Free-Man's Perspective

The agricultural areas surrounding Roman cities were worked carefully and intelligently. Plants, especially fruits, were brought in from all over the world and were carefully grafted onto other plants. In addition to grains, olives, grapes and legumes (beans, peas, etc.) there were onions, garlic, cucumbers, asparagus, lettuce, cabbage and so on. Romans also grew a wide variety of other fruits and herbs, such as apricots, peaches, plums, figs, mulberry, dill, parsley, cumin and others. Continue reading “Earned Knowledge, L7, P5”

Sadly, there are fairly few people left who understand what the Hippies were really about. Mostly people remember the Hollywood version: pot-smoking, political protesting and clumsy dancing. The actual Hippies, especially the early Hippies, were a much different group. They were interesting and brave people: people very much worth remembering. Continue reading “The Wisdom Of The Hippies”

Another major feature of Roman cities were the baths, more or less a Roman version of the Greek gumnasion.

Roman baths were fairly similar to modern health clubs. Upon entering you’d go to a locker room of sorts, then to an exercise area (boxing, discus throwing, weight lifting, wrestling) or to a swimming pool, or to a series of warm and hot rooms, perhaps to a steam room, and then to a cold bath. Continue reading “Earned Knowledge, L7, P4”

There is a simple fact that people are unable to ingest. You can explain it carefully, with charts, graphs and solid documentation… and they may even like the sound of it… but after the explanation, it fades away and is forgotten.

The problem is simply that this truth is too foreign. It just doesn’t fit within our mental universe. Most of us don’t directly fight against it, but even so, we aren’t able to integrate it. Continue reading “The Truth We Can’t Accept”

Daily Life In Rome

Daily life in Rome, as it was for the Greeks, was family-centered, usually involving extended families. Even their names carried the model: A Roman’s first name was as we use it: Mark, Susan Robert, etc. The second name was that of the clan… of the largest and oldest family group. Their third name was of the smaller and more direct branch of the family. Continue reading “Earned Knowledge, L7, P3”

(We can call this one an experiment. I hardly know what to think of it myself.)

* * * * * Continue reading “6,000 Years On The Wheel”

Religious Details

Sacrifices to the gods were basic parts of the ancient religions. We’ve mentioned them before, but from the records left by the Romans we get a very clear picture of how they operated. Historian Will Durant describes them this way: Continue reading “Earned Knowledge, L7, P2”

Christianity, as people in their 60s and 70s have observed, was pushed off the public stages of the West over the past two generations. At this point, whoever speaks well of it in such places must be prepared to absorb blows.

Nonetheless, nature abhors a vacuum and just about everyone, including the most strident atheist, requires something to believe in. And so the exit of Christianity drew in new faiths, and one in particular, to replace it. Continue reading “The West’s New Faith”

Living In Rome

While we’ve discussed the similarities between the Greeks and the Romans, it’s also necessary to understand their differences. Because in may ways they were very different.

The first area of difference, and certainly the most important, was how they thought of themselves. Certainly both groups had a high level of civilizational confidence. That is, they believed that their ways were far better than the old ways or even the ways of anyone of their time. They were not ashamed of their ways, as so many modern societies are. But how these two groups envisioned their greatness differed. Continue reading “Earned Knowledge, L7, P1”

One of my entertainments, from time to time, has been the Kennedy assassination… John Kennedy’s, that is. I’m not particularly a fan of mysteries, but once in a while one of them intrigues me, and this is a good one.

What I’m going to show you today are two images from a CBS News Special Report from 1967, filmed and broadcast because so many people had failed to believe the Warren Report. I’m quite sure they didn’t realize they were making their esteemed report ridiculous, but they did it just the same. Continue reading “Demolishing The Warren Report”