In this 2021 summer of fires, smoke, and drought, I’m inspired to publish this meme, Messenger. The substance of the meme was first set out in my book Legend of the Rainbow Warriors. Having been through many editions since the 1980s, the book remains acutely relevant.
This quote from Homer’s Odyssey felt to me to be the right epigram for the conclusion of my freely available, epic, nonfiction saga: Odyssey of the 8th Fire.
Classical Considerations: Musings prompted by the late Harvard Master John H. Finley, Jr. is available as a Soul*Sparks book available via this link on amazon.com
All peoples all nations are on the journey that I’ve come to call the Odyssey of the 8th Fire. It takes courage, endurance, determination, and more to complete the pilgrimage.
Areté is a Greek term that describes moral virtue. It’s used to denote excellence in any field of endeavor, the fulfillment of a person’s potential. So it was for the late John H. Finely, Jr. So it is in Classical Considerations, one of the slender volumes in my Soul*Sparks series of small treasures.
Life’s foundational questions come elegantly to the fore in Classical Considerations, a nonfiction mini biography of Finley. For 51 years he was the celebrated and erudite Eliot Professor of the Classics at Harvard.
Luminous and compellingly relevant, his story leads readers directly into engagement with the fundamental wisdom questions of a worthwhile life.
Classical Considerations offers a compact but lyrical array of intellectual sparks to kindle a warming and illuminating fire in every reader’s soul.
As the author of this true saga, I cordially invite one and all to make a great literary pilgrimage, traveling day by day, page by page across North America. Odyssey of the 8th Fire is a free, online epic saga of the Americas. In it, circles upon circles, elders make a great and generous giveaway of teachings that have critical relevance to our era of time..
This just in: a rave review of Tales of the Whirling Rainbow from Small Press Bookwatch:
“Absorbing, engaging, thoughtful, thought-provoking, exceptionally well written, and thoroughly ‘reader friendly’ in organization and presentation, Tales of the Whirling Rainbow: Myths & Mysteries for Our Times is unreservedly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as community and academic library collections.”
The other day while looking online at a model of our human DNA genetic code I had an insight that I felt was worth noting. As a consequence I added some new sentences to my nonfiction book, Tales of the Whirling Rainbow: Myths & Mysteries for Our Times.
I wrote, “The natural and the mythic image of the whirling rainbow conveys growing awareness of the reality that now in world history with sophisticated communications and transportation systems, different cultures (colors of the rainbow) are whirling (interacting).
“Likewise, as many millions of people have their DNA tested out of genealogical curiosity, we are discovering the fundamental reality of how complex and multifaceted are the whirling double-helix strands of genes that give evidence of each person’s multicultural lineage. These DNA molecules embody the inherited instructions that an organism – such as a human being – needs to develop, live and reproduce. These instructions are found inside every cell, and are passed down from parents to their children.
In virtually all realms of nature, abundant interaction and diversity are characteristic of health and vitality.
While I was adding that passage to the manuscript, I also had the pages of this small treasure formatted professionally, for a better look in both print and eBook editions.
Council Circles: a perennial way to mark Earth Day
Descansa en paz – R.I.P. Maestro Alberto Taxo
2022: The Year of Agroecology
