The surface of my laptop is sensible, but I am deploying my fingers to both seek and describe an intelligible object. At the moment I'm not in contact with this object, nor am I yet in its orbit, but I have faith that I will be, since it's happened so many times before. For those keeping score at home, this is post #3,416.
Before I commenced to blogging, it was more as if I were attempting to force intelligibles into existence as opposed to merely discovering them. In the argot of sports, you should let the game come to you. Then again, I suppose a sort of apprenticeship is necessary, otherwise one will have no medium of discovery or expression.
Analogously, I could sit down at the piano and use my fingers to discover a musical intelligible, but the object wouldn't be very deep or complex. Once one masters an instrument, then one may use it to discover music and snatch a tune from the ether.
A musical object exists in time, whereas a spiritual object... Here we come to a difference between the Judeo-Christian stream and all others, because our object is indeed deployed in time; or, to be perfectly accurate, it is simultaneously in and out of time. This, they say, is one of the scandals of Christianity, since it can never be reduced to any abstract formulation.
Why not? Well, ultimately because the ultimate object is a person, and what is a person but a process, a narrative, a relation, a being in time?
In my view, our concept of God had first to be purged of all movement and change before we could understand how to properly apply these categories to him -- similar to how the Trinity could only be revealed once man had been purged of polytheism.
Thus, just as God's threeness can and must be understood in the context of a strict monotheism just so, his "change" must be understood in the context of a strict changelessness. Otherwise we will be imagining something less than God: an idol.
Along these lines, Bishop Barron writes that
Thomas denies of God the changeableness characteristic of creatures, that is to say, a development from nonbeing to being.But I would argue that this denial by no means implies other types of movement cannot be ascribed to God, viz., those changes that entail not imperfection but perfection, fullness of being.
Cooncur 100%. Being that we are the Image & Likeness, I suspect that most everything essential in human nature -- e.g., love, reason, beauty, goodness, etc. -- must have some analogue in God, however distant.
For example, man can "create," even though, strictly speaking, only God creates. Analogously, could it be that only God changes? This will no doubt sound theologically Messed Up if we don't explain what we mean.
"As a perfection" -- and insofar as it is a perfection -- change "should be rigorously affirmed of [God]. Similarly, the mutability in a beautiful song or an elaborate dance, the changeableness of a lively and vivacious personality -- such perfections are ascribable to the unchanging God of Thomas Aquinas."
Yes, God is a rock, but
utterly unlike the Rock of Gibralter, which is a being at an extremely primitive level of existence. No, the perfect, unchanging God of whom Thomas speaks must be a gyroscope of energy and activity and at the same time a stable rock.
Not either/or but both/and, and then some, a unique object which includes and transcends such binaries. Our gyroscopic God is
a blending of qualities that seem mutually exclusive in creatures. In the words of the mystic theologian pseudo-Dionysius, God must be both great and small, both changing and unchanging, both high and low.... the immutable God, defended by Thomas, is no Aristotelian principle, no uncaring force, but indeed is the God disclosed in Jesus Christ as ungraspable perfection.
Now, this ungraspable subject/object "is the magnet luring the universe into the future." And this post to its conclusion.
15 comments:
I like the gyroscope idea. It describes as well the character of the motion of the cosmos on a multitude of layers. It’s in the nature of things, thus must reflect something of the nature of God; after all, how could a purely static and unchanging being possibly be the creator of a dynamic and living universe?
God does not play dice vis ze universe! Ze course of all events has been predetermined! Und finally, coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous. Zink on zat vun, noodle bakers!
Hello Dr. Godwin:
Post #3416 is a psychedelic wonder. I will read it again after I get stoned to squeeze out all the nuances. On the first reading it was difficult to fully grok.
Anonymous 9:19 PM throws in the specter of predetermination, which is gaining traction in some circles as it is the only theory which can account for "spooky action at a distance" (quantum entanglement), the bugbear of physics in our time.
The seemingly impossible feat of particles communicating instantly at long distances is just that, impossible. Instead the particles adjust instantly because they were predestined to do so, no communication needed.
Some predetermination theorists would go so far as to say, free will does exist, however all acts of free will were executed more than 13 billion years ago, and since that time we have been on "playback" mode, where all of those free-will decisions made aeons ago play out. The existence of "au-courrant," on the fly free-will is made dubious.
This theory also neatly accounts for and makes imminently possible pre-cognition, deja-vu, prescience, and all other paranormal tricks and stunts.
Something to think about.
-Furtive Movement in the Bush
Anonymous 9:19 PM, chust a minute now. Vat makes you zink God vill not play dice? Vy woot he not?
Coincidence is God's whay of remaining anonymous? Zis noodle baker zinks, no, it is chust a coincidence.
-Jawohl Herr Commandant
"I will not sign the papers."
"UND VY VILL YOU NOT SIGN ZE PAPERS??!!"
"Because you have broken both of my hands."
Noodle baking aphorisms from Davila, pffft. All of the life wisdom one needs can be found in Big Bambu. Now young man, give me that knife.
I have are two theories, both of which have been described here. One is that an all knowing God wouldn't be something like a gardener or scientist, since all of the outcomes would be known as soon as everything was created. Boring. Instead he's an artist, who created a universe where he could set up some basic laws and just let er rip to then be entertained by whatever resulted.
My other theory is far darker. And not just in a racist sort of way. God needed to create an evil force for his artwork creation, but made that force just a bit too powerful. And now his evil force has God locked up in some kind of metaphysical box and is pretending to be the real God. That would explain a lot of things.
Hello Anonymous 10:09. Your theories are certainly possible. Positing an evil force that gains dominance seems counterintuitive, but this is exactly what happens when a person becomes addicted to something.
All theories aside, every person develops a "working philosophy" which is used for decision making. What is your working philosophy?
I'm not exactly sure what mine is. I certainly believe in physics, I avoid obvious sources of harm, I pursue all of the usual things like food, sleep, and intoxicants. There is not much to my working philosophy, I would say. I daily get up and commence to meeting my needs and desires, then repeat.
What is your working philosophy?
Torn, very torn, with painful emotions always pulling in the insecure direction.
My adult rational self wants to analyze, preferably with the aid of desktop computer tools such as Word and Excel. It wants to free associate ideas which get typed in and viewed on the screen, and then my rational self gets to work sorting out the ideas into stuff like cause-effects, probabilities and possibilities, eventually coming up with potential abstractly reasoned and pattern matching theories.
My childhood broken self wants to jump under the bed, weep inconsolably, and then cower in fear for a while.
On the positive, disciplining those two forces can yield very high integrity, very cost effective results in whatever I choose to build, whether it's material in nature or just theoretical.
On the negative, skilled con artists can sense the emotional baggage I'm carrying around like some kind of backpack, and exploit for their own selfish ends.
Example: I had a chance to earn $1800 for one days work for a desperate client who has only ever treated me well. But because I was schedule committed to another client, a skilled emotional manipulator and bully who sometimes treats me quite poorly, my child side went to work for him for $1600 for seven very hard days work.
This type of thing has been going on for the better part of a year. It didn't happen all at once. Mr emotional manipulator worked slowly, insidiously, constantly pushing on all boundaries while chipping away at my strengths until I'd given him control over my business.
I finally "woke" and am now in the process of ripping myself away from the asshole. What helped make this difficult for me to begin with, was that the nice lady was an agnostic humanist while the asshole has claimed many times that God guides his actions.
Hello Anonymous 12:00 PM:
Thank you for the detailed description of your inner landscape. I find myself curious about your work. What is it you do? And how did you get in with the manipulative client?
I'm hoping to understand your boundary system. How did the harmful character get past your defensive systems? What are your defensive techniques? How do you police your boundaries?
I had difficulty asserting my basic rights for years; in fact I didn't know I even had any. I fortunately met the right people and some guides who set me straight. Even so, I still find myself in situations like yours. "Nice people" really get run over.
I can post the 11 basic assertive rights if you would like to see them. To me they are a declaration of independence, life-saving. For example, you have a right to change your mind. Any body coming at you saying, "now wait a minute, you said this yesterday and you can't just change your tune...." You can confidently reply, "Yes, I changed my mind. I have the right to change my mind, and I might change it a million times."
Then there's the right to say no and not feel guilty. That is a right. Very useful.
Anyway, good to hear about your struggles. At least I'm not the only one.
"For example, man can "create," even though, strictly speaking, only God creates. Analogously, could it be that only God changes? This will no doubt sound theologically Messed Up if we don't explain what we mean."
Somewhere in time, there are a dozen Pre-Socratic voices colliding in fatal paradoxes.
Or, with more of a 2020 view on 4/20 in mind: "Wo..."
I'm a former engineer who was workplace mobbed by rivals. Workplace mobbing is the preferred technique for getting rid of employees who are very good at their jobs, very good with their associates, but are still a perceived political threat to the powers that be. As you know, normal people with normal weaknesses who are also political threats are usually just fired for whatever reasons and nobody's the wiser. But with top-totemed and peer-popular performers, other 'techniques' for removal are required. You can't just go around openly firing all of your best people. You risk having the remaining troops (who are always observing) then do the opposite of everything the target was doing to try and preserve themselves. The workplace will implode.
After licking my wounds I found that others had gotten theirs. All top performers. So I was far from unique. Dysfunctionally paranoid management was made even more dysfunctionally paranoid by all the offshoring going on in that business. That entire business is a real mess now, with many tales of catastrophic failure. National news. I'd rather not go into more detail.
So I'm glad I left. I went into doing what I enjoy, design/build contracting. I'm pretty good at that as well.
I have many good customers. Most people are pretty nice with reasonable integrity. But the occasional bad apple does sneak in. What I'm figuring out is that they operate all Sun Tzu, with true intentions always fully masked. It's all deviousness. Boiling frogs. And boy do they lie.
Sometimes "good people" can become rotten as well. For example, I spoiled my own sister doing various jobs for her on the cheap. I "woke" when I needed her able bodied mail truck driver husband for a half hour to help me lift a large exterior door unit into place on another job a mile from their home. He refused, claiming to be too tired after work. I'd already proven to him that I always return favors. And yeah, I do all my own stuff after a hard days work. I couldn't get anybody else so I struggled until the residents 15 year old son came home from school and saw me. He said: "You shouldn't be doing that alone!" He jumped right in there to help. His family was strongly Christian (like my sister) and they'd moved into that rental house from their small distant town to support their own little sister being treated at the big city clinic for cancer. Great kid, awesome family, doing it right, successfully fishing for men without even trying.
After many politely subtle warnings, I finally told my sister outright that I wouldn't be doing her husbands manly duties anymore, on the cheap. She had a major hissy fit with lots of rationalizing and telling me she was a better Christian than I. That was when my eyes finally opened for the first time to see her true self-deceptive self. Lets see how that situation plays out.
Back to my asshole, I'm learning that you must observe every action and every word anybody says and does. You're looking for discrepancy. The problem is that I don't sweat the small stuff and forgive human faux pas far too readily. If somebody tells you that they enjoy helping others but they're just watching you as you make many trips up the stairs loading heavy tools into your truck after you've given them a sweet deal for work well done, that's a red flag you can't ignore.
Everybody has blind spots, but good people caught in a lie will always act embarrassed and contrite. Bad people will try to rationalize or quickly hit you back with BS accusations of their own. Never an apology.
You can post the assertive rights, but successful bad people are always very insidious. They'll slowly test and push on boundaries until you finally realize they've placed all of the burdens onto you.
Hello Van. Good to see you write a comment here.
You wrote in part "Somewhere in time, there are a dozen Pre-Socratic voices colliding in fatal paradoxes. Or, with more of a 2020 view on 4/20 in mind: "Wo..."
From this I'm guessing you found parts of Gagdad's post difficult to "grok." I think parts of the poste were obscure and in need of clarification/elaboration. This is not a bad thing, as Gagdad needs to report from the cutting edge of new inquiry to meet his full potential; we don't want stale reporting.
Does GDB use marijuana? Do you? Does anyone? I don't know anyone who uses marijuana. Why is that? As Jeff Sessions once stated "Good people don't smoke pot." Truth or fiction?
-Madelyn the Bouncer
Hi Anonymous 9:04 AM:
Enjoyed your comment immensely. You write well, and these real-life scenarios are interesting. So I can get the most out of what you have divulged, I request clarification on a few points:
What type of engineering were you formerly doing? You mentioned that entire sector of business was in trouble.
How does work-place mobbing unfold? I've not heard of this process before.
It sounds like you were caught up in a large corporate purge or meltdown involving a lot of people and the management was inept and frightened. Would that be about right? And how long ago did this occur?
Well, enough questions.
Regarding your sister and her spouse, it seems they got one-up on you and you repulsed the manipulation after a period of time. Congrats on that.
The a**hole client remains somewhat of a mystery; I get the client lies but I am not understanding exactly what this client had done to you.
I advise you never to ask for voluneer assistance lifting a heavy item; if the volunteer complies and then complains of pain or injury afterwards you could be sued. I advise you to desist from doing pro-bono repairs for family or friends. Sad but true; be careful.
In summary, you seem well able to stand up for yourself but are disappointed and saddened by the bad behavior of others and people remain a source of aggravation and conflict in your life.
I'll post a few of the "Basic Assertive Rights" just for general information and perhaps other readers might benefit too.
You have the right to slow down and take time to think
You have the right to ask for information
You have the right to do less than you are humanly capable of doing
You have the right to make mistakes
You have the right to ask for what you want
These rights are yours, but also remember to accord them to all others, lest you become an offender.
Have a great day, I'm going to pop some rounds down-range.
I started at Boeing. I knew back then that it had already gone fully crony-corrupt. I’d observe the occasional naïve high-performer try to excel, and then get bashed over the head with reality. I’ll never forget the tone in ‘Ted the Wizard’s voice when he got pink slipped, after all he’d done for that company, just because they were cutting back and he wasn’t well connected with the right people. I only ever saw political insiders move up there.
Then I went into structural composites and modifications. My last job was at a small company. I spotted our VP out in the parking lot and went over and asked him where all the work he’d promised me when he’d hired me was. He said: “Everything’s changed. It’s all about relationships now”. What he meant, was that instead of PMs and PEs sitting in smoke filled conference rooms poring over vendor bid proposals, the PM would simply give the work to a buddy for a favor, with all the rest being a ruse. I think you’re aware of what’s happening at Boeing these days. You do know that the failed CEO earned a highly lucrative exit bonus for his complete failure which has damaged that company?
Workplace mobbing happens when just firing the target will cause major problems for the person doing the firing. So typically, the boss or rival puts the word out amongst low-totemed sycophants to make the targets life miserable to force the target to leave. Poor performers often make good tools, since of course, they know the next step down is unemployment.
I’ll describe somebody else's story about how nuts it can get. Janice Harper PhD was a professor of anthropology at a major university. (google her story for better details) Recently divorced, she rebuffed the advances of a peer saying she wasn’t ready to start dating yet. After a brief time rumors began circulating amongst the other staff and students that she was trying to build a nuclear bomb. Yeah, obviously this is insane, but the rumors persisted. Then she got a visit from the NSA, who were all joking about having to investigate her over something so ridiculous but they had to do their job. After a friendly visit where they apologized and everybody had a good laugh, they wished her well and left. She then got called into the deans office and was told that she’d violated a term of university employment (visit from a federal inforcement agency). She was fired. Many of her peers came out in support of her and she eventually sued and won. But I don’t think she was ever able to collect. Despite being ‘vindicated’, she found herself unemployable in the very field in which she had previously won accolades and awards.
Workplace mobbing works something like that. The inherent animal (or sinner) insanity of the mob is harnesses by sociopaths who use the tools tribal impulses to destroy targets who have normal levels of empathy and integrity.
There’s a book: “Crisis of Conscience: Whistleblowing in an age of fraud”, which describes how people just doing their jobs, who unwittingly step on the wrong toes, have their lives completely ruined with no recourse or path towards justice, let alone vindication. Their families abandon them, they lose their homes, pretty much everything just for committing the sin of having integrity. We’re living in the age of sociopathy, where skillful sociopaths have the upper hand. Be careful out there.
The asshole client. I told that client (back then a respectable member of my neighborhood), that I do jobs for significantly reduced rates when I don’t have full price clients on the docket. Also if the job is interesting and something I’d like to have more experience with, he can save some money and get creative and valuable solutions as well. The client liked what he heard.
He owns a very large old house which he’s completely remodeling, one room at a time. Initially, he was open to my freely coming and going for my other more lucrative full pay jobs which frequently came up.
Then he started requesting (eventually demanding) constant communication via text, phone, email, or in person at all hours and every day. He’d occasionally get emotional but would apologize (eventually becoming emotionally abusive and blaming me for his moods). He offered progress payments with the rest paid at the end of a particular phase (which eventually became the entire payment). IOW, he was determining my rate. He pushed for my spending more time on his projects (which eventually became my schedule which he was trying to determine). In other words, he achieved getting top quality, done quickly, for a fraction of the going rate. It got to where I’d tell my other far better customers that I was busy and they’d have to wait.
Then I woke up. I realized that he’s my wealthiest client, my worst paying client, my most demanding client, and as an added bonus he treats me worse than anybody else I do business with. And yup. I realized that he’d successfully targeted my desire to do well and make others happy and that was on the verge of “owning” me.
So I called for a meeting to get us to return back to the original terms. He agreed. He told me he had money. Everything was lovey dovey.
After a few months hiatus, I went back there for a new major job. And he just picked up right where he left off as if that meeting had never occurred. A demanding poorly paying asshole. So I told him that I had better customers and packed up all my stuff and left. I advised him to get other bids to learn what the market is like. I worried that he’d try to do something violently stupid while I was leaving but he admitted that there was nobody else who could do what I could for him and he let me go on the condition that I’d be back to finish.
I don't think I'm going to.
My better sense is telling me to cut every tie right now. If he did decide to become a full pay client, which would give him a dedicated slot in my schedule, I am almost completely certain that he’ll resent it and ride my ass because he’s now paying full price. Everybody else I work for is pretty much always lovey dovey.
Thanks for sharing in detail, that as very informative, and now I can be on my guard against mobbing. I've seen low grade instances of this happening.
I guess one lesson here, anonymous, is to stop offering the discounted services, as it had become problematic. Unless you were not getting other clients- otherwise I can't see how it has any intrinsic reward to it.
Ciao!
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