A fascinating limited television series launched at the beginning of March 2020 titled Dispatches From Elsewhere. It consisted of ten episodes and aired on AMC weekly on Mondays until the end of April. The show was produced by Jason Segel and featured four primary characters who all lead lives of various levels of mundaneness, fears, challenges, distractions and lack of direction. Sounds a bit like most of the population, doesn’t it? These individuals – Peter, …
Since I just posted about this week’s Lunar Eclipse, I may as well also post about our 2017 Total Solar Eclipse experience. The United States was treated to a rare opportunity to see a total solar eclipse as it traveled across the continent on August 21, 2017. I promised myself when I was a kid while watching the 1970 eclipse on TV, that I would make a point of directly experiencing the totality of the …
Sunday night January 20, 2019 we were treated to relatively clear skies in Louisville, KY for a total lunar eclipse. I stepped outside into the frigid cold before midnight to have a look just prior to, and into the time of totality. What a beautiful red hue this magical orb took on! It was called a “super blood wolf moon eclipse.” I don’t yet have my recently-purchased (used) Meade LX200 Classic 10-inch telescope up and …
On our recent trip to Spain we made sure to visit Montserrat outside of Barcelona. Most recently featured in Dan Brown’s book Origin our traveling crew felt we had to include it on our itinerary. We were not disappointed. In fact, it was one of the highlights of our trip. What made it so special? The history – It’s an operating monastery and abbey since 1025 AD The uniqueness – Home to the Catalonian “Black …
Aesthetics “Officially” speaking, Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty and artistic taste. But you don’t have to be a philosopher to bask in the benefits of living an aesthetic life. Simply having a sensitivity and appreciation for beauty is a good start. Slow down; pause; observe. Note and appreciate those things that give you pleasure and inner satisfaction when you experience them with your senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, …
A little over a year ago I listened to a podcast on ArtOfManliness.com entitled The Power Of Wonder wherein Brett McKay interviewed the author of a book (Robert Fuller) on the topic of Wonder. It was particularly interesting since this topic fascinates and inspires me and it’s difficult to find references of any kind on the subject. (Not to mention that it’s the titled-focus of this web site.) So after listening to the podcast I …
Wonder: From Emotion to Spirituality by Robert C. Fuller Read More »
Our trip to Spain this month found us visiting some incredible sites. One of our notable visits (for me, at least) was the Monastery and Royal Palace of El Escorial in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial; specifically the Royal Library. Biblioteca del monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, by Xauxa Håkan Svensson, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. The library consists of several rooms (most of them no longer used), however, …
What is Romanticism? Ask anyone on the street what “Romanticism” is and you’re likely to get replies that include: beautiful flowers, surprise gifts, elegant date nights, heartfelt love letters, tender gestures, etc. – – essentially, anything that generates romance between two people in a relationship. While that concept is nice (and important) it isn’t the same definition of “Romanticism” as my focus in this article. Specifically, I speak of Romanticism as a state of mind; …
One of my favorite places in the world is the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. It was built by George Washington Vanderbilt II, grandson of Cornelius “The Commodore” Vanderbilt. Completed and opened to friends and family during Christmas 1895, it’s the largest private residence in the United States, and is still owned by descendants of the family. George Washington Vanderbilt by John Singer Sargent Public Domain, Link The “house” is a gorgeous châteauesque-styled mansion …
What an incredible achievement by private enterprise that inspires and strikes me with awe and wonder . . . (video starts at 8:00 minute mark) I just love the way SpaceX does their launch coverage: allowing a huge crowd inside mission control, young energetic people to describe what’s going on, people of both sexes working within mission control, and video cameras mounted everywhere showing you live what’s going on, before and throughout the actual launch. …
SpaceX – Engineering and Technology Awe & Wonder Read More »
A key part of an enriched life is to allow yourself to regularly experience a sense of awe and wonder. Life without wonder is stale and mundane – a formula for restlessness, anxiety and outright depression. “Wonder is the first of all the passions.” – Rene Descartes What does “awe” and “wonder” mean exactly? Various definitions, Wikipedia entries and online articles define these concepts in a very sterile manner. A lot of these like to …
This may seem rather trivial to most (I have to remind myself I’m not writing to “most“), but a large part of my appreciation and embellishment for an enriched life consists of surrounding myself with a rich sensory aesthetic that speaks to my inner core. Therefore, based on my own personal tastes and passions, that aesthetic always involves elements of knowledge, discovery, learning, beauty, truth. On a recent Royal Caribbean cruise with my beautiful wife, …
During the Renaissance period Kings, Princes and other aristocrats who had an intellectual and adventurous bent (and wanted to show off their sophistication and wealth), created what was known as a Kunstkammer or Wunderkammer – a Cabinet of Curiosities. What did those cabinets contain? Well, first of all, the word “cabinet” most often referred to an actual room – not a traditional piece of furniture. Nowadays we do have curiosity cabinets; small display units that …
Kunstkammer/Wunderkammer (Cabinet of Curiosities) Read More »
One of the things that satiates my soul and ignites a spark of excitement, awe and wonder is a gorgeous and robust library. There are two reasons for this. The vision of a plethora of books ignites a fire within. I see the myriad of bindings lining the shelves and immediately imagine a wealth of knowledge, adventure, and discovery in their volumes! Each tome an element on the road to ultimate Truth. But books alone …
Walker Library of the History of Human Imagination Read More »
I wanted to call this category “Renaissance Living” but didn’t want to appear presumptuous or portray something I’m not. Ideally my attitude over the last 25 years has been to try and mimic the adventurous spirit of discovery that my grandmother, Elsie Lacy, embraced in her life. For me, growing up as a child, my grandmother was a beacon of getting out of her comfort zone and experiencing as much about life and culture as …