Friday, March 26, 2021

Try Not to Gasp at Gagdad's Latest Post!

Just the usual Friday flight into a full-blown freeforall of freakflaggery.

We left off in the mydst of an elucidation of the One Weird Trick for clearing up metaphysical confusion and incoherence via seeing God stereoscopically (or better, tri-scopically).

Rather than building a careful bridge to our conclusion, let's start at the far end and then ski back down, i.e., descend from the celestial mountaintop to the terrestrial plains. After all, the book from which we are quoting is called From the Divine to the Human, and we mean it:
both conceptions -- the unitary and the trinitary -- meet and are resolved in their archetype, which is none other than the Absolute at once immutable and radiating; being what It is, the Absolute cannot not be immutable, and It cannot not radiate. Immutability, or fidelity to itself; and Radiation, or gift of Itself; therein lies the essence of all that is (Schuon).

Problem is, immutable and radiating are a bit like particle and wave herebelow. But in nether case is there contradiction, rather, complementarity, i.e., two views of a single reality.

Hmm. There are as many paths back down as there are up, and we're trying to choose just one. 

Come to think of it, if you really want to feel overwhelmed, there are as many paths as there are individuals. And ultimately, each person is essentially a path back to God. Or from God. Your choice.

The image comes to mind of a body stretched over an abyss so others can scurry over. But we'll bridge that cross when we get to it.

As Fr. Garrigou explains, even a single trail presents the vertical wayfarer with "great variety": "one part crosses the plain, another climbs more or less steep slopes; part of the road can be covered in daylight, part at night, and that in fair or stormy whether," etc. 

At the moment, for example, there's a bit of fog in our channel, but we're forging ahead anyway. Damn the torpidity!

In any event, there is no stasis in this cosmos, not even if we're mouldering in the doldrums: for as Garrigou says in The Three Ages of the Interior Life -- and he's boiling down the collective testimony of centuries of pneumanautical adventurers --  "Not to advance is to retrogress."  

That's pretty much our daily directive, isn't it?: oneward, inword, upward! What's the alternative?   

Nor is our progress -- or our retrogression, for that matter -- at a uniform rate of speed. Rather, -- at both ends, evidently -- our velocity increases as we approach the singularity (or diversity, depending): 

the soul ought to advance more rapidly toward God as it approaches Him more closely and is more drawn by Him, just as the stone falls more rapidly as it draws near the earth which attracts it.

Vertical gravity. Which, come to think of it, isn't so much an attraction as it is the tendency of space to curve around large objects. 

Now, what is the largest object? Yes, it is what men call God, but recall the image of the point surrounded by concentric circles: supposing you're a vertically untutored physicist orbiting around the center. Obviously, the circle is larger than the point, which is inconceivably -- literally -- small. Physics wins! 

But the physicist loses, in the time-honored manner of "gaining the whole material world while losing your immaterial soul." Yes, it's one of those pyrrhic victories in which the operation is a total success. Only the patient died.

So let's make a memo to ourselves: don't do that. It's not just soph-destructive, it's plain stupid, the height of absurcularity.  

Back to our mountaintop. Before descending, let's have a look around. Interesting. Here is a house with three doors. Well then, let's invite ourselves in!

Locked.

That's okay. The doors are labeled; or rather, each has a main heading in ALL CAPS, with various subheadings below. One door says ABSOLUTE. A second says INFINITE. The third says PERFECTION.

From outside, these appear as three different aspects or dimensions or modes. But behind the doors these three are somehow one. It's a bit like the Deep State: we know it's there because its effects are obvious, but there's nothing we can do about it.

Another image comes to mind of a triangular mountain. At its peak is the peak of another mountain, this one upside down. The three doors are at the point of contact between the peaks, but upper mountain is off limits, at least in this life. Among other things, it is infinite, while we aren't.

Note, however, that "infinite" has no positive content. Rather, it's just the negation of finitude. We know all about finitude, since we're plunged into it. What is its negation? Just nothing? No, it's something alright, both in form and content, respectively, for it is the radiation of the sovereign good, precisely.

Put it this way: as Plato well understood, it is in the nature of the Good to communicate, i.e., to radiate, itself. What good would the Good be if it kept all the goodness to itself? Not very!

Which leads to the subheadings on the doors, alluded to above. Or rather, it is like one of those blinky toys: tilt it one way and it says ABSOLUTE. Tilt it another way and it says FATHER. For which reason we just say ABBASOLUTE.

Now, the FATHER is necessary being, except in the ghetto, but that will take us far afield. And there is no FATHER in the absence of the SON, so he too partakes of necessary being in a "secondary" (so to speak) way. And of necessity they have a "relationship," this being what is called HOLY SPIRIT.

Here again, tilt the blinky and we see ABSOLUTE, GOOD (or PERFECT), and RADIATION. We also see a number of other primordial trinities, so I think we're on to something. To be continued.

12 comments:

julie said...

Come to think of it, if you really want to feel overwhelmed, there are as many paths as there are individuals. And ultimately, each person is essentially a path back to God. Or from God. Your choice.

One good thing to come out of the pandemic has been being able to attend my Florida Bible study from my backyard. Right now we're studying the Our Father, which is more about discussion and meaning than just a straight reading of the Bible. Which is all to say, even within this one small-ish group of Catholics, there is a tremendous amount of diversity of experience and insight, even though we are on a roughly similar journey.

Van Harvey said...

"The image comes to mind of a body stretched over an abyss so others can scurry over. But we'll bridge that cross when we get to it."

That image most definitely brings an image to mind.

Van Harvey said...

Our new troll seems more sense than most.

Anonymous said...

Loved the post.

The profuse Italian troll is actually playing on your side, boys and girls. That is authentic Q-Clearance verbiage, 2020 vintage.

You see, 8chan sensation Codemonkey has done his job well. Now satanic paedophiles are found in Italy. Indeed they are now found world-wide.

Oh, and Trump? He only retweeted Q-drops 162 times in 2020. So, yeah. Enjoy the mess your people created. Clean up on isle 5! Stat!

WWG1WGA? Sure, you mean jail?

The calm before the storm. Trust the plan. Wait, what is the plan?

-AWilson

Anonymous said...

I warned you and I warned you. Never discuss politics when discussing religion. I always knew it’d be a matter of time before some distraught Italian stormed in here spewing spam in all caps, upsetting the women.

So do we enforce 1 Timothy 2:12 and quote those two infamous words of Clarence Boddicker? I sure hope not. Instead, is there a strong man in the house who can calm our Italian friend down?

And maybe the rest of us should return to calmly discussing the largest object in the universe.

Anonymous said...

Wow. It looks like somebody got wacked. So we learn once again the two most important things in life: never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut. Somebody else want to discuss the post?

Anonymous said...

I found this post psychedelic, that is, freaky in a good way. The description of the three doors presenting choices resonates. I feel like I've been in front of those same three doors with signage of blinky lights which say different things depending on which way they are tilted.

I have encountered a very long, steep staircase which is descending into the depths. At the bottom of this deep shaft is a single door. Knock on it, and it will open. Enter and marvel at what you see.

I have seen a very still lake in a vast, dark underground chamber. Reflected in the lake was a massive stony black mountain. I had ascended the mountain and arrived at an intricate carved chamber with lovely crystalline walls. A massive slab table inside this chamber was shot through with veins of gold which moved and shimmered and seemed alive. I looked at my reflection in the shiny surface of this table and it seemed I had become someone else. I met by the table a person I was acquainted with in waking life, normally drab, but in this chamber resplendent in a vermillion robe and heavy jewels and had intensely interesting things to say.

All of this and more is found in the inner regions. If you can, find the long staircase and descend, taking a slow deep breath and counting each step as you descend. Take your time, you will get to the bottom. Knock on the door. Be prepared for anything.

"It's a bit like the Deep State: we know it's there because its effects are obvious, but there's nothing we can do about it."

Yes, I suppose that holds true.

-Tasurinchi the Elder

Van Harvey said...

Yep, the trolls are much more sensible when using a foreign language, as at least then its obvious that we don't know the meaning of what they're saying. But when they use words we recognize, in nonsensical combinations, they become not just meaningless, but a negative force that subtracts meaning from its surroundings.

Sad.

Anonymous said...

Tasurinchi, you are right. The post mentioned the "obvious effects" of the Deep State. However, to be honest I do not know what these obvious effects are. Can someone please clarify?

I am a government official and no one from the Deep State has contacted me, so I presume the apparatus is selective, or it does not interface with the regular State, or what.

I have also talked to hundreds if not thousands of elected or appointed officials in all branches of government without any mention of the Deep State.

Although, I did meet a person by happenstance in a hotel lounge in Istanbul who divulged some interesting predictions; she was very drunk and it would have been a lark except the predictions panned out and some were pretty disturbing. Nobody legit had any idea what was going to happen, yet this person did. I did not get her contact information and never saw her again. I believe she was a Spanish national.

Therefore I must admit the Deep State could be a thing. Anyone have any information to share?

Thank you,

-Commanding Officer X

Anonymous said...

Van Btw google has a translation function, all languages converted to English with a click of the mouse.

Listen to your trolls; they are your a valuable resource. Your friends will only tell you what you want to hear or already know.

To expand your horizons, interface with the troll. Attempt to interrogate. You may get nothing, you may get something.

Every socialist who comes to this blog and takes the time to read and consider the material has their faith in socialism shaken to some degree. It is a two-way street.

Anonymous said...

Anon @3/28/2021 09:35:00 AM,

Everybody knows that the interrogation of trolls is worthless when you cannot literally put your hands on them. Hence Vans frustrations. Personally, I'd rather hear about spiritual miracles people receive in their own lives. I know a lot of Christians out there who are dependent on Jesus to just get them through the day, in this brave new greedy, corrupt and stupid world of ours.

Then they ask me questions, such as about Covid. "Why were more Americans hospitalized by Covid than the next three third world nations combined, which have over five times the USA population?" I used to answer that it was because the Lord gave America the best health care system in the world. But then they tell me their aunt is gonna have to cough up six figures for her one month hospital stay, after having gone to a Trump rally.

So then I want to literally put my hands on them, but I know that since everybody has video on their phones these days doing so is risky. Maybe it would've been smarter if I'd kept the topic focused on personal spiritual miracles?

Anonymous said...

Hi Anon 9:35 AM.

It is indeed best to keep the topic focused on personal spiritual miracles, but only those that have happened a decade or more prior.

They say mojo is lost when speaking of recent personal miracles.

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