Tuesday, September 20, 2022

On the Eighth Day, Man Derailed the Train

The following post is what we call a Train Wreck. It is borrowed from the band King Crimson, whose intricate compositions sometimes fall apart in mid-performance. Such occasional fails are inevitable if the band is to be on the knife-edge between memory and improvisation, lending a kind of drama to the proceedings. Apparently, playing in 17/14 time isn't as easy as it looks. Will the center hold, or will it fly apart? 

Likewise, this post was begun yesterday but ended in a train wreck. This morning I tried to get it back on the tracks, but it derailed again. Still, I don't think it's totally worthless. However, it's better to treat each paragraph as a separate unit, rather seeing it as a unified post. 

We've been meditating on the subject of Truth per se, which is transcendent, eternal, outside of time, yada yada, and about what happens to it when it takes the plunge into history. This plunge takes the form of a pilgrimage or journey -- the Creator's own journey in his own creation -- which must one of the weirdest stories ever told, hence its appeal for metaphysical tree-dwellers such as ourselves. 

For Balthasar, "it is a basic Christian requirement that existence should represent itself dramatically." Moreover,

the libretto of God's saving drama which we call Holy Scripture is worthless in itself unless, in the Holy Spirit, it is constantly mediating between the drama beyond and the drama here.

There is God's narrative and our narrative, and how do the two relate? Both play out in freedom, except the former can never be detached from its telos, whereas ours cuts both ways. I want to say that our engagement with God-in-time ends in the train wreck of the Crucifixion. But God's narrative ends -- so to speak -- in the Resurrection, which comes as a total surprise to our narrative. Didn't see that coming!

Again, as mentioned a post or two ago, the human drama begins with a frank refusal that sets us on a narrative (crash!) course divergent from the divine will. In one sense, the temporal form of revelation -- salvation history -- is the story of the attempt to realign the two: of thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

There's no drama without an antagonist. This shapeshifter takes diverse forms, beginning with the Serpent in the Garden. His motto is always Thy willfulness be done on earth as it is in hell (willfulness defined here as the severing of freedom from the true and good).  

Balthasar points out that "the theatrical is a primitive human instinct"; as there are cathedrals in space, he alludes to "cathedrals in dramatic form," which is to say, extended in time. Some drama is merely escapist, drawing man out of himself. But the divine drama is clearly inscapist, in that reveals man to himself and draws him toward his transcendent end.

As we know, "person" is etymologically related to persona, which alludes to the mask used by actors on stage. What with the three persons of the Trinity, Christianity and drama are related at the very foundation.

Revelation cannot be a "subset" of history, rather, vice versa: for it reveals what history and man are about, i.e. their principle and telos. 

Balthasar makes an important point about the dialogue of the players in the drama, that

the action is not reducible to dialogue; not every plot is unravelled in speech and counter-speech. Something that is beyond the speakers and governs them can make itself known, whether they are aware of it or not.

For example, one of my Bibles has Christ's words in red. Obviously the words are important, but, taken out of context, they can be reduced to a kind of self-contained doctrine that obscures the importance of the narrative form, which is to say, Christ himself as he undergoes time. I would say that this latter is the ultimate context in which to comprehend the words (AKA the passion play).   

The divine drama cannot be exhaustively expressed in or contained by a doctrine from our side, because there's simply not enough room in human language. In other words, eternity cannot fit into time -- nor the Absolute into the relative, the Infinite into the finite, the Word into words.

Therefore, this Truth is "stretched out" in time, so to speak, meaning that it has a coherence -- the coherence being discerned in the connecting thread -- but not "complete," in the sense that it is and must be an ongoing unveiling: a narrative.

What's the word, Jeeves? Asymptomatic? No sir: asymptotic. Yes, that's the one: forever approaching but never reaching its telos, or Omega point, because the latter is outside time. As is the Alpha. History is what happens in between these two, but again, it's not a random walk through 4D. We are ordered to our end, even of we diverge from it. Train wrecks are the price of freedom.

Speaking of which, slow down, Bob! Sharp turn ahead!

There is an "infinite" distance between the states of IT IS and I AM. And I put "infinite" in quotes, because there isn't even a way to conceptualize the distinction between objects and subjects, at least if we limit ourselves to the tools of the tenured. 

Our ancient furbears, Homo erectus, arrived on the scene about two million years ago and exited the stage some 100,000 years back, around the same time we got here. If you're looking for a literal Genesis, this is the place to begin.

Credit where it is due: Homo erectus invented "the Acheulean stone tool industry, succeeding the Oldowan industry" (Wiki), which sounds impressive until you realize that this pretty much consisted of Sharpened Rock version 2.0. 

Now, this is interesting, for it confirms a suspicion laid out in the bʘʘk: the recent discovery of a one year old Homo erectus lad showing that "this species lacked an extended childhood required for greater brain development, indicating lower cognitive capabilities." Man cannot enter the human narrative -- or any narrative -- without this extended neoteny. 

Specifically, what I suspected was that no amount of raw intelligence could have resulted in the genesis of our humanness (AKA Homo sapiens sapiens), because what was required was the emergence of intersubjectivity, and with it, the possibility of vertical ensoulment, which is when the real human story gets underway.

It seems there is a convergence between Homo erectus and Homo pomo, because neither possess the cognitive tools necessary to get the job done.

KKKRRRAAASH.

18 comments:

John Venlet said...

...this post was begun yesterday but ended in a train wreck. This morning I tried to get it back on the tracks, but it derailed again. Still, I don't think it's totally worthless. However, it's better to treat each paragraph as a separate unit, rather seeing it as a unified post.

Well, the train may not be on the track, but the cars still seem to be coupled.

julie said...

Ah, I see where it starts to go off the rails, but I think it's more like one of those Mad Mouse rollercoasters where it only appears to be leaving the track. Sharp turn, indeed.

There is God's narrative and our narrative, and how do the two relate? Both play out in freedom, except the former can never be detached from its telos, whereas ours cuts both ways. I want to say that our engagement with God-in-time ends in the train wreck of the Crucifixion. But God's narrative ends -- so to speak -- in the Resurrection, which comes as a total surprise to our narrative. Didn't see that coming!

Speaking from the purely personal side of things, in any given life we encounter any number of train wrecks: horrible endings, sufferings great and small, events that lead to hopelessness if this side of things is all that there is; in other words, most people don't carry only one cross, but many. Each is an opportunity, if we have eyes to see it, of experiencing a resurrection. Or at least a miracle.

In my own experience, the worst times have usually led directly to the best, though rarely in a time frame I'd prefer and pretty much never in a way I expected. Learning to roll with it is at least part of the key to thy will be done.

Gagdad Bob said...

Lotta train wrecks in Lord of the Rings.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

Anonymous said...

I traded my Tolkien tee for a WWG1WGA shirt. As you may have guessed, I’ve chosen to spend all my time at MAGA rallies. As far as I’m concerned, Trump can have all the nuclear secrets he can get his grubby little hands on, as long as Hillary gets hers, eventually.

Nicolás said...

The presence of an imbecile is saddening.

julie said...

Indeed. It becomes easy to understand Frodo's first inclination regarding Gollum...

Moonchild said...

Sorry to highjack this comment thread. I don't usually post here (though I read this blog constantly) I was very interested to see King Crimson name checked in this post. Mr Fripp is philosophically influenced by J. G. Bennett and Gurdjieff which he frequently refers to in his online diary. Would be curious to hear anything you or anyone else has to say about Mr Fripp or KC generally. I am particularly interested to know if anyone thinks their music has a negative spiritual aspect? Thanks for reading!

Gagdad Bob said...

Not aware of any negative spiritual impact, although on aesthetic grounds I don't care for the stuff with Adrian Belew on vocals.

Moonchild said...

Thank you, I totally agree regarding the Belew period.

Gagdad Bob said...

Good quip by Fripp: "I'm not really interested in music. Music is just a means of creating a magical state."

Gagdad Bob said...

I'm not generally a big fan of "progressive rock," but I picked up the 4CD ProjeKCts box because it looked interesting, and ended up liking it. After that, the 21st Century Guide Vol. 1, which is also good. Didn't like the second volume as much. I also have a couple of ambient CDs with Fripp. I mainly listen to progressive to put me to sleep.

Gagdad Bob said...

For example, Close to the Edge puts me to sleep, but Tales from Topographic Oceans is so boring it wakes me up.

Gagdad Bob said...

Pink Floyd used to put me to sleep, but Waters has become such an unhinged Jew hater that now it too wakes me up.

Gagdad Bob said...

Tarkus is a powerful soporific. I've never made it to the end.

Gagdad Bob said...

Early Hawkwind is also a good sedative.

julie said...

Huh. I never thought it possible that something could be so boring it could wake people up. Then again, considering how many things make you want to turn the channel or get up and walk away...

Moonchild said...

That is a good quote. Fripp thinks very aphoristically (if that is a word?). I think KC transcends the progressive genre though it is a useful marketing categorization. The ProjeKCts were interesting and unusual in that they continued to try to break new ground. KC always has high calibre musicians particularly Gavin Harrison, one of the 3 (three!) drummers on the last tour. The ambient stuff can sometimes be very good. Interesting fact regarding his solo ambient music tours - they were frequently performed in churches.

Gagdad Bob said...

Agree that "progressive" is the wrong word. In a way, KC is to rock what ECM is to jazz: no blues or black influences whatsoever, only European.

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