tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post4959785421336329602..comments2024-03-28T18:48:41.469-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: Strange Lifeforms Gagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-75698328103793517312014-04-20T09:11:56.151-07:002014-04-20T09:11:56.151-07:00From the main link:
"Why did I need Dante to ...From the main link:<br />"<i>Why did I need Dante to gain this knowledge? After all, my confessor had a lot to say about bondage to false idols and about how humility and prayer can unleash the power of God to help us overcome it. And at our first meeting, my therapist told me that I couldn't control other people or events, but, by the exercise of my free will, I could control my response to them. None of the basic lessons of the Comedy was exactly new to me.<br /><br />But when embodied in this brilliant poem, these truths inflamed my moral imagination as never before. For me, the Comedy became an icon through which the serene light of the divine pierced the turbulent darkness of my heart. As the Dante scholar Charles Williams wrote of the supreme poet's art: "A thousand preachers have said all that Dante says and left their hearers discontented; why does Dante content? Because an image of profundity is there."<br /><br />That image is what Christian theologians call a "theophany"—a manifestation of God. Standing in my little country church this past January on the Feast of the Theophany, the poet's impact on my life became clear. Nothing external had changed, but everything in my heart had. I was settled. For the first time since returning to my hometown, I felt that I had come home.<br /></i>"<br /><br />Ahh. Yep.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-31352958616355386892014-04-20T09:11:54.455-07:002014-04-20T09:11:54.455-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-63165768294414353112014-04-20T08:06:49.512-07:002014-04-20T08:06:49.512-07:00Both good links, though.
Thanks, and Happy Easter...Both good links, though.<br /><br />Thanks, and Happy Easter to everyone!juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-40537780089965246232014-04-20T07:30:59.854-07:002014-04-20T07:30:59.854-07:00Better link.<a href="http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/dante-purpose-driven-poem/" rel="nofollow">Better link</a>.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-1536042060106076082014-04-20T07:29:59.792-07:002014-04-20T07:29:59.792-07:00I notice Rod Dreher has done a canto by canto riff...I notice Rod Dreher has done a canto by canto riff on <a href="http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/" rel="nofollow">The Divine Comedy</a>. Haven't sampled it yet, but it might be worthwhile. Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-64782142972322635552014-04-19T18:35:30.975-07:002014-04-19T18:35:30.975-07:00"Hello neumenon."
Heh!"Hello neumenon." <br /><br />Heh! USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-50508876395127588032014-04-18T16:12:29.941-07:002014-04-18T16:12:29.941-07:00I think this is a joke:
The other day you said &qu...I think this is a joke:<br />The other day you said "gender theory" and I was going to say you spelled theology wrong. But then I thought, what's the difference?Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13720790978632771716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-48595250474066062752014-04-18T16:02:45.318-07:002014-04-18T16:02:45.318-07:00Come to think of it, most evil results from treati...Come to think of it, most evil results from treating persons like objects -- the reverse of idolatry, which is to treat an object like the Person.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-28272842049869583442014-04-18T16:00:52.036-07:002014-04-18T16:00:52.036-07:00But I think divine stuff must be the quintessence ...But I think divine stuff must be the quintessence of person-stuff. Furthermore, non-person stuff would have to be an impossibility, or the very definition of non-existence, because it could not be known or even conceived. It would be totally alien. Maybe evil is non-person stuff, which is why it is so repulsive. Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-64592531793144295122014-04-18T15:32:03.629-07:002014-04-18T15:32:03.629-07:00Speaking of Person-stuff, I think we can say that ...Speaking of Person-stuff, I think we can say that Christ is made of that and no small portion of Divine-stuff.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13720790978632771716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-67524591316857519442014-04-18T15:30:45.858-07:002014-04-18T15:30:45.858-07:00"don't believe even an infinite quantity ..."don't believe even an infinite quantity of monkeys with an infinite interest in banging on keyboards would ever be able to produce even a page of Shakespeare, much less the collected works."<br /><br />T'which I say HA!<br />Doesn't even require infinite monkeys. Infinite monkeys would EXCEED the works of Shakespeare and Christ combined!<br />...so say some people (if you carry it out all the way to the end). I mean, why stop at infinity?Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13720790978632771716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-55404746153835204682014-04-18T15:04:27.566-07:002014-04-18T15:04:27.566-07:00Randomness simply cannot generate meaning, because...<i>Randomness simply cannot generate meaning, because meaning is not random.</i><br /><br />Very nice.John Lienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02302615225311776021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-68509555103376132362014-04-18T11:51:04.450-07:002014-04-18T11:51:04.450-07:00...it must not have been difficult for Shakespeare...<i> ...it must not have been difficult for Shakespeare to produce his works, for if it were difficult, it would have been impossible ...</i><br /><br />I can kind of see <i>Hamlet</i>, <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>, and <i>Julius Caesar</i>, not to mention Falstaff, all out there waiting around for Shakespeare to show up. <br /><br />Life is always looking to roll away the stone.mushroomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07651027035577798096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-62078676474742781962014-04-18T11:43:13.674-07:002014-04-18T11:43:13.674-07:00Looks like Goldilocks just got a little more picky...Looks like Goldilocks just got <a href="http://minx.cc/?post=348636" rel="nofollow">a little more picky</a>.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-28943184929527073042014-04-18T10:37:32.252-07:002014-04-18T10:37:32.252-07:00I have mentioned the crack that it must not have b...<i>I have mentioned the crack that it must not have been difficult for Shakespeare to produce his works, for if it were difficult, it would have been impossible.</i><br /><br />Just so - which is why I don't believe even an infinite quantity of monkeys with an infinite interest in banging on keyboards would ever be able to produce even a page of Shakespeare, much less the collected works. <br /><br />Randomness simply cannot generate meaning, because meaning is not random.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-10493933408675254222014-04-18T10:34:01.184-07:002014-04-18T10:34:01.184-07:00For to fulfill this hope would be a roundabout way...<i>For to fulfill this hope would be a roundabout way of reverting to the primordial notion that life must be much more general, not just an inconceivably rare exception. If it pops up everywhere, why then it must be built into the nature of things.</i><br /><br />I agree, it must be in the nature of things. And yet even so, I wouldn't be surprised if we never find other life - much less intelligence - for as long as we search. Mainly because I don't think it's enough to find a planet in the "Goldilocks zone" of a hospitable star. Nor enough to find a planet in the right zone with the right combination of elements present. It needs the right spin, the right amount of inner activity, the right kind of moon to influence tides and stabilize the orbit, the right kind of neighborhood so that it isn't too often pelted by neighboring bits of debris, etc.<br /><br />It would be kind of wonderful if we did find other life out there. I just don't think it's likely. And until we discover otherwise, in a way we truly are the center of the universe.<br /><br />Come to think of it, it would be hilarious in a way if we <i>did</i> find other intelligent life, and it turned out to look remarkably like us, for the simple reason that this is the form most likely to host intelligence...juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.com