Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The Body of Your Dreams (4.22.10)

If the human body carries a message, who's the messenger? Is it Darwin or God? Or some weird hybrid, like Dargod or Godwin? In other words, if the body is a reflective surface, does it only reflect the below, or does it also convey information about the above?

As we have discussed before, this is a problem science can't even pose, let alone resolve, because it excludes at the outset that which it is not predisposed to believe. But for the believer, there can be no privilege higher than Truth, regardless of where it leads or comes from. Science can only deal with a small subset of this greater Truth, and cannot even justify the existence of its own assertions, as per our friend Gödel.

Speaking of Gödel, now that I think about it, there were probably three or four singular intellectual developments in the 20th century that must be counted as being of the utmost importance to metaphysics, for they decisively undermined the entire metaphysical framework of reductionistic scientism.

In no particular order, these would be Gödel's theorems, which proved that any sufficiently complex logical system contains assumptions that cannot be justified by the system, but which are nevertheless true in the platonic sense (by extension, this means that a logical system can be consistent or complete, but not both).

Never forget Gödel.

Second, the nonlocality of the cosmos, as per the "experimental metaphysics" of Alain Aspect, which showed that subatomic particles are in instantaneous communion, irrespective of the distance involved.

Third, the emergence of chaos and complexity theories, revealing the deep fractal order of the cosmos at all levels, and how complex systems are governed by nonlocal attractors.

And fourth, the systematic mapping of the unconscious mind, showing that human thought results from a dialectical (or "bi-logical") synthesis of the asymmetrical conscious and the symmetrical unconscious mind.

Any attempt to comprehend the world without these deep truths will be feeble at best. As you may have noticed, religion has no difficulty accommodating these truths (indeed, it rests upon them), whereas they are highly problematic for any linear, atomistic, rationalistic, or reductionistic metaphysic. For example, anyone who has felt the real presence of a Great Soul who is no longer technically living, has no problem with nonlocality. I mean, I rely upon guidance from the "communion of saints" in the same way another person might rely upon wikipedia. I just take it for granted that they can speak to one in the here and now, across any spatial or temporal boundaries. It's not magic. Rather, it would be magic if they couldn't.

Nor does any religious person have a problem with the idea that science can provide no final answers to the quandary of existence. Rather, he is very comfortable with the provocative symbolism of revelation, which vaults the mind into a higher and deeper understanding, into the very dimension from which truth and revelation emanate like so many sparks from a central fire. Science can't do that.

And surely, no believer has a problem with the idea of mysterious archetypal attractors that seem to canalize or lure existence from a nonlocal phase space. Isn't this why we pray to do the Creator's will, to conform ourselves to the greatest and most attractive Attractor of them all?

And what sophisticated believer would be a big enough ass to think that mere logic exhausts the Real? Please. We thank God for the unruly symmetrical logic of the unconscious mind, for it is truly the Spice of Life. Without it, we couldn't have imagination, poetry, mythology (in its higher sense), and even the visionary leaps of the true scientist. If not for the unconscious (I should really say "transconscious" or "metaconscious"), bean-counting mathematicians would be the legislators of this world, instead of poets and prophets.

Anyway. Where were we? Yes, the message of the human body. That reminds me. Did you know that I've never had a professional massage on my human body? I think it might help this persistent stiffness in my neck. But I'm the kind of person who likes his space. Boundary issues, I suppose. Being touched like that by a stranger might just make me more tense. And if it's a man, forget about it. Is that homophobia? What do you think? An elderly, unattractive woman. That's what I need.

Now, as we were saying yesterday, the supreme principle breaks out into the absolute and infinite, or the male principle and the female principle. As Schuon writes, "each of the two bodies, the masculine and feminine, manifests modes of perfection by definition evoked by their respective sex; all cosmic qualities are divided in fact into two complementary groups."

This is just as the great physicist Neils Bohr might have predicted. In fact, in my list of 20th century metaphysical breakthroughs, I should have mentioned the principle of complementarity. In your day-to-day life, whenever you are confronted with a seemingly unresolvable paradox, it's almost always a case of complementarity -- not "either/or," but "both/and" -- for example, time/eternity, form/substance, subject/object, matter/spirit, wave/particle, conscious/unconscious, male/female, science/religion, intelligent design/natural selection, etc.

As it pertains to the complementarity of male/female, Schuon points out that there is naturally something anterior to this, which is "the non-material being that was the primordial androgyne," and "which survives in each of us." This is Adam Kadmon, the Cosmic Man, or divine blueprint for humans. Or, as I put it in the Coonifesto, The body, an ephemeral harmelody of adams forged from within stars, our life, a fugitive dream within the deathless, sleeping what's-His-G-d-name.

What this means in plain english -- I think -- is that the human form is a "harmelody," i.e., a complementary synthesis of vertical chords (the archetypes) and horizontal melody (or terrestrial plunge into time and evolution), and that we are of a nonlocal piece with the stars that gave birth to the elements of which we are composed. In other words, when a human being looks at a star in the night time sky, he is really registering photons from a long-ago event that might very well mirror his own cosmic birth. The cosmos is thoroughly entangled with itself in this bizarre manner, so that we can literally see our own cosmic past as it arrives at our doorstep.

And to say that we are but a fugitive dream within the deathless, sleeping what's-His-G-d-name, is simply to acknowledge that our life is a dream dreamt by the nonlocal Dreamer beyond name and form, a Dreamer that lives within our deepest Self. Yes,

The world of things that come to be and cease to be is a world of dreams. He who is asleep and dreaming (in the literal sense) in this world is in reality dreaming doubly; and when he wakes (in the literal sense), he is like a man who has been awakened from an "incidental" sleep, but has given himself up again to his "natural" sleep. --Hermes

So awaken to the great Dreamer who dreams the dream of this cosmos, and dream actively instead of being passively dreamt -- especially by the hypnopompous dreams of sleeping materialists.

I once had a dream. I dreamt that I, even though a man, was pregnant, pregnant and full with Nothingness like a woman who is with child. And out of this Nothingness God was born. --Meister Eckhart

*****
If you have half an hour to spare, check it out. I think we have ourselves a new Black Messiah, definitely not the same as the old Black Messiah. It's what happens when one awakens from the slave-dream of the left. This guy's more dangerous to liberalism than marriage, hard work, and lack of self-pity (TW: Julie):

39 comments:

Gagdad Bob said...

A reader has reported difficulty leaving comments. If anyone else is having that problem, please leave a comment.

julie said...

I'm 99% sure this is off topic (haven't read the post yet), but if you have a few minutes you have to see this guy.
Awesome.

Anonymous said...

I have seen the future, and it is Soul Conservatism.

robinstarfish said...

"The world of things that come to be and cease to be is a world of dreams. He who is asleep and dreaming (in the literal sense) in this world is in reality dreaming doubly; and when he wakes (in the literal sense), he is like a man who has been awakened from an "incidental" sleep, but has given himself up again to his "natural" sleep. --Hermes"

Cuppa Joe
smoky sun rises
over a high rise city
grande latte please

Anonymous said...

"So awaken to the great Dreamer who dreams the dream of this cosmos, and dream actively instead of being passively dreamt --"

Every once in a while, and while sleeping, I'll wake up, but not really. What happens, I think, is that I become aware of the dreamer who’s dreaming the dream, and in doing so, I find my self in a state of intimate communion, so to speak, with it—It becomes lucid.

For example, a couple of times, (and these type of dreams usually happen in a sort of mirror of the environment that I'm sleeping in) I'll wake up to music playing beside my head, like there's a radio sitting about three feet away on the night stand. The music is just as clear as, or even clearer than when I'm awake. And in the past, I've heard songs that I've never really heard before, some of this world, and some that are more like never ending ecstatic symphonies of heaven, but that's more rare.

Well, in this particular time, I wake up (and I'm used to this, so I know the routine) to the Beatles playing in my ear, and I immediately think, “great! Here I am stuck here with the almighty dreamer whose just going to torment me with one of my least favorite bands. How about changing this please!” And after about a ten second delay of thinking that I was being ignored, the music finally change, but just to another song by the same band! That really kind of showed me what a dumb savant the dreamer can be sometimes, and that without my conscious intension to guide, or help channel the dreamer in the right direction, I could just end up trapped in a nightmare (hell) instead of manifesting my own intension, intensions that I think are ultimately Good.

Surely one day the schism between the dreamer and dreamt will be mended. I believe from my experience that, in the far off future of our fates and destinies, I, or we, will one day wake up to that never ending always novel and creative non-repetitive ecstatic music that I’ve heard before—God’s delight manifested—and that that is the real purpose of everything—delight. You know, the symbol of angles playing hearts in the clouds.

Anonymous said...

Bob, you seem to have concerns with the integral and enlightened evolutionary movements, but I noticed you have a short article for WIE magazine. Will we see you in the Atlantic Monthly next?

QP said...


A reader has reported difficulty leaving comments. If anyone else is having that problem, please leave a comment.


-o.*-

can.not publish from 'preview';
publish di.rectly workeded at el Motel, even w/ word veri ON

?Es possible aqui, ahora?

Gagdad Bob said...

Anonymous--

My strict policy is to do nothing to publicize myself, while not interfering with the right of others to do so -- for example, my penurious publisher, if they were so inclined. But appearing in Atlantic Monthly is about as likely as seeing me in a Playgirl feature on "hunks of the mystic church."

Anonymous said...

Confess your sins online, anonymously at http://iconfessmyself.blogspot.com

robinstarfish said...

Online anonymous confession, repentance, and forgiveness? What's the point?

Perhaps the Creator of the Internet, algore, will bestow upon you the mercy you seek.


.....

As qp noted, posting a comment from the preview window no longer works for me either, at any Blogger site. Hafta use the original comment box.

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

Hmm, never use preview myself.. this is some kind of online confessional, isn't it?

QP said...

Isn't this why we pray to do the Creator's will, to conform ourselves to the greatest Attractor of them all?

Not my favorite question of the day. God only knows where that might lead.

julie said...

Oh, it's a preview thing. I'm like River, never use it. Of course, sometimes I probably should...

Lisa said...

Julie-

That guy is way more qualified than Obama. Plus, he's way cuter! Can we get him to run instead of McCain?

Truly refreshing to hear that others understand reality! Thanks, man!

Anonymous said...

Well, it is a war for oil. I mean, who cares? We had a debate in our history lecture immediately prior to the invasion. Nobody had a valid response to my argument that we could get plenty of oil for that blood. Considering the benefit to the nation it's not really all that callous - the dude even admits oil does good for people. We should fight wars for oil. That preserves the status of the dollar as the world reserve currency, sets up a chain of events that puts the dollars we give to the Mideast oil producers into the hands of private enterprise rather than state sponsors of terror, etc. It does secure our nation vs. Russian or Chinese interests. Moreover, he is wrong about the legacy admission, of course he was helped with his family's legacy, I mean this is one of the most powerful families in the country. Plus, it is in the interests of schools to have as high of graduation rates as possible. Anyway, these are just a couple of things.

So yea, this guy uses some logic, but he also shies away from truths that are, ultimately, only unpleasant to the PC-set.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, I have gazed within your soul, and I triple-guarantee you that George Bush's IQ is markedly higher than yours.

Anonymous said...

Probably they are comparable - don't be so touchy. Being thin-skinned is not an appropriate conservative quality. Besides, I like Bush. I think he should have gone to Yale because of his family background. Would he not need a quality education considering he would likely be a prominent leader in various American institutions? We all know George was more of a party boy at that age but that shouldn't have kept him out of a good school considering his future.

Van Harvey said...

JULIE! THAAAANK YOU FOR THAT VID LINK!!!

Van Harvey said...

anonymous - supporting what is right out of cynical calculations, is no support at all, and is even further from what is right and true than those who oppose what is right for mistaken - or even foolish - reasons.

Anonymous said...

I don't see it as cynical. There is always going to be a blend of realistic reasons and abstract reasons for war. Yes, fight for honor, fight for freedom. But fighting for resources is part of the practical reality of freedom, and the idea of America - it is a practical calculation of what is in the national interest. Defeating the weapons of mass destruction is a similar calculation - yet you wouldn't call going to war to disarm another country cynical. You are conceding too much to the opponents of the war when you say it's cynical.

I would say, actually, that supporting what is right without fully acknowledging what is at stake is incomplete. Moreover, if incomplete, how can you be sure you will know what is right the next time? You have to take as much information into account as possible when making a decision. I'm not saying it's all oil, or anything like that, so much as saying the idea that oil has nothing to do with it is clearly absurd.

Anonymous said...

trolanon:
Exactly what, in Bob's post today, referred to George Bush, or the Iraq war? Here's the answer: nothing. If you want a pissin' match, perhaps there's a rope you could climb up somewhere.

JWM

Anonymous said...

On the dream- The Creation is immanent. Life is a wave of spirit passing through matter. You get a tiny glimpse of that once in a while. And you often don't recognize it until it has passed.
(no word veri? :))

JWM

Anonymous said...

Anonmymous enjoys hearing itself speak.

Anonymous said...

No war for oil! (wiping snot from nose) Yes war for oil?

Anonymous said...

Anon said;
"We had a debate in our history lecture immediately prior to the invasion."

Ahhh, a key insight to your detached from reality, cavalier pontifications. You're either the history professor or too young to have 'gelled' a coherent thought/philosophy, or to have even discovered what one is for that matter.

Magnus Itland said...

Re Bob's post and the divine complementarity, I have noticed for the longest times that many love songs are bordering on hymns, a kind of goddess worship. (It is almost always men who go out on that limb, although I have heard it the other way too, very rarely.)

I think that must be one of those "I'll see it when I believe it" things. It looks amazingly misguided to me. Perhaps I accidentally ate my Anima or something.

Van Harvey said...

anonymous said "You are conceding too much to the opponents of the war when you say it's cynical."

You said "Well, it is a war for oil. I mean, who cares?"

That is cavalier and cynical at the same time. Going to war for the purpose of securing a resource, is pure old style militarism. You go to war to protect and/or secure the rights and safety of your citizens and their interests. Going to war over oil would have been a perfectly acceptable reason for war, had we done it back when the Saudi's, Egyptians, Iraqi's, Iranians or whoever else, nationalized western oil wells and refineries. Because a state is led by a tyrant is justification enough for war, but it isn't reason enough to burden your people with his extermination, unless you also perceive a credible threat to your people and their interests. Sadam had that in spades, with his bounties to suicide bomber's families, probably weapons programs and continued treaty violations and threats.

All of that and much more (it's late, or I'd keep going and going and going...) would be sound and proper reasons for going to war - and all of which would be undermined by comments such as "Well, it is a war for oil. I mean, who cares?". If you understand the issues, defend it for the proper reasons and with the proper reasoning, such tripe is only hurtful.

QP said...

For Mangus:

Complimentary “Lookin For Love”

I spent a lifetime lookin' for you
Single bars and good time lovers were never true
Playing a fools game, hopin' to win
Tellin' those sweet lies and losin' again.

I was lookin' for love in all the wrong places
Lookin' for love in too many places
Searchin' her eyes, lookin' for traces
Of what I'm dreamin' of
Hoping to find a friend and a lover
I'll bless the day I discover,
You - lookin' for love.

I was alone then, no love in site
I did every thing I could to get me through the night
Don''t know where it started or where it might end
I'd turn to a stranger just like a friend.

I was lookin' for love in all the wrong places
Lookin' for love in too many places
Searchin' her eyes, lookin' for traces
Of what I'm dreamin' of
Hoping to find a friend and a lover
I'll bless the day I discover,
You - lookin' for love.

QP said...

Lo siento Magnus

NoMo said...

Julie - Thanks so much for the vid link. I forwarded it to my kids and their friends. Terrific.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

"But I'm the kind of person who likes his space. Boundary issues, I suppose. Being touched like that by a stranger might just make me more tense. And if it's a man, forget about it. Is that homophobia? What do you think? An elderly, unattractive woman. That's what I need."

I can understand this.
In fact, I can even give useful advice concerning massages (to my brudda coons anyway):

If you're in Thailand, or any country for that matter, DO NOT get a massage from an attractive young lady.
It's a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY BAD IDEA!!!

Trust me on this.
And if you been drinking, it's like throwin' gas on the fire, with you standing in it.
Not that I blame booze, but it does impair your judgemewnt and weaken your resolve...particularly if you are gettin' a "professional" massage.
But even if you don't drink, I still would recoonmend you forgo the massage.

This practical safety alert has been brought to you by "The Body Of Your Dreams."
Own your very own copy today!

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Van said-
"If you understand the issues, defend it for the proper reasons and with the proper reasoning, such tripe is only hurtful."

And extremely retarded I might add.
Mr. Anon, you are very lucky Van was tired when he wrote that.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

"In your day-to-day life, whenever you are confronted with a seemingly unresolvable paradox, it's almost always a case of complementarity -- not "either/or," but "both/and" -- for example, time/eternity, form/substance, subject/object, matter/spirit, wave/particle, conscious/unconscious, male/female, science/religion, intelligent design/natural selection, etc."

Or my way/and the highway.
My way being, of course, a reflection of His way, not the lowgical my way version.

Man Bob! This post is chock full of fresh baked clams O wisdom!

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

"Never forget Gödel."

Most atheists sure would like to.
Try as they might, they can't out yodel Godel.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

JWM said-
"On the dream- The Creation is immanent. Life is a wave of spirit passing through matter. You get a tiny glimpse of that once in a while. And you often don't recognize it until it has passed."

That's a keeper, JWM!
I reckon our journey includes making the window to that tiny glimpse larger, and unknowing to gno when it happens, which is only once every present moment.

So instead of sifting through the evidence afterwords, we are coonciously there at the seen of the Otercation.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

QP-
Great song, “Lookin For Love”.
I found it when I wasn't lookin'.
But it's much more complex than that, I have discovered.

No doubt due to that chaos n' complexity theory Onigma.

Or, to be even more Obtuse, lookin' without lookin'...within.
Or, to be Bobtuse,
accepting the complementary bag of both/and nuts. Roasted and salted, of course. :^)

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

"Rather, he is very comfortable with the provocative symbolism of revelation, which vaults the mind into a higher and deeper understanding, into the very dimension from which truth and revelation emanate like so many sparks from a central fire."

Reving up to O vault.
It's always time to raise the bar (Skully likes drinkin' on tall stools...yeah, I know he don't get it, but it's fun to watch).

Anonymous said...

The National Review this week has a good review of David Berlinski's new book, The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions. Dennis Praeger interviewed Berinski about it earlier this week. This is a very important book that everyone should read.

Anonymous said...

To your list of great twentieth-century discoveries, add information theory and its deep link to thermodynamics. They are completely different statements of the same reality, so much so that when theoriests have a problem in one theory that they can't solve, they look for the answer in the other. Boltzman's constant is to physical reality what e is to mathematics ... and both point to a depth in reality that transcends the merely physical.

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