tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post4404063394800808814..comments2024-03-27T11:16:36.951-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: The World Series of Theological Questions (11.08.10)Gagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-66880250461194495932007-11-20T06:50:00.000-08:002007-11-20T06:50:00.000-08:00Just LOVE the baseball analogy!How about if this w...Just LOVE the baseball analogy!<BR/><BR/>How about if this world has gone too far in the wrong direction for quite some time now, and it actually has to get worse before it can get better? <BR/><BR/>Or does that sound too apocalyptic?<BR/><BR/>"And what do children represent and symbolize? More than anything else in creation, they are a hope-filled arrow shot from the present into a better future.<BR/><BR/>And we are His children."<BR/><BR/>Lovely, made my day go from average to great :)<BR/><BR/>Johan, a cosmic drifting SwedeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-66638271317394115372007-11-20T03:48:00.000-08:002007-11-20T03:48:00.000-08:00Or the way they play it in futurama...'Blernsball'...Or the way they play it in futurama...<BR/><BR/>'Blernsball'<BR/><BR/>... <I>Multiball!!!!</I> Sums up all you need to know about it.<BR/><BR/>(Blernsball is basically Baseball with Calvinball rules except they're determined play-by-play by the writers of the episode.)Ephrem Antony Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00032465992619034619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-12166613993429776722007-11-20T02:56:00.000-08:002007-11-20T02:56:00.000-08:00I always thought baseball would be cooler if it we...I always thought baseball would be cooler if it were played in bad weather. At least that has been my experience. <BR/>Still, any game that makes stealin' legal is okay in my books.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-23105564889660682022007-11-19T21:10:00.000-08:002007-11-19T21:10:00.000-08:00Oh sure, don't even mention team chess - like it d...Oh sure, don't even mention team chess - like it doesn't exist. Now that's sport!<BR/><BR/>wv: shmusht (ewww)<BR/><BR/>wv: mtiabfm (even better)NoMohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01100042056270224683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-45578497868497337422007-11-19T18:46:00.000-08:002007-11-19T18:46:00.000-08:00And nowwww sports with B. Hard Intelectual!"Lets e...And nowwww sports with B. Hard Intelectual!<BR/><I><BR/>"Lets examine the socio-sportological ramifications inherent in the quasi constitutional structuralism as expressed in the methodological interplay of indivual players within the team organism, and the larger inter-team environment.<BR/><BR/>Clearly Baseball most perfectly expresses the spirit of the Founding Fathers conception of Americanism. Due to its sophisticated manipulation of, and juxtoposition of the dualistic nature of Time as expressed in Action and Rest, the interfacing of a single individual representing each team, this concretizes the wider American concept of the Individual facing off against another individual, then progresses into the One against the many, as the batter becomes a runner racing in idealized fight or flight instinct, intellectually channeled into a race to an objective ahead of the object he's just struck towards the opposing team. If successful in taking a base, another of his team may come to his aid, evening the odds, and so on.<BR/><BR/>This is further highlighted by the manner of initiating action in the person of the hierarchical head of the opposing team in the person of the Pitcher, hurling a spherical hard ball at the lone representative of the opposing team, who then brings all his muscles into play to swing a hefty hunk of hardened ash, in an effort to smash the ball, reversing it's 90+ mph missile back at their asses, preferably by showing their disdain by sending it out of the park, or next best parting the hair of the pitcher.<BR/><BR/>Throughout the contest, constitutional law is expressed through the rules of play, the dualistic innings, and the judgments of the bum... eh, umpires. Interlaced throughout, is the lavishment of wealth in the form of a leisurely afternoon or evening spent in community attention and revelry. Nothing beats baseball and if you don't believe that YOU'RE JUST A BIG JERK!!!<BR/><BR/>Ahem.<BR/><BR/>Next, is Football. Football is more geared towards collective action, yet still maintains a high visibility of individuals in the persons of the Quarterback, Receiver and the Coaches. Football too, utilizes a sophisticated use of time in rest and action, and numerous bums... er referries... and the biggest damn people in the world charging down to smash eachother into the ground in a pile of barely controlled MAYHEM!!! YEARRGGHHHH!!!!<BR/><BR/>cough. ahem, pardon me.<BR/><BR/>Soccer. Hmm. Soccer can be best explained by looking at its logical origins and level of sophistication. Take the 5 year old rowdie snots from a pre-school, put some on the yard... toss a ball into the middle of them, call the teenage caregiver in when they start running around too much. When the caregiver's got their back turned, turn the rest of the mob free to rip the schoolyard apart while the caregiver's occupied.<BR/><BR/>Hockey... yes, well - take the above, make it real cold, raise the ages of the kids to 8 yrs old, give em sticks and don't watch them as closely. Keep ambulances on hand.<BR/><BR/>Want to further argue the question? Get the team members from a World Series champion baseball team and a Super Bowl team together on one side of a room, the brats from a soccur cup (not like the athelitic supporter type of cup, a real cup) from both the soccer and hockey team on to the other side of the room.<BR/><BR/>Tell each side to kill the other. If the cup side hasn't wet theirs and run away, the Baseball and Football teams will wipe the floor with their worthless selves. Oh, and if the cup's fans want to complain? Call in the F-18's.<BR/><BR/>'Nuff Said.<BR/><BR/>Thank you for participating in this symposium on who the best sports are, and thanks for agreeing completly with me."<BR/></I>Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-61113410825785448122007-11-19T17:58:00.000-08:002007-11-19T17:58:00.000-08:00Once again it is proved that Baseball really does ...Once again it is proved that Baseball really does explain everything. In this life.<BR/><BR/>Now we just need a good metaphor for the afterlife. I think it's likely to be music.Joan of Argghh!https://www.blogger.com/profile/14729682908266300507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-38450580746199762212007-11-19T17:41:00.000-08:002007-11-19T17:41:00.000-08:00I'm not at all sure that the professional standard...I'm not at all sure that the professional standard of baseball would deteriorate in the absence of a world series. I mean, c'mon -- did you watch last season?CrypticLifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05313033952671292402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-76015744700465296682007-11-19T16:47:00.000-08:002007-11-19T16:47:00.000-08:00Robin, while I've never watched Lacrosse I have to...Robin, while I've never watched Lacrosse I have to agree that any sport based originally on a game played with human heads instead of balls is pretty badass, and therefore probably not boring.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-6042369831846786752007-11-19T16:38:00.000-08:002007-11-19T16:38:00.000-08:00Lacrosse is the chosen game of Great Spirit, says ...Lacrosse is the chosen game of Great Spirit, says Indian brother. ;-)robinstarfishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15665546554663005609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-87307672868072925872007-11-19T16:20:00.000-08:002007-11-19T16:20:00.000-08:00Actually, I gotta interject here. Unlike Mead and ...Actually, I gotta interject here. Unlike Mead and Schuon, Bob and Ximeze are <I>both</I> wrong. Soccer and baseball are equally dull. For real athleticism, strategy and skill it's hockey or football ;)juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-67750890603397709242007-11-19T15:55:00.000-08:002007-11-19T15:55:00.000-08:00Happy to oblige Van."Course Gagdad's right, but th...Happy to oblige Van.<BR/><BR/>"Course Gagdad's right, but that's beside the point"<BR/><BR/>You know I can't just let that go.....<BR/><BR/>What's up with you Guys: how is it possible to be So smart & So stupid at the same time? Must some sort of Savant/Idiot combo......Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-67590953490052582452007-11-19T15:10:00.000-08:002007-11-19T15:10:00.000-08:00ximeze said... "oooooh, there he goes again, dissi...ximeze said... "oooooh, there he goes again, dissing Soccer & holding up Dullball as a shining example of ..... whatever."<BR/><BR/>Lol... I was waiting for that!<BR/><BR/>(Course Gagdad's right, but that's beside the point)<BR/><BR/>;#)Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-29542238508268893282007-11-19T14:48:00.000-08:002007-11-19T14:48:00.000-08:00oooooh, there he goes again, dissing Soccer & hold...oooooh, there he goes again, dissing Soccer & holding up Dullball as a shining example of ..... whatever.<BR/><BR/>Heck, Mrs G., if you want FL to grow up be a Real Man, without one of those ridiculous bubblebutts, you gotta see if OLM has Soccer for toddlers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-9169222668566904452007-11-19T14:30:00.000-08:002007-11-19T14:30:00.000-08:00"Another way of saying it is that the One breaks o..."Another way of saying it is that the One breaks out of eternity into the static two (i.e., duality), but that duality is resolved (and progress occurs) within a dynamic and "transitional" trinity. Thus, history can be seen as a sort of rolling catastrophe in hyperspace, as the many make their winding way back to the One. History is ultimately the straight book that God tries to write with crooked liars. "<BR/><BR/>Interesting playing out of this in the news today,<BR/><BR/><I><A HREF="http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL1700215420071118?pageNumber=2&sp=true" REL="nofollow"><BR/>An ancient flood </A> some say could be the origin of the story of Noah's Ark may have helped the spread of agriculture in Europe 8,300 years ago by scattering the continent's earliest farmers, researchers said on Sunday.<BR/><BR/>...Using radiocarbon dating and archaeological evidence, a British team showed the collapse of the North American ice sheet, which raised global sea levels by as much as 1.4 meters, displaced tens of thousands of people in southeastern Europe who carried farming skills to their new homes.<BR/><BR/>..."The flooding of the Black Sea was not well dated but we got it down to about 50 years," said Chris Turney, a geologist at the University of Exeter, who led the study. "As soon as the flooding is done, farming goes crazy across Europe."<BR/><BR/>...It also paints a picture of the kind of mass disruption that has prompted some scientists to link the ancient flood to the origins of the biblical story of Noah's Ark, Turney said.<BR/><BR/>..."When the Black Sea flooded at end of last ice age some people have suggested it was the origins of the Noah's Ark myth," he said. "If you lived in that basin it would have seemed like the whole world had flooded."</I><BR/><BR/>Several years ago I read the geologists book who first discovered this, <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/Noahs-Flood-Scientific-Discoveries-Changed/dp/0684859203" REL="nofollow">Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries about the Event that Changed History</A>, and it is facinating, lots of other ramifications about the origen of the Jews, etc.<BR/><BR/>There's a decent little <A HREF="http://www.pbs.org/saf/1207/features/noah.htm" REL="nofollow">overview on PBS's site</A>, Ballard, the fellah that found the Titanic, did some exploration at the bottom of the Black Sea to help verify their theory.<BR/><BR/>Question I have is, quite apart from plain archeological value, Who is it that benefits from such discoveries? The press plays the story as 'Hey, maybe those bible toting whack jobs aren't as completely kooky as we thought!' <BR/><BR/>But does such a discovery add anything of value to the religious understanding of Noah's Ark? The flat minded might give up an "ah. so... hmph.", but their new fact only widens their circle - but they are still wandering in circles. Unless they are willing to read upwards into the entire Bible, they are left as impoverished as before, still stuck with a designated hitter and no world series.<BR/><BR/>It is even possible for a religious person to grab onto such as story too forcefully as <I>proof</I> and support for their beliefs... and lose their balance, knocking some of the inspiration out of their own understanding as they try to bring it down into facts.<BR/><BR/>It seems as if you don't retain a dynamic understanding between the vertical and horizontal, if you don't keep <I>You</I> active in your understanding, you can easily wind up flat on your face or flat on your back, but flat all the same.<BR/><BR/>“The logician seeks to make everything lucid, and succeeds in making everything mysterious. The mystic allows one thing to be mysterious, and everything else becomes lucid.”<BR/><BR/>Yep.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-14906229419218970242007-11-19T14:29:00.000-08:002007-11-19T14:29:00.000-08:00"And what do children represent and symbolize? Mor...<I>"And what do children represent and symbolize? More than anything else in creation, they are a hope-filled arrow shot from the present into a better future.<BR/><BR/>And we are His children."</I> <BR/><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://robinstarfish.blogspot.com/2007/11/developer-stop-bath.html" REL="nofollow">Stop Bath</A><BR/>fractal algebra<BR/>projecting on a blank world<BR/>nature's etch-a-sketchrobinstarfishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15665546554663005609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-44157176063927881112007-11-19T12:09:00.000-08:002007-11-19T12:09:00.000-08:00"Goodbye Mr. Spalding! This one's outta da park!""Goodbye Mr. Spalding! This one's outta da park!"Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-44823100237440879822007-11-19T10:54:00.000-08:002007-11-19T10:54:00.000-08:00Since you liked that one, here's another good one ...Since you liked that one, here's another good one from GKC:<BR/><BR/>“The logician seeks to make everything lucid, and succeeds in making everything mysterious. The mystic allows one thing to be mysterious, and everything else becomes lucid.”Warrenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13623170987747998335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-58031970965450109132007-11-19T10:18:00.000-08:002007-11-19T10:18:00.000-08:00I can relate. If Truth is coonvergent, Chesterton...I can relate. If Truth is coonvergent, Chesterton's orthoparadoxical comment must be true.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-58200279987142570502007-11-19T10:14:00.000-08:002007-11-19T10:14:00.000-08:00"I did try to found a heresy of my own; and when I..."I did try to found a heresy of my own; and when I had put the last touches to it, I discovered that it was orthodoxy." - G. K. ChestertonWarrenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13623170987747998335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-66210485964132194012007-11-19T10:05:00.000-08:002007-11-19T10:05:00.000-08:00Aurobindo was a brilliant man from what I can see....Aurobindo was a brilliant man from what I can see. Were he of a different bent he & the Mother might have had a Constantine/Helena thing going. - which is to say, he might've been considered a saint. But, I can't give a canonical opinion; only my personal one.Ephrem Antony Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00032465992619034619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-80042228638541350402007-11-19T09:59:00.000-08:002007-11-19T09:59:00.000-08:00Warren:Cooncur.Warren:<BR/><BR/>Cooncur.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-18030744055580132302007-11-19T09:52:00.000-08:002007-11-19T09:52:00.000-08:00Nous cream... maybe it's his Hair Treatment?The pl...Nous cream... maybe it's his <A HREF="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190590/quotes" REL="nofollow">Hair Treatment?</A><BR/><BR/>The pleasing odor is part of what is good...Ephrem Antony Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00032465992619034619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-64521818481899247642007-11-19T09:42:00.000-08:002007-11-19T09:42:00.000-08:00The circle is squared by traditional (ie, Catholic...The circle is squared by traditional (ie, Catholic/Orthodox)Christianity, which I have long seen as the bridge between "this-worldly" Semitic monotheism and "other-wordly" Indic mysticism. All the major world religions contain both of these elements, but only traditional Christianity (I believe) contains them in virtually equal measure. The seeming paradox and tension between these two poles is strongest in Christianity. And as one can see throughout Christian history, there is a perpetual tendency to want to resolve this tension, this paradox, one way or the other. The origin of all heresies is in trying to lean too far to one side or the other. This is why heresies are always more simple-minded than orthodoxy, which has a clash and a contradiction (symbolized by the cross, not to mention the impossible-but-true doctrine of the Incarnation) right at its heart. Orthodoxy is a strait (yes, I spelled that right) and narrow path between two abysses of heresy. So a properly traditional Christian view contains an evolutionary view of the created world against a backdrop of utterly static eternal Truth.<BR/><BR/>This is why the Church guards its doctrines with such rigor, sometimes extending even to violence (in the past, at least). Humans - including even some saints and Church Fathers - are not easy with this paradox and are always tending to fall one way or the other. The Church exists to prevent that from happening - because the moment one side or the other ever wins, Christianity is essentially dead, just another "religion".<BR/><BR/>With regard to Schuon, who influenced me very much, I must say that he ever really "got" Christianity, except maybe in theory. Schuon was essentially a crypto-Vedantist regardless of his outward religious practices, and he saw all the other traditions through that lens. But Christianity contains Vedanta, not (as I long thought) the other way around. Because of this, Christianity can comprehend and criticize Vedanta, but Vedanta cannot really comprehend Christianity in its fullness.<BR/><BR/>Aurobindo is another genius who influenced me very much. In some ways I think he has more of the truth than Schuon. He clearly saw the limits of monistic Vedanta and Buddhism, and tried to "broaden" them by bringing in crypto-Christian ideas (like the New Creation). But I've always detected a strain of Western secular utopianism in Aurobindo, even though its couched in metaphysical terms (we shouldn't forget his past life as a political revolutionary). As a result, his viewpoint is a bit too Faustian for my tastes. He put himself and the Mother in a place that belongs only to Christ (and His Mother).Warrenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13623170987747998335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-29824928076064125162007-11-19T09:35:00.000-08:002007-11-19T09:35:00.000-08:00"And what do children represent and symbolize? Mor..."And what do children represent and symbolize? More than anything else in creation, they are a hope-filled arrow shot from the present into a better future."<BR/><BR/>And true and good religion gives children the power to fly far into the future. Some religion admires the arrow and polishes its shaft, some religion ignores the arrow altogether. Some ideologies break the arrow in two. <BR/><BR/>If children are not a part of your religious quest then you may be on the wrong quest.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-20319186891442596092007-11-19T09:12:00.000-08:002007-11-19T09:12:00.000-08:00Bob,Have you submitted to your random drug testing...Bob,<BR/>Have you submitted to your random drug testing? There is no way you could be this brilliant without nous enhancing creams.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com