Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Family Reunification in the Marriage of Heaven and Earth

Only time for an abbreviated post....

Unity bifurcates into subject and object, without which there can be strictly nothing and no one to know it. But both subject and object reflect the primordial Unity from which they arise.

As Schuon explains, "under the influence of the principle of Unity, the subject isolates itself and becomes a manifestation of the unique Self, thus of the Divine Subject, which obviously has no partner."

I would interpret this to mean that the human subject is an interior fractal , so to speak, of the Divine Subject, hence our unity, totality, and absoluteness, looked at from one angle. For this reason, each human being is radically complete and infinitely precious, so that, say, to murder one innocent human being is to murder all mankind. In other words, each stands for the Whole.

At the same time, the object pole of the primordial bifurcation exhibits a radical unity as well, without which science would not be possible. The scientist has a (well placed) faith in a cosmos that is not just lawful, but whose laws are consistent and applicable to all time and space -- in short, that the cosmos is radically One, just as is the subject who may know this unity.

Thus, real knowledge is a kind of divine re-union of subject and object; or, knowledge is the legitimate child of their fruitful union. Let's not talk about all those illegitimate and bastardized forms of knowledge.

As Schuon describes it, the object pole of the primordial bifurcation "becomes a participative reflection of Divine Being," thus a reflection of the "objective aseity of the real."

This is an area about which modern science is quite confused and contradictory, but the main point is that reality really does exist and that man may really know it. But to affirm this reality is to transcend any possible scientific explanation of how this miracle actually takes place -- the miracle of the Real object revealing its secret truth to an equally Real subject.

Schuon also explains that there would be no possibility of real contact between these two realms if it weren't for the fact that each "contains" a trace or echo of the other, like the famous yin-yang symbol. In fact, here's one that depicts the single eye with which we see God and vice versa:

Now, even if the Subject is without scientific knowledge, it nevertheless contains all it needs to know, at least in potential -- again, because it is a reflection of the Absolute Real. And this in turn is why scientific knowledge comes and goes and is subject to constant change and revision, while we're still talking about permanent truths arrived at by human subjects, especially in the axial age in which the Jewish prophets, the Upanishadic sages, Buddha, La- Tsu, Socrates, Plato, Zoroaster, and other pre-eminent religious thinkers suddenly appear on the world stage.

"Axial" is indeed an excellent metaphor, for it is as if each of these thinkers discovered the vertical axis of the cosmos, but from slightly different vertices. But again, it's a case of the reunification of knower and known, just as in profane science, except as applied to the vertical instead of horizontal worlds.

Also, please note the different "directions" of the knowledge, in that vertical knowledge leads from the center to the periphery, from principle to manifestation, whereas with science it is the opposite movement, from phenomena back to principles, or to Unity (I believe it was Huxley who said that science is the reduction of multiplicity to unity).

You might say that religion begins where science must inevitably end, except that the scientist again starts -- and must start -- his investigation with traces of that very end, e.g., a unified human subject who may potentially know all there is to know about a cosmos that is truly One. Problems only occur when this lil' subject is detached from the Divine Subject that is its source, which then leads to Cosmic Narcissism and the Bloated Ego of the tenured.

I suppose it's easy to fall into this trap, since, as Schuon writes, "pure subjectivity potentially contains the metaphysical essence of the knowable." For a spiritually normal person this is an occasion for deep humility and awe before the Divine Mind, but something goes awry in the wiring of the clueless radical secularist who blithely takes all of this fantastic knowledge for granted -- as if it requires no metaphysical explanation.

As we can see, it's really an irreducibly trinitarian process of knower-known-knowledge, or, more fundamentally, subject-object-link. The passionate link between subject and object (or subject and subject) may be knowledge (K), but it may also be love (L) or hate (H).

When the link between subject and object is hate (H), this is the formula for psychosis in the individual and madness in the group, for it is an attack on reality and on the links that reveal it. The most common contemporary form of group madness is leftism, for it is beholden to a philosophy which a priori denies such vital categories as absolute truth, vertical hierarchy, the human subject as divine analogue, etc.

As such, the leftist cannot submit himself to reality (in all its degrees and modes) but instead must project a purely manmade version of it (which is no reality at all). In short, he must negate the divine reality and replace it with human fantasy, which his philosophy gives him no right to do anyway, since it denies transcendent truth. It is the dysfunctional philosophy of permanent divorce between Father and Mother, or Subject and Object, Purusha and Prakriti, Shiva and Shakti, Witness and Mayafestation, and can produce no healthy and viable children (cf. the dying, infertile EUnuchs). But the real harmonious cosmic yinfolk might look something like this triyangle:

17 comments:

black hole said...

Well, I'm glad you're back to left bashing, as it gives me something to do.

You wrote:
"to murder one innocent human being is to murder" {all people}

I notice "innocent" there. The implication is that an non-innocent human being is not a perfect whole or the representation of O.

Is this correct?

A question on the table would be, does O include all things and being, or are there exclusions?

Is O the author of all pain, ugliness, and ignorance, as well as rapture, beauty, and knowledge?

You may assign these negative things the distinction as lacunae but I question whether in the seamless unity of which you speak there can be any holes or places where O does not reach.

Comments welcome.

julie said...

How generous of you, BH, to invite people to comment on someone else's blog.

***

Bob, I wonder if this part doesn't need a little bit of clarity:

When the link between subject and object is hate (H), this is the formula for psychosis in the individual and madness in the group, for it is an attack on reality and on the links that reveal it.

By which I mean, it could be read that you refer here to any little subject and any old object. Since it is entirely healthy to hate some objects (murder, pedophilia, leftist elitist snobbery, etc.), I'm guessing you mean The Object in this context. Then again, I may be missing a broader point. Or just pointing out what is patently obvious to everyone else. But in case I'm not the only one who got tripped up there, I thought I'd mention it.

Otherwise, the post is just full of yes.

Gagdad Bob said...

Good point. The (H) link is first and foremost an attack on one's own mind (its meaning-generating capacity), and only subsequently the external world. By severing the links, the unwanted reality never emerges, and needn't be destroyed directly. The end result is a fragmented world, with no unity, but no unwanted meanings either.

However, the process must be repeated, so that reality is gradually projected and re-projected into smaller and smaller bits, which Bion called "beta elements." Thus, the truly psychotic person lives in a persecutory world of disconnected "bits of meaning" that can never be synthesized and brought together.

This is entirely different from, say, righteous anger, which is objective, in proportion to its occasion, and absent any passionate ego-investment.

Gagdad Bob said...

To put it another way, with the (H) link, it's a matter of one part of the mind attacking another part of the mind, but usually in projected form. For example, left wing envy is the quintessential attack by an interior envier on an interior envied, only exteriorized.

julie said...

Okay, that I understand.
Thanks!

julie said...

Apropos, then, is this quote at Belmont Club, via Vanderleun:

But the future is still a blank. Does a second discontinuity lies ahead and when? What will happen in Europe? Will some ‘damn fool thing’ on the Korean peninsula or the Middle East create an unanticipated bend in the road? Nobody can say for sure. But it’s a good bet that politicians will keep their blindfolds on until the very last second. No crystal ball is any better than the willingness to look into it.

Gagdad Bob said...

Yes, in his new book on intellectuals, Sowell calls it "one day at a time rationalism." The left habitually attacks temporal links in order to prevent knowledge that their policies don't work. But reality always returns, as in the collapse of the social democracy ponzi schemes of western Europe.

julie said...

I have to wonder if Fernandez is too optimistic in his assertion that the general public are paying attention to what's really happening over there. Or over here, for that matter. I don't think the MSM is covering it all that much, and most people still just don't bother to get their news from anywhere else.

The impression I get from most people I know is that they are aware of things like the oil spill and (of course, here in AZ) the immigration issues. But the larger financial and social issues seem to be passing them by. Greek public servants rioting? Huh?

We just had a vote in AZ last week on whether to add another 1% statewide sales tax for the teachers. The only people who knew about it were the teachers, the news didn't cover it at all, so of course it was passed by a landslide. And of course, it turns out that some shady details were slipped in there as well, but since nobody knew about it (or knows that there was even a vote last week), it's just one more bit of straw on the camel's back.

When the willfully blind are leading the genuinely ignorant, it's difficult to be optimistic about the outcome.

black hole said...

Events in Europe show capitalism is at long last showing some signs of imminent collapse.

Following collapse communism has a chance to reformulate itself more successfully; we need to be looking past Marx to the next kind of socialism.

BH is all over it. BH watches all media very carefully.

Where will the raccoons be when the card house comes down?

Workers of the world, unite! But carefully. Do it carefully.

Gagdad Bob said...

Capitalism is at long last showing some signs of imminent collapse?

Prima facie evidence of the leftist's attack on linking and denial of reality.

julie said...

I just wonder if he's really that stupid, or if this is simply yet another lame attempt to make the thread all about him.

Frankly, I'm going with the latter. Maybe that's giving too much credit, though.

Then again, there's no reason it can't be both...

black hole said...

Well if there is nothing to criticize here then what is the point of anything?

Positive things don't need to be remarked upon. We need some kind of a problem, a controversy, or there's no game.

Bob does his part and smacks down the lefties, making them the problem, but from there we can't seem to sustain the debate. There are no other raccoons signing on. There are no trolls to speak of.

Can we introduce a new problem, please? How about Arizona?

Tigtog said...

To Black Hole re:

"Positive things don't need to be remarked upon. We need some kind of a problem, a controversy, or there's no game."

Its not a game. We are not TV shows. You need to step away from the TV and put down the remote. Marx was dead when he was alive. He is nothing more than an elitist veneer on envy. He wasn't too bright.

To Julie, don't despair, I hear Obama is sending 1,200 National Guardsmen to protect you. I just wonder if the Mayor of LA will decide to boycott Washington DC for its racist profiling of our international workforce?

Black Hole, does the above do it for you?

mushroom said...

I think the general population is paying attention, sort of, but they are on overload. Some of us feel like we are watching an illusionist. We know we're missing the important stuff, but there is just so much going on.

It's always good to come to OC and get the right perspective.

Van Harvey said...

Nice post... and good catch Julie, I sort of slowed to a cheese crawl on that too... I was guessing in that direction, but not as far as Gagdad's reply, so thanks both.

BH "...f there is nothing to criticize here th..."
- I'm on thumb keyboard so no big reply... but even if not, still wouldn't. I mean, seriously, such stupidity doesn't get raised to the level of 'criticism', any more than 'critical theory' would.

WHen you're so stuck on stupid, it doesn't matter what you put on your menyou if what you serve up and 'put on the table' is just so plain stupid.

wv: ellogert
Hey... like I said, I'm all thumbs

black hole said...

Well Tigtog at least put something decent in. Thank you.

Arizona is in fact a very sensible place. It behaves much like a nation, is concerned with its borders, etc.

That being said, it is a caucasian bastion and so brown hands do want to grab some 'o that power...

Van Harvey said...

I said “…slowed to a cheese crawl…”
cheese crawl? One of those handy-dandy auto-completes snuck in there.

Bh said “Well Tigtog at least put something decent in”

He did, but on a different subject. Your first has been done over so many times that the prospect of rehashing it again for your amusement was simply boring, and as for the second… sorry, but with “…Events in Europe show capitalism is at lon…”, that’s not even up to the dailykos level of stoopid.

If you want a reply it’s not enough to just try and provoke people, there’s got to be some reflection of reality in it, distorted though it will be, but the social democrazies of EUrope as examples of capitalism? It’s hard to sustain the urge to correct someone’s misconceptions, let alone any indignation or anger through that kind of a belly laugh.

You’re off your game... and that's a really bad thing when you're playing solitare.

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