tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post1647628738407964491..comments2024-03-27T11:16:36.951-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: Tracing the Dimensions of the SoulGagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-38831396304294947672012-03-05T20:48:01.760-08:002012-03-05T20:48:01.760-08:00"Looked at in this manner, any form of scient..."Looked at in this manner, any form of scientism, for example, is a non-starter, because it reduces the hierarchical complexity of the world to a vulgar monism. In so doing, it reduces reality to our most simple way of knowing it, and in the process denies any reality outside its narrow scope. "Leveling," says Don Colacho, "is the barbarian's substitute for order.""<br /><br />I had a frustrating experience of trying to discuss an issue with someone this weekend, and it never managed to get off the ground. He simply could not lift his focus any higher than the most vulgar, physical, example - a simple concept was just beyond him.<br /><br />Two peoples separated by the appearance of a common language.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-51592881843528141242012-03-05T16:20:13.698-08:002012-03-05T16:20:13.698-08:00It's like that quote from Pascal where he says...It's like that quote from Pascal where he says, "I have made this letter longer, because I have not had the time to make it shorter."<br /><br />.mushroomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07651027035577798096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-58980004661551300932012-03-05T14:11:12.568-08:002012-03-05T14:11:12.568-08:00Unless you're such a beautiful writer that you...Unless you're such a beautiful writer that your words alone have intrinsic value. Not many of those around, though.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-40402203598118407852012-03-05T14:08:03.537-08:002012-03-05T14:08:03.537-08:00One should always be respectful of the reader'...One should always be respectful of the reader's time, and say things in the most clear and compact way possible.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-18997997311252106552012-03-05T14:04:19.241-08:002012-03-05T14:04:19.241-08:00Pretty dense. The problem with these brainiacs is...Pretty dense. The problem with these brainiacs is that no one is competent to grasp the whole of what they are trying to say, so no one can properly edit them in a truly collaborative manner. Thus, their logorrheic tendencies go unchecked and obscurities are allowed to stand.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-85610391703820352652012-03-05T13:49:34.091-08:002012-03-05T13:49:34.091-08:00Bob, how's Maritain's writing? I remember ...Bob, how's Maritain's writing? I remember having to thrash around a bit in his prose. More thicket than stream. Yes, I know it's asking a lot of a European to be straightforward. <br /><br />This isn't a defense of beer and beef Anglo Saxon sense, just a more collegial appreciation of one's *time*, really. It's as if some writers were just tossing off dictation to some horn-rimmed secretary who hadn't sufficient nun-sense to edit ruthlessly. Sigh. We would've been spared so much slogging, I think.Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00987042455512485699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-42224636659240350852012-03-05T12:57:13.481-08:002012-03-05T12:57:13.481-08:00"In so doing, it reduces reality to our most ..."In so doing, it reduces reality to our most simple way of knowing it, and in the process denies any reality outside its narrow scope. "<br /><br />I never understood how people found the hard sciences so difficult (Math was even easier): All you had to do was understand the core established facts (of this very homogenous set of data) and eveything blossomed from it in an interlocking of a very simplistic form using logic and reason as your tool to build your little intellectual 'erector-set'.<br /><br />What IS difficult is creating a framework from something that is NOT a set of homogenous data that is useful to daily living: That requires an artist - a real one.Cond0011https://www.blogger.com/profile/04576204654819543273noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-29064792900945255182012-03-05T11:38:06.824-08:002012-03-05T11:38:06.824-08:00The deep soul knows that no merely scientific expl...<i>The deep soul knows that no merely scientific explanation can ever satisfy man, whereas the shallow soul seems content to play in the little blandbox of efficient causes.</i><br /><br />Not only is a merely scientific explanation unsatisfying, it is so inadequate that, unless it's trivial, it will be wrong before long.mushroomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07651027035577798096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-63333849504985629482012-03-05T11:29:11.290-08:002012-03-05T11:29:11.290-08:00"Leveling," says Don Colacho, "is t...<i>"Leveling," says Don Colacho, "is the barbarian's substitute for order."</i><br /><br />And just to clarify that statement, he means intellectual barbarians like OWS and the Taliban. Even the Vikings understood rape and pillage first then burn.mushroomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07651027035577798096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-80931277159881490622012-03-05T09:13:39.456-08:002012-03-05T09:13:39.456-08:00"Breadth" has to do with "the ever-...<i>"Breadth" has to do with "the ever-increasing number of objects thus known." As such, a truly all-purpose metaphysic that is worthy of man, will explain the material world as well as the subjective world, without reducing one to the other.</i><br /><br />I'm reminded of the article about dark matter that came out recently, along with the essential admission that scientists really have no idea what's going on; the more objects they discover, the less it all makes sense. Regardless, a metaphysic worthy of man has no difficulty reconciling whatever they find with the truth of being, and of being in the cosmos.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-32186865683173209962012-03-05T09:07:50.765-08:002012-03-05T09:07:50.765-08:00However, Maritain adds to this the dimensions of l...<i>However, Maritain adds to this the dimensions of length, breadth, and height, which I had basically subsumed under depth. In any event, when we refer to these categories, we are referring to hidden or implicit dimensions of reality that are just waiting to be unpacked by man. </i><br /><br />I'm reminded again of the observation (was it Schmeman? I forget...) that "to be long multiple is to be deeply one."juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.com