What more could you ask for?

I was reading my last post, and it struck me that my 'list' might sound like boasting. It isn't. All I am saying is that through great luck and some effort, I was able to accomplish what so many at my age are still striving for. It isn't that I am ungrateful.

That's not it at all. I am very lucky. I was born in a great country, into a great family. Despite, or perhaps because, of choices I have made, things have turned out this way. I just want to find out why.

It isn't due to dissatisfaction, or boredom, or greed. I have tasted richness and depth and, though rarely, transcendence. I have traveled to some pretty amazing places, accomplished some cool things, eaten some weird food, and met some interesting people. Compared to my day to day life though, all of those things pale in importance.

I am not about to start filling my life with additional goals that serve no purpose besides spending what ever time and disposable income I have left. Having reached this amazing point in my life, I am asking myself what it is all for. What is the purpose of all of this?

I have been lightly reading philosophy, especially Stoicism, and I am well versed in Christian thought. I have read and toyed with atheism. I have had the briefest introduction to eastern religion and philosophy, though what I have learned appears interesting. Though they appear to have much in common, they approach the goal of life in different ways.

A brief overview seems to produce one of five possible answers to my quest.

1. Asking 'What is the purpose of life?' is a false question. It is like asking 'what is the scent of blue?' It sounds like a question grammatically, but logically it is senseless. There is no purpose. Despite our advances in technology, "the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
2. The key purpose in life is to enrich and protect those things that are important to me. It is to find out what I love and am passionate about, and experience as much of that as possible. Find and embrace beauty and pleasure, avoid pain.
3. Make myself a better person, aiming at the excellence that I was born with. Learn more, get stronger, think more clearly. Study, exercise, write, produce beautiful things for the sheer joy of it.
4. Be useful. Make this world a better place for having been in it. Give my children what I didn't have. Help the poor. Work towards social justice.
5. Prepare myself for the world to come, for my next life, for the hereafter. Cleanse myself of sin/illusion/karma to join with the divine. Get my soul ready for the next great adventure, after I die. 

I will explore these five approaches to finding meaning in my life, likely with frequent sidebars into other topics as they present themselves.

A Hazardous Life

A Hazardous Life

I have a horror of rest;
Possessions encourage one to indulge in it.
And there is nothing like security
For making one fall asleep.

I like life well enough
To want to live it awake.
And so in the very midst of my riches
I maintain the sensation of a state of precariousness,
By which means I aggravate,
Or at any rate, intensify
My Life.

I will not say I like danger
But I like life to be hazardous.
And I want it to demand at every moment
The whole of my happiness
My courage
My health.

From André Gide's L'immoraliste (1902)/The immoralist (1953)

Final Mneme - The Last SES Assignment

I have been undertaking for the last year or so, a study of Stoic principles through the New Stoa. Today marks the submission of my final exercise, the mneme. This is intended to be a memory aid, of my own creation, to assist me in bringing to mind the principles I have learned through my reading and studies.

The Virtues great today will I express
To choose my acts to benefit mankind
And work to help all men learn happiness
For only then will I find peace of mind

I will my fate entrust to thought Divine
To guide my steps to follow Nature's way
And let my light upon the world to shine
That when I pass I will have lived each day

With clarity all judgements I review
And in the present ever mindful be
That I may always say that which is true
And thus the path to wisdom I will see

These are the words I repeat morning and night, and sometimes throughout the day. They are added to the other reminders I have put in place to keep me conscious of my oaths.

A New Stoic Practice - Winter Solstice

[As the aim of this series of essays is also to establish a Stoic approach to the received cycle of celebrations, each will in turn present a practice that will seek to honour both the historicity of the celebration, as well as emphasizing a specific Stoic practice. Alignments with current societal practices are deliberate, adding meaning, but not necessarily changing, the habits and rituals that are already in place.]

The occasion of the winter solstice, with it's twin themes of birth and death, is for Stoics a clear reminder of our own mortality. Despite our modern society's obsession with youth and vitality, it is a stark fact that we all must die. The Stoic accepts this, and more, embraces it as a truth, like all others, that is neither good nor evil, but merely factual. For 'death shall have no dominion' over the Stoic, to whom death is a final, natural culmination and release.

Modern Stoics practice daily and weekly resignation, the release of the cares of the present into the hands of fate, or the Gods. The winter solstice is thus the Grand Release, the ultimate Memento Mori (Remember that you will die).

In the weeks approaching the solstice, the Stoic will finalize his or her preparations to depart this life. All small debts will be cleared, if possible. Arrangements for larger debts will made, and Stoic will ensure that all legal obligations and burdens are taken care of, such as the updates to will, testaments, insurances, funeral plans etc.

This is also the time to recognize, honour and celebrate the friendships and relationships that he or she may have. Holiday gatherings, celebrations and the preparation of gifts of gratitude are already part of many cultures' routines for this time of year. The Stoic is glad to participate with them, and understands the depth of meaning that these occasions can hold.

The grand fire, a feature of so many pagan and neo-pagan winter solstice practices, is for the Stoic the funeral pyre, the symbol of the final peaceful release. The Stoic does not, however, call into being the new sun, through sympathetic magic or other rite or ritual. The rising and setting of the sun, and indeed all universal cycles, are part of the logos, the perfect natural symphonic rhythm of which we all are but a single line of  melody.

Should the cycle restart the next day, then the Stoic has cause to celebrate their rebirth. Since all arrangements are already made for their departure, it is with complete freedom that the Stoic is able to join in festivities and joyous gatherings, as in days of old. This is also a time for reflection on the value of his or her life, and the contributions that can be made in the coming year.

With the coming of the new year, and the return to the regular routines of life, the Stoic is prepared to make new commitments, renewing responsibilities from the past year if there is work still to be done. Bearing in mind that all plans are tentative at best (which is seen the practice of Reservation that receives special recognition at the February Cross-Quarter), the Stoic begins the new year with solemn commitments to improve his or her life, and to make real positive change in the world.

Towards a Stoic Methodology

Recently, my daughter interviewed me as part of a university project. In it we discussed Stoicism in some detail. She asked me to define Stoicism, and after some round about discussion, I finally came down to this. Stoicism is a Methodology, a WAY to live, not necessarily a set of rules for living. It is all based on 'living according to nature'. First, we must understand what nature is, what OUR nature is, what ALL nature is, then live to the best of our ability according to that knowledge. Stoicism is, in effect, a rational life style that is an extension of scientific discovery. It is life, lived in the best way that we can, in the most rational way we are capable of.

Between Ancient and Dead

Pam and I have been struggling, wrestling even with our search for  Rule of Life that would be rational, compassionate, and fulfilling. Most revealed religions were passed by, not because of their tenets or life-styles, but by the appeal to the supernatural to fill the gaps. Organized atheism and secular humanism spent most of their time focused on religion as well, strangely enough. So when we stumbled upon Stoicism about a decade ago, we though this just might be 'it'. Rational (check) as far as rationality could go. Even the most disruptive emotions were explained by bad judgments. Compassionate (check) because we are all one, each of connected to each other and to the universe itself in a chain of unbroken relationships. And fulfilling (double check) due to some of the most uplifting and beautiful reflections of reality we have ever come across.

Recent events in some Stoic online groups have left the idea of a virtual community in question. The real issue though is the continuing perception that because of the fragmentary nature of the record, the distance in time, place and culture, and more recent theories about optimal human function mean that the Stoic path is not a viable one. Leaving aside the incessant grinding of minutiae on the International Stoic Forum, there is some validity to these concerns.

But here is the reality. Stoicism isn't a religion, with the need for plenary innerancy in it's supporting documents. Nor does it require flawless saints and leaders to shepherd the hapless flock. It is a series of documents, letters, journals, student notes, with common themes. That we can live our lives rationally, without fear or apprehension, without debilitating grief or guilt, and with joy and optimism. That we can love and give with great compassion, because it is what we do that matters, not whether some other deserves eternal punishment for abrogating some minute religious law, and that each day is an opportunity to challenge the 'that is the way it has always been' as well as the vicissitudes of fate. That we can be fulfilled, mindful of the present blessings, understanding beauty and goodness, feeling life all around us, and being grateful for the moment.

This is was Stoicism has offered us. This is living philosophy, and a philosophy of life. While it is ancient, it is also growing, and changing, and making lives meaningful today.

Stoic Poetry

As you may (or may not know, and may or may not care) I am an amateur poet (some would consider me a rank amateur). I recently came across a truly horrible little book, where the author had attempted to convert passages of Marcus Aurelius into verse. Of course, I immediately decided to join him (well, not immediately). While reading Seneca (Loeb edition - R. Gummere trans.), I came across a passage that had a very poetic feel to it. So, of course, since I am not one to leave well enough alone, I have expressed the passage in Sonnet (modified Petrarchan, if anyone cares).

What follows is the passage then the poem.

"And so we should love all of our dear ones, both those whom, by the condition of birth, we hope will survive us, and those whose own most just prayer is to pass on before us, but always with the thought that we have no promise that we may keep them forever -nay, no promise even that we may keep them for long. Often must the heart be reminded - it must remember that loved objects will surely leave, nay,  are already leaving. Take whatever Fortune gives, remembering that it has no voucher. Snatch the pleasures your children bring, let your children, in turn, find delight in you, and drain joy to the dregs without delay; no promise has been given you for this night - nay, I have offered too long a respite! - no promise has been given even for this hour."

SENECA: TO MARCIA ON CONSOLATION, x. 3, 4

Fortune's Gifts

So we should love those dearest to our heart,
Both young and old, whose lives we would prolong.
No hope have we that we will never part, 

None even that we keep them very long.

How often must the heart reminded be
that those we love will surely someday leave?
They are already leaving, don't you see?
For Fortune’s gifts no voucher we receive.

So drain the cup of joy without delay,
No promise has been given for this night.
Nay, I have offered too long a respite!
No promise has been given for this day!

Snatch now the pleasures that your children bring
That through delight in you their hearts can sing!

We ARE All Connected

I was studying for the Sellars questionaire (section 3 on Physics). To deepen it, I have also been reading to White (Cambridge Companion to the Stoics) and Sandback (The Stoics). I was reading the sections on tensions (hexis, phusism, psuche) as well as those on the classical elements (fire, water, earth and air). There was some talk of the creative fire, the great conflagration, the 'not-something' status of surfaces and the Stoic theory of interconnectedness and harmony of the cosmos.

As I tried to combine these ideas into a single, unified system in my mind, I was reminded of images I have seen describing the electro-magnetic spectrum, a wide stripe of multiple shades and colours, strecthed out in a linear pattern.

Think of Stoic tonos as tensions (more easily visualized as concentrations) of the 'stuff' of the cosmos, and then plot the increasing tension on a similar stripe, like the bands of frequencies in the EM Spectrum. The very top of the scale would represent the complete attenuation of the cosmos into pure logos or pneuma, as described during the great conflagration. This is the universe at its most basic energy, as super-strings or even the energy that strings are composed of, and occupying the greatest volume (reminiscent of the theories regarding the ever increasingly fast expansion of the universe). The very bottom of the scale, the Stoic passive princple, is the singularity that exists before the moment of creation, the ultimate concentration of all cosmos at the beginning of the big bang, occupying the least possible volume, possibly even to the level of the Dirac constant. Stretched along the continuum between these two points in a widening stream (to reflect the overall increase of volume), from bottom to top, are hexis, phusis, psuche, even logike psuche as regions or overlapping bands along the continum, where the fabric of the universe is concentrated at different tensions. Even within hexis, we can place the four basics states of matter, solid [elemental earth], liquid [elemental water], gas [elemental air], and plasma [elemental fire]. These are not absolutes (as the ancient Greeks believed) but points again along a continuum. The various combinations of concentrations through the cosmos give us the myriads of materials and forces that constitute our cosmos.

Given the Stoic rejection of the corporeality of surfaces, and the subsequent research into subatomic particle, we are litterally merely thicker parts of the cosmos, swiming in a soup of matter. In my minds eye the entire universe looks like pointillist or impressionistic paintings, perhaps as envisioned by Van Gogh, Monet and Degas.

Now I am not trying to say that the Stoics foresaw all of this, but rather that their cosmology, their physics, on which their ethics are based, can be modernized without sacrificing much of the ethics that stand on it. We can still live a rational, ethical life, and live according to nature, using the most up to date science, much like the Stoics did in their day.

There is work and then there is work

I have been wondering lately what it is that I am working at. I have my job of course, which is vitally important to our survival. It provides the resources that support our life and lifestyle. And to do so, it requires my attention and effort. So work is, well, work, a job, a series of consecutive tasks.

But then there is my work. What am I all about? What, besides merely struggling to stay alive, is my work. The Stoics were big fans of differentiating between those things that all animals do, and what sets us apart as a species. The fact of working to feed, shelter and clothe myself and my family doesn't really separate me from the cats, etc. They do the same.

Now the Stoics believe that two things made us distinct from other animals. We are able to reason at higher levels. We are also able to act virtuously to protect and provide for the entire species, to go beyond the family or tribe, and make global differences.

If we are able to combine the two types of work, that which causes us to survive at an individual level, and that which enhances the species, we are well placed. In some small way, most of us do qualify for that, if you follow the rabbit down the hole far enough. But for myself, I know that I want my impact, my contribution to society and the species, to be direct. I want to know that something I have done has made a concrete contribution.

But the brutal truth of it is, that I am just one fairly average man (given the context I am in) so I really can't expect to set the world afire. Perhaps that is why I try to find smaller ponds, in which I can act as a bigger fish, not in the predatory sense, but as a contributor. If I can make a bigger difference in a smaller group, will that satisfy my ego?

Perhaps that is all that it is. Ego, a desire for self-aggrandizement, to be a legend in my own time. Is it because I want to KNOW that I am important, that I need for the people around me to tell me that I matter? Maybe it is because I know that I am merely one of over 6 billion people, a small cog in a massive machine. And the machine grinds on into eternity, occasionally throwing up one of it's parts as a peak of achievement. But as Marcus says, when we are dead we are forgotten by the vast majority of people, and soon even those who remember us are dead and forgotten as well. And not long after that, cosmically speaking, even the energy and particles that made up our existence have been recycled to make other creatures and people and plants. We are litterally dust in the wind.

But that is the point. The thing we must, I must, understand. It is foolish and irrational to wish that I am other than I am. I am a cog in a six billion piece machine. I am going to die, and within a few hundred years, I will be completely forgotten. My ego rails against this, screams for fame and immortality. But my rational mind looks on. If I am to be a cog, I will be the best damned cog I can be. I will do the work that falls within my reach to the best of my ability. I will strive to be human. And that is my real work.

Getting Myself Committed

Confirmation comes in strange clothes. This blog is about my personal journey, and so the only ones I expected to have any real interest are my friends and family. Imagine my surprise when I received a comment from a new contributor to yesterday's blog. The comments were positive, encouraging and served to confirm my resolve to resolve to commit.

The idea of having commitment as my personal theme for 2010 really only coalesced at the end of yesterday's blog. I think that validates the psychological practice of 'talking it out.' So if 2009 was the 'Year of Change,' which had the result of not changing a damned thing, then 2010, as the 'Year of Commitment,' is going to change everything. As a Stoic, I just love paradoxes.

So here are the things that I am doing right now, that I am going to keep doing throughout the year.

1. I am currently working on the DP, and will complete it by year's end.
2. I have already started the Olympian Oracle, to prepare it for publication. That is also to be done by year's end.
3. Complete the Oak Leaves submissions on time for the balance of the year. I have to get to work on this one, as the blue line for the Spring issue is due in a few days.
4. I have made some significant progress on the Stoic Studies program with Erik at the College. I am going to complete this, which shouldn't take more the 4 - 5 months. Afterwards, I am going to continue working through the yet to be developed Stoic Mentorship program.
5. Pam and I have decided to work our way through some personal Stoic studies. We will start the year off with Keith's Stoic Serenity course, and when that is complete, work on William's Guide to the Good Life. This may not take us to the end of the year, but some other course may come up in the meantime to flesh it out. The point is that we study, deeply, together.
6. Words of the Ancient Wise. Everyday, alone or together.
7. This Blog, 3 times/week minimum. I have already experience of the power of writing, beyond mere catharsis.
8. Renovations to the upstairs of the house. With the holidays over, there are simply no excuses for not finishing what we started.
9. Health. This one is a bit of a stretch, but I might just try to shoehorn it in. The car broke down this week (New Year's Eve) and we decided to go car-less, for the time being at least. This means more walking (a lot more!). I am also going to be taking the bus to and from work. The extension of more activity in my life seems to be reasonable though. Wii on nights when we have no-where to go, and walking to places where there are things to do.

So these are the nine things I have committed to continue. None of them introduce new intentions or practices, none are strictly speaking, new. The list even breaks down nicely into Spirit (1-3 in green are focussed around the ADF), Mind (4-6 in blue are all about Stoic Studies) and Body (7-9 in red). The last is also easy enough to figure out, with the physical/emotional action of writing, the labour of renovations, and the obvious health focus.

Not too much. Not too little. So I am committed to the Nine through the end of Ten.

To Exist or to Subsist, that is the question

In a recent post on the Words of the Ancient Wise blog (shameless plug) one of the participants asked Pam and I a rather deep question. Specifically regarding the nature and reality of Diety. If I may paraphrase the question: "Are the ancient Gods 'real', that is, do they exist independently of us? Or do they subsist, existing in reality as a result of our belief in them?" There are several other possibilities that are not mentioned here, and to be fair, I will bring them up first. In addition to the two mentioned above are, they do NOT exist, but are products of our imagination, they do NOT exist, and are labels we apply to the unknown. However, to get to the answer right away, I believe that while we have interrelated positions in this Cosmos, the Gods exist independently of our  beliefs and existence, and that, hereticaly, we exist independent of theirs.

I am going to wax slightly philosophic before directly responding to the question. The question of subjective and objective reality comes into play with these thoughts. To answer this I will refer back the the founder of Stoicism himself, Zeno. Zeno began by asserting the existence of the real world. "What do you mean by real?" asked the Sceptic.

"I mean solid and material. I mean that this table is solid matter." "And God," said the Sceptic, "and the soul? Are they solid matter?"

"Perfectly solid," says Zeno; "more solid, if anything, than the table."

So in short, if the Gods exist, they must do so in a real way, that is, in a way that is allowed for in our cosmology. A God "everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker, and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible" must by necessity reside beyond our universe.

So how do we know that the Gods are real? For me it is the same way that I know justice is real, that love is real, that hope is real. Some may argue that these are 'just concepts' and not real like the table. For purposes of definition, real is something that has real impact on an individual (back to the subjective/objective tension). A table is real, in that it impacts the mind through the sense. Justice, and injustice, impact us in the same way, by providing data through the senses to the mind.

How are the Gods like this? It can be feelings,  but as Scrooge has famously been quoted to say, these might be an 'undigested bit of meat.' More often, in my case, it is the accumulations of a myriad of impressions, insights, intuitions, coincidences and yes, feelings.

Our purpose, and that of the Gods, overlap to a degree. In a real way, we are partners in a particular project. That project is to support and maintain Phusis, life and the possibility of life, in what ever form it may come in. It is to support the natural cycles, processes and changes in the Cosmos that basically keep this delicate balance of Logos and Chaos going.

[Someone I am close to had asked for a sign that they weren't crazy to consider following a particular God, moments later were called out to witness the circling of six golden eagles around the full moon in mid-morning (I was a personal witness to this). Possibly meaningless coincidence, but uncanny when considering the traditional meanings of six, the importance of that bird in relation to the God in question, and the significance of the full moon in relation to the position they felt they were being called to. It was a pretty clear response.]

Crossing the Streams

I HAVE been posting some essays on the ADF lists lately, related to Stoicism, and I was gently prompted by a dear friend to think about my blog again. So I am going to go and dig through the posts and bring them up here.

Pam and I are still posting our comments to the Words of the Ancient Wise blog. I am so glad we started that this year. So much cause for deep thought and conversation. I love that I can talk to her about the important, philosophical parts of life. My impression is that this is a rare gift, and that most couples only deal in deepness when there is a crisis. So this is what being blessed feels like.

The Prayer of the Stoic

In a follow up post, Peter described my response as a Prayer. Inspired by that, I have adjusted the post to be read as such, to accompany my morning prayers.

By my faith in logos, my trust in phusis and my hope of eudaimonia, may I gain the courage to face the world and its visicitudes.

Through acting virtuously, towards virtuous ends, for virtue's sake, may I be granted the serenity of knowing that I am in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.

As I subject appearances to hesitation, acts to reservation, and practice to examination, may I receive the wisdom upon which to build my days.

Finding my core

I seem to have lost my way. My OC personality once again focussed too strongly on the trappings of my life, without due consideration for the content. I had forgotten that ADF serves as framework, the language, for my life style, and that the core of it is Stoicism. I wrote the following in and email this morning, trying to explain what Stoicism meant to me, to a self proclaimed Cynic:

---

Peter: ...When we take on, or attempt to take on this mantle of Stoicism... we are [placing ourselves] 'up there' with the all-time greats: Pythagoras, Socrates, Epictetus, Jesus, Buddha, and the like--no? It's not a very long list: but have we got what it takes to join it? If we haven't then our Stoicism is a waste of time--we're living a make-believe Stoicism, a substitute Stoicism, a second-best Stoicism. But then don't they say you shouldn't give up, doesn't Epictetus say it, you should not give up just because there islittle chance of attaining the highest. ...So a qualified Stoicism is better than none?... Where's the optimistic voices in this group?

Me: Here is your optimistic (and resounding) YES! Even the path to
becoming a Sage (whoever, where ever, whatever that is) is strewn with
diamonds.

By my faith in logos, my trust in phusis and my hope of eudaimon, I
have the courage to face the world and its visicitudes.

Through acting virtuously, towards virtuous ends, for virtue's sake, I
am daily granted the serenity of knowing that I am in the right place,
at the right time, doing the right thing.

In my efforts to subject appearances to assent, acts to reservation,
and practice to examination, I daily receive the wisdom upon which I
build my days.

I may not be a 'true' Stoic (I do not believe that enough of their
teachings survive to know) but I am grateful for the joy I experience
daily through these teachings.

And that is enough (and ideed all we can expect).

---
And for me, it is enough. It truly is Stoicism that is the core of my life. I need to remember that. Always

June 7th

Interesting, if full, weekend.

On a spiritual front, we had our dedicants meeting today. 2 things struck me. Lee's comment that the well and the water from it cleanse us all. It washed us inside and out like the rivers in our shrine dedication. She mentioned tears as an example.

Farrell explained that the fire, or pure energy, are represented in the Gods, who are also the embodiement of perfection towards which we reach. Like the path to virtue, it reminded me of the Stoic method of living.

June 4, 2009

 It has been a difficult morning. I am trying to remain Stoic about it, but it is really difficult.

I have to start on the Meditation portion of my DP. So far, I see it as two fold. The Oracle Meditation, and the Virtues Meditation. I will be adding the Nature Meditation in due time.

For the Oracle Meditation, I figure that if i spend 1 week on each of the Greek Alphabet Oracle letters, and one week on each of the Major arcana in the Tarot, this gives me 49 weekly Meditations. I could do something like the visualizing exercise I once did for the Fool. It was quite moving. Trying that with the Greek Alphabet Orcale will be interesting. Is there a story I can use to tie them all together?

The second method will be the Virtues Meditation. I have about 11 months to complete this. If I spend the balance of June writing the introductory meditation (maybe 500 words). Then implement it in July while I re-write the Industry Meditation to better include the character stregths and the Stoics into the meditation.

Using this system, I could complete the entire series in a year, perhaps even publish it as a book through Lulu. With all of the footnotes, and an introduction. With worksheets in the back. Virtues based, not salesman based like the Greatest Salesman in the World.

Ok, on to the letter meditation. Start at the temple at Delphi. Good place to start meditation.

One Small Step...

Ok, I got the first chapter synopsis done for the College. I am running a little behind, so I have moved some dates around. I have just started reviewing my comments on Chapter 2, and have added some notes. I would like to get the analysis done for today.

CS01.01

Bought the first book (Stoicism by Sellars) last night. Actually bought what may be the only copy in Ottawa (according to the Chapters website!).

CS01

Assignment 1

Read Stoicism by John Sellars and summarize key facts or concepts that you have gleaned from your reading that you have found most useful for you to remember: the Arrian Exercise (AE). No minimum or maximum length.

Due Date: Aug 31, 2008 (self imposed)

Cyberstoicism - Is there a Doctor in the house?

Physician Heal Thyself. Famous phrase, broad applications. For me it leads to a simple restatement. Philosopher, Know Thyself.

Along with our membership to the ADF, I have also come across an site that seems to be spearheading the reincarnation of an the old pagan religion and philosophical system. The Cyberstoics have also started a study program, and so as I continue to evolve, I am following this path as well. As part of the college we are give 9 assignments. I will be blogging my daily responses here as well.