Sunday, September 07, 2008

Will the Real Evolution Please Stand Up?

I see that Susannah left a cryptic comment last night: "How do the New Heaven and New Earth fit in?" (Rev. 21). Heck, I don't know, let me look up Revelation 21.

Ah ha. Lot's of provocative stuff. And one reason it is provocative is that it seems to me that it speaks of a dramatic evolutionary transformation in the future. Of course, no one, not even Petey, knows the day or hour (consult your local listings), but it sounds pretty intense. However, please note for our purposes that it is inconsistent with the traditionalist view of a cyclical universe that is simply winding down. Consider the following passage:

"And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.' Then He who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

"And He said to me, 'It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Very interesting. Does this kind of transformation sound crazy? Certainly not any crazier than the instantaneous appearance of an ordered universe, the sudden emergence of life, or the dramatic appearance of truth-bearing primates. Given those extraordinary precedents, you have to be curiously intellectually incurious to insist that this cosmos has no further surprises in store.

First gear, its alright.

But Revelation is written in the language and style of some 2000 years ago, which can obscure some of its meaning. As always, we have to not only translate it to our language, but consider it in the light of our understanding and sensibility. This is not to say that scripture becomes subordinate to man. Nevertheless, in some sense it has to; in other words, even though it can never be "contained," each generation must attempt to do so, on pain of not understanding it at all. I mean, I don't even fully understand my wife. But I never stop trying.

Yesterday I proposed the idea that the cosmos is either evolving, dissipating, or staying the same. But as some sharp-eyed Coon pointed out, there is actually a third possibility, and that is that it is simultaneously winding up and down. In fact, Revelation implies this, what with the idea that the evolutionary stragglers are in for a rude awakening when the transformational deal goes down. But again, I think it's important to try to determine what all of this means to our modern understanding.

Therefore, back to Sri Aurobindo. Again, since God is all, then the realm of becoming is infused with divine Being. However -- and this is in fact consistent with Schuon -- we must imagine a sort of hierarchical cosmic scale, in which things are increasingly distant from God, even though (and this is not really a paradox), in the final analysis, everything is nevertheless God -- or, to be perfectly accurate, let us say "not other than God." You might say that "all things are God. But some things are more Godly than others."

Now, to jump ahead a bit, energy is not merely energy. Rather, it is chit, or consciousness-force. I won't press the point at this juntcure. Just hear me now, believe me later. But as Aurobindo writes,

"Consciousness, as we descend the scale, becomes more and more diminished and diluted -- dense indeed by its coarser crudity, but while that crudity of consistence compacts the stuff of Ignorance, it admits less and less the substance of light; it becomes thin in pure substance of consciousness and reduced in power of consciousness, thin in light..." Conversely, as we ascend the scale, "a finer but far stronger and more truly spiritually concrete substance emerges, a greater luminosity and potent stuff of consciousness, a subtler, sweeter, purer and more powerfully ecstatic energy of delight." Ultimately, the conscious-substance of God is "lighter than a gas, denser than a diamond."

Now, all seekers with even a rudimentary amount of experience will understand that Aurobindo is not being poetical or metaphorical, but quite literal. This is why, for example, with our activated cOOnvision we can discern at a glance a being of light or a being of darkness. With regard to the latter, it matters not one whit how much "human intelligence" they possess. Rather, what will first impress the Raccoon about such a person will be the quality of light. Frankly, intelligence which is not in service to this light becomes luciferic at best, but often frankly demonic.

You will undoubtedly hear many dopey MSM analyses of the appeal of Sarah Palin, but they will all miss the point, because they will all be done by coarse and crude people who live in the dark, attempting to write about a light that excludes them, precisely. Likewise, for us, Obama is -- no offense here, but it's true -- an ontological nothing and a nobody, no matter how much the darklings of the MSM try to convince us otherwise. We know darkness when we see it.

Anyone who cannot immediately discern -- I mean, physically feel, only on the subtle plane -- the darkness and obscurity of a Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Deepak Chopra, Markos Moulitsas or Bill Maher, is simply not a Raccoon. I cite those examples because they are so blindingly obvious. But once you accept the idea that man is capable of making these distinctions in the realm of spirit, then you realize that it is possible to make far more subtle ones -- which is true of expertise in any field, from wine tasting to jazz.

Most of us can look into someone's eyes and roughly determine in an instant how intelligent they are. It's also not too difficult to determine how truly spiritual they are. Give me five minutes with someone, and I can usually tell if I am dealing with a human or an ape, and I'm certainly not claiming any special powers. Remember a few weeks ago, when I mentioned the colleague who was asking for spiritual advice, and I told him to look for the light and barakah? Same thing. A real spiritual text fills you with light, and the light is real. Of course it's real. Just as the light in Van Gogh's paintings is real. The best spiritual texts not only glow in the dark, but also give off warmth.

Second gear, I lean right.

Given what we have outlined above, evolution -- even the watered down, anti-intellectual gruel of Darwinian evolution -- must be the evolution of consciousness. I mean, I don't care what the Darwinists say, man is more conscious than any other being. He is not just different, but more. He has more light, more reality, more divinity, more truth, etc. (but also less, depending on the case).

And please note, I would not waste a moment arguing with someone who believes otherwise, because they cannot help believing otherwise. Again, our scientistic jester is simply making an honest confession when he so openly talks about his spiritual blindness. Instead of arguing with him, why not just believe him? I mean, I'm not telling people what to do, but a prerequisite of spiritual growth is openness to the Real, so it is pointless to discuss these matters with a vertically closed -- and more importantly, self-satisfied -- system.

Now, as Aurobindo writes, "what really happens in the processes and stages of evolution must be something very different from any changes in matter, and much more complex.... Evolution is not only physical, it is first and foremost spiritual." It is "in essence a heightening of the force of consciousness in the manifest being so that it may be raised into the greater intensity of what is still unmanifest, from matter into life, from life into mind, from mind into the spirit."

But again, this hierarchical Adventure of Consciousness could never under any circumstances be built "from the ground up." To think otherwise is metaphysically preposterous, and the height of... of silliness. We have no quarrel whatsoever with what materialistic science is capable of proving in its limited domain. But it is "concerned only with the outward and visible machinery and process," and does "not affect the self-evident fact of a spiritual evolution, an evolution of consciousness, a progression of the soul's manifestation in material existence." Put it this way: spiritual evolution is an empirical fact. Natural selection is an abstract theory. Frankly, Darwinists have spoiled the word "evolution" in the same way that leftists have spoiled the word "liberal." No wonder they're generally the same population.

Third gear, hang on tight.

True evolution -- not the random, mistake-driven kind -- is inconceivable in the absence of a prior involution of divine consciousness. As a result of this divine descent, there are necessarily going to be different levels of reality. This is precisely why there are easily discernible hierarchical levels in the cosmos, AKA, the vertical. In turn, this nonlocal hierarchy is simultaneously a veil and revelation; or, as I put it in the secret teachings (which non-Raccoons are forbidden to read), God reveils himself in the creation.

Here is how Sri Aurobindo puts it: "This descent of the supreme Reality is in its nature a self-concealing, and in the descent there are successive levels, in the concealing of successive veils. Necessarily, the revelation takes the form of an ascent; and necessarily also the ascent and the revelation are both progressive" -- at least in the long term. But the progress is not inevitable once the ontological fulcrum of conscious man emerges with his freedom, for the very reason that he may abuse his freedom and choose to become a Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Deepak Chopra, Markos Moulitsas or Bill Maher. In short, he may choose darkness, stagnation, stupidity and spiritual regress. No other animal -- in fact, nothing else in creation -- can do this. Once again, proof of God.

Faster, it's alright!

Now, evolutionary time is clearly picking up speed as we approach the singularity, eschaton, or Divine Object. After all, it took some 10 billion years for life to appear, but only another 3.85 billion years or so for primates to arrive. And then just a blink of the eye for humans to make their vertical descent. And then, just a fraction of a second for the humans -- a few of them, anyway -- to reascend to their Divine source. Game over!

But wait. What about the collective? How long will that take, if it happens at all? Are we condemned to just a few gifted pneumanauts completing the evolutionary journey of cosmotheosis before the majority of the human-animal lowbreds spoil it for everyone else? Will the progressives and Islamists prevail in their struggle against spiritual evolution and try to make it impossible for the rest of us?

No, they won't prevail. But they will continue to make it difficult, and you can expect their efforts to reach a kind of fever pitch as the chasm continues to widen between us and them. As deranged as Bush hatred was, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

to be continued....

50 comments:

shoprat said...

All through the Old Testament, but especially toward the end as the Incarnation was approaching, God repeatedly referred to His people as His Jewelry (Heb: Segulah which also means prized possession or treasure.) It rarity and beauty that makes a treasure or a gem valuable. Maybe it will be just a few. It's a sad but real possibility.

walt said...

Today you wrote:
I proposed the idea that the cosmos is either evolving, dissipating, or staying the same. But as some sharp-eyed Coon pointed out, there is actually a third possibility, and that is that it is simultaneously winding up and down.

Wasn't this what you pointed to in your comment?:
Kazantzakis thought that there are two streams in life. The first one runs toward ascesis, synthesis, life and immortality. The second one runs downwards, to dissolution, matter, death. However, both streams are part of the universe, and being so, sacred.

I assume the two "streams" re-cycle infinitely, expansion and contraction proceeding on every level -- so to posit a "static" End State doesn't seem right. But when conceived in light of the idea of density or levels, it does seem right. Closer to God = entirely different possibilities, and entirely different meaning.

In simple terms, this also corresponds to the idea that "your level of being attracts your life."

Thanks for the Sunday post!

QP said...

Re: The third possibility, [-] that it is simultaneously winding up and down.

Compare and contrast, living, collective examples:

America, the evolutionary precursor to the New Jerusalem? At best, she is the best way station for pilgrims seeking the City of God.

Iran, the de-evolutionary precursor to hell-on-earth for women, where the Madman Ahmadinejad has now proposed a fast track to heaven for men.

quote:

"IN one of his last sermons before his death, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini warned of "three threats" to his vision of Islam: the US, the Jews and women.

Two decades later, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad thinks he has the United States and the Jews in hand - and is moving on the third "enemy."
[...]
Last month, Ahmadinejad presented a draft bill designed to "re-Islamicize" the status of women. He claimed that the shah had used laws inspired by "Zionist-Crusaders" to deal with women's issues.

julie said...

Shoprat, your comment reminds me of this and similar passages I recently read in The Spiritual Ascent (yes, I'm still reading it. Slow going, but I'm more than halfway through):

"It is a Spiritual Essence which is neither celestial nor infernal, but an aerial, pure, and precious body, in the middle between the highest and lowest, the choicest and noblest thing under heaven. But by the ignorant and the beginner it is thought to be the vilest and meanest of things....Men have it before their eyes, handle it with their hands, yet know it not, though they constantly tread it under their feet."

For some reason, this post made me re-think slightly the idea of the spiral, hearkening more to Ricky's helix. Imagine there are two spirals, one fitted within the other, rotating in opposite directions. Now imagine that life (or maybe time) is what happens in the space between those spirals, with everything that is acting as gradations of coarse and fine grit, to polish the roughened lumps that are the raw spirit of the human soul. At its best, the process produces gems of unsurpassing beauty, but by the very nature of the grinding many of the lumps will fracture, or at worst be ground into dust.

I dunno. This is just what I was thinking of this morning, anyway. I'm not sure if I like this particular image, or if I'm interpreting it correctly.

Gagdad Bob said...

I was just thinking, a woman such as Sarah Palin must literally be the Islamists' worst psychosexual nightmare come to life. Not that much different from the left, I suppose.

Gagdad Bob said...

That is correct: it is a double helix that takes place in the "hole" within a toroidal cosmic structure. More on which later.

Gagdad Bob said...

I picture the torus a little like this.

Anonymous said...

Genesis loses its depth when it is viewed as a literal account of God working magic for six twenty-four hour days. Time is plastic in Genesis. It cools and congeals into being along with the rest of creation. As the beginning so the end. Similarly, the apocalypse is unlikely to unfold in manner that could be easily serialized for cable television. I have a feeling that the Revelation of John is unfolding before us. We're living it right here and now, but we're right in the middle of it and so, we can't see.
We always hear about the sudden evolutionary leaps that occurred in the once-upon-a-time of human history. We are living in the greatest one of all. Think. In terms of the great panorama of homo-sapien existence, how litle of it is actually human history. The leap of thousands of years from cave to village is nothing when you consider the leap that we have made in the last few hundred.
But we're right in the middle of it, and so we do not always see it.
Time had to cool and congeal in the beginning. Perhaps we are all like the proverbial frogs in the pot- we're still unaware that the heat's on.

JWM

JWM

Gagdad Bob said...

To quote Terence McKenna, "from the chipping of flint to launching of the space shuttle and the hurling of instruments out of the solar system, it seems preposterous to maintain that the forces and facts of nature as we know them could have allowed us to do what we are doing. Instead, I take a very premodern view: we are in league with the demiurge. We are the children of a force that we can barely imagine."

julie said...

I like that second one; it looks about right. I don't know why, but for some reason I had previously thought of the spiral as being a single spiral. I wonder how it would work if there were a third strand in there. From a physics point-of-view, it probably wouldn't function as a moving set, but since this would be outside, or rather, ontologically prior to physics, anything could be possible...

Gagdad Bob said...

The third line down the center would have to be the objective hierarchy, tree of life, sefirotic tree of Kabbalah, Jacob's ladder, Petey's absurcular staircase, etc.

Anonymous said...

Another dark abuser of women and children comes out against Palin. No surprise.

Anonymous said...

Alex Baldwin knows all about real people. He played one in a movie once.

JWM

Susannah said...

Bitter Bible-clingers celebrate memories of Ruth Graham. ;)

(The Fernando Ortega music video is compelling. I've always enjoyed his music on quiet evenings):

http://www.billygraham.org/mediaplayer.asp?l=http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1137883267/bclid1151560148/bctid1772099470

Must coonfess, I count myself among them. I do believe in the inerrancy of scripture because I would rather trust divine revelation over anything conjured by the mind of man. All truth comports with the truth found in the Bible; it may be in some circumstances that our understanding of scripture is off. "All truth is God's truth," as St. Augustine (I believe) put it.

To my mind, scripture provides the most reasonable explanation for why we are here, and why we are the way we are. I can't quite make the opening chapters of Genesis fit with evolution, myself, but I don't claim to have a superior understanding of such matters.

I do believe you are right, Bob, in that things are not winding down as much as they are winding up. I've never believed in the "history as cyclical" theory. I believe history drives toward a purpose. Hope that makes a little bit of sense. :)

Susannah said...

I mean, think about all the things we have or face today that are *unprecedented* in history. The nature of man stays the same as it has during all recorded history (hence "nothing new under the sun"), but the technology of man increases exponentially. The upward swing on the graph certainly lends itself to the impression that some sort of "singularity" approaches.

Susannah said...

Oh, my punning father would have loved this. Who knew. There's a Tutu Institute.

http://www.tutuinstitute.org/calendar.html

Oh-kay.

I've really *got* to stop listening to Interfaith Voices with it's squishy "many paths to God" (except orthodox evangelicalism) "tolerance."

Gagdad Bob said...

Some of today's searches that landed here:

bobectomy
epidemonic
sex of beautiful feman
cosmos life hospital
raccoon in uniform
esoteric meaning of ruby slippers
raccoon suicide bomber

walt said...

Hmmm.

I must've missed the "Ruby Slippers" post. Darn!

Anonymous said...

There have been three world-historic events for me in the past seven years: 9/11; the first three days of Gulf War II; and McCain announcing Sarah Palin.

In the first hours after 9/11, I found a transcript of a cell phone call from one of the planes on the internet. The passenger was whispering into the phone that the hijackers had the stewardesses in the back of the plane and were slitting their throats. That chilled me to the core and even though we did not know the identity of the hijackers yet, I knew that these were alien life forms and that they hated women.

It scared the dickens out of me.

It doesn't surprise me at all that the Dems and the MSM turn out to be misogynists. It doesn't surprise me at all about what Ahm-a-dinnerjacket says about women either. Just like it didn't surprise me to find out one of the highjackers was Mohammed Atta.

Birds of a Feather.

Anonymous said...

"I was just thinking, a woman such as Sarah Palin must literally be the Islamists' worst psychosexual nightmare come to life. Not that much different from the left, I suppose."

Considering the left almost voted a women into the democratic nomination.

Anonymous said...

Umm, no, they didn't reject Hillary, more voted for the other guy. Would you say that you rejected McCain if Obama won? No, that's utterly absurd.

Anonymous said...

Besides, Barack is much more feminine than Hillary.

Anonymous said...

Umm lol as "feminine" as Hillary is I don't think anybody has to take that as an insult.

TWP said...

Bob, I loved your comment about Sarah Palin's effect on islamists. This is certainly turning out to be an election about sexuality on a conscious rather than unconscious level. I have found it so curious that people think Barry is sexy. Since I'm a woman, instinctively I know what a man looks like and Barry is the opposite. He's a man like female fashion models are women. Their faces are gendered but their bodies are asexual. In the way Sarah is threatening because of her fertility and vitality, Barry is not threatening in the way Davy Jones was not sexually threatening to twelve year old teeny boppers.

There must be some psychological component to the choosing of a president. That's a person who in reality must protect us. We therefore must instinctively connect with the idealization of a protective figure. Moms can protect as well as Dads and I'd be perfectly thrilled to have Sarah around during a home invasion scenario. I would be unthrilled to have Barry in the house.

What's amiss with the people who think/feel he's sexy when he's clearly not or a protective figure when he clearly has all the substance of a prepubescent boy.

Gagdad Bob said...

Very good. The funny thing about Barack is that he's not even black or "half black." Rather, he's just a wimpy, effete white guy pretending to be black. He "chose" blackness as a way to have an identity. And when he talks about being bullied by the mean lady with the glasses. P-leaze! It would be like having Michael Jackson for president.

Van Harvey said...

"Now, all seekers with even a rudimentary amount of experience will understand that Aurobindo is not being poetical or metaphorical, but quite literal. This is why, for example, with our activated cOOnvision we can discern at a glance a being of light or a being of darkness. With regard to the latter, it matters not one whit how much "human intelligence" they possess. Rather, what will first impress the Raccoon about such a person will be the quality of light. Frankly, intelligence which is not in service to this light becomes luciferic at best, but often frankly demonic. "

Ya know, I've been more and more amazed lately at how the Poetical, is in fact a more literal description of the Cosmos, than the most literal of literalists would have imagined.

Van Harvey said...

"You will undoubtedly hear many dopey MSM analyses of the appeal of Sarah Palin, but they will all miss the point, because they will all be done by coarse and crude people who live in the dark, attempting to write about a light that excludes them, precisely. "

True, and that is what leaps out at us, and draws our attention. While she isn't one of the Founders come back to save us from ourselves, even so she brings a no pc bs, and the courage to denounce what needs to be denounced, which our current Gov't culture so desperately needs.

BTW, I updated my Sarah Palin post, and included many mucho links, pro and con for those interested in fillng in the gaps.

Van Harvey said...

"Again, our scientistic jester is simply making an honest confession when he so openly talks about his spiritual blindness. Instead of arguing with him, why not just believe him? I mean, I'm not telling people what to do, but a prerequisite of spiritual growth is openness to the Real, so it is pointless to discuss these matters with a vertically closed -- and more importantly, self-satisfied -- system."

Sigh. I know... but I enjoy the challenge of rethinking the issues from different (even stupid) perspectives... and besides... it tasks me....

Van Harvey said...

"No, they won't prevail. But they will continue to make it difficult, and you can expect their efforts to reach a kind of fever pitch as the chasm continues to widen between us and them. As deranged as Bush hatred was, you ain't seen nothin' yet."

Oh, I think you've got that right... big time. There's more storms brewing now, than just hurricanes.

Van Harvey said...

JWM said " I have a feeling that the Revelation of John is unfolding before us. We're living it right here and now, but we're right in the middle of it and so, we can't see."

I often think the same.

Van Harvey said...

TWP,
LOL!

(ok, six in a row, that's enough... I now release my exclusive hold on the 'Publish' button)

Rick said...

Bob,
The Beach Boys inserts…we were tuned to similar frequencies early this morning. I don’t know exactly where the title for mine came from, but I do know it completely shifted the gear of the part I thought I was going to write. In other words, Transmission came first.

Gagdad Bob said...

Surely I must have one reader who is a fan of late '60s/early '70s soul music? If so, you'll want to know about this treasure, the Invictus Soul Box. I'm almost through disc 2, and there hasn't been a weak track yet. Most of the better known songs are on disc 1, but there's no drop off whatsoever in quality in the other tracks, most of which are probably appearing on CD for the first time.

Invictus, which was in existence from '68 to '73, was an independent label started up by the immortal song writing team of Holland-Dozier-Holland. Anyone who listened to AM radio back then will love this. Also, the remastering is quite good, to such an extent that even the familiar songs sound fresh.

Interestingly, with the rise of album oriented rock and FM radio after 1970, there was very little good music by white artists on AM after 1971 or so. But because black music didn't become more album oriented until later, there was still a lot of fantastic soul music on the AM radio between 1970 and 1975. So if you're a fan of the genre, this is a five star recommendation.

Susannah said...

Forgive me...

*why* exactly is Alec Baldwin writing political commentary?

Perhaps he honed his foreign policy expertise and diplomacy skills by narrating Thomas the Tank Engine vids?

"More fear. Less solutions." Better grammar.

Van Harvey said...

Susannah said "Perhaps he honed his foreign policy expertise and diplomacy skills by narrating Thomas the Tank Engine vids?"

Hmm... somehow I've missed the editorials and headlines decrying his lack of experience and qualifications to be involved in such matters.

Joan of Argghh! said...

Um... a raccoon evolution is upon us!

Warren said...

"*why* exactly is Alec Baldwin writing political commentary?"

Susannah,

The real question is why anybody would pay attention to it.

robinstarfish said...

Um... a raccoon evolution is upon us!

It's happening all over.

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

Revelation Interpretations a-go-go.

The Copts might have the right idea...

julie said...

Robin, the funniest thing about that is I don't remember the post, much less my comment there. It's like eavesdropping on a conversation a year later. I wonder what I was referring to?
:D

Anonymous said...

I don't watch TV much but I did catch O'Reilly discussing Sarah Palin and Uhh-bama with his female body language "expert" the other night.
It was interesting to watch her body language, the serious, sourpuss face when dicussing Palin and her surreptitious motives as opposed to the lightened smiling face when she spoke about Uhh-bama. "Now Bill, you see him extending his left hand? That's his power hand and he's trying to reach out to you, to get you on his side, to bring you over."

Whatever.

And O'Reilly fell for it.

All I saw of Uhh-bama was an extremely acomplished con man with an polished act. The phoney head tilts, hand gestures and sitting up off the back of the chair. SOOOOooo P.C.
My bet is that this body language "expert" has probably purchased more than her share of un-needed encyclopedias, junk used cars and vacuum cleaners.

Anonymous said...

"And O'Reilly fell for it."

That's because O'Reilly is a dope.

Anonymous said...

Bob, yes Invictus was a great label and H-D-H, what a team!

I think I have the Club Classics vol 1 somewhere at home, or some other compilation from Invictus...

Remeber playing COTB - "gimme just a little more time" a lot of times back when i was into throughing "soul parties" on the campus during my time as a student.

/Soul-Johan

Van Harvey said...

Hoarhey said "It was interesting to watch her body language, the serious, sourpuss face when dicussing Palin and her surreptitious motives as opposed to the lightened smiling face when she spoke about Uhh-bama... All I saw of Uhh-bama was an extremely acomplished con man with an polished act. The phoney head tilts, hand gestures and sitting up off the back of the chair. SOOOOooo P.C."

Glad to see other's saw that too!

What a dope.

Gagdad Bob said...

Johan:

I wonder why Europeans have such a deeper appreciation of classic American soul music? Perhaps because it seems more exotic to Europeans, whereas here it is taken for granted. A soul prophet is without honor in his own land....

Ray Ingles said...

"...it is pointless to discuss these matters with a vertically closed -- and more importantly, self-satisfied -- system."

A wise man once said that "the fantasist has already projected onto us the role that we are to play in his fantasy; no matter what we may be thinking of his recital, it never crosses his mind that we may be utterly failing to play the part expected of us."

And Van - me too. :->

Van Harvey said...

Ray, you should just come out and say it. You're just annoyed because I'm rubber and you're glue, what you say bounces off me and sticks to you.

You just have to face up to the fact that facts are stubborn things.

Anonymous said...

This is an excellent post. It leaves two questons lingering in the air:

Why did God involute in the first place? (Probably no answer possible).

Have any humans ever really re-ascended all the way? I question this; according to SA, the cells of the physical body would have to be included in the final arrival of the Jiva into Vasudeva, producing a body of light, for the journey to be complete. No one has done this yet.
So, the finish line of complete evolution has not been touched yet.

Anonymous said...

Bob said:
“I wonder why Europeans have such a deeper appreciation of classic American soul music? Perhaps because it seems more exotic to Europeans, whereas here it is taken for granted. A soul prophet is without honor in his own land....”

Good question… But music and culture from America have always had big impact here, at least in Sweden... and Swedes has always been early adopters of new trends and sounds.

I do think Americans and Swedes are a lot the same, more than most people today will admit. Since people here are a bit like those forest-morons, we just have to feel bad and be angry about Bush and basically everything the U.S. does abroad (and most people are also very ignorant of your domestic politics).

Maybe that’s also a “trend” and we import it from the leftist? Yes indeed, I think so.

But people also very much like the American way of life, movies, music, shows, food and culture...

I think we Europeans have a lot of "family issues" with America. We look at you as our little brother, since you once came from Europe, but now you have grow past us in every possible way and that's very hard to deal with (at least for for immature people).

Sal said...

Well, how d'you do?
Linked to this from somewhere else and look who's he talking about:
http://mliccione.blogspot.com/2008/09/hell-and-sarah-palin.html

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