Chivalry: it's NOT a game...

Bernie interrupted Ted: "This isn't a game – and when you hear what I have to tell you, you'll realize just how huge the stakes can be. John's already been shot at, and Jim and Tony risked drowning, and Marty and John and I dared enter an old abandoned mine..."
"Oh man! I can't wait till we get to college and can do fun stuff too!" Nate said.
"He calls that fun," Bernie groaned. "And then there were days and weeks of slow plodding futile research... Be patient, Nate! You've got enough to do where you are. You know what our club is for..."
"Not really," Nate said, and some of the others nodded. "Chivalry? That sounds too simple."
"What else is there?" John asked. "Leaving all those imaginary super-powers for the fantasy comics, what more could a good young man like you want than chivalry? I mean, real chivalry, not that fake trash you read about in pulp fiction! Real Chivalry! The perfect union of
– the strong, brave, steadfast and reverent knight of the Middle Ages;
– the silent, bold and clever student of nature who is a Native American Indian scout;
– the well-read, up-to-date scholar who can handle the classics as well as the highest of high-tech science and engineering;
all this united, wrapped together and blessed by the Church? The defender of the weak, the supporter of the good and right, the relentless foe of evil? I ask you, what more do you want?"

«We gotta have John write all our ad copy», Marty murmured, and Bernie nodded in agreement, deeply impressed.

The Gregs stared in awe, conscious of their heart's pulses surging to a larger life. Jim and Tony were sitting alertly, as if on guard.
Jason nodded solemnly. "It sure sounds impressive when you put it that way."
"It does," Jeff replied in a small voice, but his eyes were glowing with enthusiasm.

Nate gulped. Then, since John was still staring at him as if expecting an answer to his grand rhetoric, he replied, "I guess... nothing. Right?"

The room was silent until Bernie spoke: "Well – no, Nate. There is one more requirement beyond what John mentioned. You must also have Authority."

Again the room was silent. Marty sighed faintly, and John closed his eyes and nodded.


[From Darkness Into Light VI: What More Do You Want?]

Still in development: The Tree of Virtues

Yes, due to some complications, I am still not ready to release The Tree of Virtues, the next installment of the Saga. There's one small puzzle yet confronting me, but I hope to get past it soon.

Among other things you may be wondering what that title is about. It comes from an amazing diagram called "The Tree of Virtues" which appears in a large old book called Cursus Theologicus of Salamanca. It is a very complex diagram, very tech, which organizes all the various branches of human learning and endeavor into one system - yes, a TREE. (I have no time to lecture on the relation to computer science; that ought to be evident, but if it isn't I perhaps I will post on it another time.)

Here is a snapshot of this amazing diagram...



(Courtesy of A. Poole, of Loome Theological Booksellers.



Meanwhile, you can entertain yourself with this curious collage of artwork, which will NOT be included in the final book:



The big trombonist is no other than Bo Reynolds, the world-famous musician. He's jamming with Chuck Weller, a good friend of Steve Brown. Steve is greeting another world-famous person, the great mathematician Erich Weitzmann, known to some as "the Hermite of the 21st Century". And if you do not know who Hermite was, see here. He's the one who proved that "e" is transcendental. And if you are wondering what that odd little contraption in the lower left is, you will find out when you read the book. Strangely, it happens to fall squarely between Bo and Erich, but it has another purpose.


Update: as of Oct. 18, it is available, and the next installment is nearing completion!

Something which few grasp...

It is well that we humans who are still alive and walking in life's journey – whom Aquinas calls peregrinatio, the true pilgrims – do not have any idea how vast and powerful an array of enemies are at work against us. Few indeed of us ever grasp that, and fewer seem to grasp that we have an even larger host of allies, who have even greater power.

[from Ite Milites Audaces... (Go, Daring Knights...) part 1]