Thursday, November 05, 2020

Life in the Delta

 This morning perhaps we will try to dig a little deeper and pull out some aphorisms we haven't re-repeated on multiple occasions. 

Then again, why do we repeat them? You can't criticize someone for insisting that 2 + 2 = 4, so long as there are people -- especially people who want to run your life! -- who argue otherwise:  "Okay, we get it. Now say something more novel and interesting, like 2 + 2 = 5, or 17, or pi, or black lives matter, or Biden wins, ANYTHING BUT FOUR!!!"

Well, first of all,

He who does not doubt does not shout.

But if we repeat ourselves, it is for a number of sound reasonssuch as

Truth is never a definitive conquest. It is always a position that has to be defended.


Man soon releases the truths that he catches, as if they were burning his hand.


Strictly speaking, it is in reiterating the old commonplaces that the work of civilization consists.


Moreover In certain eras, -- especially the present era -- the intelligence has to devote itself merely to restoring definitions.  Why "especially"? Well, was there ever a previous era that not only pretended 2 + 2 ≠ 4, but that believing in the correct answer makes one a fascist? Or fourscist?  


Even the sophists with whom Socrates socratized weren't fascists, just nihilists.  Even they weren't so bold as to say, as does the contemporary left, that THERE IS NO TRUTH, AND WE POSSESS IT!  Or they say, "hands off my body!"  But you never hear them say "hands out of my mind!"  


Why is that?  Well, for a materialist, only matter is real.  Which is of course a nonsense statement, being that any statement is immaterial.  Nevertheless, never, ever, expect a leftist to be intellectually consistent, or you are entering a world of pain.  Come to think of it,


Intelligent discussion should be reduced to clarifying divergences.


Calmly, openly, dispassionately, disinterestedly.  In other words, not in a newsroom or a university campus, of all places!


Back to those good ol' truths:  


Nothing is more outdated at any moment than yesterday’s novelty.


Common sense is the father’s house to which philosophy returns, every so often, feeble and emaciated.


Four or five invulnerable philosophical propositions allow us to make fun of the rest.

Are we opposing novelty to common sense?  NO!  Didn't mean to shout, but education of the soul consists precisely in a kind of battle, in which ground is occupied, settled, and consolidated, and from which one launches new vertical adventures and conquests.   The new world can't be discovered until the old world is reduced to civilization.  There's a reason why Indians didn't discover Europe.  

Here again, postmodernity is the doctrine that claims there is no solid ground under our feet, and that we have only to push off from there, toward endless progress-unto-utopia.  I feel like I'm insulting your intelligence to explain why this is so totally stupid -- or even the very substance of stupid.  Moreover, this form of invincible stupidity is an intellectual sin, perhaps the second worst.  It's not just an elementary error, it's a primordial catastrophe.

Here is the deal, and it is a big one:


Intelligence has the capacity to discover new truths by rediscovering old truths.

Do you see why? Of course you see why.  The wheel is a real invention.  It's permanent. You don't need to reinvent it, but nor do you just move on to the next discovery without taking cognizance of the old.  A wheel will take you lots of places.  It makes no difference that it was discovered 5,500 years ago.  

Another common error is the belief -- or imputation -- that we conservatives are somehow anti-novelty or anti-progress, when it is the precise opposite.  The point is... how to put it... What we call progress isn't just anything.  Rather, it presupposes a ground and destiny, or origin and end.  Progress takes place -- and can only take place -- in the space between these two.  But it is by no means an "empty" space, but rather, filled with archetypes, structures, cathedrals, mansions, legends... you name it.  

We'll be getting more deeply into Percy's Message in the Bottle as I get more deeply into his message, but he posits a useful schematic involving the symbols for Alpha, Omega, and Delta (αΩ, and Δ), which I will immediately purloin in order to say that you and I are here, i.e., in the delta: α <-->>> Δ <<<-->  Ω

On and in which we will continue flowing in the next post...

63 comments:

Anonymous said...

People have tried to make rules for truth, but they kept being broken. People have tried to create institutions for truth, but they kept being destroyed.

Personally, I'd investigate these breaker-destroyers. I bet they're just in it for themselves and are really good grifters and they don't care what happens to truth or institutions as long as they get theirs.

But proper investigation needs rules and they're all broken.

Petey said...

The investigation was already completed centuries ago.

Petey said...

And the sentences handed down. For example, no one will be punished for voting Biden/Harris. Rather, Biden and Harris are the punishment.

julie said...

Intelligence has the capacity to discover new truths by rediscovering old truths.

We can either stand on the shoulders of giants and build from there, or we can instead hack the giants off at the knees because they had the insolence to grow so tall.

Karl said...

Now you're talking! Envy rules.

Anonymous said...

We used to own ma and pop shops. Good ole capitalism.

Now we work in gigantic fulfilment warehouses. Good ole socialism.

Orwell was right. Slavery is freedom.

Nicolás said...

Total liberation is the process that constructs the perfect prison.

Anonymous said...

Indeed my dear wise Nicolás.

The Enlightenment promoted reason, science, individual liberty, and equality as its highest ideals, with God smiling on all that. Now we get to live through a disenlightenment where those things are disregarded as evils because our Dear Leaders tell us God says so.

Well, except for individual liberty. If Dear Leaders leave us with an economic wasteland in which to plant our seeds, we’re still free to cry about it.

My advice to you is to start drinking heavily. And don’t have any kids for crissakes.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of drinking heavily, there’s libertarian candidate Jo Jorgenson.

She’s mentioned expanding the 2nd Amendment to include military tanks, which I’ve always wanted to own. Sadly, while I can afford the garage/maintenance facility it’d be housed in, I can’t afford the missile system that’ll I’d need to defend my newest family member from the A-10 warthog style tankkillers which the Marxists will use to blow it up. My neighbor tells me that if I did, then satellite controlled drones would be the next weapon used against my little family fortress. So we escalate until I’m finally trying to ally with Jeff Bezos to build nuclear weapons. This seems improbably silly.

So I try another, less expensive tack. Dope. And lots of it. So now here we are back to getting stoned again. I did notice that the cultural libertarians won bigly and uncontestably in the area of getting zonkered, with lots of drug legalizations all over the place. At least ze got zat, zellow astral travelers. Zarty on, Zarth.

Nicolás said...

Man believes himself free when nothing drags him against the currents.

Gagdad Bob said...

There is an important relationship between pure cosmic degeneracy and truly awful writing. Falsehood is as darkly grotesque as truth is radiantly beautiful. Who knew?

Gagdad Bob said...

"Bambi's story is unique and universal." In what universe?

William Blake said...

Degrade first the Arts if you'd Mankind Degrade.
Hire Idiots to Paint with cold light and hot shade:
Give high Price for the worst, leave the best in disgrace,
And with Labours of Ignorance fill every place.

Nicolás said...

I do not know whether in another world the devil punishes an irreligious society. But I see that here it is soon punished by aesthetics.

Gagdad Bob said...

How does the most beautiful city in the US become the ugliest?

It must indeed go to the divorce of religion from aesthetics.

The same thing happened to the university as a consequence of the divorce of intellect from truth.

I suppose we have to ultimately apportion the blame between Luther and a Church that made such a crank possible and even inevitable. But it goes much deeper than that. Same war. Only the faces change.

Nicolás said...

When religion and aesthetics are divorced from each other, we do not know which is corrupted sooner.

Gagdad Bob said...

They covary. A guy who thinks the Bible contains all truth separate and apart from the intellect that knows it is... not my kind of guy.

Nicolás said...

The progressive travels around among literary works as the Puritan did among cathedrals: with hammer in hand.

julie said...

Heh - yes. So much for a "liberal arts" education.

Gagdad Bob said...

The less important the subject, the harder it is to fake. The harder the subject -- from philosophy to art -- the easier to fake.

Anonymous said...

Indeed. The gangster dialectic is the unnatural conformity of brazen obsequiousness.

I sometimes wonder what a "conservative arts" education might be like. And going further, should we consider tax-financing such things at our finer educational establishments?

julie said...

It might look like this. No taxes needed, the materials are for the most part readily available/ inexpensive, and the lessons don't require a professor, just the time and attention of a willing student.

Gagdad Bob said...

While sitting around in a waiting room at the wife's ophthalmologist, I got bored and started tweeting, then I couldn't stop. Many of them began life with an aphorism that I twisted around to my own purposes. I hadn't tweeted in years, and it looks like I have no followers anymore. Still, a shame to let them go to waste:

https://twitter.com/GagdadBob1

Anonymous said...

Greetings One Cosmos Blog Readers:

The Republic of Zyzzyx welcomes your new President and Vice-President Elect if they so desire to visit Zyzzzyx. They would be accommodated in our deluxe cottage by the lake.

Our Ambassador to will pay a visit to Washington as soon as he gets his Volkswagen repaired. We have to get a mechanic from nearby Barstow to come up here.

We look forward to working with the new regime and perhaps decrease the border tensions which have plagued our two nations for many years.

- Theo Long Lance, Republic of Zyzzyx Secretary of State.

Gagdad Bob said...

We need to be BETTER than the Democrats, and instead of fighting a new president every step of the way, make the effort to prevent him from taking office to begin with.

Anonymous said...

Gagdad Bob wrote:

"We need to be BETTER than the Democrats, and instead of fighting a new president every step of the way, make the effort to prevent him from taking office to begin with."

That is straight up sedition talk right there. You have talked a big talk about the sanctity of the Constitution, so where is that talk now?

Now you are apparently an enemy of the people just like some Taliban creep. And stupid crazy. WTF is wrong with you people?

I hope you will return to normal in a month. You are not amusing any more.

You are a psychologist, aren't you? How do expect to help others if you have lurid delusions?

Nicolás said...

When the progressive condemns, every intelligent man must feel alluded to.

Gagdad Bob said...

I'm old enough to remember when dissent was the highest form of patriotism. Last week.

julie said...

Meanwhile, AOC & friends are advocating making lists of all the Trump supporters who need to be... corrected.

Nicolás said...

If the leftist is not persecuting, he feels persecuted.

Anonymous said...

Bob isn't that kind of psychologist. He cures souls of assoulery. Bob doesn't want a theocracy either. He wants single party rule, in the name of liberty, with a token party so America still looks legit.

Rest assured, the saner leftists I know just wanted the Trump gone so that any threats to the Constitution, real or implied, would hopefully go as well. Guys like Michael Steele and Steve Schmidt allied with those dark forces, but we all know they're just RINOs, just like Biden (shhh). But that's boring.

Here's a fun map of Trump country:
https://us-covid19-per-capita.net/recent.html
Well, mostly. A couple of states are still suspect. But it's getting there.

Unknown said...

This. A thousand times:

Anonymous said...

I expected Trump to be a grown-up about his defeat in this election. The office had imbued him with some kind of maturity, I thought.

Instead he's having a toddler tantrum. True to form he tosses out hand-fulls of baseless accusations to see if anything will stick. He's had some success with this tactic before, but some basis in reality is required.

For this election thing he doesn't have it.

And Trump supporters will parrot any nonsense that comes out of his mouth or tweets. Sad.

It is time to move on, people. Move along. Nothing to see here. This is a standard change of the Presidency like all that came before. Nothing fancy.

Anonymous said...

Would greatly appreciate sources for further learning if anyone has grappled with this question:

At the end of time, is even the Devil reconciled to God? Or is he forever an adversary for all eternity, even if vanquished at the end of time? Likewise, are the denizens of hell damned for all eternity, or is there still the possibility of redemption outside of time?

I’ve been able to reconcile much of Jewish and Catholic theology. But the concept of eternal damnation is tough. Should his once faithful servant change his heart, would not a benevolent God redeem even Lucifer?

The answer is important for human affairs as well: Are some enemies forever is no one beyond reconciliation?

Cousin Dupree said...

--some basis in reality is required.

File that one under Profiles in Cluelessness. Among dozens of others, the Russia conspiracy, the impeachment farce, & "fine people on both sides" lie prove that Dems need no basis in reality for their accusations. Nor do they need any basis in reality to say that Biden has been legally elected president, or is even sentient for that matter.

Gagdad Bob said...

Dems would never cheat to defeat Hitler, let alone lie.

Cousin Dupree said...

I'm old enough to remember when dissent was the highest form of patriotism. Last week.

Gagdad Bob said...

--At the end of time, is even the Devil reconciled to God?

Apparently not

--are the denizens of hell damned for all eternity, or is there still the possibility of redemption outside of time?

Opinions diverge.

Gagdad Bob said...

By the way, some things aren't worth puzzling over.

Gagdad Bob said...

Despite being profound questions. It's just that some questions are more profound than any answers man can formulate.

Nicolás said...

That which is incomprehensible increases with the growth of the intelligence.

Anonymous said...

"Nor do they need any basis in reality to say that Biden has been legally elected president"

That is a very strong statement - one of which claims illegitimacy of our election process. On what are you basing your contention that Biden wasn't legally elected President in terms of facts? Trump has been sowing baseless claims of election fraud long before the election started, tried to dismantle the post office to prevent mail in ballots, and encouraged republicans to do what they can to disenfranchise voters who are likely to vote for the other side.

This is from the BBC who doesn't have a horse in the race: https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54837926

I did research and found only one thing regarding improper voting behavior which looked like it could have some credibility which is that a postal worker in PA signed an affidavit stating that he was told to back date mail-in ballots that came in a day late to the prior date. If that is true it would likely be illegal and those who perpetrated it should be punished. It wouldn't change the election results and that alone doesn't indicate widespread fraud.

Trump had a commission that looked into 2016 improprieties and they found nothing wrong. The courts have been throwing out the unsubstantiated lawsuits they Trump has been filing. What credible information do you have that the election was fixed?

We have always had peaceful transitions of power. Al Gore accepted the Supreme Court decision when he lost. Although I didn't like Trump, I accepted his election and would have done likewise had he won this time. I also gave Trump a chance with an open mind when he was elected, until his actions provided me with a stance on his suitability for the presidency. I don't care for Biden either, but will give him a chance to prove himself or not (not that what I think matters much more than any other one member of the electorate).

Oracle of Vidanatru said...

In hell you have to listen to the devil play that same sad song on his harmonica, forever.

Gagdad Bob said...

The BBC who doesn't have a horse in the race. But countless horse's asses.

Gagdad Bob said...

One who doesn't see the cheating in this election doesn't want to see it. Which is fine. I'm a psychologist. I understand denial, and I certainly understand projection.

Gagdad Bob said...

Some of the more intriguing evidence is mathematical in nature, in violation of Benford's Law.

Gagdad Bob said...

And why are we pretending that Biden isn't senile? What's that all about?

Anonymous said...

anon @11/08/2020 11:21:00 AM

Idle researching hands are tools of the devil. Have you not seen Trumps spiritual advisor, Paula White, speaking in tongues and inviting African and South American angels to come and help him? This should be proof enough for you that Trump is no racist.

Anonymous said...

Biden is senile. But I fear that the speaking in tongues prayers got deflected somehow, giving him temporary superpowers. By a Chinese satellite, perhaps? It's a complicated world we live in.

Gagdad Bob said...

Biden is not my president. If only because he no longer exists.

Anonymous said...

"One who doesn't see the cheating in this election doesn't want to see it. Which is fine. I'm a psychologist. I understand denial, and I certainly understand projection."

The same could be said about someone who sees cheating in an election for which there is no credible evidence.

I don't find credibility in the Benford's Law article. First of all re the missing coattails, I don't find that argument particularly convincing. Many people support the Republican Party, but don't support Trump due to his egregious behavior and lack of morality. By state law, many states count mail-in ballots last and those were expected to be more Democratic than Republican. The best argument for that is that Trump tried to sabotage mail in voting. That author's other articles regurgitate the same propaganda that Trump and his Fox cohorts have been spewing which have been disproved. If the elections were fraudulent, how come the Dems didn't make sure that Senate races were won?

I would think that before one would question the legitimacy of one's government, there should be a higher bar of truth than that. Of course in an election that involves 150 million ballots, there will be mistakes, incompetence and perhaps some small level of fraud. So far, nobody has presented any evidence of anything significant.

As you said in an earlier article, you do know where you stand with Trump. He telegraphed his plan to indicate that the election was going to be fraudulent long ago and without evidence and stated that the only way he could lose would be if there as fraud and that he would only accept the results if he won (which is an idiotic thing to say). It has no more basis in fact now than it did before. His intent is also clear.... doe whatever he can to take the election whether legitimate or not. Funny how he wanted to stop counting only in states where it could hurt him, but he was ok with continuing the counting elsewhere.



Anonymous said...

One side grifts this way, the other side grifts that way. You either give plutocrats everything, or you neoliberal things out to China, while proclaiming hopey changey MAGA. Then rake in the donor cash.

I wouldn't think that a culture of grifting would last long, though there are many South American nations who'd beg to differ. The plus is that we can just blame each other, and each other's particular Satan. Maybe that's the beauty of such a system, as the plutocratic "individual" winners would say.

There may come a time when things get so crazy, on both sides, that we elect corpses as presidents. It'll be called the "POTUS Weekend at Bernies" phase. Congress will then be a doubly great place to grift a living. I need to get my ass into speech making school today. Too many suckers being born every minute.

Anonymous said...

anon @11/08/2020 12:18:00 PM,

You make far too much sense, which makes you suspect. Are you in league with the scientists? Life is not supposed to make sense. And there is no such thing as rightist fascism. It can only ever happen on the left. The reason is that sinning only ever happens on the left. It is physically impossible to be a leftist and a Christian at the same time. All social, government, and cultural failures only ever happen on the left.

Once joining the right, one becomes chase and pure. You'll see. Try speaking in tongues to God for a bit, like Paula White, and your soul should clear up nicely, though your mind might get a little kerflunkt.

Bubble Boy said...

So far, nobody has presented any evidence of anything significant.

Joe said...

If you have a problem figuring out whether you're voting for me or Trump, then you ain't dead.

Anonymous said...

It's simple: Trump is Hitler. If Dems hadn't cheated to oust him from office, we would be complicit in evil.

Anonymous said...

You people are nuts. You should accept the election of Biden with the same grace, dignity, stoicism, and patriotism as Democrats accepted Trump for the last four years.

julie said...

Seen elsewhere today: 70 million pissed off Trump voters, 0 cities burned.

Gagdad Bob said...

Yes, and prematurely naming Biden the victor is a signal to the fascist mob to stand by. They're prepared to unleash hell if things don't go their way.

Anonymous said...

I blame Lil Pimp. Despite being championed by Trump, he blew it and is gonna get taxed so much that he'll go back to being "Lil pump" again.

Julie, the game ain't done yet. We need to support our lawyers. Only after they fail, being Democrats and all, do we rise up and burn it all down.

Speaking of Fury Roads, that movie is proof that an all white cast can indeed, live quite well together in a post apocalyptic society.

Anonymous said...

The way that Biden was named the victor is exactly the same way that all other presidents in the modern age have been named. It isn't official until certification, but based on what was reported, when there is a crossing of the 270 threshold and no mathematical way to change it, a winner is officially named. The only difference here is that Trump falsely claimed fraud. So far nobody on this thread has presented evidence to support Trump's contention.

I fully understand not liking Biden as I don't particularly either. I understand questioning his age and mental acuity as I also question it. I understand being harsh on rioters as IMO they should be treated very harshly to the fullest extent of the law. I understand not liking the agenda of the more left leaning arm of the Democratic party as I don't like them either. I understand liking the policies of Trump although I don't. I understand beating up the MSM for bias, as they do exhibit it. What I truly can't understand is how the smart people on this site can just accept as truth Trump's baseless propaganda without being able to provide any credible evidence as to the truth of it.

Cousin Dupree said...

The evidence obviously exists, because it will be presented to the court tomorrow. Afterwards the court will determine if the evidence is with or without merit. It looks plausible to me, but I don't have a say.

Cousin Dupree said...

I don't know what's more touching, the innocent faith of a child in God or the credulous faith of a Democrat in the media.

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