As a site about learning and culture goes, Archeus Lore, a name chosen because of the meanings behind the
two words, From Merriam-Webster:
Archeus - "The vital principle that according to Paracelsians directs and maintains the growth and
continuation of living beings.
Lore - "Knowledge gained through study or experience."
This site is a reflection of the vast richness of exploring many languages, cultures, and authors, not only current,
but also some from the past. There will likely also be added to it some technical aspects,
programming and the like, but that is further into the future.
For now, I am posting a full online version of John Williams White's First Greek Book, from an 1896 addition,
along with a downloadable rich text file, for my Tachufind program, a complete online version of Catullus's,
The Cataline Conspiracy, some history of the Roman Circus Maximus, things that are of interest to those lovers
of ancient history. There will be sections for each language I want to touch upon, with things like short
stories and the like that light the spark of interest. In my own personal opinion, the greatest crime that has
occurred in the modern world is the devaluation of cultures, histories, languages and most of all lives of people
that those who have attained high political and military positions within our government do not understand, do not
want to understand, and who look upon cultural exchange as some huge danger, whereas I would maintain that the
greatest danger is the lack of cooperation between differing cultures.
But the danger in itself should not be what motivates us.
When you start taking off the blinders of monoculturism, parochialism, exceptionalism, you free yourself from a
yoke, a mode of thinking that is overly restrictive, bound to your native culture, limited to your own language,
and even bound often by political prejudices. Mark Twain once said:
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”
Democritus once said:
“To a wise man, the whole earth is open, because the country of a virtuous soul is the entire universe.”
As a child, our curiosity knows no bounds, it is only when the child has settled, grown older, and much
more comfortable in their native society, culture and language that they start to lose their curiosity, because
what is easy often appeals to them as the perfect solution to what some choose as a goal in life: Living a life
that takes the path of least resistance, wherever possible!
Yet there are so many examples of greatness of mind and thought, accomplished by those humans who retained their
childhood curiosity throughout their lives. The great, self-taught biologist, Thomas Henry Huxley once said:
"Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abysses nature leads, or you shall learn nothing. I have only begun to learn content and peace of mind since I have resolved at all risks to do this."
Even Albert Einstein discussed the importance of following your curiosity . . . a child has the mind of an explorer,
with no filter, and a huge desire to understand what is happening around them. If we lose that, we lose something
that is precious beyond measure.
It is my hope that this site will spur you curiosity, to look beyond that normal everyday, into a world that is
different than your own, perhaps in the past, or an exploration of ideas expressed in another language, but most
of all to feel free as a child to wander its corridors of multi-cultural thoughts and ideas.