By Cynthia Chung In 1996 a task force, led by Richard Perle, produced a policy document titled “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm” for Benjamin Netanyahu, who was then in his first term as Prime Minister of Israel, as a how-to manual on approaching regime change in the Middle East and…
Iran’s Century and a Half Fight for Sovereignty
By Cynthia Chung It all started in 1872, with Nasir al-Din Shah having granted to the British Baron Julius de Reuter, rights to Iran’s entire economic estate. Reuter not only controlled Iran’s industry, farming, and rail transportation, but also held the right to issue currency and to set up a national bank, called the Imperial…
The 1648 Peace of Westphalia: A Phase Shift in Universal History
Today’s world is shaped by a tension caused by two opposing paradigms pulling humanity into two directions. Where one is unipolar and premised around an organizing principle of “Might makes Right”, the other is multi-polar and shaped by a principle of “win-win cooperation”. Where one is imperial- defining “value” around the material extraction of land…
Sugar and Spice and Everything Vice: the Empire’s Sin City of London
By Cynthia Chung “Hell is a city much like London” – Percy Bysshe Shelley The City of London is over 800 years old, it is arguably older than England herself, and for over 400 years it has been the financial center of the world. During the medieval period the City of London, otherwise known as…
Hamilton vs Wall Street: The Man vs the Myth (RTF Lecture)
There is no doubt that grave crises are set to befall western civilization and the United States is no exception. There is much doubt however over what specific solutions are needed during this time of crisis. Some think that socialism is the answer while others believe that free markets is the way to go. Others…
The Silk Road Roots of America and the American Roots of the New Silk Road
Upon reading this title, I can only imagine a reader asking: How could a young nation that only existed since 1776 be responsible for an idea which has its roots in a program that dates back over two millenia? Of course I am not implying that that America created the ancient Silk Road, but what…
Gottfried Leibniz and the Cameralist Tradition (RTF Lecture with Nancy Spannaus)
While many victims of today’s education system are mis-educated into believing that the experiment known as the republic of the United States sprang ex nihilo into reality in 1776- driven by rebellious desires to avoid paying taxes, the truth is goes much deeper. As American System Now President Nancy Spannaus lays out in this lecture…
Leibniz Discourse on Metaphysics- A New Study Group Begins
In this first of a series of readings of the Discourses on Metaphysics (1686), we are introduced to the deeper philosophical and scientific ideas of the polymath genius Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716). This reading will cover the essential concepts of the nature of the Creator and creation of which we as self-conscious reasoners are integral…
Leibniz vs Newton: A Clash of Paradigms
RTF President Cynthia Chung kicks off the symposium ‘As Above so Below: Re-uniting the Macroverse with the Microverse” with a presentation on Leibniz vs Newton: A Clash of Paradigms. This presentation will introduce the principled conflict of two opposing schools of thought materialist/mathematical defined by Newton vs the higher dynamic/metaphysical method embodied by Gottfried Leibniz….
Why the Revival of Classical Painting is Imperative Today (Rising Tide Interview with Patrick Cyr)
In this interview, Quebec-based classical painter and art instructor Patrick Cyr talks with Rising Tide Foundation Director Matthew Ehret about the importance of classical thinking the need to revive the lost techniques of classical painting in order to bridge the artificial gulf separating the arts and sciences in today’s age. Patrick’s website can be found…
The Power of Classical Culture in Shaping the Future: The New Silk Road and an African Renaissance
On Sunday April 28, 2019, a symposium was held in Montreal Canada dealing with the unified growth of cultural optimism and beautiful art and real economic development as it is being manifested today with the New Silk Road in Asia, Africa and beyond. Cynthia Chung, co-founder of the Rising Tide Foundation, focuses on the importance…
Prometheus and Atlantis
By Gerald Therrien In Part 1 of my recently published Trilogy on the School of Athens (The Pre-Socratic Philosophers Explored), we read that, ‘Prometheus therefore, being at a loss to provide any means of salvation for man, stole from Hephaestus and Athena the gift of skill in the arts, together with fire, and bestowed it…
The End of Closed System Geopolitics and the Rise of Open System Development- Vernadsky’s Law for the 21st Century
By Matthew Ehret It has become popular today among the scientific community, to proclaim as a matter of fact, that the universe is ultimately governed by death and decay on the large scale and randomness on the microscale. While it is rare that this chilling popular theory is explicitly stated in such direct terms as…
Towards a Culture of the Noösphere: Gigantic Shadows of Futurity Part I
By Aaron Halevy In March of 2011, Italy celebrated its unification’s 150th anniversary, and during the major ceremonies, Verdi’s Nabucco was performed in Rome’s opera theater. Once the famous chorus piece, Va pensiero was sung, the audience applauded loudly and demanded an encore. As the applause died down, the shout was heard from the audience of: “Long…
Towards a Culture of the Noösphere: Gigantic Shadows of Futurity Part II
By Aaron Halevy Life on Earth has faced many extinctions in its past. These extinctions are recognized to be on a scale of magnitude at least as big as our galaxy. What force could oppose such an immense fate? So far no life on Earth has figured out the solution to avoid such a crisis….
Khazaria and the Forgotten Christian-Jewish-Muslim-Confucian Alliance
As part of the RTF Lecture Series “The Renaissance Principle Across the Ages“, Matthew Ehret discusses the Christian-Jewish-Muslim-Confucian Alliance of Khazaria. Today’s age of geopolitics has made it difficult for many people to appreciate the cooperative traditions in history that gave rise to the great discoveries and progress of humanity’s collective experience. From the ancient…
Representations of Muslim Culture in Western Literature
In this class, Asad Wasti presents a quick survey of the works of various Western literary icons, in an attempt to demonstrate a direct influence on their writings from the Muslim world. We will examine the correlation between Dante’s Comedia and the Isra & Mai’raj tales from the 13th century, as well as later representation…
Solving The Mystery Behind the Building of the Great Pyramid
By Dr. Quan Le Some words about a mesmerizing documentary Grande Pyramide K 2019 by director Fehmi Krasniqi. Its premiere was in Paris on September 2019 and it’s available for free on the Internet since December 2019. For people interested in the history of Egypt in particular and of mankind in general, it’s an absolute…
The Discovery of the School of Athens Part 3: The Geometric Proof
By Gerald Therrien Refer here for Part 1 and Part 2 to this series. Now, we must leave the second scene, and move towards the third and last scene in the painting, and look at those persons who are found in the right foreground, at the bottom of the stairs. But, we had seen,…
The Golden Section and Astronomy: Observatory Construction Update with Patrick Cyr
How does astronomy relate to an appreciation of life and how do both relate to the golden section? In this short video the Rising Tide Foundation’s Matthew Ehret and classical painter/astronomer Patrick Cyr discuss the driving intention and philosophy behind the construction of a new dodecahedral observatory and the importance of the Golden Section in…
On Optimism: A Chant of Darkness
By Cynthia Chung “So my optimism is no mild and unreasoning satisfaction. A poet once said I must be happy because I did not see the bare, cold present, but lived in a beautiful dream. I do live in a beautiful dream; but that dream is the actual, the present – not cold, but warm;…
How Tragedy Can Heal Society: The Oresteia as Political Therapy with Dr. Nicolai Petro
What does classical tragedy have to do with geopolitics? Why is it so important for modern statesmen, diplomats to think like Aeschylus and why should more artists think like statesmen? In this Rising Tide Foundation lecture, Dr Nicolai Petro introduces classical Greek Tragedy from a moral, and philosophical perspective containing within its essence, the necessary…
How To Conquer Tyranny and Avoid Tragedy: A Lesson on Defeating Systems of Empire
By Cynthia Chung This is a transcription of a lecture, which can be found here, given as part of the RTF series “Art, Science and Civilization: The Renaissance Principles Across the Ages.“ It is common today to be confronted with the belief that any country, any civilization that gains a certain degree of power, will…
Why Must Aesthetics Govern A Society Worthy Of Political Freedom? Ask the CIA
By Matthew Ehret In the mid-1990s, a series of exposés featured on the London Independent and elsewhere brought a dark secret to light. Many were startled by the revelation that the entire evolution of 20th century modern art was directed in large measure by the CIA! This not only included the direct financing of abstract painters like Jackson Pollock…
The Coming Self-Destruction of Atonalism
By Felix Dupin Music is a language we hear and decipher unknowingly since the earliest period of youth. Although expressing both passion and creativity, music is also made of rules and whether studied intellectually or not, it is perfectly comprehensible to the untrained ear and evolved organically transmitting both creative energy and lawful harmonies, consonances,…
Plato’s Fight Against Apollo’s Temple of Delphi and the Cult of Democracy
We are too often drawn into the bad habit of thinking of ancient Greek thinkers like Plato and his teacher Socrates as ivory tower philosophers lost in the abstract realm of “ideas” and utopian ideals detached of all reality and human struggle on earth. In this lecture, Rising Tide Foundation president Cynthia Chung shatters that…
Lessons from a Grecian Urn Part One: Truth and Beauty in Art
By David Gosselin An object is perfect, when everything manifold in it accords with the unity of its concept; it is beautiful, when its perfection appears as nature. The beauty increases, when the perfection becomes more complex and the nature suffers nothing thereby; for the task of freedom becomes more difficult with the increasing number…
The Russian Poet of Freedom: On Pushkin’s “Little Tragedies” and the Law of Nemesis
Many in the West are not familiar with the works of Alexander Pushkin. They may not even be aware of his existence and this is a real loss for western thinking. Just as Shakespeare is admired throughout the world and not just in Britain, for his lessons are universal and touch all hearts no matter…
Schiller’s William Tell: A People’s Fight for Freedom
Friedrich Schiller is a name beloved in Germany as the “poet of freedom”, and while festivals were once held in his honor across the English speaking world just a few generations ago, his memory has sadly fallen into the shadows. Despite that, Schiller’s life and works of drama and poetry inspired not only the greatest…
RTF Dialogues with Butch Valdes on The Philippines: A Nation Caught Between Two Systems
In this Rising Tide Foundation Dialogue, Matt Ehret and Butch Valdes discuss the past, present and hopeful future of the Philippines as a nation being pulled between two opposing paradigms. Butch is the former undersecretary of education under President Estrada (1998-2001), and a leading builder of citizens’ movements with a focus on economic reform, national…
Plato and Confucius, Spiritual Brothers and Philosopher Kings Living at Two Ends of the World Island
In this Rising Tide Foundation lecture, Dr. Quan Le breaks the commonly held belief that the west and east are organized by two fundamentally opposing paradigms of Confucian pragmatism on the one side in opposition to Platonic idealism on the other. Dr. Le does this by introducing the individuals and philosophies of both great men…
The Poetic Principle in the World of the I Ching: Mankind’s Long Journey to Reason and Beauty
In this lecture Dr. Quan Le focuses on the I Ching, the first Confucian Classic (of five: Yi Jing, Shu Jing, Shi Jing, Chun Qiu and Zhou Li) which magnificently embodies the poetic principle famously outlined by Shelley, centuries later, in his Defense of Poetry which re-asserted that Poets are the true legislators of the world….
How to Conquer Tyranny: A Lesson from Plato
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Plato’s Letter VII Plato to Dion’s associates and friends wishes well-doing. You write to me that I must consider your views the same as those of Dion, and you urge me to aid your cause so far as I can…
The Art of War in the 21st Century
By Cynthia Chung Sun Tzu’s The Art of War is one of the most influential books written on military strategy and philosophy. This is not confined to just Asians but Europeans and Americans alike have attempted to study The Art of War hoping its wisdom would be revealed to them. However, it is clear with…
The Curse of Game Theory: Why It’s in Your Self-Interest to Exit the Rules of the Game
By Cynthia Chung Game theory, the mathematical theory of games of strategy, was developed by John von Neumann in several successive stages in 1928 and 1940-41, according to his book “Theory of Games and Economic Behaviour” which he co-authored with Oskar Morgenstern. The crux of the theory is that an individuals’ behaviour will always be…
The Philosophy of Physics: Planck’s Spiritual Testament
As Nazism was leading Germany into a dark age trajectory and as science policy and practice decayed into eugenics and materialism, Max Planck took a stand and remained behind in his homeland to defend the classical humanist traditions which represented everything which Hitler hated. Planck threw down an epistemological gauntlet to his contemporary scientists who…
Remembering Rabindranath Tagore: A Life Dedicated to the Universal
Originally published on the Poetry Foundation. On his 70th birthday, in an address delivered at the university he founded in 1918, Rabindranath Tagore said: “I have, it is true, engaged myself in a series of activities. But the innermost me is not to be found in any of these. At the end of the journey…
Islam & the Renaissance: A Shared Heritage
As part of the RTF Lecture Series “The Renaissance Principle Across the Ages“, Asad Wasti discusses the Islamic Renaissance. What are the roots of Islam and how has this cultural/religious movement shaped universal history? What is it in Islam that defined the greatest up-shifts of wisdom, tolerance and learning while at other times led to…
Unifying Spirit between East and West: Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766), Jesuit painter in the Forbidden City.
By Matthew Ehret “In pursuing the Belt and Road Initiative, we should ensure that when it comes to different civilizations, exchange will replace estrangement, mutual learning will replace clashes, and coexistence will replace a sense of superiority. This will boost mutual understanding, mutual respect and mutual trust among different countries” -Xi Jinping, Belt and Road…
Cultural Warfare and the American Revolution (Franklin, West and Morse Revisited)
In this lecture delivered as part of the Rising Tide Foundation series “Towards an Age of Creative Reason”, Matthew Ehret introduces the fight to establish a cultural revolution in the arts and sciences initiated by Benjamin Franklin, and a small international network of co-conspirators of the 18th century which was then understood to be the vital…
A Harmony of Interests: Inquiries into the True Nature of the American System
What ideas will shape the next centuries of human civilization as our species begins to confront the reality of our collective self-interest living on the earth? The use of the atomic for either peaceful or warlike purposes has given our species for the first time in history the dual potential to destroy all life as…
Is Philosophy Relevant in the Age of Science?
In this interview on Zain Khan Live, The Rising Tide Foundation’s Matthew Ehret, and renowned Pakistani philosopher Abdul Manan explore the relationship of philosophy and science with a focus on the figures of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Bertrand Russell. How do these popular philosophers fail to bridge the gap separating these two worlds? Are…
Escaping the Brave New World: Taking Back Control of Your Mind
In this episode of the New Lyre’s Podcast “Escaping the Brave New World,” David Gosselin and Cynthia Chung discuss William Sargant’s (a British psychiatrist linked to British intelligence, the Tavistock Institute, MK Ultra and Ewen Cameron’s LSD experiments at McGill) work in the field of mind control and how these techniques have been utilised in…
The Poetic Principle as a Force of Universal History
In this Rising Tide Foundation lecture, Gerald Therrien addresses the question of morality’s relationship with creative genius and how this uniquely human power allows us to translate discoveries of human nature and the universe into new forms of action and artistry that both elevates our culture while extending the influence of a mortal life infinitely…
Symposium: Cultural Optimism, Art and the New Silk Road
On Sunday April 28, 2019, a symposium hosted by the Rising Tide Foundation was held in Montreal, Canada dealing with the unified growth of cultural optimism, beautiful art and economic development as it is being manifested today with the New Silk Road in Asia, Africa and beyond. Presentations were given by a pianist, a dancer,…
RTF Dialogues with Lawrence Freeman: Transaqua, the New Silk Road and a New Vision for Africa
In this episode of RTF Dialogues, Matt Ehret and Cynthia Chung talk with international Africa expert Lawrence Freeman on the rise of a new paradigm of development for Africa. Check out Lawrence’s website here: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com Bio: Lawrence Freeman is an outspoken opponent of the current policies of neo-colonialism. He is a highly respected researcher, writer,…
Political Pessimism and Opposition to the Development of the African Interior with Transaqua
By PD Lawton We live in strange times where supposedly well-informed analysts tell us that transformative infrastructure projects in Africa are soft power tools and that therefore development is dangerous…. Neither questions about the climate or development have ambiguous answers. The truth is not a variable! Carbon dioxide is plant food not a pollutant and…
The Art of Peace- The New Silk Road Counters an Age of Turbulence
The Rising Tide Foundation proudly presents the proceedings of the November 16 seminar held in Montreal Canada entitled “The Art of Peace: The New Silk Road Counters an Age of Turbulence” featuring six speakers tackling the multi-faceted New Silk Road from artistic, engineering, historical, philosophical and scientific standpoints. Presentation 1: A new epoch of cooperation…
A Journey with Jeff J. Brown Through China’s History, Political-Economy and Culture
In our first official Rising Tide Foundation Podcast, Cynthia Chung and Matthew Ehret interview China Rising Radio’s Jeff J. Brown on all things China. In this extensive discussion, Jeff goes through the historic voyages of Admiral Zheng He generations before Columbus which brought commerce, culture and trade to Africa, Europe and even the Americas in…
