tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post116101195199982556..comments2024-03-28T12:10:26.197-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: The Left-Handed Fall into Nihilistic Destruction (10.04.08)Gagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161152837564637752006-10-17T23:27:00.000-07:002006-10-17T23:27:00.000-07:00"'I wish it need not have happened in my time,' sa...<I>"'I wish it need not have happened in my time,' said Frodo.<BR/><BR/>"'So do I,' said Gandalf, 'and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.'"</I><BR/><BR/>--John Ronald TolkienAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161110243895990612006-10-17T11:37:00.000-07:002006-10-17T11:37:00.000-07:00tsebring,you write.........where he confronted the...tsebring,<BR/><BR/>you write....<BR/><BR/><I>.....where he confronted the reality of the true cost of his calling, and prevailed by surrendering his will to his Father. The cost was, of course, terrible; the result was reconciliation with the Divine; the Father's ultimate goal and humanity's ultimate hope.</I><BR/><BR/>Correct me if I err, but it seems the deduction here is that to participate in the hope for humanity one must be reconciled with the divine and that to be reconciled with the divine one must surrender his/her will to God. If this is true, then it seems fair to say that as God's hope full vision for humanity is realized, the only people who will share in the experiences of it will be those whose beings exists in a state of a fully-surrendered relationship with God.<BR/><BR/><BR/>BPBig 'Possumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14646287143376549419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161108214001997592006-10-17T11:03:00.000-07:002006-10-17T11:03:00.000-07:00One more example that I forgot:NEW TESTAMENT:Jesus...One more example that I forgot:<BR/><BR/>NEW TESTAMENT:<BR/>Jesus is probably the prime example of someone who chooses the right way ("I only do what I see the Father doing") vs the easy way. This struggle came to a head in two places; the wilderness, where he was tempted by Satan to be all-powerful rather than fulfill his mission (like Anakin, or Frodo with the Ring), and The Garden, where he confronted the reality of the true cost of his calling, and prevailed by surrendering his will to his Father. The cost was, of course, terrible; the result was reconciliation with the Divine; the Father's ultimate goal and humanity's ultimate hope.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161107526218700932006-10-17T10:52:00.000-07:002006-10-17T10:52:00.000-07:00Van said: "As far as Harry Potter goes, a line suc...Van said: "As far as Harry Potter goes, a line such as Dumbledore speaks "The time is coming when all must choose between what is Right... and what is easy" and catches fire in children’s imagination, is worth more than the combined contents and tonnage of every textbook in the public school system today"...<BR/><BR/>Right on, Van. The theme of choosing what is easy vs what is right resounds through all of the best literature and cinema. Some examples:<BR/><BR/>LORD OF THE RINGS:<BR/>Frodo and Sam are repeatedly offered the opportunity to abandon their mission and retreat back home, especially when confronted by Galadriel, who sees through all presense and bravado to the true hearts of all the company. Frodo must repeatedly leave a safe place (Bag End, Crickhollow, Bombadil's house, Rivendell, Lothlorien) and push ahead to whatever awaits. Frodo is somehow able to summon the little courage that is inside of him to choose what he must do over what he would rather do. <BR/><BR/>STAR WARS SAGA:<BR/>Yoda repeatedly speaks of the path to the Dark Side as being the easier way, fraught with emotion (like a lot of liberals). Anakin is ultimately unable to resist this descent into darkness; Luke comes perilously close, but, though his wisdom is sometimes lacking, his training ultimately saves him and Anakin. A danger in this, of course, is that liberals can read Luke's salvation of Anakin as justification for appeasement of enemies.<BR/><BR/>SAVING PRIVATE RYAN:<BR/>Tom Hanks' colonel and his men choose to go on a difficult mission with little chance of success, all to save one man, rather than just fight the war like everyone else (A similar theme can be found in ARMAGEDDON, except that they're saving the whole planet, kind of like Frodo).<BR/><BR/>STAR TREK: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK:<BR/>Kirk is faced with the choice of simply obeying Star Fleet orders, or rescuing his lifelong friend from the dead and fulfilling the promise he made to Sarek. He chooses the harder way, and it costs him his ship and his son, and probably his career. When asked by Sarek why he did this at such cost, Kirk answered "If I hadn't, the cost would have been my soul".<BR/><BR/>There are countless other examples of this choice in life; Ivanhoe, Last of the Mohicans, Patton, Princess Bride, and even those cute little Veggie Tales DVD's. Conversely, Greek plays and Shakespeare are full of examples of people taking the easy way and reaping the consequences. <BR/><BR/>Of course, the devil is a cunning counterfitter. There are plenty of leftie favorites that contain the theme of choosing the "right" over the easy (Billy Jack, Norma Rae, Silkwood, Born on the Fourth of July, Erin Brackovitch, etc.). The difference comes down to what Bob has been speaking of this whole series; the perception of the nature of humanity of the author. If you believe that evil is real and the struggle to defeat it is part of what makes us fully human, than my former list will resonate with you. If you believe that there is no good or evil, that everything is relative, and that it is the duty of our government to make us all happy and healthy, then the latter list holds more appeal.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161091446201376492006-10-17T06:24:00.000-07:002006-10-17T06:24:00.000-07:00Sorry for the typos, hard to proof read on a Pocke...Sorry for the typos, hard to proof read on a PocketPC!Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161090690412295662006-10-17T06:11:00.000-07:002006-10-17T06:11:00.000-07:00"As I mentioned a couple of posts back, if your co..."As I mentioned a couple of posts back, if your conception of human nature is faulty, then your political philosophy is going to be dysfunctional. One of the reasons leftism is so inherently dysfunctional is that it revolves around the appeasement of perhaps the single most spiritually destructive human emotion of them all, constitutional envy"<BR/><BR/>And it is insidious the way Envy worms its way into the mind. It starts with an easily people friendly proposition such as "Reason is the ideal that lifts all spirits to Olympus", then when Reason is pesky enough to insist on point out the danger of reasoning on high sounding thoughts without a solid context of reality, Reality and Reason are pushed aside, replaced with out of context logic chopping, and it's off to hell in a hand basket lickety split.<BR/><BR/>Although exhausting to trace in detail, it is interesting to see how the culmination of 1,300 years of effort on the part of the remnants of the West to painstakingly pull itself back up towards the heights achieved by Greece and Rome before their fall - was tossed away in just two centuries time from Descartes to Marx. The rest of the time from then to now has been just a free fall into nihilism.<BR/><BR/>Descartes added an unbalancing tilt to level headed reason when he mistakenly thought that his thoughts came prior to, and took precedence over reality - and in doing so fractured the foundations of Reason which must stand firmly upon reality in order to build a sound structure of thought. By reviving "I think therefore I am", putting the question as the soul source of all thought, forgetting that without the years of infancy which laboriously integrate the particulars of reality into thoughts we can think with, his statement and the doubt behind it, could never come to be.<BR/><BR/>William Godwin (Gagdad, really your great great uncle? Gotta love good comedy, God writes the best material!) and Condorcet extended Descartes expression to "If I think, therefore I am, then if I think I am good, therefore I shall be"<BR/><BR/>Rousseau didn't just fall for Descartes error, he wanted it to be true, of himself coming prior to and taking precedence over reality - why should he have to DO anything to earn a living, his thoughts were more precious than the Butchers, his desires more substantial than the sensibilities of the maidens he delighted in flashing his bare buttocks at through alley windows, he took the next step by gave philosophy a malignant twist by putting his precious feelings and emotions above poor unmoored reason. and from his thoughts the slide of modern philosophy became swift and shear.<BR/><BR/>Kant sensing danger to his pharisaical spirit, from those few who still thought Reality and Reason belonged together, fearfully pushed reality off the table completely to save his own sickly excuse for religion, forcing reason to chase it's tail to no ends but exercise ("I have found it necessary to deny knowledge, in order to make room for faith." ). <BR/><BR/>Hegel came soon after and cleared the table of the remnants of all religion and reason that came prior to him, in favor of his new whim of the historical spirit beast dialectic - no reality or reason or logic needed any longer in the Hegelian world, just one preposterous claim to oppose another and morph into a third like a fool lifting one foot ontop of his other knee in an attempt to climb up to his own shoulders. <BR/><BR/>That set the stage for Marx to openly state what they'd all secretly feared - that reality was their enemy, earning a living was their most horrid fear. Marx tossed away Hegel's historicity in favor of the real root of their fear - economics, the necessity of respecting reality and earning a living through it. His simple solution was to turn that dialectic from history to class and let all have at it against all - somewhere Hobbes is shuddering.<BR/><BR/>After Marx, modern philosophy has had only incidental snags of reality stuck in its fur, which all their nihilistic followers have been dutifully plucking from it ever since. It's there that the true beast, as Gagdad put it "an anti-divine force in the world, if for no other reason than to have an explanatory “place holder” until we discover what this force actually is. It’s the same with the notion of satan, or the old Zoroastrian idea that cosmic history is a battle between Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, or light and dark respectively." takes shape into our world.<BR/><BR/>As Montaigne pointed out in Plutarch's writing, all that it takes to stop the behemoth dead in it's tracks is for those of us who can still see, to say "No" and point to reality and truth, and shake their silliness aside.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161088386605126172006-10-17T05:33:00.000-07:002006-10-17T05:33:00.000-07:00Big Possum said... "I AM comfortable with my own s...Big Possum said... <BR/>"I AM comfortable with my own soul as well as my role "in God" "...<BR/><BR/>Glad to hear it Vittles, glad to hear it.<BR/><BR/>;-)Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161088063143146492006-10-17T05:27:00.000-07:002006-10-17T05:27:00.000-07:00Van,I AM comfortable with my own soul as well as m...Van,<BR/><BR/>I AM comfortable with my own soul as well as my role "in God" relative to the information I shared. Thank you for your concern.<BR/><BR/>BPBig 'Possumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14646287143376549419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161057540085258642006-10-16T20:59:00.000-07:002006-10-16T20:59:00.000-07:00Lisa, I would think it does in some way that I can...Lisa, I would think it does in some way that I can't fathom at the moment.<BR/><BR/>3, 7, 12 seem to be "fundamental" numbers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161056027248961512006-10-16T20:33:00.000-07:002006-10-16T20:33:00.000-07:00Big Possum said ..."The second coming would be bes...Big Possum said ..."The second coming would be best understood as a spiritual phenomenom, the onset of which will reach mass consciousness and achieve critical mass within the next 30 years."<BR/><BR/>You do realize that that line has been receited regularly for the last 1,000 years, don't you?<BR/><BR/>Best to take care of your own soul here and now than making predictions about cosmic UFO's bringing down the curtain early.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161055596221003042006-10-16T20:26:00.000-07:002006-10-16T20:26:00.000-07:00I think Will & 'wing nut are on the right track.E...I think Will & 'wing nut are on the right track.<BR/><BR/>Envy and obsessive gutter fantasizing are the visible expression of the leftist worldview. A slightly more detailed picture would place the root more in their underlying philosophy. From first getting traction with Rousseau, their thoughts are marked by an emotional refusal to accept reality, a strident anger at having to take responsibility for their lives, a sense of deserving more without the burden of earning it, an obsession to make it seem as if they deserved what they desire, and a fearful hatred of anything that might expose the fraud of their lives - meaning anything that indicates the integrated Truths of Reality.<BR/><BR/>Lies, which are fundamental to the foundations of their views, must be hidden, which means disintegrating one related fact from another in order to obscure the truth and give the appearance of something favorable to them. One lie inevitably requires two or three more to cover it's tracks, and geometrically they progress and grow. Inevitably that turns Principles and Concepts - anything that clarifies and integrates truths, into a direct threat against at least some part of their cover story.<BR/><BR/>As far as Harry Potter goes, a line such as Dumbledore speaks "The time is coming when all must choose between what is Right... and what is easy" and catches fire in children’s imagination, is worth more than the combined contents and tonnage of every textbook in the public school system today - and I'm not exaggerating. <BR/><BR/>Stories such as Harry Potter, which vividly illustrate the importance of integrity, friendship, of responsibility, of the consequences of letting some responsibilities slip - and the importance of facing up to those errors and doing your best in spite of them - in a way that a child devours and internalizes, imparts an education far more valuable than the drivel I've seen coming in from our schools for the last 13 years. I don't think it can be dismissed as mere fantasy; it is Literature, maybe with a small 'l', but literature none the less. <BR/><BR/>C.S. Lewis is his booklet "An experiment in Criticism" dismissed the pretentious high brow (brows rooted in Hegel & Marx I might add) concerns that Literature must be deep, significant and instructive (in however they feel to define that). Lewis instead argued that Literature must first be pleasurable and is enhanced by in some measure being beautiful, engaging and inspiring - and the Potter books go far towards achieving those goals for kids.<BR/><BR/>Connecticut Yankee said... <BR/>"Does this mean we have to speak of Higher Imagination baseball rather than using the f-word? " 'fraid so, Cubs fans are an obvious example of fantasy taken to self destructive limits.<BR/>;-)Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161052387357782982006-10-16T19:33:00.000-07:002006-10-16T19:33:00.000-07:00Feebleminded, I second your motion. No question i...Feebleminded, I second your motion. No question in my mind that the overarching desire of liberal left-wing politicians is to grab power and hold on to it by shredding the Constitution. The liberal 'useful idiots' I think fall squarely into Bob's envy analysis. Yes, what about the public amnesia of events more than 3 days old, Bob? I'd also like to read your analysis of this mystery.<BR/>KarlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161050823238621252006-10-16T19:07:00.000-07:002006-10-16T19:07:00.000-07:00Does that 144 number have anything to do with 12 s...Does that 144 number have anything to do with 12 squared? 12 is a significant number throughout the Judeo-Christian religions.Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04969685296436358865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161050539686136612006-10-16T19:02:00.000-07:002006-10-16T19:02:00.000-07:00Possum, excuse me for butting in here, but, while ...Possum, excuse me for butting in here, but, while I agree with you about the "critical mass" thing, that in no way obviates an actual return appearence by JC - it may be the pre-condition that, in a sense, allows it to happen. <BR/><BR/>As to the numbers required for the critical mass - I think that's what the 144 k is all about. <BR/><BR/>For what it's worth, there is a correlation, I think, between the critical mass of individuals required for the Messiah to manifest on earth and the critical mass of "spiritualized" cells needed for an individual to wholly manifest the Light. <BR/><BR/>The Book of Revs, if understood esoterically, has both a universal and individual significance.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161050510844687972006-10-16T19:01:00.000-07:002006-10-16T19:01:00.000-07:00Will--No Elvis? And did your team wear pinstripes?...Will--<BR/><BR/>No Elvis? And did your team wear pinstripes?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161048857809063792006-10-16T18:34:00.000-07:002006-10-16T18:34:00.000-07:00Bob,re my comments of 25 minutes ago....Shortly af...Bob,<BR/><BR/>re my comments of 25 minutes ago....<BR/><BR/><BR/>Shortly afterwards I retired to my bed where I have 20+ books on the bedside table. For some reason I reached straight for, "Meister Eckhart - A Modern Transalation", by Raymond B. Blakney. Once every few weeks I will pick it up and read a few pages. Tonight, as I grabbed it and just opened it up to no particular spot, I had the sense that I was opening it to something significant. Within one page and less than 30 seconds I experienced the following paragraph:<BR/><BR/><I>Then the loving God conditions then to spiritual ways, weans them from the obstruction of temporal things, makes them adroit in matters divine, strengthens and renews them by his body. For we are to be changed into him and sometime made One with him, so that what is his shall be ours and what is ours, his: our hearts and his are to be one heart; our body and his, one body. So, too, it shall be with our senses, wills, thoughts, faculties, and members: they are all to be transported into him, so that we feel with him and are made aware of him in every part of the body and soul.</I><BR/><BR/>Pretty interesting relative to the comment about the onset of the Second Coming, no?<BR/><BR/>"Peace to my peoples in Philly"<BR/><BR/>BPBig 'Possumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14646287143376549419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161047802222092862006-10-16T18:16:00.000-07:002006-10-16T18:16:00.000-07:00Brilliant post and some really good comments. A qu...Brilliant post and some really good comments. A question for Bob, sometime when you run short of ideas for posts, could you expatiate on the idea of the "death instinct"? I am not so sure leftists are living in a deluded fantasy hoping to create Utopia. I think the Utopian Vision is nothing more than a smoke screen for their real objective, which is power. I think they get some perverse enjoyment in trying to control other people's lives. At least this is what my personal experience tells me. And another question, is there any psychology behind the short public memory? People seem to fall for leftist clap trap time and time again. Why can't they remember?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161047410157310292006-10-16T18:10:00.000-07:002006-10-16T18:10:00.000-07:00Anti-envy alert:Today, our agency received the fir...Anti-envy alert:<BR/>Today, our agency received the first of the big holiday food drives - this one from a Bible church in our area.<BR/><BR/>They were let out of church yesterday to go shopping - most of them hit the W-word, looks like - and the results arrived in our panel truck, piled four feet deep.<BR/><BR/>And in a U-Haul. Not a take-your-kid-to-college U-haul, but a move-your-whole-house truck, also full.<BR/><BR/>Luckily, we had a platoon of high school boys and their moms volunteering, as well as some of our adult CSR's. We got everything into the building to sort and store.<BR/><BR/>As we have had a VERY lean summer, we were deeply gratified by this outpouring of generosity. The shelves in the food bank look happier already.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161046701674823822006-10-16T17:58:00.000-07:002006-10-16T17:58:00.000-07:00Bob-Thank you for taking the time to explain the d...Bob-<BR/><BR/>Thank you for taking the time to explain the different dynamics involved. You always make learning fun. <BR/><BR/>KellyEeevil Right Wing Nuthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11536536336630930054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161046551023201322006-10-16T17:55:00.000-07:002006-10-16T17:55:00.000-07:00Yank - When I was 14 or so I was playing a crude v...Yank - <BR/><BR/>When I was 14 or so I was playing a crude version of "Higher Imagination" baseball with dice. Why Higher Imagination, you ask?<BR/><BR/>My lineups were something like this:<BR/><BR/>- Bob Dylan, SB<BR/>- Hieronymous Bosche SS (good field, no hit)<BR/>- Edgar Allan Poe FB (2-time MVP, hit for average and power)<BR/>- Dante Alighieri TB (steady but wouldn't play on sundays)<BR/>- William Shakespeare CF<BR/>- Dr Timothy Leary LF (tended to position himself too far out in left field)<BR/>- Marlon Brando RF (struggled with weight prob entire career)<BR/>- Sidney Greenstreet, catcher<BR/><BR/>pitching staff:<BR/><BR/>- Frank Sinatra<BR/>- James Dean<BR/>- Keith Richard<BR/>- Humphrey Bogart<BR/><BR/>manager - me<BR/><BR/>club president - me<BR/><BR/>team owner - meAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161046071603179982006-10-16T17:47:00.000-07:002006-10-16T17:47:00.000-07:00Bob,The second coming would be best understood as ...Bob,<BR/><BR/>The second coming would be best understood as a spiritual phenomenom, the onset of which will reach mass consciousness and achieve critical mass within the next 30 years. Probably sooner. Experiences of UFO's, as they are commonly referred to, will accompany this phenomenon. If you disagree then I suggest that you surrender your own understanding of these matters to God and give it some time to be brought into experiences of relevant insights. Until then, as long as ridicule remains part of your repertoire, you may want to take it light in these areas.Big 'Possumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14646287143376549419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161045100190409672006-10-16T17:31:00.000-07:002006-10-16T17:31:00.000-07:00I wish their were more than two countries at this ...I wish their were more than two countries at this point. I do have to wonder, though, who would be the leaders of this imaginary red country? I am aware of nearly no conservative politicians in either red or blue states.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161043921102489322006-10-16T17:12:00.000-07:002006-10-16T17:12:00.000-07:00Will--Does this mean we have to speak of Higher Im...Will--<BR/><BR/>Does this mean we have to speak of Higher Imagination baseball rather than using the f-word? Of course I have no trouble with regarding the American League as an archetypal Dark Force within the universe of the Perfect Game. And in spite of George Steinbrenner's best efforts to make the fans of less well-financed teams feel miserable, I really don't envy either the Yankees or their fans. For some reason the recently retired slogan on the NYY website--Pride, Power, Pinstripes-- always struck me as a humorous example of anticlimax rather than an irritant provoking me to feel envy. As Bob has remarked more than once, humor is something that leftists and other narcissists just don't get. Which is why my Higher Imagination can happily envision the Phillies winning a second World Series.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161043302434745762006-10-16T17:01:00.000-07:002006-10-16T17:01:00.000-07:00Karl V - Mostly I'm in agreement with you - and th...Karl V - <BR/><BR/>Mostly I'm in agreement with you - and the Catholic Church, btw - in giving the nod to the Harry Potter books. They do follow in the Tolkien/Lewis unambiguous Good vs Evil-themed lit tradition. Have to admit though, that were I a writer in this genre, particularly a writer targeting the children's market, I would probably not emphasize the magic and spells and so forth in the way that the Potter books do - and they do go beyond Tolkien/Lewis books in this respect.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1161042422344950572006-10-16T16:47:00.000-07:002006-10-16T16:47:00.000-07:00>>it matters whether one believes and acts on the ...>>it matters whether one believes and acts on the content of the fantasy or not. There's nothing wrong with an active imagination as long as one realizes that's what it is.<<<BR/><BR/>I think addictive fantasy manifests as reality, presents itself as reality - that's why its the treacherous highway to hell that it is. And again, fantasy is not imagination, certainly not in the Blakean sense. I think you could say fantasy is dysfunctional imagination. Fantasy is "gravitational" in the extreme; imagination is anti-gravity, an upward pull. And fantasy is harmful to the spirit, even if the fantasy is not acted on. Porn addicts might not act out their fantasies, but they do considerable harm to their own spiritual equilibrium.<BR/><BR/>"Fantasy" lit the likes of Tolkien and Lewis should really be termed "Higher Imagination" lit. By way of the higher archetypal symbols, this kind of lit underscores Truth and the real Reality in a way that "realism" never can.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com