Translating Psalms (72)

Obviously in some boring human sense it’s mere coincidence that I am translating this on Tuesday of Holy Week and publishing it on Spy Wednesday.  But it’s not only that; the coincidence of each of these psalms with their corresponding day in the Passion of Our Lord is some small, hidden corner of divine providence.  They are each of them, after all, written about Him.

Playing this in the background of His last day of ministry in Jerusalem, while Judas was plotting his betrayal, is downright operatic.

“Quam bonus Israel Deus” (Psalm 72)

[1] Psalmus Asaph. Quam bonus Israel Deus, his qui recto sunt corde!

A psalm for Asaph.  How good Israel’s God to them who are of right heart!

Chess and Practical Reason

I watch chess videos on the internet.  Yes, that makes me a super-nerd.  But it also gives me a great example for explaining STA’s account of practical reasoning!  See, it’s the medieval philosophy interest that saves me from being a real nerd…

Ahem.

When you watch certain chess instructors online, they are teaching a class at a chess center.  Sometimes they have just a few players in attendance, other times many.  The instructor will play through a game to teach a key theme or idea of chess.

Often in the course of these lectures the instructor will pause at a critical moment in the game and ask the students to answer basic chess questions.  How do you assess this position?  What are the advantages and disadvantages for each side?  Most importantly, what is your plan?

There’s a funny moment in a lot of these classes where the students will shout out things like, “d5!” or “Nf3!”  The GM instructor will laugh to himself a little and say, “No, I’m not talking about a move.  What do we want to do here?  What do we want to accomplish?”

While watching one of these videos where the students continued to give moves instead of plans, I realized we could map this perfectly to the account of practical reason given by Aquinas in ST I-II Q11-17.  These kids (some quite a bit older than mere kids) were thinking in terms of moves instead of plans or, to put it another way, means instead of ends.

Actually they were thinking in terms of means with no end, which is pure gibberish.  A means can only exist as the thing that moves me from where I am to the end I want to reach.  Sure, in a game of chess you could name every legal move on the board and eventually, accidentally, hit upon the “right” move.  But what is it that makes it the right move?

Old Hobbies Renewed

What do Chess and Sumo Wrestling have in common?  Me as a fan!  Or rather, I’ve renewed my interest in each.

==De Summo Sumo==

Back in the ’90s there was a brief surge of interest in sumo wrestling in the United States.  Chad Rowan, wrestling under the shikona Akebono, became the first (and so far only) American to be promoted to sumo’s highest honor, yokozuna.  He carved out a pretty nice sumo career before retiring for WWE, K-1, and other sideshow sports.

Don’t call him Chad

Thanks to Akebono, for a short time sumo could be found on some sports channels at weird times.  My younger brother got me interested, although we couldn’t watch often and I was always trying to catch up to him in understanding.  Our sumo phase lasted only a little less than did America’s in general.  I remember being fascinated by the affair but it was not easy to be a sumo fan in those days.

Enter the internet!  YouTube makes it extremely easy to be a sumo fan living in Not Japan these days, and there are plenty of easy-to-use online resources to get you through the byzantine maze of language and custom shrouding the sport.  Inspired by an article on ESPN about Hakuho, one of the greatest rikishi of all time, I threw myself back into the sport with glee.