Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (also known as Phi Mu Alpha, or simply Sinfonia) is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music. The fraternity is open to men "who, through a love for music, can assist in the fulfillment of [its] Object and ideals either by adopting music as a profession, or by working to advance the cause of music in America."


Ossian Everett Mills(1856 - 1920) was the founder of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts on October 6, 1898. Often referred to as the "Father of Sinfonia", Mills was a familiar figure at annual conventions until his last years when his work would not permit his leaving Boston. He served the fraternity as its first and fourth supreme president (1901-1902 and 1904–1905) and was elected "Honorary Grand Supreme President for Life" in 1904.

"Let our friendship be marked by kind words, kind deeds, and lasting cooperation in our common work; and, remembering that our inspiration is from on High, from the God of all creatures, we should ever be constant in our humble attitude to this great source. Let our sincerity be manifest to all. Hypocrisy should be unknown to us, and a solicitude for our fellows should dominate our every word and action. Then our nobility will shine forth in our characters..." Ossian Everett Mills (The President's Message, 1902)

"I assure you that we men, all of us, need, perhaps more than we think, to withdraw from the active, noisy, materialistic rush of the world, not to mention the sensuous, intoxicating, social pleasures of life that minister only to the flesh, and in peaceful quiet meditate upon and consider together some of the deep things of life, listen to the voice of the Eternal and be taught by the infinite spirit of truth." (Greetings and other things from Father Mills, 1909)

"One of the most beautiful spectacles is to see men mutually interested in each other, so much so, that like 'David and Jonathan' they are ready to sacrifice, even to the laying down of their lives, for their brothers..." Ossian Everett Mills (Sinfonia-Yesterday, 1910)

The first Metaphysical Convention was held in Boston in 1889. Like Emerson, the New Thought societies did not define themselves with any particular form of creed or belief. The leaders advocated attendance at the already established churches and wished “to leaven all churches with their spirit, and not to form a new denomination to contend with the old ones.”


In 1891 George Williams(Supreme President 1903-1904) began attending the New England Conservatory15 and joined the Christian Endeavor society. He wrote:

During my sophomore year at college I attended church services at the great Tremont Temple. The pastor was Dr. George C. Lorimer[http://pvrguymale.blogspot.com/2011/12/george-claude-lorimer.html]… one of the most brilliant and powerful speakers I have ever heard… Under his persuasive preaching, all my somewhat scattered spiritual impressions were brought to a focus…
As I recall, it was about this time that I established a definite daily Quiet Hour Period, which I have maintained to the present time. Year by year this period of prayer and meditation has become more and more precious; and I now look forward to it as the most helpful and inspiring period of the entire day.
What do we of this noisy world need more than to learn how to be still, lest we lose all contact with our soul? To my mind, we are suffering, not from a loss of theological beliefs, but from a loss of solitude. Afraid to be alone, we are always going places, but in reality never getting anywhere.
Whatever our task, it will be better done if we definitely reserve some time each day for a Quiet Hour Period with God. Ten minutes each day—if not more—of quiet meditation and prayer—“a little hush amid the rush,” will help us, in the words of Plato, to “re-collect ourselves.” Surely there is something in the soul that is blood-relative to God. And thus the soul of all improvement is the improvement of the soul. As Pascal[http://pvrguymale.blogspot.com/2011/12/pascal.html]once remarked,

“The heart has reasons which the Reason does not know.”

Pascal

Blaise Pascal (1623 –1662), was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pascal's earliest work was in the natural and applied sciences where he made important contributions to the study of fluids, and clarified the concepts of pressure and vacuum by generalizing the work of Evangelista Torricelli. Pascal also wrote in defense of the scientific method. He rejected rationalism and empiricism (which are in contrast with idealism).

In 1642, while still a teenager, he started some pioneering work on calculating machines, and after three years of effort and 50 prototypes he invented the mechanical calculator. He built twenty of these machines (called the Pascaline) in the following ten years. Pascal was a mathematician of the first order. He helped create two major new areas of research. He wrote a significant treatise on the subject of projective geometry at the age of sixteen, and later corresponded with Pierre de Fermat on probability theory, strongly influencing the development of modern economics and social science. Following Galileo and Torricelli, in 1646 he refuted Aristotle's followers who insisted that nature abhors a vacuum. His results caused many disputes before being accepted.

In 1646, he and his sister Jacqueline identified with the religious movement within Catholicism known by its detractors as Jansenism. His father died in 1651. Following a mystical experience during a brush with death in late 1654, he had his "second conversion", abandoned his scientific work, and devoted himself to philosophy and theology. His two most famous works date from this period: “the Lettres provincials” and “the Pensées”, the former set in the conflict between Jansenists and Jesuits. In this year, he also wrote an important treatise on the arithmetical triangle. Between 1658 and 1659 he wrote on the cycloid and its use in calculating the volume of solids.

Pascal had poor health especially after his eighteenth year and his death came just two months after his 39th birthday.