The veiled treasure . . .

Tuesday, July 15, 2025. It's Tiw's day . . . Easy Southerlies bring a warm Summer day to TulseyTown. Low 90's, a few afternoon clouds, and indices near 100º.

Arts and ideas are often threats perceived by a current Weltanschauung.

The same ancient psychology that once scaled up human cooperation now risks tearing our world apart, according to Oxford University anthropologist Harvey Whitehouse writing for The Institute of Art and Idea (online). 10 July 2025.

Dates:

Microbiologist Thomas Francis Jr. was born on this day in 1900 Gas City, Indiana. He xpanded the knowledge of viral vaccines, among them the flu vaccine, and designed research that led to Salk's polio vaccine,

Mythologist Thomas Bulfinch was born today in 1796 Newton, Massachusetts.

And it's the birth date of philosopher and novelist Dame Iris Murdoch. She was born in 1919 Dublin.

Today is the day in 1836 that transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered the Commencement Address to the Harvard Divinity School. Emerson had grown very critical of the then current practice of Christianity, which he made clear in his address. Harvard didn't invite him back for 30 years. Harvard eventually forgave him, awarding him an honorary LL.D. degree and electing him to the Board of Overseers in 1866. In 1870, he was invited to give a series of lectures on philosophy.

Harvard has a history of occasional narrow mindedness, in addition to Emerson. Richard Alpert, who would become Ram Dass, and Timothy Leary – researching the curative effects of psychoactive stubstances – had their tenures revoked and were fired in 1968. As of 2025 Harvard has resurrected research in the field which is now led by Johns Hopkins University.

Seeing is believing because we believe first, then see.

You are the treasure

and the veil hiding it.

— Rumi, in Water:Rumi, transl by Haleh Lza Gafori, New York Review Books, 2025