
King Cooper explores the philosophical foundations of education as outlined in Plato’s Republic, particularly focusing on the quadrivium. He discusses the importance of subjects like arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy in shaping just individuals for a great society. The conversation transitions into a reading of Psalm 9, reflecting on God’s role as a refuge for the oppressed. King Cooper then analyzes music and poetry, drawing connections to Shakespeare’s sonnet, before delving into Marcus Aurelius’ meditations on character and virtue. The episode concludes with a critical examination of historical timelines and a mathematical insight, encouraging listeners to think deeply about knowledge and understanding.
We didn’t get chickens, everything needed to slow down, so I put the brakes on a lot of the work I’m doing to rest. Winter is still holding on with some cold days, hopefully this week will be the end of it, I know the sun will reinvigorate me. The little princess is growing up fast, now able to roll over and starting solid food. Here is a photo of a tree in my woods, the marking start about 12 feet in the air, I don’t know if that’s wood peckers or high climbing beavers. My notes on the quadrivium also took a lot of energy, it felt more like studying where normally I’d describe what I do as interpreting.
Last week I mentioned Trivium and Quadrivium as an education in liberal arts, it began in Plato’s Republic where the Quadrivium was explained. I’ll be covering book seven in the Republic, verses 521 through 531. It is a conversation between Socrates and Glaucon, here and in the entire Republic they are discussing how to make a great city. The quadrivium, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy are the subjects that should be taught in their fictional city to make people better. Note the term quadrivium was not used by Plato, but coined later.
We start by discussing the problem of ruling, solved because “we’ll be giving just orders to just people”, that leads into the problem of how to make just people. Socrates says, “turning a soul from a day that is a kind of night” is true philosophy. That is the perspective he will use when searching for subjects, how to lift up a soul. Education “mustn’t be useless to warlike men”. If people are spending all their time learning what has no utility, then an army will easily wipe them out and all that studying will be for not.
They had already discussed educating people on music and poetry since “it’s rhythms gave them a certain rhythmical quality: and it’s stories, whether fictional or nearer the truth cultivated other habits akin to these.” There’s an argument for reading fiction, but they’re looking for more, settling on “the inconsequential matter of distinguishing the one, the two, and the three,” number and calculation; what we call arithmetic. Since they’re using war as their standard, there is a story about a soldier in the Trojan war counting the enemy ships since no one had done it and that Agamemnon, leader of the Greeks, if he truly couldn’t count, didn’t even know how many feet he had. Being able to count would lead one to know if their army is bigger than another and how they should be positioned or maneuvered.
Socrates is fixated on ideas that summon us into being, saying, “if each is one, and both two, the soul will understand that the two are separate.” This may seem small to those who know how to count, but it is a different world to know you have two feet and can control each one. Alternatively the whole universe would be an amalgamation with no way to divide. Arithmetic is valuable as “It leads the soul forcibly upward and compels it to discuss the numbers themselves, never permitting anyone to propose for discussion numbers attached to visible or tangible bodies.”
The subject that comes after numbers is geometry, “insofar as it pertains to war, when it comes to setting up camp, occupying a region, concentrating troops, deploying them, or with regard to any of the other formations an army adopts in battle or on the march, it makes all the difference whether someone is a geometer or not.” I can attest to using geometry with maps, and being able to find an unknown location by calculating with geometric lessons. To quote Socrates, “geometry is knowledge of what always is. Then it draws the soul towards truth and produces philosophic thought by directing upwards what we now wrongly direct downwards.”
Since we have numbers and numbers on a plane make geometry, the next step would be the study of how these shapes move with astronomy. Movement is change of location over time, this would give better awareness of the seasons, months, and years. Appropriate for a farmer or navigator. “Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads it from things here to things there.” This is a good metaphor for what I discuss on the show, we attempt to look up, for the good, distinguished from the lesser. For as Socrates said, “it’s very difficult to realize that in every soul there is an instrument that is purified and rekindled by such subjects when it has been blinded and destroyed by other ways of life.”
The final subject Plato gets into is harmonics, what we label music, for as the eyes fastens on astronomical motions, so the ear fastens on harmonic ones. The book discusses people attempting to find smaller intervals between notes, but they put ears before understanding. Harmonics is about numerical relationships. In an octave, the two notes next to each other don’t sound well together. The relation of notes might jump to a fifth, then down to the third before returning to the key being played. Different keys create relationships with different notes.
King Cooper explores profound themes ranging from Shakespeare’s insights on life and legacy to the values embodied in the Soldier’s Creed. He explores Stoicism through Marcus Aurelius’ meditations, discusses the historical significance of the liberal arts, and emphasizes the importance of empathy through the lens of the Golden Rule. The conversation culminates in a reflection on the divine order of mathematics and its connection to spirituality.
An expression we like to use a lot is, “when it rains, it pours” there will be period with nothing going on, then somehow events coincide on the same date. We had another rough night of sleep, because the little princess will spit up if laid down, the queen and I took turns sleeping with her in be. It was enough to get a couple hours of sleep. I’ve been planning to get chicks tomorrow since that’s when they arrive at the store, the less time they’re in bulk treatment the better. Yesterday, I got a call that the greenhouse and chicken coop will also be delivered tomorrow. Today, I was supposed to be planting my Spring trees, but with the delivery coming tomorrow and possibly having a truck drive all over the lawn, I decided to wait until Thursday. We’ll move on to rap, recently I mentioned shouting the soldier’s creed everynight in basic training before bed and wanted to say the whole thing here. I’ll try to sound like I’m shouting without shouting because if I were to go all out, it would break the microphone. Trust, I could shout at someone across a football field. That’s why you have to see me live when I’m touring.
Rap: The soldier’s creed
I am an American Soldier.
I am a warrior and a member of a team.
I serve the people of the United States, and live the Army Values.
I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.
I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.
I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.
I am an expert and I am a professional.
I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy, the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.
I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.
I am an American Soldier.
Time to break down the bars
*Starting off the soldier’s creed is a great reminder that I am an american soldier. I also see a pyramid with the first three lines. Starting with the individual, a warrior, and also a member of a team. Further and more broader the team is part of the Army and the United States.
*It mentions serving the people, the point of a soldier is they serve others not themselves.
*Living the Army Values is what makes one a soldier, the ego has been replaced by ethos. There’s an acronym for the army values that spells out leadership, that’s LDRSHIP. Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal courage. All day everyday.
*”Place the mission first” part of selfless service, we are here for a reason and it’s not to feel like cool guy John Rambo, kicking down doors spraying and praying. The difference between the army and senseless violence is having a mission. If things have to get hairy, it is only because we will do anything, ANYTHING, to accomplish the mission.
*The next three lines go into how that mission gets accomplished, never accept defeat, never quit, and never leave a fallen comrade. We’re part of a team and going home together is part of the mission, a mission we will not accept defeat in. There’s always another way around. Why I love the infantry is it’s human, they harness the abilities of all humans, survival of the fittest. If all else fails, call up the artillery and make everything go bye bye. Few words sound so sweet as fire for effect.
*Now getting into more of the individual standard, “I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.” warrior tasks and drills is the training. One tasks out of 40 for EIB, Expert infantryman’s badge, that touches on physically and mentally tough is a 12 mile road march in under three hours, with full battle rattle. That means we can pick up everything and be ready to fight in a new location.
*Adding discipline I’m reminded of doing a 25 mile road march. My unit was historically in the bataan death march so we did a 25 miler every year in remembrance. Something like 23 miles in I tripped and before I knew what had happened my body popped back up into formation. That is discipline, get in line!
*”maintain my arms, my equipment and myself” Keep weapons clean and operating, same for equipment. When it comes to warfare, the unit will only be as good as the equipment they operate. Let your plates fall into disrepair and they won’t stop a bullet. A weapon that jams every round is worthless. Maintaining myself means knowing how equipment works, physically be able to carry and operate it. Even a drone has a person operating or programing it on the other end.
*”I am an expert and I am a professional.” You know it.
*”I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy, the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.” Covered most of that already, destroy falls under doing anything and enemies of the United States would be defined in the mission. Close combat is why we maintains ourselves, the individual is a weapon, keep it sharp.
*”a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.” goes back to serving the people. America is a special place and it needs protection to remain that way, by remaining ready the soldier is protecting those freedoms, keep evil from even trying.
*Lastly another reminder that I am an american soldier. Where’s God in that? American soldier, America was founded on Christian beliefs, in God we trust.
Chris' Morning Pages 