Gnostic Media’s 1 Year anniversary show!
Tonight’s show is an important one. Without it, it’s hard to build on the information presented in the other shows. Here we begin to learn about learning, logic, critical thinking, Hegelian dialectics, Plato, the Trivium, the Quadrivium, the 7 liberal arts, and many other facets of human cognizance.
My guest is Gene Odening.
This is the story of the 3 successive stages of the “Philosophic Life” which almost all of us live. Some of us live it consciously, others, not so much.
Gene’s story is one of good fortune. Early in adolescence he was given the tools to recognize and to pursue the Philosophic Life, which he undertook to do, not as a vocation but as a serious hobbyist. This is part of what the talk is about, defining those tools and following time-tested ways of applying them.
Gene lived through the first part, the Stage of Preparing For Life, in a fashion which the ancient Vedic Sages called: “Learning by grazing through the fields of the Brahma (the Creator God), in sobriety, and with a guru”. He even had his own guru! He graduated from this stage in a less than sober state. At age 18 . . . He ingested the Eucharist in fact, rather than only in effigy, and had his Crown Chakra opened. That is, he had his mind blown on large doses of LSD.
When he was 20 years old, he began the second part, the Stage of Receiving From Life. This is when he began his vocational career and started his family life. Life was good. He and his wife traveled many parts of the English speaking world scouring the libraries in particular; she reading her beloved fiction; he in the reference and antiquarian sections. His quest was to find out what Money was. Money is a very elusive thing. As ghostly as it is, it takes up much of our life’s time and energy. By happenstance, in pursuit of its secrets, almost all other known topics come into view for a closer examination, including Philosophy, a treasure beyond measure.
As he reached the age of about 56, he had the realization that he was now in the final stage, the Stage of Giving Back To Life. This is when one should properly become the elder advisor, not ‘offering’ advise, but giving of it freely when asked. It is also the time of beginning one’s journey through mentality. This is the time of: “Examining a life which has been worth living”, as the Greek sage Socrates counceled.
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[...] Episodes #49: http://www.gnosticmedia.com/049-the-t-r-i-v-i-u-m-an-interview-with-gene-odening-part-1/ [...]
[...] like to know more? 1. Jan Irvin’s Trivium and Quadrivium interviews with Gene Odening, episodes49-51 a. [...]
I got Miriam Joseph’s book. Grammar is the first subject of the trivium covered. How is it that knowing what a pronomial/definitive/connective/conjuction is and how to find one in a sentence will help me? I’m on board with the concept of the trivium, but why would I need to know how to parse a sentence into the minutia of grammar in order to develop a body of knowledge?
If you’re not capable of breaking down a sentence into its components, subject, predicate, et al, how are you determine if the statement is true or not? If you can’t determine truth in a sentence, how do you develop a body of knowledge from it?
Understand that Joseph’s biggest issue is seeing grammar, logic, and rhetoric as three separate studies unto themselves and not as a repeating, functioning system. The cover and title reflect this issue.
If you’re interested in further study as to why these things are important, I recommend listening to Leonard Peikoff’s audio lecture series – Introduction to Logic, or/also Socratic Logic by Peter Kreeft (book) BEFORE going into Joseph’s book.
Thanks. I understand that, but I thought the big idea in grammar was to build a body of knowledge, after which logic is used to make it understood. I would think that there are research skills that aren’t addressed in any treatise on grammar that are much more important, though not sufficient, for building a body of knowledge. Parsing a sentence seems but a small step in that direction.
How do you find primary sources? Where are certain categories of knowledge stored? What can I find in the library of congress? I don’t really know the answers to these questions, but I feel confident that they, to greater and lesser extent, are important in the “grammar” stage of an endeavor.
Please respond to my critique, Jan.
[...] Gene Odening interview, Part 1 – “The TRIVIUM Method” [...]
[...] Gene Odening interview, Part 1 – “The TRIVIUM Method” [...]
[...] Gnostic Media Podcast Episode 49: http://www.gnosticmedia.com/049-the-t-r-i-v-i-u-m-an-interview-with-gene-odening-part-1/ [...]
[...] 1h19m-end) Gnostic Media podcast 049: THE TRIVIUM / an interview with Gene [...]
Bill Donahue, YT bdona4556, removes ALL contradictions regarding all religions by using astrological, geological, and biological nature as the only basis for his argument. He is truly a modern day gnostic.
[...] http://www.gnosticmedia.com/049-the-t-r-i-v-i-u-m-an-interview-with-gene-odening-part-1/ [...]
i have sister joseph’s trivium book. do you suggest reading it in any particular order?
[...] “The Trivium Method” by Jan Irvin and Gene Odening @ Gnostic Media dot [...]
[...] Gnostic Media October 25, 2009 [...]
[...] “The Trivium Method” by Jan Irvin and Gene Odening @ Gnostic Media dot [...]