Tuesday, October 30, 2007
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.
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!
Friday, April 20, 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
3 on a match
3 circles interacting...a marvel to contemplate
proton, neutron,electron
thinking, feeling, acting
truth goodness beauty
beginning middle ending
height width depth
space time energy
you me them
poverty, disease, ignorance
health wealth wisdom
past present future
1,2,3, go
Thursday, February 09, 2006
GK Chesterton said
"realism is more impossible than any other ideal", but this usually falls on deaf ears. Have you heard that all our labor and fuss is but fuel for the fire? That's it; so I try to remember the bequest of peace I rcvd from Christ the hour I first believed: relax and burn on, sustained, like the bush. And do at least try to warm each other.
"realism is more impossible than any other ideal", but this usually falls on deaf ears. Have you heard that all our labor and fuss is but fuel for the fire? That's it; so I try to remember the bequest of peace I rcvd from Christ the hour I first believed: relax and burn on, sustained, like the bush. And do at least try to warm each other.
fuel for the fire
The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received.
How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save?
Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.
Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
"Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe,
even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own.
They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves
and promote their own honor. Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like a vulture swooping to devour; they all come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; they build earthen ramps and capture them. Then they sweep past like the wind and go on guilty men, whose own strength is their god."
O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die.
O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked
swallow up those more righteous than themselves? You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler. The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food.
Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?
I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this
complaint.
Then the LORD replied:
"Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end
and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.
"See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright - but the righteous will live by his faith -
indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples.
"Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying,
" 'Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion!
How long must this go on?' Will not your debtors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their victim.
Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you.
For you have shed man's blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in
them.
"Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin! You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. "Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime!
Has not the LORD Almighty determined
that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire,
that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
as the waters cover the sea.
"Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they
are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies. You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed! The cup from the LORD's right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.
The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed man's blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.
"Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
Woe to him who says to wood, 'Come to life!' Or to lifeless stone, 'Wake up!'
Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver;
there is no breath in it.
But the LORD is in his holy temple;
let all the earth be silent before him."
How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save?
Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.
Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
"Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe,
even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own.
They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves
and promote their own honor. Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like a vulture swooping to devour; they all come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; they build earthen ramps and capture them. Then they sweep past like the wind and go on guilty men, whose own strength is their god."
O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die.
O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked
swallow up those more righteous than themselves? You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler. The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food.
Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?
I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this
complaint.
Then the LORD replied:
"Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end
and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.
"See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright - but the righteous will live by his faith -
indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples.
"Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying,
" 'Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion!
How long must this go on?' Will not your debtors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their victim.
Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you.
For you have shed man's blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in
them.
"Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin! You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. "Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime!
Has not the LORD Almighty determined
that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire,
that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
as the waters cover the sea.
"Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they
are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies. You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed! The cup from the LORD's right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.
The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed man's blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.
"Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
Woe to him who says to wood, 'Come to life!' Or to lifeless stone, 'Wake up!'
Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver;
there is no breath in it.
But the LORD is in his holy temple;
let all the earth be silent before him."
Sunday, January 08, 2006
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