tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post5737518183617231144..comments2024-03-28T18:48:41.469-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: Bombs Away!Gagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-89177103749450491692015-04-10T08:13:03.980-07:002015-04-10T08:13:03.980-07:00I think what it comes down to is are they pursuing...I think what it comes down to is are they pursuing Truth, or pushing a position? If the former, they're in the same race, and even if they had off down some dead ends here and there, they are still seeking after the same finish line. The latter however... they don't even rise to the level of being lost, and they'd sure like to do the same for you, or punish anyone who'd dare being in the race.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-83160053514971735112015-04-10T07:21:51.894-07:002015-04-10T07:21:51.894-07:00I've had a long-running dialogue with my inner...I've had a long-running dialogue with my inner atheist, who is like a logical superego, in that he won't permit any metaphysically loose sh*t. Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-28740867705723861472015-04-10T07:20:07.111-07:002015-04-10T07:20:07.111-07:00In fact, good atheists are useful because they for...In fact, good atheists are useful because they force us to defend the faith in a rational and believable way -- which I believe Paul said Christians need to be able to do. Ratzinger often talks about how Christianity must be cognizant of the cultural context in order to make itself understandable. Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-35720873165776077322015-04-10T07:13:37.048-07:002015-04-10T07:13:37.048-07:00Disregard that aregghh!Disregard that aregghh!USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-28286980669698014282015-04-10T07:13:02.427-07:002015-04-10T07:13:02.427-07:00Aye, the dogmatic atheists are hate religion so mu...Aye, the dogmatic atheists are hate religion so much they formed a cult.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-75264087770958675202015-04-10T06:56:11.106-07:002015-04-10T06:56:11.106-07:00The guest's point was that many atheists of go...The guest's point was that many atheists of good will are atheists because they are passionate about truth. So long as they passionately pursue truth with an open mind, they will eventually, at the very least, realize that something like God must exist. It is only the hardened and dogmatic atheists who seal themselves inside their own feeble omniscience. They are the very epitome of closed-mindedness, which is the real issue, not the atheism per se.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-24747313102335741872015-04-10T06:02:03.741-07:002015-04-10T06:02:03.741-07:00However, according to wiki, William Rowe came up w...However, according to wiki, William Rowe came up with the term agnostic atheism, but frankly, I don't know what the difference is, since both terms do not rule out a Deity, yet will keep searchin' for the truth, ideally without any preconceptions.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-51102796949359649032015-04-10T05:57:33.684-07:002015-04-10T05:57:33.684-07:00"In the Journey Home episode mentioned above ..."In the Journey Home episode mentioned above -- here it is, right on youtube -- the guest, a former atheist, has great praise for real atheists who genuinely Don't Know and won't rest until they find out, as opposed to the fashionable strident atheists who presume to know and won't shut up until they have forced the rest of us to accept their narrow, flat, and shallow reality."<br /><br />Wouldn't a real atheist, who will not rest until they find out be an agnostic at heart? <br />Because they haven't ruled out the possibility of God.<br /><br />At least according to Huxley:<br />Agnosticism, in fact, is not a creed, but a method, the essence of which lies in the rigorous application of a single principle ... Positively the principle may be expressed: In matters of the intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard to any other consideration. And negatively: In matters of the intellect do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-81113154051158040662015-04-09T14:49:10.560-07:002015-04-09T14:49:10.560-07:00There are no Gnostics. That is just what happens ...There are no Gnostics. That is just what happens when heretics do not know about forward or back.<br />Traveling with light. No one much involved with the backwards part gets to sound smart. Still looks the same.<br /><br />Pretty much all over. How can that be black body radiation or ultraviolet catastrophe when no one is there to notice?<br /><br />Probably should just make that be one at a time. It is OK to be spread out in places that do not need to know.<br /><br />Paratemporal. Probably cheating.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-12968387330881482782015-04-09T13:20:06.902-07:002015-04-09T13:20:06.902-07:00"Speaking of explosions, the book looks like ..."Speaking of explosions, the book looks like something exploded inside of it. There are notes scrawled everywhere, which is the pneuma-archeological evidence of so many Helen Keller moments, as Polanyi's ideas collided with my brain. Toots Mondello referred to these as cooncussions."<br /><br />The image that comes to mind is a film of someone walking across a field as bombs go off all around him, but with the film run backwards, so that the chaos is erupting into order. Cooncussion. It fits well. Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-83044683839697643532015-04-09T11:07:02.463-07:002015-04-09T11:07:02.463-07:00In order to know a lot about the One Thing, you ne...<i>In order to know a lot about the One Thing, you need to know a little about every thing, and vice versa.</i><br /><br />Otherwise, like analogical Helen Kellers we are analogically blind and deaf. <br /><br />We don't have anything to hook to to pull ourselves out. <br /><br />I'd never thought about it, but the Helen Keller connection is astounding. She had to build the world from scratch.mushroomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07651027035577798096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-46484570208963574162015-04-09T10:56:42.151-07:002015-04-09T10:56:42.151-07:00Either it happens or you just die stupid.
Unfortu...<i>Either it happens or you just die stupid.</i><br /><br />Unfortunately, I've already finished the engraving on my headstone. Maybe I can do an addendum. <br /><br />RE: the correction, is there no limit to the depths of that woman's profundity? Amazing.mushroomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07651027035577798096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-53556033447680711232015-04-09T10:41:10.085-07:002015-04-09T10:41:10.085-07:00Ah yes, Polanyi. His concept of Tacit Knowledge is...Ah yes, Polanyi. His concept of Tacit Knowledge is very useful, very useful indeed. <br /><br />The idiocy du jour is that apparently, some liberal discovered the Descent into Hades and thought it would a be good scoop to up their 'The Gnostics were right' cred (all letters get signed by Dan Brown, of course.)<br /><br />Heck, we have our 'secret Pascha' on Saturday, which might just be an Orthodox thing, where we eat the food of paradise (nuts, fruit and wine) and mostly enjoy ourselves until Pascha. <br /><br />If one follows the liturgical form, the Lamentations takes one into the grave (for the procession takes one UNDER the bier) so Great and Holy Saturday is celebrated in the grave. <br /><br />Thus the dramatic moment in the Paschal service where, after a midnight procession the priest bangs on the church door and says, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, that the King of Glory may enter" - the church comes out of the grave and into the resurrection. <br /><br />But never mind all of that, Christofascist Kyriarch Cismale Aryans are gonna be so surprised when they find out...!<br /><br />It would be more amusing if we hadn't already lost the kulturkamph.Ephrem Antony Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00032465992619034619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-6805545861243368412015-04-09T10:20:09.263-07:002015-04-09T10:20:09.263-07:00Mushroom -- curious, did you get the corrected ver...Mushroom -- curious, did you get the <a href="http://happyacres.tumblr.com/post/115946039824" rel="nofollow">corrected version</a> of the Maya Angelou stamps?Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-22229822949088745422015-04-09T10:17:53.017-07:002015-04-09T10:17:53.017-07:00Polanyi's problem was that ultimately he was n...Polanyi's problem was that ultimately he was neither fish nor fowl, when he needed to evolve his wings and go all the way to the latter. But I think his essentially scientific mindset kept him somewhat grounded in spite of where his ideas point. Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-83375574858459944542015-04-09T10:09:20.109-07:002015-04-09T10:09:20.109-07:00You see how this works? "Meaning" is th...You see how this works? "Meaning" is the very book I am currently meandering through, albeit slowly, as one might a lengthy, many-coursed dinner, savoring every flavor, and trying to find every subtle note and connection to meals past.<br /><br />My wife, a bit more of a historian than myself, tells me that Polanyi was less than happy with the result of Prosch's work, and having read "Personal Knowledge" and "The Tacit Dimension," I can say that "Meaning" definitely has a comparatively odd tone and occasionally strange way of putting things. However, at least so far, I feel that it does a more than decent job of capturing the essence of his ideas and presenting them plainly and accessibly.<br /><br />I don't love everything about the first chapter's historic overview, but the analysis of how Europe descended into totalitarianism and why similar decay did not happen in Britain and America was fascinating. And terrifying. We seem determined to walk this path again.<br /><br /><i>What comes after irony?</i><br /><br />If we've already gone through the "tragedy" iteration of this particular sub-round of history, that would put us squarely in the "farce" repetition. I would think that actual irony that is recognized as such usually occurs in the "tragedy" go-around. That's part of what makes it tragic. <br /><br />In the "farce" iteration of history, part of the farce is that no one sees the irony...Paul Griffinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11266956202232070017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-22730457574634074922015-04-09T10:01:33.837-07:002015-04-09T10:01:33.837-07:00Or "from-to," as Polanyi puts it.Or "from-to," as Polanyi puts it.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-51338226901500159832015-04-09T10:01:00.747-07:002015-04-09T10:01:00.747-07:00Yes, meaning is "toward," not "from...Yes, meaning is "toward," not "from."Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-51125463243777002372015-04-09T09:49:13.726-07:002015-04-09T09:49:13.726-07:00"Wisdom has always been non-literal, i.e., &#...<i>"Wisdom has always been non-literal, i.e., 'not meaning what we said.'" </i><br /><br />Yes - for instance, to take a parable merely literally is to miss the point of it entirely. Much like you were saying a week or so ago about looking up definitions of words and thus failing to understand the sentence.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-49584721836149550532015-04-09T09:41:15.748-07:002015-04-09T09:41:15.748-07:00"cooncussions"
Heh - yes, that's th..."cooncussions"<br /><br />Heh - yes, that's the perfect word for what happened when I started reading here, way back when. juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.com