"Getting The Spirit" by Vernon Abner, Thoughts About An Interesting Little Book

The author "Getting The Sprit", Vernon Abner was a former US Navy sailor who was born in 1937 presumably in Jackson County Kentucky where he spent most of his life. After leaving the US Navy, he entered Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, as a nontraditional student at the age of about 36. During his time at Berea, he took at least one class from my friend Bill Best whose work I have written about several times on this blog. During his career at Berea, Bill Best encouraged many hopeful Appalachian writers and Vernon Abner was one of those. Bill Best actually wrote the preface to this book which was the only published work, to my knowledge, by Vernon Abner. This book was illustrated by Jon Howson with wonderful black and white drawings including the cover which is a portrait of Vernon Abner. Bill Best concluded his preface with these words: "The other students remember him as being "real", as someone who "understood his own life. He helped create in them a desire to understand their own lives more deeply. Those who take seriously this collection of his story will understand." In an essay on the back cover of the book, Carl and Sally Glover wrote "As you read this collection, we hope you celebrate Vernon Abner's humor and wit, feel his sorrow and depression, and share in his love and appreciation for all living beings. We trust that your venture into Vernon Abner's world will reward you for your time and effort." I am unable at this time to verify my belief that the Glovers were the owners of Kentucke Imprints which was the publisher of this book and is now defunct. "Getting The Spirit" was published in 1985, just 4 years before Vernon Abner's death. It is my understanding that this book was his only published work. The book is broken into three sections: Fiction, Poetry, and Philosophy. The Fiction section is composed of six short stories which are clearly Appalachian in nature. They are replete with examples of Appalachian aphorisms, cultural qualities, and demonstrate a writer who clearly knew the lifestyle of Appalachians quite intimately and effectively. I cannot say that these are great short stories. But I must insist that I enjoyed them a great deal and would gladly defend them as good examples of short fiction based on Appalachian mores and cultural values. They are at time riotously funny. They contain two central figures, teenage males and neighbors who love to play practical jokes on those around them. The title story is about the boys decision to place a hornet nest under the floor boards of a home where a local preacher is holding a service with the entire neighborhood in attendance with the nest situated in such a way that the hornets are able to invade the church service. Without using direct quotations from the story, rest assured that it is quite funny. For those of you with little direct experience in the Appalachia of the period in which Vernon Abner grew up in the 1940's and 1950's, such home based church services were common and I have attended many in my own childhood. This story is a fine reminescence of life in an Appalachia which is now almost entirely lost. The third story, "Did The Fleas Get To College?" is a rendition of another practical joke which is played on a visiting nurse who travels by horseback. It involves the use of a large number of aggressive fleas which the boys have managed to capture from some hogs which one of their fathers has bought and brought home. It is not quite as funny as "Getting The Spirit" but it is well worth reading. The other stories in the book are not at the same level of writing and humor as the two I have discussed but collectively the group of stories in the book make we wish that Vernon Abner had lived long enough to polish his demonstrated talent, produce more and larger books, and become the writer which his potential could have produced. The Poetry section is composed of three poems which are not at the same level of work as the short stories. The final section of the book, labled Philosophy, contains nineteen short essays of about a page each, perhaps averaging 500 to 750 words each. They discuss a variety of common subjects from everyday life in an interesting, but less than perfect, manner. It is regretable that Vernon Abner had not been able to produce a more lengthy book composed entirely of his short stories. He had obviously been compelled to live a life which required time in the US Navy before his college days, the need to earn his daily bread after arriving at adulthood in one of the more poverty stricken counties in all of Appalachia. Like many native Appalachians, he was born with a sizeable amount of talent and intelligence, a prodigous sense of humor, and a desire to share his world with the greagt world outside. It is a shame that life is sometimes not exactly fair.

Requiem For A Mentor: George M. "Mac" Luckey

 

I learned on Friday, September 18, 2020, that Dr. George McFarland "Mac" Luckey had died the previous Tuesday, September 15, 2020, at the age of 85 at his home in Morehead, Kentucky. He had been born on March 21, 1935, in Paris, Tennessee, where he grew up in the family hardware store. Mac, as he was known by everyone who knew him was the retired Director of the Morehead State University Academic Honors Program which had previously been eponymously named in his honor as The George M. Luckey Academic Honors Program. He had been employed by Morehead State since 1961and had been the director of the honors program from 1990 until his retirement in 2004. Mac had also served for many years as a professor of philosophy and chairman of the philosophy department at Morehead.  Mac was many things, a brilliant and compassionate professor, a loyal supporter of the university across many areas, a nationally respected professor of philosophy and an equally respected expert on academic honors programs and their administration.  After his retirement, he and his beloved wife Sue Luckey wrote a textbook entitled College Portfolio for Success, a textbook for freshman seminars.  It is truly a shame that Mac did not write and publish more books in a variety of areas including philosophy, education, and honors education in particular.  He was a genuinely brilliant man, yet he was also very low key and humble in his interactions with everyone he met.  Mac and Sue married after they met at Morehead and had no children. But because of their devotion to their academic careers and their students, Mac is mourned by hundreds of those who took his courses, completed the Academic Honors Program, or simply knew him as a person who helped them in other ways.  He literally spent his life making the world a better place, both through his own work, and through the works of hundreds of people he influenced in his 85 years.  

I entered Morehead State University as a non-traditional freshman student in the fall of 1995 at the age of 44.  In my first semester on campus, I was selected to carry the Olympic Torch in 1996, was elected as the incoming president of the campus non-traditional students' organization, and managed to achieve a perfect 4.0 on my grade sheet.  As a result, I received a letter from Mac inviting me to interview for the Academic Honors Program just as did every other  freshman who was not already a member of the program and who had achieved a first semester 4.0.  Unlike nearly every other non-traditional student, I set up an interview with Mac and actually attended it.  As a result, I was admitted to the Academic Honors Program beginning in the fall semester of my sophomore year.  Despite the fact that I was involved rather heavily in the non-traditional students' organization as an officer, I realized rather quickly that I was much more at home in the company of the students and professors in the honors program which required the completion of four required courses and two seminars for successful completion.  The courses were sequential and Mac always taught Honors 101 which was focused on Greek and Roman philosophy and literature.  The other students in the program were about 19 or 20 in average age and I was old enough to be their father.  But in that program, both from the students and professors, I was always treated as just another student in the program and it was the best thing that happened to me in my five years at Morehead.  Classes in the program were taught in what was nearly always a seminar style and open, active, vibrant discussion was encouraged.  It was a "no holds barred" kind of education among a group of students most of whom had come to college after spending 12 years in public education at the top of their classes.  Many, if not most, of the students were on full scholarships and would attend some form of graduate school.  Many of those I knew are now doctors, lawyers, professors, and scientists.  It was not education for the timid.  I was working 40 hours a week in Lexington, Kentucky, as a second shift detox counselor at the Hope Center, carrying a full academic load including one honors course each semester, living in West Liberty, Kentucky, and driving a thousand miles a week.  Somehow I survived and completed both my degree in social work as the outstanding student in that department and also completed the academic honors program.  But it took me five years to do that.  I never asked for special consideration in the program and none would have been given.  I repeat that it was the best thing that happened to me at Morehead State University.  

I got to know Mac Luckey quite well as a student in the program and actually delivered 4 papers at Kentucky Academic Honors Round Tables, 2 papers at Southern Regional Honors Council Conferences, and 1 paper at the National Honors Council Conference.  And this was not exceptional work in the program.  Nearly every student in the program did as much and often more.  The year I participated in the National Honors Council Conference 16 students and professors at Morehead State participated.  The program prepared me for nearly every other future success I have achieved in the 20 years since I graduated.  I might have achieved as much without having been a member of that program but it would not have been nearly as easy without the preparation the program, Mac, the other professors, and the students of the program gave me for both graduate school and life.  

 The last time I saw Mac Luckey, I bumped into him and Sue at Wal Mart in Morehead and found Mac sitting in a bench at the front of the store waiting for Sue to check out.  I stopped to talk to him and learned that he was fighting the rare disease which would eventually bring about his death.  He was not all morbid, sad, or self-piteous  in our conversation.  He was taking just as he had taken everything in his life, head on, fearlessly, and with no holds barred.  We had a good conversation and I knew as I left Mac that day that it might well be the last time I ever saw him.  But I was not sad.  I felt blessed, just as I always had been, to know that I had been given a few more minutes in the company of Mac Luckey.    

"The Abolition Of Man" by C. S. Lewis--Book Review

After having spent more than a week remaining at home, avoiding face to face contacts with anyone other than my FedEx man this morning, I am tired of thinking about the Corona Virus pandemic, the possibility of becoming randomly infected, and the possibility of dying from a virus

which has been poorly, treasonously, and inadequately dealt with by the TRAITOR who illegally occupies the White House based on his TREASON with Russia, I was ready for a break.  I decided a few days ago to read a book by C. S. Lewis which I had not remembered ever being aware of, "The Abolition Of Man". Most of you probably remember Lewis as having the author of "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Space Trilogy" which are some of the best and best known writing in the field of science fiction and fantasy.  But Lewis was a prolific writer in the fields of philosophy and theology and he is considered to be a major thinker in the area of christian apologetics. His book of essays, "Mere Christianity" is considered to be a classic in the field of christian apologetics just as "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Space Trilogy" are classics in their field of fantasy and science fiction. But this book, "The Abolition Of Man" is not in either of those areas.  The official C. S. Lewis website to which I have provided the link above files this book under the heading "Literary Criticism".  I would not necessarily agree with that label and think of the book as being much more appropriately placed in the field of educational philosophy.  Another anonymous writer has said that the book is "...a starting point for a defense of objective value and natural law as well as a warning of the consequences of doing away with or "debunking" those things. It defends science as something worth pursuing but criticizes using it to debunk values, the value of science itself being among them, or defining it to exclude such values."  In all honesty, after reading it, I have to say that I'll be damned if I'm sure exactly what it is other than educational philosophy.  I am not a philosopher or a student of philosophy.  Like most other American undergraduate students, I suffered through "Introduction To Philosphy" because it was a requirement of my university.  But I also read a lot of other philosophy during that undergraduate program because I was a member of the Morehead State University Academic Honors Program which was chaired at that time by Dr. George M. "Mac" Luckey who had also served for a few years as the chairman of the philosophy department.  The program, at least during Mac's tenure as its chair was strongly based in philosophy and literature.  Six courses comprised the program and were restricted to attendance by only members of the program who were competitively admitted based on academic qualifications.  Those courses began with a course which was based in the Greek and Roman classics including the  works of Plato and three other courses followed which took us through the other major periods of greater philosophical and literary progress in the world.  Those four courses were also accompanied by two seminars which varied from year to year in both subject matter and professors. The one which impressed me most was based in scientific progress including the works of Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking.  But none of those courses and none of the philosophical content I read, understood at the time well enough to receive an "A", and tried desperately to absorb was enough to make me want to change my major to philosophy.  Neither did this book, "The Abolition Of Man" by C. S. Lewis.  Maybe I am just getting old, but this was a very boring little book to read.  But I have enough respect for C. S. Lewis and his other works to still come away willing to bore my readers on this blog with my discussion of the experience.  

The book contains three chapters or essays and is only fifty-eight pages long.  But it was still more than I was looking for when I paid a former part employee fifty cents for it along a pile of other books at the same price all of which I am convinced will excite me more.  But I do not want to leave my readers with the impression that I do not respect C. S. Lewis and his works.  He was a close friend of J. R. R. Tolkein of "Lord Of The Rings" fame and the two of them were key members of the famous group of friends known as "The Inklings".  The two of them were the two best known members and most prolific writers among this group which also included the writer Owen Barfield who was also quite prolific by ordinary standards.  The group was composed of at least fifteen members, all associated with Oxford University, over the years and always met weekly at an Oxford pub named The Eagle And Child but known around London at The Bird And Baby.  I have often wished I could have been a fly on the wall at one of their meetings to hear what future great literature they were discussing.  But I repeat I am not a philosopher.  

And that last preceding sentence is interesting since just last night I told my cousin, more like a brother, Jack Terry, that the three greatest influences on my writing and thinking in academic world were all philosphers, Robert "Bob" Snyder, P. J. Laska, and Mac Luckey.  But none of them was capable of making a philosopher of me and I suspect that all three often attempted to remodel other sow's ears into silk purses.  If you have already read "The Chronicles Of Narnia", "The Space Trilogy", and "Mere Christianity" and want to tackle a rarely read book by C. S. Lewis, this is the one for you and I hope you are able to find a copy as cheaply as I did.  I suppose I must have gotten my half dollar out of it since it did motivate me to write another blog post. 

Blaise Pascal, A Multifaceted Genius

Recently, I dug out some old floppy discs which I had used twenty or more years ago and used a USB floppy drive to read them and see if there was anything I wanted to salvage from them.  I found this academic paper I had written years ago about Blaise Pascal, one of the most fascinating humans to ever walk the face of the earth.  Some of you, if you are well read, mathematicians, gamblers, philosophers, or thinking religionists you might have heard of him.  Most of you will not have heard of him.  But he is one of the most important people in the early history of several different disciplines: mathematics, philosophy, game theory, decision theory, and an area of religious philosophy known as Christian apologetics.  Here is that rather short paper I wrote about him a long time ago.  I hope at least one of you enjoys it.  

Let me warn you that this did not translate well from a floppy disc to this blog format but it is easily readable in spite of the software issue.  I might have even written this on a Brother Word Processor which would explain the issue.  I hope it doesn't make it too difficult for those of you who chose to read it to gain something from it.  Let me also suggest that you go to a good library and read a copy of his book "Pensees".  

************************************************************************************

To: Whom It May Concern:

 

Re: An Examination Of The Ideas Of Blaise Pascal

 

Dear Sir or Madam:

 

I extend to you the opportunity to join me in both enjoying and questioning the attached work.  It is both interesting and risky.  Very rarely is it wise to postulate a piece of work from a viewpoint that quotes freely from the Bible.  I took a calculated risk in writing this piece from this position.  I am undecided about the success of the endeavor.  I suspect that it would be lauded by most Christians and indicted by most non-believers.  The quality of the writing is generally good.  However, as frequently happens with Biblically based argument, it seems to appear stilted and unnatural.  It is questionable to attack the work of one well-known Christian thinker by using the text on which he based his life.  The argumentation seems to tail off near the conclusion.  It may perhaps have not been sufficiently supported by academic research outside the Bible.  However, it is also a genuine academic effort to study the Bible.  The attempt to utilize the Pascal quote to formulate a thesis that questioned the writer’s commitment to the spiritual experience may have been an intellectual parlor trick of sorts.  Like the entire thesis of the paper this is risky business.  It is impossible for any author to adequately judge his own work.  I leave that task in your hands.  Read.  Enjoy.

Roger D. Hicks

 

 

Roger D. Hicks

AN EXAMINATION OF THE IDEAS OF BLAISE PASCAL

“It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason.”  Blaise Pascal

            Blaise Pascal, son of a French tax collector, lived from 1623 to 1662.  In his remarkably short life of thirty-nine years, he managed to affect three disciplines, mathematics, theology, and philosophy, in ways, which are still felt and discussed more than three hundred years later.  Pascal did groundbreaking work on conic sections, invented a mechanical calculator and the syringe, and his “Pensees” made him an icon to the school of existentialist philosophy.  This paper will examine the influence of some of the ideas contained in the “Pensees” and Pascal’s resultant influence on the worlds of philosophy and religion.

            Pascal became a converted Christian in November 1654 and began to spend time at the Jansenist monastery, Port Royal des Champs.  The monastery was a center for the spread of Jansenism, a branch of Catholicism founded by Cornelis Jansen.  Jansenism numbered among its adherents the artists Nicholas Poussin and Phillipe de Champaigne, and the eminently powerful Cardinal Richelieu.  After his conversion, Pascal began to publish anonymous religious writings in defense of Jansenism. 

            “Pascal’s most famous work in philosophy is ‘Pensees’, a collection of personal thoughts on human suffering and faith in God which he began in late 1656 and continued to work on during 1657 and 1658.  This work contains ‘Pascal’s Wager’ which claims to prove that belief in God is rational with the following argument.

If God does not exist, one will lose nothing by believing in him, while if he does exist, one will lose everything by not believing.[1]

            This statement has been bandied through arguments and across pulpits worldwide.  The statement is at the heart of Pascal’s philosophy.  In fact, it is at the heart of all modern existentialism.  ‘Pascal’s wager’ has been the cornerstone on which thousands of men and women have built deep religious beliefs.

            Dr. A. J. Krailsheimer, in his introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of “Pensees”, writes: “The ‘Pensees’ are a …direct attempt to communicate to others what had been vouchsafed to him.”[2]  This ‘direct attempt’ can be seen as Pascal’s personal form of evangelism.  Pascal had become a Christian by virtue of a cathartic experience.  Marc Escholier writes in “Port Royal The Drama of The Jansenists” that:

“For the first time, Pascal rebelled against the reason that could show him the straight path but could not open it to him; the false God he had adored was nothingness.  It nevertheless remained within him, separating his heart from the superhuman world for which he had been created.  ‘Humble yourself, powerless reason; be silent imbecile nature; learn that man is infinitely higher than man and listen to your master.  Hear God!’  The scientists fell to his knees; he humbled his talents.”[3]

However, the mathematician in the man required that he formulate and promulgate his ‘wager’.  Pascal used his intellectual abilities to justify the cathartic experience of his conversion.  In spite of his deeply held religious convictions, he could not simply expose those convictions to the world of his intellectual peers.  Pascal could voice, but not fully accept the truth of the quote from the “Pensees” which is used to head this paper: “It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason.”

This flaw in the Christianity that Pascal practiced may be contrasted with that practiced by an earlier and equally intellectual man who benefited from a cathartic conversion.  Saul of Tarsus, a Jew whose intellectual prowess might have rivaled that of Pascal, chose an entirely different response to his conversion experience.  In First Corinthians 1.19-21, Paul writes of intellectualism and conversion:

“For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart.’  Where is the wise man?  Where is the scribe?  Where is the debater of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.”[4]

This greatest of preachers and intellectual equal of Pascal obviously chose to take a markedly different approach.  Paul chose to set aside his intellectual leanings and take the leap of faith.  This leap of faith and total acceptance of the teachings of the Bible was impossible for Pascal.  Yet he must have read Pauline Letters.  In the continued discussion of wisdom that comprises much of First Corinthians, Paul goes on to say:

“When I came to you brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom…Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.  But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God which God decreed before the ages for our glorification.”[5]

This marked difference between Pascal and his predecessor lies at the heart of the perpetual discussion of how a Christian responds to the conversion experience.  Do they seek like Pascal to intellectually leave the high ground available for retreat? Or do they seek like Paul to detach themselves from the intellectualizations and accept the conversion experience at face value?  Does the cathartically converted Christian truly believe that it is the ‘heart which perceives God’?  Or like Pascal, in spite of his quoted words, do they continue to view the conversion experience from a mental viewpoint?

Paul obviously believed that the correct position on this issue was the position of the heart.  He wrote in his Letter To The Phillipians that the followers of Jesus Christ should “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…”.[6]  Although this statement is frequently applied to more fundamentalist positions, it is equally applicable to any situation in which the Christian finds herself confronted with the decision to defend her religion on an intellectual footing or one which is centered in the heart.

In modern society, it is frequently more difficult to defend the position of the heart than it was during The Enlightenment.  Modern society is moving rapidly away from many customs and values that were inherited from the eras in which both Paul and Pascal lived.  These changes are being fueled by rapid developments in the sciences, and in particular by computer technology.  These changes can be likened to those that The Enlightenment brought about.  They, in both cases, have moved humanity in directions that are presumed to have been upward and forward.  However, this era, like The Enlightenment, will only be fully judged in centuries to follow. 

This writer will take the Pauline position and avoid the intellectualization that was so dear to Pascal.  The modern adherent to the Pauline position is required to withstand opposition and ridicule much like that which Pascal withstood in his era because of his espousal of the Jansenist position.  In 1657, the Vatican banned his work in Rome.[7]  However, Pascal did manage to leave the world via natural causes unlike Paul. 

It is unlikely in the modern world that a holder of any intellectual position will die at the hands of his detractors.  Yet we modern intellectuals could learn a great deal from Pascal who, in spite of his intellectualization, was willing to take a firm stance and endure venomous criticism of that position.  We could learn even more from Paul who not only took a position that was open to criticism, but also took that position based on the dictates of the heart.  Such men and women are damnably rare today.

Works Cited

Clark, Ruth. Strangers & Sojourners At Port Royal. New York: Octagon Books, 1972

Escholier, Marc. Port Royal The Drama Of The Jansenists. New York: Hawthorn Books,      

            Inc. 1968.

The Oxford Annotated Bible.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1962.

Pascal, Blaise. Pensees. London: Penguin Books, 1966.

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Pascal.html

http:/members.aol.com/KatherenaE/private/Philo/Pascal/pascal.html

---

1Anonymous. “Blaise Pascal.”  http://www-groups.dcs.st-                                                                                                             and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Pascal.html 1998

[2] Krailsheimer, Dr. A. J.,ed. Introduction. “The Pensees”. London: Penguin Books, 1966. P20.

[3] Escholier, Marc. Port Royal The Drama of the Jansenists. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc.1968. P89.

[4] “The First Letter Of  Paul To The Corinthinians” Ch. 1, Vs. 19-21. The Oxford Annotated Bible. New  

     York: 1962.

[5] Ibid. Ch.2, Vs. 1, 6, & 7.

[6] Ibid. Phillipians. Ch 2. V. 12.

[7] Clark, Ruth. Strangers & Sojourners At Port Royal. Octagon Books: New York, 1972. P. 152.

"The Original Wisdom Of The Dao De Jing A New Translation And Commentary" by P. J. Laska--Book Review

Laska, P. J.: The Original Wisdom Of The Dao De Jing A New Translation And Commentary (Green Valley, AZ. ECCS Books, 2012)

P. J. Laska Photo by Warene Hobson

Please allow me to preface this review and/or commentary by saying that what I know about the Dao De Jing would not fill a thimble.  This is the first time I have ever read any translation of the Dao De Jing other than whatever small sections of it which might have been included in an old classic called "The Bible Of The World" edited by Robert O. Ballou and published in 1939.  That little classic and its subsequent replacement, "The Portable World Bible" also edited by Mr. Ballou and published in 1976, are both classic texts for the students of both religion and history who want to understand the complexity and diversity of the world's religions and their effects on world history without doing a full fledged doctoral level piece of research.  I was first introduced to "The Bible Of The World" by Dr. Billy Rojas, Ph.D., who taught history at Alice Lloyd College for a few years in the 1960's and 1970's.  Later in about 1974, I met my friend, professor, and mentor, P. J. Laska, who wrote the particular version of the Dao De Jing which I am attempting to address in this review, and he further broadened whatever understanding I have of the world's religions.  Laska published this version of the Dao De Jing in 2012 after having studied the Dao and Daoism for more than forty years.  It is also relevant to this discussion that P. J. Laska holds a doctorate in philosophy.

P. J. Laska Photo By Roger D. Hicks

The Dao De Jing is generally defined as "...a famous Chinese philosophical text attributed to the authorship of Laozi (Lao Tzu) (sixth century B.C.E.), and highly influential in the religion of Daoism."  Like most major religious texts of the world, the Dao De Jing must be studied regularly and frequently in order to be understood.  I do not presume to understand it. Laska has told me in our personal communications that:

"...I'm not interested in Daoism (the religion), which is what most of western writing is about.  I found the older wisdom tradition conveyed by the Dao De Jing to have a lot in common with the naturalism that evolved in early Greek philosophy.  Then I was puzzled by the phrase "wei wu wei" (ddj 3 &  63) and spent a lot of time trying to make sense of other translations before I realized they were passing off "act without action" and other contradictory nonsense as something subtle and mysterious.

I started exploring this phrase which asks the reader to bring opposites together.  Then it struck me that the opposites are "wei"=human action, and "wu wei" =non-human activity, or natural process, and it fell into place.  The ancient wisdom is about balancing these two, to achieve sustainability.  

The main difference between human activity and natural process is the intellectual and artistic design that's present in human action, whether it is called thought or idea,  or consciousness that gives our action its end or goal.  I call it 'desiging (sp) action' to set it apart [from] the processes of nature that go on without this conscious design.  This is the key to the ecological reading that guides the commentary -that and the anti-imperialist thread, which you will see in ddj 80 the paradigm for a sustainable community is a small state with few people." Personal Communication from P. J. Laska to Roger D. Hicks 2017.

As I understand our prior and subsequent communications about this book, P. J. Laska's intention was  to produce an ecologically based translation of the Dao De Jing.  I do not wish to further speculate as to whether or not I believe that Laska achieved his goal.  Or as they used to say on Beaver Creek when I was growing up "I reckon I jist don't know nothin' about that there stuff."  I did find the Dao De Jing sufficiently interesting that I might go so far as to reread Laska's translation in a more studious manner by following all cross referenced sections which appear in his notes and commentary which will be an even more time consuming task.  I read it this first time in what some might consider a fairly close effort and actually read every note or commentary section throughout the entire text.  I did find it somewhat disconcerting that there are notes at the end of most of the verses, stanzas, chapters, or sections and there are also commentaries in a separate section at the back of the book each of which is designated by an asterisk at the end of the particular stanza or chapter.  I would have found it personally more effective if both the notes and commentaries had been combined in a single note at the bottom of each stanza or chapter.

Roger D. Hicks & P. J. Laska Photo By Candice Hicks

I must also say that certain small sections of the text struck me as particularly pertinent to life and world politics in the highly dangerous world in which we live today.  I refer the reader to stanza or chapter 30, found on page 37 of the book, states in part: 

"Those using [the Wisdom of] the Way to assist a sovereign in governing do not employ force of arms. This will likely provoke the use of arms in return.  Where troops set up camp, thistles and thorns grow.  Where great battles are fought, years of hardship will follow.  Those adept [in the use of the Way] do not risk using force.  They succeed without vanity and without aggression, and get results without arrogance, gain, or use of force." 

This language is more pertinent today than it could have been at nearly any other time in world history.  I am writing this review on the day after the particularly ignorant, inflammatory, and ill advised speech before the United Nations by the TRAITOR and International TERRORIST Donald Trump.  There are other equally pertinent sections of the text of this book which can be applied to world politics today in general and in particular involving the Russian Owned Criminal Syndicate which is currently illegally occupying the White House.   But, to return to my discussion of P. J. Laska's book:

This is a book worth reading especially for the practicing Daoist or student of Daoism. It is also worth reading for the student of world theology and, perhaps, even for the person who is in that life stage of seeking peace of mind and a personal spiritual world view.  I would not presume, and I do not believe that Laska does either, that this edition of the Dao De Jing is a be all end all edition that will give the reader release from the need or desire to read other editions.  In fact, if I ever finish all the other projects I am working on to which I assign higher levels of importance I just might read another more commonly used edition myself.  Maybe, to that degree, P. J. Laska might have achieved one of his unstated goals, to initiate the reader into a further study of the Dao De Jing.  However, let me end this piece the same way I began.  What I know about the Dao De Jing would not fill a thimble.