Facing Difficult Times

Everyone faces difficulties and challenges that often seem insurmountable… challenges that drop us helplessly to our knees. During those times, we have only two choices.  Rise up, or stay down. I choose to face difficult situations.  Prayer and meditation are my tools to rise up.  For that very reason, our home page encourages readers to …

Learning Patience

I was not born a patient man. Two things have helped me improve my patience in recent years:  my dog Clarence and agriculture. Clarence’s curiosity and playfulness combined with his great strength make him a handful, but I learned much from his trainer, Becca with K9 Offleash Training in Minneapolis.  Through four hours of training, …

The Song of Amergin

It is said that The Song of Amergin is the first poem of Ireland.  I discovered it almost a decade ago as I began research for my book Gaspar, Another Tale of the Christ.  Historically, Ireland was never conquered by a foreign invader.  We know for certain that Ireland was never a part of the …

If You Want to Change the World

If you want to change the world start with this blueprint… Years ago, I watched Admiral William H. McRaven’s 2014 commencement speech at his alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin.  The speech is frequently known as the ‘Make Your Bed’ speech.  You may have seen an ad for it on one of your …

The Vitruvian Man’s Book of Hours

Our Vitruvian Man website has promoted prayer and spiritual thought since its inception in 2011 with our first post “The Fuel That Runs the Universe.” Prayer has been a daily part of my life since I was a child when my mother instructed my brother and me to kneel at our bedsides as far back …

Anthropause

I learned two new words in 2020, anthropause and Anthropocene. Coined by a group of international researchers in a paper they collaboratively wrote in June 2020, anthropause means “a considerable global slowing of modern human activities, notably travel.”  This is how this group of researchers characterize the international lockdown to control the spread of COVID-19. …