tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post8791517663174805999..comments2024-03-27T11:16:36.951-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: Evil is Necessary in a Cosmos that Isn't, but Woe to the Man who Messes with Sophia!Gagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-44030079363952299782012-01-13T21:00:33.775-08:002012-01-13T21:00:33.775-08:00Yikes - you might say that! Then again, for both f...Yikes - you might say that! Then again, for both flowers and butterflies part of the wonder is that their beauty, so vivid and wonderful, is also given a certain amount of depth simply by virtue of how ephemeral they are. <br /><br />Although I have to admit I'd be fascinated by the mantis, too...juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-21030399274759518642012-01-13T19:26:43.548-08:002012-01-13T19:26:43.548-08:00Julie, I was watching a butterfly last summer -- o...Julie, I was watching a butterfly last summer -- on a butterfly bush no less -- and got a few photos. Unfortunately, I also saw the praying mantis, but didn't see the strike (it was so fast!). About ten minutes later the wings hit the ground. A fascinating reminder of, well, the non-godessliness of nature.<br /><br />Might you say, in this case, the good was detached (or rather, eaten) from the beauty?<br /><br />PeytonPeytonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12270784303736251238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-77428644777046067222012-01-13T06:37:25.372-08:002012-01-13T06:37:25.372-08:00"Likewise, "the beautiful which is detac..."Likewise, "the beautiful which is detached from the good... becomes softened into pure enjoyment -- stripped of obligation and responsibility." This is the "art for art's sake" of an aesthetic hedonism that soon becomes luciferic at best."<br /><br />And of course, detaching the one, doesn't leave the others intact. Detach Beauty from Good, you also detach Truth from both, and from your regard for it.<br /><br />Someone made a comment elsewhere that Oaths in general, and an Oath of Office in particular "Just doesn't have the same meaning today, as it did back then.", as if they thought they had escaped a silly procedure.<br /><br />Just as it isn't the Beautiful, that is reduced when detached from the Good and the True, only your ability to appreciate it in its fullness, the Oath remains as sacred today, as it was then, but having dis-integrated the Good, the Beautiful and the True, the person is no longer capable of comprehending it. <br /><br />If Beauty is "stripped of obligation and responsibility" for you and 'your people', it is no surprise that an Oath means little or nothing to you as well, but that says far more about you, than it does about the Beauty of the Oath.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-83937228947822294732012-01-12T14:06:01.857-08:002012-01-12T14:06:01.857-08:00You might say that for men, the solution is "...You might say that for men, the solution is "all women are alike," whereas for women the problem is "all men are alike."Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-22067829433679730122012-01-12T14:03:26.692-08:002012-01-12T14:03:26.692-08:00V:
"Men particularize, women generalize.&quo...V:<br /><br />"Men particularize, women generalize."<br /><br />I've often thought that to myself -- that in order for a marriage to succeed, the man must appreciate the general in the particular, i.e., that <i>this</i> woman must stand for all women; and that the woman must see the particular in the general, i.e., that this one isn't just any man, but a particular individual. It explains how a man can have the perfect woman and not be satisfied, and how a woman can become attached to the perfect loser despite having plenty of options. <br /><br />Or something like that. Might need more thought.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-62809294694001811012012-01-12T13:51:25.228-08:002012-01-12T13:51:25.228-08:00I have a nephew who, when he was little, came into...I have a nephew who, when he was little, came into the dairy barn one night and asked his dad if he could "play in the cow piles". <br /><br />He's now a professor at Texas A&M. [Insert Aggie joke here]mushroomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07651027035577798096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-61703034401255600962012-01-12T13:46:34.085-08:002012-01-12T13:46:34.085-08:00The fact that butterflies like to congregate on pi...The fact that butterflies like to congregate on piles of manure makes me laugh. Not sure if there is deeper meaning to be garnered from that fact.John Lienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15607964922479543670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-82993060580426938992012-01-12T13:36:30.298-08:002012-01-12T13:36:30.298-08:00Men particularize, women generalize.
Heh.
I'...Men particularize, women generalize. <br /><br />Heh.<br /><br />I'm with Bob. If the caveman/cavewoman thing isn't basic and integrated into the rest, the whole thing is vapor.<br /><br />Splitting is a big problem. The number of wedges that can be driven into love is seemingly infinite, many of them subtle and insidious.<br /><br />The best marriage I'v seen is founded on a startlingly complete transparency, *especially* about the things one would expect someone would keep secret, like fears and secret desires.<br /><br />Utter, complete union, and drawing a sacred, inviolable circle around it, is the only way to go. Admit divisions and they will only widen. At the first sign of them, RUN toward your spouse and talk about it. Then do something about it.<br /><br />Protect the marriage by marrying not only your spouse, but marriage itself.<br /><br />.02Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00987042455512485699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-46723605156470147872012-01-12T13:24:13.588-08:002012-01-12T13:24:13.588-08:00Absolutely. I can't imagine living with someo...Absolutely. I can't imagine living with someone like me. The horror!Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-68936532487815695922012-01-12T13:21:08.634-08:002012-01-12T13:21:08.634-08:00I was thinking about this sometime back. Saying t...I was thinking about this sometime back. Saying that evil is necessary is an awkward way to put it, but it's right. It is a functional specification intrinsic in the design of the world. <br /><br /><i>...men are more aware of this danger than women, being that women are the primary danger...</i><br /><br />If they weren't so pretty I would have had a lot less trouble in life. She's everything I am not, and she's not what I am. It seems to work out. I sure would hate not to be able to handle the difference, to be a lover of sameness. It seems so sad.mushroomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07651027035577798096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-28187782903211509882012-01-12T13:18:32.036-08:002012-01-12T13:18:32.036-08:00At least for men...At least for men...Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-52862931967060016412012-01-12T13:17:40.610-08:002012-01-12T13:17:40.610-08:00Dennis Prager often says that many men are afraid ...Dennis Prager often says that many men are afraid that if their wives or girlfriends knew what they are actually like, they would be disgusted, so they end up splitting off a vital part of themselves in order to maintain the relationship. But including the primitive in one's life is critical. I think one needs to have a kind of caveman-cavewoman relationship, upon which the rest is built. It doesn't work in reverse....Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-42376937237215033162012-01-12T13:00:01.869-08:002012-01-12T13:00:01.869-08:00I would say that on the whole, men are more aware ...<i>I would say that on the whole, men are more aware of this danger than women, being that women are the primary danger. </i><br /><br />It occurs to me that men must experience beauty in a different way than women do, for if they saw women as women so often see themselves, the human race would never have stood a chance...juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-20297458903724214342012-01-12T10:54:33.399-08:002012-01-12T10:54:33.399-08:00"I had a hearsetowrecked-a-me."
So you ..."I had a hearsetowrecked-a-me."<br /><br />So you were lying prostate on the ground, but not down and out? Hooah!Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00987042455512485699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-31307146657122214472012-01-12T10:52:19.920-08:002012-01-12T10:52:19.920-08:00The Field Museum in Chicago has a room full of pre...The Field Museum in Chicago has a room full of preserved butterfly carcasses. They are arranged by color and size, such that one case, for example, will house fifty pinned and symmetrical carcasses, all the same size and color. Then you go to the next case, which will all be another group of a different color.<br /><br />It is really kind of depressing.<br /><br />For some reason, the skies overhead have been unusually beautiful at dawn and dusk. Magnificent huge gradients, light hanging in the trees like an ambient haze, and chiseled edges to the clouds, way way up there with the wind. <br /><br />It's hard to mind this warm gray fog too, even though it's 40 degrees, i.e. the cruellest temperature.Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00987042455512485699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-77115065275567038532012-01-12T10:43:36.183-08:002012-01-12T10:43:36.183-08:00Verdiales said...
"Then they go out and with...Verdiales said...<br /><br />"Then they go out and without a second thought deify any whoremonal urge, which wrecks things again.<br /><br />A kind of perpetual idolescence."<br /><br />And women don't think men know anything aboute whoremones.<br />Thankfully, in my case it wasn't perpetual. <br />I had a hearsetowrecked-a-me.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-26163987299059600342012-01-12T10:33:06.638-08:002012-01-12T10:33:06.638-08:00Gagdad Bob said...
Sounds like your head travails...Gagdad Bob said... <br />Sounds like your head travails at about 40 knots.<br /><br />Aye! Cavitation speed.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-90886983750797418852012-01-12T10:29:15.601-08:002012-01-12T10:29:15.601-08:00Re. butterflies, O indeed! If only I could get the...Re. butterflies, O indeed! If only I could get them to sit still long enough for a photo or two... <br /><br />Reminds me, I'll have to take the boy to the local botanical garden in a couple months. They have a butterfly exhibit in the spring, with a big tent full of butterflies so you can get a little closer.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-16728065014684867612012-01-12T10:17:13.925-08:002012-01-12T10:17:13.925-08:00I really like butterflies, too. If ever there wer...I really like butterflies, too. If ever there were an example of divinely gratuitous beauty -- like flying flowers. Or maybe flowers are stationary butterflies.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-43560763901924483952012-01-12T10:14:55.225-08:002012-01-12T10:14:55.225-08:00We call those knots "coontusions," and w...We call those knots "coontusions," and we are proud of each and every one.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-90668734673499692122012-01-12T10:13:59.877-08:002012-01-12T10:13:59.877-08:00Sounds like your head travails at about 40 knots.Sounds like your head travails at about 40 knots.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-77409785597660600992012-01-12T10:11:41.482-08:002012-01-12T10:11:41.482-08:00A quicker way to say it is: the truth hurts.
Yes,...A quicker way to say it is: the truth hurts. <br />Yes, of course it can and does! The question is: who, or whom does it hurt the most?<br /><br />In many cases the messenger.<br />Loose lips sink ships...and knots on the head. <br /><br />This is yet another reason why mystery is good!USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-84389868168478911722012-01-12T10:07:57.334-08:002012-01-12T10:07:57.334-08:00Julie, both those bits are beautiful and true. T...Julie, both those bits are beautiful and true. The whiners who put God in the dock over evil in the world are like teenagers who wreck themselves and their houses and then complain that mom and dad never stopped them. Then they go out and without a second thought deify any whoremonal urge, which wrecks things again.<br /><br />A kind of perpetual idolescence.<br /><br />I'll remember that about flowers and tell my kids about it. Thanks.<br /><br />Sow a mysteress, reap a missedheiress. Mammamaria!Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00987042455512485699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-35438313053259734252012-01-12T10:04:32.485-08:002012-01-12T10:04:32.485-08:00"For example, let's talk about the danger..."For example, let's talk about the dangers of beauty. I would say that on the whole, men are more aware of this danger than women, being that women are the primary danger."<br /><br />You know, this is why I say "O nothin', Love," when Patti asks what I'm reading.<br /><br />However, sometimes she'll press the issue.<br /><br />"Well, it must be interesting," she may say. "And funny."<br /><br />"Aye, that it is. It's One Cosmos. You know, Bob's blog. Want me to send you a link?" I ask.<br /><br />"Oh no. No," she replies, perhaps a little too hastily.<br /><br />She rarely calls my bluff when it comes to OC. Thankfully. Dodged another bullet there.<br /><br />It's not that she doesn't like OC it's just that...well, I'll let her explain in her own words.<br /><br />"I don't get it. He uses words that aren't in the dictionary, and I get enough puns from you to last a lifetime. If you see something really interesting...and short," she adds under her breath, "just read it to me. Quickly."<br /><br />Now, there are times Bob manages to get a laugh outta Patti or pick her interest, regardless. And if it ain't too long she'll add it as a signature. <br /><br />But I learned a long time ago it ain't good to push this stuff (particularly when Bob says stuff like I quoted) past a certain point.<br />The truth can be imflammatory and I'm all out of aspirin.<br /><br />Besides, I kind of like not inviting any additional pain at times. And believe me I would only make things worse by trying to explain.<br /><br />I don't take it personally and I'm certain Bob doesn't either.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-44917977360765699522012-01-12T08:54:59.215-08:002012-01-12T08:54:59.215-08:00Either way, in the absence of God, evil is pure il...<i>Either way, in the absence of God, evil is pure illusion anyway, just a projection of animal fear and desire. </i><br /><br />I always find it a little sad when would-be atheists pout that the presence of evil means that if there is a god, he's <i>mean</i>, so screw that guy. It never occurs to them that the way of base nature is a very cruel way, and that the only reason there's any good at all is because God Is, and Is Good.<br /><br /><i>Yes, beauty is "divine light," but not divinity itself, for that way lies idolatry </i><br /><br />One of the things I find endlessly fascinating about flowers is how so many of them act like stained glass. That is, they both reflect light and allow it to pass through so that they appear to shine - but of course, only when they are working with the sun. They don't create their own light, they just draw attention to that which is already present in abundance.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.com