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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2020)
10 Wednesday, January 1, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Call me pilgrim By Chris Morin Correspondent (This is the second of a two-part reflection on Sisters art gallery proprietor Chris Morin9s visit to the cradle of Western civilization). Greece embraces mythol- ogy as perhaps no other nation does. When 25 percent of your people are employed in the tourist industry and 20 percent of the GDP comes from tourist dollars, pre- senting Zeus and his family along with monolithic mar- ble columns front and center becomes a necessity. People no longer travel here or any- where on vacation to discuss virtue, essence, and meaning. Sentimental notions of rous- ing coffee café discussions don9t stand a chance against mega-tour groups, selfie sticks and Starbucks. A few of the great monu- ments in or within a day9s trip from Athens include the Temple of Zeus, Panathenaic Stadium, Temple of Poseidon, the Oracle of Delphi, and the city of Mycenae. These sites can be visited on your own or with street, site or profes- sional guides. Many times, the only real difference between them is price. The guides persevere with the desire to remind visi- tors how they might interact with these significant works. Historical importance and sheer beauty can take prece- dence over a <hit-and-run= bucket-list photography mentality. Sometimes they succeed, often they don9t, but thankfully they remain stead- fast with their endeavor. Museums only whet the appetite for most visitors, so a vast range of souvenir, gift, gallery, and museum shops allow a person to leave Greece with a tangible remembrance of what has been seen, particularly if that has to do with the ancient times. And just in case you9re an all-inclusive pan-world individual, a handful of Asian-market knock-off sou- venirs can be found on the city street sidewalks. The arrival and continu- ing influence of Christianity upon Greece in the form of the Eastern Orthodox Church, post-Grecian and early Roman eras, remains alive, readily apparent and greatly respected. Due to the deeply revered history of the faith, this particular branch of Christianity weaves an imponderable societal fabric between the ancient past and the present 4 it is both then and now, it is neither of these, it is beyond any of it. The most dramatically scenic location for this reli- gion occurs in Central Greece at Meteora. Atop cliffs and pinnacles rising hundreds of feet in the air are the six remaining Eastern Orthodox monasteries of the region, most of which are still in use by nuns or monks. Originally constructed as a means for isolation during the Ottoman Empire occupation, as recently as one hundred years ago ropes provided the only access to these perched sanctuaries. Socrates, the first of the three great philosophers and perhaps the most significant ancient Greek of all, has no site that someone might visit in order to ponder his life. He never established a for- mal school and was, in fact, a master of the informal, par- ticularly with what we might call inquiry. Across Athens and the Acropolis in particu- lar, Socrates held class by approaching individuals from all walks of life to pose a question, one with no finite answer4What is Truth? What is Beauty? What is Goodness? 4 while nonethe- less receiving an authoritative reply more times than not. It was a time of dogma, naivety, assuredness and ignorance 4 traits still occur- ring with some frequency today. Upon the Athenian9s reply to the question posed, Socrates launched into fur- ther inquiries regarding the correctness of the answer, ad nauseam. This eventually led to the conclusion that neither the responder nor Socrates CRUISE FROM MEMPHIS TO NEW ORLEANS PHOTO COURTESY CHRIS MORIN The Acropolis remains the symbol of ancient Greek civilization. knew a true answer. The prac- tice of attempting to methodi- cally investigate sources of facts and knowledge thus began with him. While this type of dis- course might sound like a potential window into nihil- ism or an early version of Alice9s rabbit hole, consider the era. Grecian society was claiming absolutes on under- standing, knowledge, action, and possibility; let alone more finite matters such as fairness, justice, and equal- ity. To broach and engage in these sort of discussions 4 dialogues as Plato later called them 4 and essentially ques- tion authority was virtually taboo at the time. Today, while we take for granted what we call free speech, Socrates founded it without giving it a label. He later paid for it with his life, sentenced to death for refusing to stop his informal inquiries. When the state then turned squeamish about the harsh sentence it handed INDOOR FLOORING PROJECTS MARCH 14-24, 2020 STARTING AT $3,298 PPDO Experience Authentic Southern Culture, Mississippi Heritage, Sprawling Sugarcane and Cotton Plantations, Mansions, Antebellum Architecture, New Orleans Jazz, Historic French Quarter, Civil War Battlefield, Monuments and more. Air, 2 pre-nights in Memphis, taxes, transfers & shore excursions included! BIG ISLAND-HAWAII down, he fulfilled the edict himself by drinking hemlock, saying, <No one is above the law so then this must be my sentence.= An American visiting Greece today doesn9t have to learn even a few words of Greek to get by in coun- try. Probably one-third of the population speaks at least some English, and half of those who do speak it do so rather well. One of the things that Greeks today pride them- selves on are traditional food dishes 4 time-honored moussaka and souvlaki, deca- dent baklavas, healthy grilled fresh fish and salad entrees, breads 4 pita, lazarakia, and daktyia, condiments of olive oil or tzatziki, and all of it rather inexpensive. Their regional wines and sweet aperitifs remain abun- dant. Indeed, the respected Mediterranean diet is alive and flourishing in Greece with both locals and tourists alike. Yet another thing their society echoes with today is a robust nightlife. The evening scene of bars, music, dancing, partying and revelry occurs at least four times a week dur- ing the shoulder seasons, every night in the summer, and whenever it does, it goes deep into the night. Join 9em or bring really good earplugs. Certainly though, at age 60, this is not what brought me one-third of the way around the planet. An intellectual orphan in my youth, these sojourns to the Academy and Lykeion have been intended for pay- ing respect to these revered mentors and what must be the deepest roots, the first better angels of the Western world. Yet the only physical traces remaining have turned out to be threadbare, decaying, and nominal. <So it should be,= I want to imagine them saying, <What9s instilled within mat- ters, not what9s worn outside nor a shrine erected.= And so I take leave. Call me pilgrim. Give the gift they get to p again g y week! open every Floor Sander Carpet Cleaner APRIL 21-28, 2020 $2,849 PPDO Includes air, taxes, transfers, 7 nts, Big Island Tour, Seahorse Farm Tour, Parker Ranch w/lunch, Royal Kona Luau & more! Carpet Stretcher BRANSON, MO MAY 13-19, 2020 STARTING AT $2,349 PPDO Includes air, taxes, transfers, 12 meals, 11 shows/attraction, 7 days/6 nights. ALASKA CRUISE MAY 27-JUNE 6, 2020 STARTING AT $2,699 PPDO Includes air, taxes, transfers. 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