Author Archives
Alec Ott
A Search For An Authentic Life
The Andrew Klavan Symposium, Part 2
Five Liberty Island writers – Fred Tribuzzo, Alec Ott, Jon Bishop, Chris Queen, and David M. Swindle — explore the insights from the memoir of one of their favorite novelists…
New Fiction: The Healing
The realization hit Jim like a boxing glove. “Terry,” he said, tears now flowing in his eyes. He pulled her to him and hugged her with all his might. “I’m so, so sorry!” After a few moments, he pulled back and looked into her eyes again. “The fear, the hopelessness, of being unloved! I can’t imagine how that felt!”
The Logos: A Perfect Man’s Odyssey Through Science Fiction and Fantasy
Imagine meeting the perfect man. He’s a physical man in that he exists and interacts in this material world just like the rest of us. He was born and grew up, he eats, he sleeps, and he can die. But he’s also perfectly aligned with the divine. He has superhuman abilities and never ever makes a mistake. Everything he does and says has a great meaning behind it.
Humanity has grappled with the possibility of this man from the beginning of knowledge. Ancient Western philosophy called such a man the “Logos” or “Universal Wise Man.” The English Common Law system, on a more practical level, refers to the “reasonable, prudent man,” who is applied as the measure to determine if a particular defendant’s actions compare. Would the reasonable, prudent man have driven the car with bald tires? Not even a possibility.
Literature and culture have provided many great figures who could be considered as types to the Logos. Many appear in the Bible, of course. The Old Testament has several great figures, for sure, including Moses and the Prophet Elijah. Moses serves as a close example as the wise lawgiver who performs great miracles. Sampson, another lesser example, is a man whose strength is superhuman, but whose lustful vices are his undoing. Yet all fall short of the ideal and make no claims to be the Logos himself.
