Tuesday, August 07, 2012

The Nameforms that Bitch Birth and Dog Death

Just a little flutterblast, since I'm short on time.

To review: existence is not a fact. Rather, "if anything," it is "the non-fact of a disturbing movement in the in-Between of ignorance and knowledge, of time and timelessness, of imperfection and perfection, of hope and fulfillment, and ultimately of life and death" (Voegelin).

For some reason, a passage from Finnegans Wake just popped into my melon. I'll pass it along without comment, just in case it's relevant:

In the ignorance that implies impression that knits knowledge that finds the nameform that whets the wits that convey contacts that sweeten sensation that drives desire that adheres to attachment that dogs death that bitches birth that entails the ensuance of existentiality.

If the ensuance of existentiality is a movement, then this movement extends in different directions: in, out, up, down, forward, back, etc. I would suggest that our freedom -- human freedom -- is synonymous with the movement that is possible within this pregnant space, i.e., the womb of time.

Socrates says that the true philosopher -- the lover of wisdom and seeker after truth -- endeavors "to make a reasoned choice between the better and worse life, with reference to the nature of the soul" (in Kimball).

Better. Worse. Freedom. What else is there?

Well yes, there is ObamaWorld, which consists of Better and Coercion, or you'd better!, for short. There is "what Obama thinks" and "what you must do about it." In the one minute monument to mendacity he's running during the Olympics, he says it's fair to ask the wealthy to give a little more to the state. I agree. That's fair. Ask away!

Unfortunately, the Chicago Way involves "asking" with a gun to the head.

Note that the left always promises "emancipation" from this or that external circumstance, even while removing or constraining our real movement, e.g., "be tolerant of all points of view, or else!", or "we believe in relativism, absolutely." Every left wing "freedom" is purchased at the cost of chains that bind the recipient elsewhere and elsewhen. Who knows how much my son is going to end up owing Obama?

At any rate, within the fulsome space of subjectivity there are not only directions but dimensions. For example, as we have discussed on many occasions, dreaming takes place in a hyperdimensional space that is governed by non-Aristotelian rules of logic.

Likewise, the upper vertical -- the "spiritual dimension," as it were -- cannot be reduced to a four-dimensional space with external relations and linear causation.

Once one understands this, then much of the otherwise inexplicable phenomena that accompanies the spiritual life has a context in which it not only makes sense, but is somewhat "inevitable," given the total structure of things. (To be clear, the "possibility" of spiritual phenomena is inevitable, not this or that particular phenomenon.)

To put it another way, things happen -- they are necessary and/or possible -- because of principles. Spiritual events are possible because of spiritual principles, just as physical events are possible because of immaterial principles, e.g., the laws of physics, or of chemistry, or of plumbing, whatever.

A specialist in any field should have a grasp of the principles governing it, but this is usually not the case. Most people fail to articulate their principles, with the result that they are bound by implicit assumptions of which they are unaware. This ends up limiting the space of freedom mentioned above in paragraph two.

Actually, there are times that things happen because of an absence of principles. But enough about Harry Reid.

Besides, there is a larger principle at work in Harry the unrepentant pedophile, which is: no human good goes unpunished by the left.

To cite one obvious example of how implicit principles limit one's vertical freedom, every doctrinaire atheist begins with materialist assumptions which result, in machine-like fashion, in materialist conclusions. Thus, all the atheist "proves" is that he is a faithful materialist, but we knew that already. Frankly, such pseudo-reason is irreligulous.

Any kind of linear reasoning is, in a sense, a tautology: tenure in, garbage out. If the universe actually worked this way -- this way only -- then we certainly wouldn't be sitting here in this hyperdimensional womb of timenow, would we then?

Of poetry, Eliot wrote that it communicates "before it is understood" (in Kimball again). This is quintessentially true of the spiritual dimension, but it is also true more generally.

For example, this "pre-understanding" is what guides the scientist's intuition that this this or that that would be a more fruitful avenue of research (this sort of intuition is what distinguishes the grade A scientist from the worker B). It is as if there is tacit foreknowledge of an as-yet-undiscovered reality. Another word for this is "faith," i.e., "evidence of things unSeen."

If only we called things what they are, by their proper names!

And O how well & truly fucked / When first we feign to deconstruct!

13 comments:

julie said...

For example, this "pre-understanding" is what guides the scientist's intuition that this or that would be a more fruitful avenue of research. It is as if there is tacit foreknowledge of an as-yet-undiscovered reality. Another word for this is "faith," i.e., "evidence of things unSeen

Heh. I'm reminded of the studies done on how the brain reacts before the person is consciously aware that he has (for instance) made a decision. To the tenured, this proves that we don't have free will; for some reason, it never seems to occur to them that this is simply evidence of things unseen and mechanisms poorly understood.

Gagdad Bob said...

The spontaneous mutual attunement of Mother and Infant is another good example (en-fans means something like "without speech," if memory serves).

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

@Julie - yes, and how emotional responses are considered irrational, irrespective of whether the emotion arises from a disposition which was trained by rational choices.

We might ask about the fighter - the really great champion - is he irrational, even though his technique is a masterwork of human intelligence and cunning? Do we then conclude (like intellectuals might) that he just can think really fast? Or did he spend a long time training the responses he wanted so he didn't have to think about them...?

Much of how the left is incapable of recognizing any 'impulse' that isn't a dislike for homosexuality as unnatural. You mean reading all that Chomsky affected me on a subconscious level that I'm now responsible for?

Fortunately, I've managed to avoid directly reading Chomsky.

mushroom said...

I agree. That's fair. Ask away!

This is what comes to mind when Buffet, Gates, Soros and the usual suspects start talking about how the rich need to pay more taxes. Hey, Warren, I think the IRS will take a check. Send it on.

Sometimes I think it is less about the money than the gun.

The money, as they say, is just a way to keep score.

mushroom said...

Any kind of linear reasoning is, in a sense, a tautology: tenure in, garbage out.

And that, at least, works on both ends of the political spectrum and a lot of religion as it is commonly framed.

julie said...

And O how well & truly fucked / When first we feign to deconstruct!

Heh- true both vertically and horizontally. Just try dismantling the trappings of a life; putting it all back together, even in he best of circumstances, never quite puts it back to rights...

Gagdad Bob said...

The left believes the biological environment is so fragile, yet has no concern whatsoever about the fragility, organicity, interconnectedness, and nonlinearity of the human environment, which is why they can be so clueless, for example, about the redefinition of marriage. It's like they're insensate at any level above... sensations.

ge said...

Drudge header:
Scientists Hear 'Scream' As Star Gets Devoured By Black Hole...

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

@ge

Hollywood news?

julie said...

Re. those free will experiments I was talking about this morning, surprise surprise: Brain might not stand in the way of free will.

Well, duh.

EbonyRaptor said...

It seems to me horizontal knowledge is the battleground where the father of lies and his surrogates engage their enemy, whereas vertical knowledge or revelation is impenetrable to the evil one. It is only when we horizonalize revelation that we open ourselves up to the lies.

Eliot's quote that "Genuine poetry communicates before it is understood" would seem to touch on this same vertical chord where things of purity and beauty are communicated before we demystify them with understanding.

mushroom said...

@EbonyRaptor -- reminds me of Paul saying in Corinthians, I pray with my spirit and I also pray with my mind. Some believe the enemy cannot understand us when we pray in the spirit.

EbonyRaptor said...

@mushroom - regardless how praying in the spirit is interpretted across Christendom, unless the horizontal shades are pulled and the vertical skylight is opened, the enemy sneaks into our prayer room. It seems there's only room for one other in our prayer room. If we let the enemy in, the Holy Spirit will oblige to leave. But in the strength of the Holy Spirit we can keep the enemy out of mind.

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