Value for Wednesday of Week 24 in the season of Ripening

Admiring

Years ago I had a client in my law practice whose eighty-year-old father was watching me try a case on behalf of his grandson. During a recess, the gentleman came over to me, raised his index finger for emphasis and said “I admire you.” He made a point of emphasizing that word “admire” and it set me thinking about what that word meant. I had never thought about it before that. Listening to him, I realized that in reflecting on his eighty years, he thought he was seeing something special and admirable.

Admiring someone means recognizing a quality that we lack, either categorically or in degree. Usually it challenges us to emulate that quality. I have always been more mindful of things that I could admire in others since that moment with my former client’s father.

Real

True Narratives

Book narratives:

From the dark side:

Technical and Analytical Readings

Photographs

Documentary and Educational Films

Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

Poetry

Thou large-brained woman and large-hearted man, / Self-called George Sand! whose soul, amid the lions / Of thy tumultuous senses, moans defiance / And answers roar for roar, as spirits can: / I would some mild miraculous thunder ran / Above the applauded circus, in appliance / Of thine own nobler nature’s strength and science, / Drawing two pinions, white as wings of swan, / From thy strong shoulders, to amaze the place / With holier light! that thou to woman’s claim / And man’s, mightst join beside the angel’s grace / Of a pure genius sanctified from blame / Till child and maiden pressed to thine embrace / To kiss upon thy lips a stainless fame.

[Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “To George Sand: A Desire”]

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 7 in E Major, WAB 107 (1883) (approx. 59-68'): “It was a hearing of Wagner’s opera Tannhauser in Linz in 1863 at the age of 39 that initiated Bruckner’s inward path to self-discovery. Wagner, the master of harmonic innovation, was the key to artistic freedom. . . . The Symphony No. 7 was Bruckner’s memorial monument to Wagner.” “For Bruckner, Wagner was a second deity. His expansive thinking, vision, and colorful, gigantic musical structures were deeply influential, if not controlling models.” “In the context of history, Bruckner, the slightly eccentric Austrian symphonist and organist (at the monastic church of Sankt Florian near Linz), links the worlds of Schubert and Mahler. Each of his nine mature symphonies represents a persistent attempt to pick up where Beethoven’s monumental and enigmatic Ninth Symphony left off . . .” Excellent recorded performances are conducted by Fried in 1924, Furtwängler in 1949, Beinum in 1953, Jochum in 1965, Karajan in 1989, Wand in 1992, Sinopoli in 1993, Tintner in 1999, Shani in 2023, Honeck in 2024, Jurowski in 2024, and Blomstedt.

“I would like to be like that” is a statement of admiration. Franz Liszt expressed his admiration for fellow composers by transcribing their works for the piano, his instrument of choice. He transcribed symphonies, including Beethoven’s, which bear the designation S. 464.

He transcribed selections from operas.

He transcribed concertos.

He transcribed Schubert’s lieder. Performances are by Alexander Ghindin in 2004 (130’), Yuri Rozum in 1996 (47’), and Frederic Chiu in 1998 (63’).

Other works:

Stephane Wrembel has released numerous albums after fellow Gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, including “The Django Experiment”, “The Django Experiment II” (2017),“The Django Experiment III” (2018),“The Django Experiment IV” (2019),“The Django Experiment V” (2020) (42’),“The Django Experiment VI” (2021) (43’), “Django l’impressioniste” (2019), and “Django New Orleans” (2023) (44’).

Jazz pianist Brad Mehldau has created albums of music composed by great “classical” composers:

Albums:

Music: songs and other short pieces

Visual Arts

Film and Stage

This Is Our Story

A religion of values and Ethics, driven by love and compassion, informed by science and reason.

PART ONE: OUR STORY

First ingredient: Distinctions. What is the core and essence of being human? What is contentment, or kindliness, or Love? What is gentleness, or service, or enthusiasm, or courage? If you follow the links, you see at a glance what these concepts mean.

PART TWO: ANALYSIS

This site would be incomplete without an analytical framework. After you have digested a few of the examples, feel free to explore the ideas behind the model. I would be remiss if I did not give credit to my inspiration for this work: the Human Faith Project of Calvin Chatlos, M.D. His demonstration of a model for Human Faith began my exploration of this subject matter.

A RELIGION OF VALUES

A baby first begins to learn about the world by experiencing it. A room may be warm or cool. The baby learns that distinction. As a toddler, the child may strike her head with a rag doll, and see that it is soft; then strike her head with a wooden block, and see that it is hard. Love is a distinction: she loves me, or she doesn’t love me. This is true of every human value:

justice, humility, wisdom, courage . . . every single one of them.

This site is dedicated to exploring those distinctions. It is based on a model of values that you can read about on the “About” page. However, the best way to learn about what is in here is the same as the baby’s way of learning about the world: open the pages, and see what happens.

ants organic action machines

Octavio Ocampo, Forever Always

Jacek Yerka, House over the Waterfall

Norman Rockwell, Carefree Days Ahead

WHAT YOU WILL SEE HERE

When you open tiostest.wpengine.com, you will see a human value identified at the top of the page. The value changes daily. These values are designed to follow the seasons of the year.

You will also see an overview of the value, or subject for the day, and then two columns of materials.

The left-side column presents true narratives, which include biographies, memoirs, histories, documentary films and the like; and also technical and analytical writings.

The right-side columns presents the work of the human imagination: fictional novels and stories, music, visual art, poetry and fictional film.

Each entry is presented to help identify the value. Open some of the links and experience our human story, again. It belongs to us all, and each of us is a part of it.

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The Work on the Meditations