Value for Wednesday of Week 13 in the season of Sowing

Being Resolute

Not merely to dream but as the poet wrote, to hold fast to our dreams – then we can begin to empower ourselves.

We need hope and optimism, sometimes, when external forces have control over the outcomes that will affect our lives. So these values do not have an action component. At their best, they prepare us to act but hope and optimism alone do not express action.

The closest thing we have to an action, in keeping with hope and optimism, is resolve. We can resolve to persevere and not to be defeated. We might call this internal action, as it expresses an individual’s purposeful attempt to maintain a positive attitude and set of convictions.

Real

True Narratives

Technical and Analytical Readings

Photographs

Documentary and Educational Films

Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

Poetry

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

The stately themes and driving rhythms of Johann Sebastian Bach’s four Orchestral Suites, BWV 1066-1069 (1724-1731) (approx. 73-85’) capture the spirit of resolve. The great master seems to have drawn inspiration from the four orchestral suites of his second cousin Johann Bernhard Bach (1720s) (approx. 75-82’), which are decidedly similar in tone and character.  Top recorded performances of all four of JSB’s suites are conducted by Busch in 1938, Reiner in 1953, Harnoncourt in 1972, Savall in 1990, Huggett in 2009, Kraus in 2010, (Freiburger Barockorchester) in 2011, Kiujken in 2013, Egarr in 2014, Güttler in 2015, Bernardini in 2017, Alessandrini in 2019, and Butt in 2022. Individually, the suites are: Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major, BWV 1066 (1720s) (approx. 20-25’); Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067 (late 1730s) (approx. 20-22’); Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068 (1731) (approx. 18-20’); and Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D Major, BWV 1069 (1720s) (approx. 18-22’).

Other compositions:

Johnathan Blakeis an influential drummer known for his resolute actions and instinctive reactions.” His albums include “Trion” (2017) (113’), “Homeward Bound” (2021) (43’), and “The Eleventh Hour” (2012) (68’).

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.

latest from

The Work on the Meditations