Musings

Do we often let our theories or understandings of things become confused with the actual thing itself? But perception of an object is not the object itself. My understanding is not exhaustive of the thing i am attempting to understand. When i engage with an idea or phenomenon of common knowledge that has had formulation over the millenia, and begin to apprehend the whole sum of what has been said and/or known/established thus far, i may or may not become adept at the subject, but still I will not be owner of the object itself. Most especially when that object is the Prime Mover, the Big Idea. For example, someone (one of the "New Atheists", I think) has posited that there are "4 components of the Judeo-Christian theory of God: omniscience, omnipotence, goodness and creator." Thus, they assume they have pinned god down succinctly, and may dispose or otherwise arbitrate over whether or not God is sufficient for their sanction. But, let one's idea of god not be thought sufficient to know God, but only as one's idea [Plato's chair notwithstanding]. God alone is God. How can a 4 dimensional being conceive of a being of a greater dimensional array? Let us stipulate that God is prior to all other being. By definition, God must be primal, eternal and self-existant. Because the universe exists, then, God, the cause of it, is its creator. My assertion, definition, dissection or disputation of god's omnipotence does not rise to the level of God's self-existance. If my human mind asks: can god create a rock so big that he cannot lift it? one may respond: well if he can do so, and then not lift it, then he's not omnipotent; or if he can't create such a rock then he's not omnipotent, and so disprove any assertion of god's omnipotence....sorry, but not so, the actual state of God's omnipotence is such that God can create such a rock AND lift it as well, Cartesian logic notwithstanding. Nor is God's omniscience flummoxed by the paradox of God's forgetfulness much less my dimensional finitude. This is not a case of "A" being equal to "not A". Pity the man who thinks of god as the created, finite, limited, several-dimensioned being created by craven mind of men. God is the uncreated infinite unlimited trans/poly-dimensional being forever beyond the pinching grasp of craven men, who nonetheless can, by mysterious grace, contemplate God. The "Judeo-Christian" "theory" of God is not some closed theory that exists within the covers of a theological textbook or even a bible. Be not quick to erect straw men that you then dissect as representing the god you suppose you have apprehended based on your reading of either scripture or the scribbled ravings of self-appointed intellectual elites. 9-09-07

"God" as a term must be understood to refer to a primal or primary reality, a fundamental, non-projected, incomprehensible, uncreated Transcendence.

For the truculent iconoclast we must point out that the term refers to something pre-dating all phenomenology & human conception, out-classing all categories of mind, thought, image, etc.

We are thus obliged to stipulate that all words and language employed are merely referent, symbolic, suggestive, reductionist....But also that all words, ideas, meanings so employed derive their utility from that irreducible & inescapable light that the infinite unknowable darkness casts on all else, conferring Meaning itself, if it is to be had, on any and all differentiated existence.

"Intelligibility... leads us in the final analysis....to that transcendant and primordial thought imprinted on all things" Pope John Paul II (re: Galileo) 1992. The intelligibility of the created universe is treated by the materialist philosopher as a "fait accompli" or a natural inevitability resulting from the evolution of our perceiving organ tissue in the environment of it's context. Of course things make sense because senses make things. Logic is logical because it exists as logic, therefore it must be logical to itself, else it wouldn't be adaptive to survival of the "species" or the dna or the whatever reductionist microcomponent agent directs the perpetuation of material being. 09-29-07

The mathematical phenomenon of the laws of motion, for instance, govern the physical motions of objects within a wide sphere of common experience, observed and tested, and proven to the mind of humanity, in such a way as to astound and surprise that mind with the coherence and orderly relationships of their associations. For example, the acceleration of falling objects (i.e. objects responding to gravity on earth) is such that their speed increases as the mathmatical square of the time traveled. 09-29-07

Why and how is it that it should be precisely and exactly that quantifiable and distinct proportion, linking time and space in a dynamically charged continuum? The self-revealing answer seems to indicate that it is because time & space, material and intelligibility, share some singularity of origin, and thus, relationship. 10-26-07

"You cannot step into the same river twice"

The title of this entry is taken from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus.

The following are steps into a river.

2-23-03
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
The act of measuring one magnitude of a particle, be it it's mass, it's velocity, or it's position, causes the other magnitudes to blur. This is not due to imprecise measurements. Technology is advanced enough to yield hypothetical correct measurements. The blurring of these magnitudes is a fundamental property of nature.
The notion of the observer becoming a part of the observed system is fundamentally new in physics-as-understood-by-the-common-man (me). In quantum physics, the observer is no longer thought of as external and neutral, but through the act of measurement he becomes himself a part of the observed reality. This marks the end of the neutrality of the experimenter, or of "science" per se.


A lot of people are conditioned to think in very short terms. They have little or no historical sense or larger "world-view". Those who do so can be swept along by any herd mantra and ignore or forget what once was common knowledge for prior generations or eras. This new era brings with it a plethora of ways to deconstruct or forget altogether former assumptions of basic reality. For example: bumpersticker punditry, like, "straight, but not narrow", or "the religious right is neither". A democratic consensus of strategy or community becomes less and less likely.



a random quote from the intelligentsia(Slate magazine):
"The insights imputed to meditation are questionable, too. Meditation, the brain researcher Francisco Varela told me before he died in 2001, confirms the Buddhist doctrine of anatta, which holds that the self is an illusion. Varela contended that anatta has also been corroborated by cognitive science, which has discovered that our perception of our minds as discrete, unified entities is an illusion foisted upon us by our clever brains. In fact, all that cognitive science has revealed is that the mind is an emergent phenomenon, which is difficult to explain or predict in terms of its parts; few scientists would equate the property of emergence with nonexistence, as anatta does." from: Buddhist Retreat Why I gave up on finding my religion. By John Horgan Posted Wednesday, February 12, 2003, Slate magazine
(2-18-06)

my comment:
perhaps Francisco himself was, afterall, just an illusion. Perhaps his mother thought so, too, ...who, no doubt, along w/ other cognitive scientists, corroborated the non-existence of his mind...that discrete particle of unified entity-ness...our perception is a clever illusion of our perceiver(brain)...wait, ... starting to get blurry here...confused...no, maybe not...ah!
I'm a bag of chemicals, now I understand. Meaningless random atoms have achieved what the "made-in-the-image-of-God" only imagined. So fulfilled, so self-satisfied.

Self is an illusion in the sense that the story in a novel is an illusion, in spite of the empirical existence of the novel itself, or the veracity of the significance of the story. It both exists and does not exist and there is no contradiction. Just don't try to squeeze a fistful of water too tightly, and insist on always having things your own way.

Days past, slow and fast.

Forgive me, bloggee, for I have sinned...it's been 8 m0nths since my last blogsession.

Of every word you shall give account, so let my words be few...

two ears, one mouth, do the math...

And yet I'm as likely to err on the one side as the other, so doesn't that make it a wash?

Still, I suspect it's better to err on the revelatory side than on the "prudential" side,

at least it adds a little fuel to the fire...hope you feel the warmth...

So here we are, still at Searock, chopping wood and carrying water, doing the necessary things, conducting our lives, etc. Trying to stay outta trouble, yet stir the pot sufficiently to cook up something of substance. Circling the drain with ever more relevance and cogency, speed and freedom from self-importance. Still have those major creative projects gestating on a back burner somewhere nearby. (This is just a minor dalliance, no?) Putting out the daily wildfires, eschewing superfluity, albeit superficially and spottily, in the face of the staggering suffering being endured in the world at large. And so I take up the blog, that 21st century democratic tool of the upwardly mobile proletariat, to assuage the inward call to outwardness and activism, to self-revelatory declaration and messianic glory. It affords the reader some perspective against which to see themselves, perhaps; some perspective on who they're reading, and fill in a very few of the blanks inevitably left by a world going faster than any of us really can keep up with.

Today I hauled up more granite from the shore, at 120lbs. per cubic foot. In 9 or 10 tons I should have plenty to re-pave the path. I can get about one cu.ft. per haul. Last night I called Pepe, the stone mason, and secured his willingness to come out for a visit and reveal his secrets. Need to know what mix he used for grout and such. J. Hudson gave me the name of a person who worked here some time in the past on the courtyard patio, someone who may be willing to help with the path. So far, though, he's been unwilling to call me back.

Also today, fixed a short in the garbage disposal switch box that I created when I installed the safety cover over the switch. Difficulty factor of 7.9 out of 10. Fixed the broken leg on the J. Butler-built bed in bedroom 1. Restocked all firewood piles...man, there are a lot of rats out in the woodpile! (judging by the amount of rat turds) Put pulleys, ropes and cleats on the two ferns hanging in plant room 2, so they can be lowered down to be watered and cared for properly. Other stuff got done, but at what point do you get bored recounting stuff, neglecting stuff you oughta be doing, etc. Love everybody....do what needs doing...spend it all!

Romance, pathos, fun, & logic

Romance and pathos and fun and logic all welded together. This is a phrase i came across in a book by William Lee Miller called Lincoln's Virtues. It was something he quoted from the Reverend Mr. Gulliver of Norwich, Conn. commenting to Linclon regarding the illustrations used in a speech he'd given.



Anyway,
It is a thought that nearly perfectly captures the ideal quality of the persuasive. It is what i want to learn, how to couch all expression.