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This is Our Story

Humanity United in Action,
Driven By Love and Compassion,
Informed by Science and Reason.

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Being Grounded

This is a catch-up week, with no single theme. The main theme is a broad overview of personal development, from the foundations (being grounded) to their scope (being well-rounded), and across the three domains of Being. A secondary theme is the alleviation of suffering and an acknowledgment that in that realm, urgency is also an important value.

A solid grounding in life or in any discipline refers to paying attention in class, doing the homework and mastering the fundamentals. The Ethical Humanism offered here is firmly grounded in basic human values, as expressed in a general way at the top of this page, and more fully on the pages of our yearly calendar.

In the United States, where the emphasis on the right to have any opinion has led to a culture in which many people fancy themselves as experts, science education in the past several decades is an example of a culture that has lost its essential grounding. The common wisdom that a theory is a guess (as opposed to the proper explanation of a theory as an organized explanation based on reliable data) and the refusal of many teachers to give students a proper grounding in evolutionary theory (despite its central organizing role in biology) are examples of this lack of grounding. Convinced of a magical interpretation of American exceptionalism and armed with their nation’s historical and recent success, many Americans seem to think that they can afford to ignore the details of science and that they need not do the hard work that it requires. This is an absence of grounding, which many historians and economists believe may cost the United States its position of dominance in the world in the near future.

As an individual, you may think that knowledge of science is unimportant. Anyone who aspires to live with an ethic of generous service to others, and recognizes the importance of involvement in public affairs – even if only as a well-informed voter – cannot afford not to be well-grounded in science and every other discipline that affects the nation’s welfare.

Real

True Narratives

Technical and Analytical Readings

Photographs

Documentary and Educational Films

Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

No surprise, Hugo describes Marius favorably:

Marius, dreamer as he was, was, as we have said, firm and energetic by nature. His habits of solitary meditation, while they had developed in him sympathy and compassion, had, perhaps, diminished the faculty for irritation, but had left intact the power of waxing indignant; he had the kindliness of a brahmin, and the severity of a judge; he took pity upon a toad, but he crushed a viper. Now, it was into a hole of vipers that his glance had just been directed, it was a nest of monsters that he had beneath his eyes. [Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (1862), Volume III – Marius; Book Eighth – The Wicked Poor Man, Chapter XIII, Solus Cum Solo, In Loco Remoto, Non Cogitabuntur Orare Pater Noster.]

Hugo’s character Claquesous is not well-grounded, by this description:

Who was Claquesous? He was night. He waited until the sky was daubed with black, before he showed himself. At nightfall he emerged from the hole whither he returned before daylight. Where was this hole? No one knew. He only addressed his accomplices in the most absolute darkness, and with his back turned to them. Was his name Claquesous? Certainly not. If a candle was brought, he put on a mask. He was a ventriloquist. Babet said: "Claquesous is a nocturne for two voices." Claquesous was vague, terrible, and a roamer. No one was sure whether he had a name, Claquesous being a sobriquet; none was sure that he had a voice, as his stomach spoke more frequently than his voice; no one was sure that he had a face, as he was never seen without his mask. He disappeared as though he had vanished into thin air; when he appeared, it was as though he sprang from the earth.  A lugubrious being was Montparnasse. Montparnasse was a child; less than twenty years of age, with a handsome face, lips like cherries, charming black hair, the brilliant light of springtime in his eyes; he had all vices and aspired to all crimes.  The digestion of evil aroused in him an appetite for worse. It was the street boy turned pickpocket, and a pickpocket turned garroter. He was genteel, effeminate, graceful, robust, sluggish, ferocious. The rim of his hat was curled up on the left side, in order to make room for a tuft of hair, after the style of 1829. He lived by robbery with violence. His coat was of the best cut, but threadbare. Montparnasse was a fashion-plate in misery and given to the commission of murders. The cause of all this youth's crimes was the desire to be well-dressed. The first grisette who had said to him: "You are handsome!" had cast the stain of darkness into his heart, and had made a Cain of this Abel. Finding that he was handsome, he desired to be elegant: now, the height of elegance is idleness; idleness in a poor man means crime. Few prowlers were so dreaded as Montparnasse. At eighteen, he had already numerous corpses in his past. More than one passer-by lay with outstretched arms in the presence of this wretch, with his face in a pool of blood. Curled, pomaded, with laced waist, the hips of a woman, the bust of a Prussian officer, the murmur of admiration from the boulevard wenches surrounding him, his cravat knowingly tied, a bludgeon in his pocket, a flower in his buttonhole; such was this dandy of the sepulchre. [Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (1862), Volume III – Marius; Book Seventh – Patron Minette, Chapter III, Babet, Gueulemer, Claquesous, and Montparnasse.]

Novels:

Poetry

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

Hubert Laws is a flautist and saxophonist whose grounding in music theory and traditions allows him to play jazz, “classical”, rhythm-and-blues and popular music, all brilliantly. Here are links to his playlists, a live performance at Zipper Hall in 2016, a concert at Los Angeles Public Library, and an interview.

Jimmy Lyons was an alto saxophonist known mainly for his work with free jazz master Cecil Taylor. Despite the inherently avant garde qualities of the music, Lyons used his grounding in bebop to keep the eccentric Taylor grounded in jazz traditions. “Lyons made his reputation playing with pianist Cecil Taylor, with whom he became inextricably linked. He was a near-constant presence in Taylor's bands from 1960 until the saxophonist's death in 1986. Lyons always lent an explicitly swinging element to the pianist's music, helping remind the listener most emphatically that -- regardless of how much Taylor may have been influenced by European art music -- this was unquestionably jazz.” Here is a link to Lyons’ playlists. Here is a link to Taylor’s playlists, and to videos of Taylor Live in Paris in 1969 (95’), Live in Köln, Germany in 1977 (52’), Live in Germany, with dancers, in 1983 (69’), Live at the Knitting Factory in 1991, (57’), and Live in Prague in 1999, 1999 (68’).

Country singer Willie Nelson has calmly stayed true to his roots during a long career. He seems to have drawn some of this from his older sister Bobbie, who played music with him for more than eighty years. “She gave him security and direction. Sometimes she led him; other times he led her. They shared something sacred that everyone else could only admire.” Country music is by nature emotionally honest; Nelson’s laid-back style brings it deep within. He has authored an autobiography, books about his relationships with his sister Bobbie and with his longtime drummer Paul English, and published a collection of his reflections. He has been the main subject of books by Clint Richmond, Graeme Thomson, and Joe Nick Patoski. Here are links to his releases, his playlists, a documentary film, an interview, and some videos.

Franz Joseph Haydn’s Piano Sonatas (for solo piano), all but five of the fifty-two composed in a major key, are works of self-assurance, confidence and quiet assertiveness with strong overtones of inner peace. They suggest that this exceptionally skilled composer was also at peace with his art and his life. (Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has recorded the intégrale in 11 volumes: Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol. 5, Vol. 6, Vol. 7, Vol. 8, Vol. 9, Vol. 10, Vol. 11. John McCabe recorded the sonatas in the mid-1970s, as did Rudolf Buchbinder in 1974. Jenő Jandó recorded a set of the sonatas and other piano pieces around 2000. Daniel Ben-Pienaar recorded 48 sonatas in 2023. A 10:22:48 (hours) set by Ilse von Alpenheim from the late 1970s is online.) Haydn’s middle period sonatas can be heard to represent groundedness.

John Spiers and Jon Boden comprise the English folk duo Spiers & Boden. The grounding, perhaps, is in their excellent instrumental work, on accordion and violin. Here is a link to their playlists.

Other works:

Other albums:

  • Strange as he was, Sun Ra was firmly grounded in jazz traditions. This is especially evident on his “Jazz in Silhouette” album (expanded edition) (1958) (105’), which is an album of thoroughly mainstream jazz.
  • Willie Jones III, “Groundwork” (2016) (43’): solid, straight-ahead jazz with an apt album title

Music: songs and other short pieces

Visual Arts

Film and Stage