When we think of yesterday and all those mundane tasks that confront us each and every day, do you consider that your life and your essence in this world is part of a living history that you are helping to create? I am sure that there are some who may read what I write and think what a foolish man he must be!?! Well, I hope it is not as confusing as it may sound because I believe that our presence or absence in life has an effect and impact on so many ordinary people we will probably never meet or have the opportunity to speak of their hopes and desires. Each of us is a 'Person of History' because in our own simple way we are contributing to the character or our communities. The society and the world in which we live is a collective reflection of how we have helped to shape it. The Latin word Persona does mean a living breathing person but it can also mean 'Character' which carries so much meaning that it becomes very difficult to define. Think about the role you are playing in creating our 'Persona Historiae' or the character of our history. I believe that history, whether you take a narrow view or a more global view of historical time, is and has always been a dialogue or a conversation between our past and our present.
A yesterday can never be forgotten though
it maybe shrouded in the mist of time and space.
Memories are spiritual dreams that can speak
to us a reality that no veil can conceal from our mind.
Yesterday I met a friend in class and who would ever know that
forty two years and beyond we still knew what a friend really means.
Riding bikes, Chevrolets, Movies and Drive - In cruising we shared.
Innocence born of ignorance haunted us then and it can still delude the mind.
Yesterday I kissed the sweetest lips and realized that my innocence
had come to lift me into a realm that I never knew or believed could be.
Where was the oracle to enlighten my psyche of everything to come and
to prepare me for the joys as well as the heart aches to come.
Yesterday my mother told me not to play with guns because whether
it may be a toy or something more lethal - it will only leave the image of death.
Then Uncle Sam came and told Joey down the street it was time to
answer freedom's call while I studied Latin in the hallowed halls of academia.
Yesterday my mother called to say that Joey died in place called Khe Sanh.
I wept for a friend not just for his death but a government that allowed
him to die and me to live. Where is the nobility when such injustice reigns?
Still to this day I look for answers when the old send the young to die.
Yesterday I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and looked into my
wife's eyes and asked her to explain why me and why now.
She had no answers because there are none but she told me to remember that I
will have many tomorrows where others only have yesterdays from a past that is no more.
Senex Magister
It provides us with a chance to contemplate the 'wisdom or the foolishness' that we allow others to impose upon us as to whether our actions have contributed to a world that is more just than the one our Fathers and Mothers knew.
(Allegory of Wisdom by Paolo Caliari, circa 1580)
Sophia aut Stultitia
What is it that possesses man in his heart, soul, and mind?
Ancient man believed their gods to be anthropomorphic
made in the image of man. I would dare say that there are
far too many modern men who would like to believe they are
god - like or at least sanctified by the divine.
Is this wisdom or foolishness?
It is hubris of the worst nature that has found its way to blind
man of all that is good and righteous in a world torn by hatred
bigotry and pride. Who are we to say that this man should live
free and this man should not? Are we free because we believe
that we are 'One Nation Under God'.
Is this wisdom or foolishness?
Beware of the 'Haughtiness of Man' that separates neighbor from
neighbor. Is it my right or purpose in life to tell you what is the true
meaning of Veritas? Has God blessed me alone with such knowledge
because I wear the Red, White, and Blue? Does that light of divinity
shine upon me because Godfrey Bouillon captured Jerusalem is 1099?
Is this wisdom or foolishness?
The Norman Duke reported these words to the Pope.
"In the Temple and Porch of Solomon men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins.
It was a just and splendid judgment of God, that this place should be filled with the blood of the
unbelievers, since it had suffered so long from their blasphemies. The city was filled with corpses and blood...."
Is this wisdom or foolishness?
Senex Magister
The 'Breath of Life' has given you and me a special gift. That gift is to be a part of that dialogue and to learn from one another as we take one step and then another. On this page, Persona Historiae, I am going to be looking at many different people so they may contribute to our understanding of this dialogue. Remember, if had not been for an accident of birth or some side road in life that you took, that person could easily be you.
Senex Magister
Mea Anima
My eyes were tired and I could barely see.
There is an anima within me constantly wanting
to speak to me and know all that I feel.
Is it joy and wonderment or is it pain and sorrow?
Mea Anima
What should I tell this 'breath of life' that she doesn't
know and understand at the moment of its telling.
There are fears that even the comfort of age
cannot elude so your inner self embraces them.
Mea Anima
She has sight and knowledge that makes fools of us
all - it matters not when such scientia enters her realm.
She knows the love you once cherished so dear and also
the desire that Bacchus in his orgia inspired you from within.
Mea Anima
Solitudo and Frustratio are the twin sisters so hostile and cruel
that my 'breath of life' shudders in bewilderment at what it
cannot conceive. They come like the serpents from Tenedos
to enfold its coils around mea anima and destroy what it cannot.
Senex Magister
aka 'Augustus'
The Effects of Imperial Policy Upon Christian Persecution and the
Development of the Christian Church
by Mr. Bruce Michael Johnson
Ball State University
Muncie, Indiana
1980
Revisited and Contemporary Comments Offered
by Senex Magister
Ashburn, Virginia
2011
Another example of the roman use of the classical Greek image of Nike/Victory is the illustration of Tiberius Caesar with Victory depicted in the upper left-hand corner of the cameo. This celebration of triumph and crucifixion of his enemies is the closest image to the Crucifixion of Christ that the Romans made for themselves. Although the men being crucified and the families being humiliated are enemy soldiers the techniques and attitudes toward their enemies is uniquely Roman within the first century AD. The image of Victory is common in connection with triumphs and their commemoration and depictions in Roman art, a cannon and standard for the historic time frame.
aka 'Plutarch'
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Senex Magister