We're still on the subject of those two obscurities that are situated above and below the intellect, i.e., in matter below and spirit above. Along these lines, Garrigou-Lagrange (heretofore G-L) writes that
It is necessary to distinguish the inferior sort of obscurity, which arises from incoherence and absurdity, from the superior sort of obscurity, which comes from a light that is too powerful for the weak eyes of our mind.
Now, ironically -- or something -- this superior obscurity is the penumbra of certitude, so to speak. Put it this way: if you stare long enough at the sun, you are certain to go blind, thereby proving once and for all that the sun exists.
far from excluding certitude, this superior sort of obscurity is united to it; it does not truly begin unless it begins with certitude, and the two increase together.
In other words, it seems that certitude and obscurity covary, which again sounds a little strange until you realize that God is a bottomless abyss of superessential light. Analogously, the sphere necessarily contains an infinite number of circles, and then some.
Respect the mystery! This goes for everyone, Christian, non-Christian, and anti-Christian alike, for it is a human imperative. For if we fail to respect it -- and to the extent that we don't -- we will thereby render ourselves stupid in certain predictable ways.
For example, if we deny the superior obscurity by superimposing upon it the inferior clarity of scientism, we solve the mystery of humanness at the price of denying its existence. We are HINOs -- Human In Name Only, for we are really just a babbling mammal with too much self-esteem and too little self-awareness. We are all reduced to AOC, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Barack Obama.
Now, reality is what it is. What changes is our view of it. Like a work of art, things can be understood superficially or deeply; intelligence as such is able to penetrate beneath the surface of things and apprehend their deeper meaning: in so doing it unites particulars into a more integral vision of unity.
The object of the intellect -- AKA reality -- is inexhaustible: one can always deepen one's understanding "without ever touching the depth" -- or "summit," rather.
Put it this way: the existence of God may be proved with certainty -- which at once proves with inferior clarity the infinitely superior obscurity. Knowing one doesn't know is far superior to the tenured ape who doesn't know what he doesn't know and believes that what he knows is without mystery. Religious Dunning-Krugery pervades academia.
A child and adult see the same world. Then again, they don't at all. Likewise, conservative liberals and illiberal leftists see the same world. Then again, not even close. Now, what accounts for this unbridgeable distance between conservative and child? Are leftists just passively detached from higher realities, or are they actively hallucinating? I know: the power of and.
This is straight out of the Raccoon playbook:
while materialism has a horizontal view of things (making more elevated realities descend to the level of matter), true wisdom has a vertical view of things and distinguishes ever more clearly the two obscurities of which we have spoken -- the one from below that originates in matter (as well as error and evil) and the one from on high, which is that of the very inward and intimate life of God.
Except to "error and evil" we would add stupid and crazy.
We'll leave off with a riff on St. Thomas's acute sense of mystery, and how his peerless clarity was crowned with, and illuminated by, an even more superior vision of obscurity:
How does it happen that this human intellect (above all in those who have the philosophical spirit or also among the ordinary who have lofty souls) after sixty or seventy years is ripe (even from the natural point of view) for an intellectual life superior to that supplied by libraries and all the means of information, as long as the soul is united to the body?
36 comments:
Entirely true, and an implicit message of today's post: As has been observed, this strange new religion is nominalism on steroids. Nothing can have more false clarity than nominalism.
Speaking of mental illness masquerading as politics, yesterday I read the editorial of which Dreher writes, but was rendered speechless by its absolutely blinding stupidity.
The problem with peer reviewing using spiritual rules, is we get stuff like different denominations, leftist popes, kool-aid klown kultists, and prosperity charlatan prophets all pink hair and pinstripe suit. My point is that at the historic end of whatever day, some were pretty good. But others were truly evil. Putting on a spiritual thinking cap doesn’t seem to improve the predictive capacity much.
I feel for her neighbors, who almost certainly have heard or read what she wrote by now. What kind of demonic possession do you have to suffer to think, "I'll forgive them for being nice to me, if they will just agree to think everything I tell them to!"
Her vivid moral clarity is purchased at the price of deep moral retardation.
Hello Everyone.
Great post Bob, and the topic of obscurity is very interesting. I had never thought much about a bi-polar obscurities with distinctly different qualities. I had heard of superior obscurity as a force which people were not equipped to penetrate, i.e. the light of God being lethally powerful (or at least damaging to the optic nerve). I read like-wise that direct contact with the full, undiluted bliss of God would cause instant death by damaging the nervous system.
Fortunately God is careful not to harm us in these ways and safeguards are in place; there are barriers and firewalls which prevent us from directly embracing the body of God. Not that we are not exasperated by these barriers.
Inferior obscurity was (not sure if it still is) considered a fundamental quality of the Earth, i.e Earth was created of very dense obscure consciousness (matter). It was said matter was very unconscious and it took extra-ordinary measures to bring it into union with sentience (complex biological life or complex artificial life).
Earth was said to be created out of obscure matter and missioned to come back to God as fully sentient and this project, which we are immersed in, is underway and is doing well. We have to keep in mind full fruition is measure on the scale of deep time (billions of years).
But never fear you will be around to see it; your soul is immortal.
-The Heisenburg Uncertainty Group
Julie wrote:
"I feel for her neighbors, who almost certainly have heard or read what she wrote by now."
I think a fact-checking Dreher's article would reveal she made the whole thing up, a real snow-job. Nobody is stupid enough to risk poisoning a relationship with a neighbor.
You can't trust snarky journalists like Dreher. You just can't.
Indeed. There's a name for conservative journalists who go around accurately quoting leftists: haters.
Yep, that Rod Dreher sure is terrible. Good thing I read the article the woman actually wrote elsewhere this morning, instead of just trusting what he had to say about it.
Entirely possible she's lying, but usually when leftists do that re. "Trumpists," the story is about how racist or homophobic or anti-science they are. The fact that she describes them as essentially decent, but still to be loathed until the brainwashing is complete lends credence to her tale.
Then again, maybe the whole point of publishing this bilge is to make leftists feel better when they eventually condemn their nice Trumpist neighbors and family members to the reeducation camps. "Sure, they're nice, generous, reliable, loving, etc., but we must remember that they can't be forgiven until they have been... corrected."
Lest that sound just too paranoid, consider the number of people who have tipped off the feds that their parents, co-workers, neighbors or customers were at or near DC on Jan. 6. Nevermind that the crowd of tens of thousands was in fact a mostly peaceful protest, and never mind that the people arrested for breaching the capitol have thus far been actual Antifa/ BLM agitators; no the decent people who just wanted the same rights to peacefully protest as the pussy-hatters from four years ago are to be punished, if not by the gov then by the loss of jobs, banking access, and who knows what else.
Call it Chinese democracy, I guess.
Julie wrote:
"Then again, maybe the whole point of publishing this bilge is to make leftists feel better when they eventually condemn their nice Trumpist neighbors and family members to the reeducation camps. "Sure, they're nice, generous, reliable, loving, etc., but we must remember that they can't be forgiven until they have been... corrected."
To support this she mentions people turning family in for joining the unauthorized tour of the Capitol building on January 6. Excuse me, shouldn't Trumpites be proud of their involvement in this? Why try to hide the ultimate feather a Trumpite could ever put in their cap? This makes no sense. Was the cause righteous or wasn't it? And why invoke Antifa? There was no Antifa involved whatsoever. Unless you want there to be bad enough, I suppose.
In the culture war, Julie is a psychological casualty. Her trust in her fellow Americans is shattered. She speaks of relocation camps and of people being corrected. Who among us seriously think those are actual things? Unless she is being tongue in cheek.
The sad thing is, Julie is a sincere Christian who, thanks to the prolonged stress of the culture war, seems like she can no longer forgive her enemies. She most likely would never dare to turn the other cheek. She has turned her back on some of the commandments of Lord Jesus. Her practice as a Christian has been stained. Not that I don't think it could not be repaired.
And she is taking in a steady and unhealthy diet of rabble-rousing tracts from pundits who are seriously bent in the head. And we all know who we are talking about.
And as for you Dr. Godwin: Will you ever stop writing inflammatory tracts? Look at what has become of your friend. Do you think you had any part in that?
All of you Christian Trumpites: Wash your hands of the unhealthy pussy-grabbing filth you've been drenched in for four years. Walk away from this unholy cult.
Before you cast more aspersions, be sure your house is clean and your sins confessed. Repent.
When the progressive condemns, every intelligent man must feel alluded to.
Entirely possible she's lying, but usually when leftists do that re. "Trumpists," the story is about how racist or homophobic or anti-science they are.
I got a kick out of that one. Trump's policies are one thing, but Trumpists beliefs another.
The liberal politician cannot adopt a solution as long as he does not receive the enthusiastic support of people who will never understand the problem.
Which means that Sleepy Joe's supporters must be more demented than he is.
She she must be a pleasant-looking woman to be so naturally gracious and emotionally balanced -- quite the catch for some lucky woman.
I love how she brings herself to the conclusion that the neighbors are only nice because they are either terrorists or nazis who think she's one of them. Therefore it's not only permissible, but imperative to drive out any feelings of reciprocal warmth or kindness. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that she makes it clear what her politics/ religion is, and they plowed her driveway anyway because it was the neighborly thing to do.
This is a no-win situation for the neighbors. If they had plowed every driveway except hers, she would still have penned a lengthy article about how terrible they are.
When people into whom the paranoid projects treat them with kindness and decency, it only confuses them and makes them more paranoid. "Of course they're nice -- the perfect cover for White Supremacy!"
Three doors down there's a lesbian couple. Around the corner and down the street, a couple houses with BLM signs. Across the street is a hoarder. Half a block away a cat lady. They're all nice, just mentally ill in different ways. Diversity.
Another Democrat lady down the street double masks when driving her car. Also nice.
Although I wonder what she thinks when she drives by & sees me and my son playing catch in the street with no masks.
It's been interesting out here. People wear masks or don't, and for the most part I haven't seen anyone lose their minds about what someone else is doing. Lots of people have parties and gatherings, some try to social distance or do it outside, but most don't bother. I did see a woman in the grocery store going maskless the other day, and the elderly couple in line behind her were griping about it. Nobody else really cares.
Then again, I'm not on Nextdoor, so I don't know how people really feel...
I just ordered a TRUMP 2024 baseball hat on ebay. The "OK" signal wasn't working to help me identify fellow white supremacists living in my neighborhood.
Psaki makes OK okay again. White supremacy is good when they do it.
Hello Panel:
Mike Lindell's film Absolute Proof is out and available online. I started viewing it but it became hard for me to follow in just the first few minutes and so I stopped.
I'm hoping some of the folks here at One Cosmos would take a look at this film and evaluate it. Julie, Ted, and Van seem intelligent.
One or more of the OC anonymous trolls could also watch the film and weight in to balance things. The troll concerned about China and transfer of jobs overseas seems intelligent. I'm the other one, not so bright, and then there may be a third, I'm not sure.
Anyhoo, if there's something Mike has that others had missed, this is important.
Has anyone bought/used the My Pillow product? Is it a good product? That would help to establish some credibility for Mr. Lindell. Please weight in.
Thanks, Ganja Central, very addle-pated.
To prefer Psaki over McCaney literally tells me everything I need to know about a person, along a dozen or so dimensions.
Julie wrote: "I did see a woman in the grocery store going maskless the other day, and the elderly couple in line behind her were griping about it. Nobody else really cares."
I have heard and smelt people loose a mighty fart in store lines and nobody said a thing. But I don't think anyone liked it much. I think the maskless thing works like that for the most part.
Store personnel, if they catch someone going face-commando, are asked to put on a mask, and if they do not they are gently escorted curb-side. Similar to if went in to a store with no shirt on and the store had the "no shoes, no shirt, no service" policy. Hey, its their store.
So yeah, best to keep some dem-diapers on hand in case you want to go shopping. Otherwise, what you wear on your face is up to you.
Isn't Psaki kind of, uh, hot?
I'll circle back to that and let you know. After a 12 pack.
And McCaney kind of...not?
So we do have a gay reader after all.
So nobody think Sandra Huckabee Sanders is hot?
And why is freedom only limited to masks? I've been dying to see my first freedom-loving anti-masker out shopping, also all shoeless and shirtless. Clothing is restrictive.
Plus why do conservatives dress so boringly conservative? Freedom should mean proudly strutting around in your finest S&M gear, where nobody really gets hurt. Unless they wanna be.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is adorable. She reminds me of Monica Lewinsky.
Anonymous 1:40 has a point there. Are masks overly restrictive?
In the case of shirts and pants, these cover secondary sex characteristics such as breasts and nipples, the clitoris and vulva, and the penis and scrotum. Therefore these would be essential in any polite society.
It is possible the buttocks and anal area are lumped in with genitalia simply because they are close to the playing field and get incidental petting and/or slapping. Another reason to cover them up, as they are salacious.
The mouth and lips are eroticized to some degree but we formerly did not require mouth coverings. Some cultures do keep ladies mouths covered, the rationale being the plump lips inflame the passions of would-be lovers. So, if masks are felt to be restrictive, that is probably because we were not formerly in the habit of performing "source control" for microbes.
The nose has never been considered sexual although I would point out that's where the luscious scent of the desired other is detected; covering the nose may rain on that parade, but only in public.
We have long mandated that defecation and urination occur in private and away from others, and part of that rationale would be microbial source control.
In the final analysis, if the premise there is a dangerous virus on the loose is to be believed, then the mask is reasonable. In any other case, not so.
I open the floor to debate on this matter.
Well, Ms. Lewinsky was certainly quite appealing for Bill in her blue dress. Would Mrs. Huckabee-Sanders have looked as nice for Trump? Who’s to say. Personally, I would’ve preferred Sandra to have been wearing a variety of hat styles as did Cam Newton for his press conferences. Of course they’d be far more flamboyant, perhaps with unusually large feathers like from a peacock, for accent.
Speaking of having poor taste in women, Jim Hoft has been banned from Twitter. Ever since voting machine companies went on their rampage of suing damn near everybody and everything in sight, the world of Twitter is going to have to be a less flamboyant place.
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