Renewal

The scent of pine and oak fill the air in the nave of St. Mary Cathedral in downtown Austin.

I have very fond memories of singing in the choir at St. Mary's Cathedral in Austin. Most of the section leaders also sing with the Opera. It is a beautiful thing to sing great music with great singers. Bishop Aymond and Fr. Bud are quite the dynamic duo.

One of the tenors was a surgeon who put his heart into choir. He also made everyone feel cherished with the appreciation receptions he put on for everyone.

Friday nights found the Church resonating with the sounds of Taize amidst the glow of hundreds of candles.

I loved how irreverent some of the choir members were. He who shall go unnamed loved to utter a few words to loud before the service began to rattle the prayerful reverent.

Equality, Justice, Freedom

God makes his grace equally available to everyone; He never stops loving us no matter what. He also made a basic template for human nature. When our "being" is aligned with that template (i.e. when we are just) then we experience serenity and we know peace. We then become free in our "doing" to live our lives with playfulness, spontaneity, and an appreciation of beauty.

Arnold Labaton

Peabody winning philosophy majoring producer.

Created the series Media Matters .

Soul, Jazz, Etc.

Plato's rendition of the soul
I bought a tape at a library booksale of Plato's Republic. I read it once in college just to say that I read it. I first heard bits and pieces of the Myth of the Cave back in high school. Now I listen to that tape in the car blissfully content.
T.K. Seung really brought Plato alive for me in a course on Kant's Moral Philosophy. Seung has a beautiful mind. His insights into western philosophy are riveting. I you have ever been drawn toward philosophy but baffled by the ocean of choices, start with Seung. He is like Virgil, Beatrice, and St. Bernard in one.
Self-evident Transcendent Normative Intuitions form the nexus of the Jazz of life. They are the chords upon which a life of magnanimous humility can be built. This is my song. If I follow the chord progression I can play whatever notes I want, however I want. Life is beautiful.