I think you would appreciate the recent work of the Duke Report, here on substack. It kind of dovetails into this topic on truth, by way of the logos (Ξ»ΟΞ³ΞΏΟ) in the discourse and behavior of Christ. As a study in how to work through the elements of false dichotomies and reactionary premises. It also reveals how Christ utilized the hemispheric phenomenon in helpful ways.
Dear Cloud Lion, with respect but Jesusβ whole use of the parable in teaching is exactly correspondent with the complementary nature of the quantum world. - of course, he was aware of it- at the Planck level, but his audiences needed the parables for comprehensive understanding.
Thank you for your work it is wonderful. I am currently reading The Matter with Things with Friends, aloud, slowly and for the second time, I am sure I will be reading it again and again
Thank you! The elimination of the three great values and the elevation of utility seems related, to me, to Illich's observation that the word 'life' has become 'plastic'. When the definition of life can be scrambled and moulded to suit any agenda (much like Orwell's 'democracy'), life becomes the ultimate rationalization for evil (or merely misguided) actions. David Cayley explores this wonderfully in this essay that I found through the comments on your previous post. https://www.davidcayley.com/blog/2021/6/11/concerning-life-1
I enjoyed the Levin talk very much, and the discussion both here and in that conversation of negation made me wonder if you've ever conversed with Peter Rollins? I suspect that could be fruitful.
Jonathan Haidt expressed some of what you're describing with the Academy as the fight between Truth and Justice as the institutional telos - he argues, rightly I think, that each school must choose one or the other as they cannot be blended. Personally I'm not sure that a University with the telos of justice is a university at all, but I support the right of students to choose that course should they so desire, and in a world that offered both I think the value of the Truth path will become apparent.
As difficult as it is to imagine higher ed successfully navigating that rift, I cannot see a path forward for the sciences. Hopefully good people with better imaginations than mine can tackle that problem.
So many insights in this article, but I think my favorite was this: "Each of these travesties misses the important perception that truth is an encounter."
Ya βencounterβ ,it is experienced, we participate in truth, it is a habit, it is properly small and prosaic, daily, I leave gigantic truths are for β¦β¦.
Just subscribed. I've read both Master and Emissary and TMWT. The only problem was I highlighted a massive proportion of the text, which kind of defeats the purpose of highlighting.
"immanent and transcendent at the same time" would seem to be a good description of the Incarnation...
George Steiner, the great advocate for civilised values and behaviour, civility and tolerance but acutely aware of the dark forces in humankind particularly exhibited in Fascism ( his family fled Nazi persecution, I believe ), wrote a 'beautiful' book on these themes, called
My dear Iain McGilchrist, I am now on my THIRD READING of βThe Master and his Emissary,β and for good reason, as I have quoted your seminal work -in spades- on our co-authored publication due in August.
I would remind you here of Newtonβs Third Law if Motion - Maxwellβs electro-magnetic nature of light- the Copenhagen Interpretation of QM - and the very structure we all know- the bicameral human brain [Julian Jaynes and his 1976 book,βOrigin of Consciousnessβ¦β¦β]
Our publication is the convergence of true science and true spiritual beliefs- the waning of dialectical materialism and the ascendancy of faith and spiritual reality.
ECCE HOMA, THE DISCOVERY OF COMPLEMENTARITY IN THE ENTANGLED HYDROGEN ATOM, OR, HOW INTELLIGENCE HAS CREATED THE UNIVERSE.
Arendt's observation prompts the question: Why would someone want to exchange what is given for what is made and can be controlled? Following your work, is this a consequence of an inversion in our preferred ways of attending and thinking? I think the answer becomes clear when we consider how we tend to respond when Plotinus asks us that same question you chose as the epigraph for The Matter with Things: "But we - who are we?"
Often enough today, a response that one may encounter is that we, as individuals that display "agency", derive this agency from our "ability to control causal chains that lead to the achievement of predefined goals." This appears to favor the mode of attention of the left hemisphere. In contrast to this response, one could provide a different view of agency, as being the "capacity to care" about that which cannot be explicitly controlled, involving an outward orientation to the world that focuses on our relationship with others. [1] This is the opposing mode of attention foregrounded here. That connection between who we see ourselves to be, how we attend to the world as it is revealed to us, and the sort of lives we live, is so profound.
[1] Doctor T, Witkowski O, Solomonova E, Duane B, Levin M. Biology, Buddhism, and AI: Care as the Driver of Intelligence. Entropy. 2022; 24(5):710.
I think it is more than a war on life. It seems to be a war against our vitality, our uniqueness, and all that makes us human. Their vision possesses them, and blinds them to the reality of human existence, warts and all.
Those running Western nations seem to have a vision for how life ought to be, and this is compared to reality which is found wanting. Their fantasy trumps our grubby existence and cannot be tolerated.
No doubt there are many ways to consider this, but mental illness would not be far from the truth.
Thank you for that wonderful article. As Judith Curry said, "when you mix science and politics you get politics". I see Catastrophic anthropogenic global warming as "left brained" and the environmental movement as being hijacked by total left brain thinking. To bringing living in harmony with nature down to one issue of reducing CO2 at the expense of everything else as totally myopic.
Well said Andrew, and then add to that the obsession with quantification, which provides such a striking common denominator between corporate capitalist and "Green" mindsets.
Is quantification really a part of the green mindset, or have greens simply had to adopt such a mindset in order to be listened to by those in power?
Greens are laughed at by policy makers if they appeal to nice things, the harmony of nature etc. So they're forced to crunch numbers, set targets, etc etc.
Interesting point. But the thing is, once you adopt a mindset you soon come to "own" it, and to behave accordingly. And you completely forget your starting point in the process, even assuming that it actually was your starting point, which is already a major assumption where current Greens are concerned.
"...with a single paragraph recommending NS Lyons, has been completely dominated by the postscript on Lyons. This seems to me in itself a comment on our age."
"...Simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet."
I had an epiphany watching the You Tube of Solzhenitsynβs 1978 Harvard convocation address. He was speaking in Russian, it was raining, his clothes looked military or Maoist, his beard made him look like Socrates but also quirky and definitely not cool or fashionable and the English translation was choppy and hard to understand. Mind you I had read the transcript of the speech 5 or 6 times before seeing the video and had fully imbibed his message as a profound and alarming warning to us: I was a disciple of the great man.
There he was in person, the author of those great words and I was heart broken, he look small and irrelevant. The audience - just my notion - milled impatiently, soggy, cold, pretending to listen to some crusty old philosopher (Russian!) lecturing them on the error at the root of their society and the disaster that this would portend: beware βthe crowbar of events β he said.
My epiphany: they couldnβt care less. Truth, lol, these were the best and most privileged and they were going into the world to conquer, truth be damned, best you stay out of the way buster.
It reminds me of a joke I overheard at a bar:
β truth is like poetry and most people hate fucking poetry.β
Actually, that quote is from the movie, the big short. Clever,eh.
Thanks, Iain. These posts are the first time I've read your words, though I have seen you interviewed, with Alistair (someone), drinking single malt and talking about the Second Sight in the Scottish Islands. There is a strong presence of paradox in all of this thought-- yes and also no-- or as we say in New Zealand "Yeah nah," (a koan-like interjection that doesn't mean yes or no but is rather, as far as I have been able to articulate, a form of acknowledgement and a means of conversation-furtherance).
βNot wholly wrongβ, about what part?
I think you would appreciate the recent work of the Duke Report, here on substack. It kind of dovetails into this topic on truth, by way of the logos (Ξ»ΟΞ³ΞΏΟ) in the discourse and behavior of Christ. As a study in how to work through the elements of false dichotomies and reactionary premises. It also reveals how Christ utilized the hemispheric phenomenon in helpful ways.
Dear Cloud Lion, with respect but Jesusβ whole use of the parable in teaching is exactly correspondent with the complementary nature of the quantum world. - of course, he was aware of it- at the Planck level, but his audiences needed the parables for comprehensive understanding.
Thank you for your work it is wonderful. I am currently reading The Matter with Things with Friends, aloud, slowly and for the second time, I am sure I will be reading it again and again
Thank you! The elimination of the three great values and the elevation of utility seems related, to me, to Illich's observation that the word 'life' has become 'plastic'. When the definition of life can be scrambled and moulded to suit any agenda (much like Orwell's 'democracy'), life becomes the ultimate rationalization for evil (or merely misguided) actions. David Cayley explores this wonderfully in this essay that I found through the comments on your previous post. https://www.davidcayley.com/blog/2021/6/11/concerning-life-1
I enjoyed the Levin talk very much, and the discussion both here and in that conversation of negation made me wonder if you've ever conversed with Peter Rollins? I suspect that could be fruitful.
Jonathan Haidt expressed some of what you're describing with the Academy as the fight between Truth and Justice as the institutional telos - he argues, rightly I think, that each school must choose one or the other as they cannot be blended. Personally I'm not sure that a University with the telos of justice is a university at all, but I support the right of students to choose that course should they so desire, and in a world that offered both I think the value of the Truth path will become apparent.
As difficult as it is to imagine higher ed successfully navigating that rift, I cannot see a path forward for the sciences. Hopefully good people with better imaginations than mine can tackle that problem.
So many insights in this article, but I think my favorite was this: "Each of these travesties misses the important perception that truth is an encounter."
Thank you for going to the heart of it, Ran
Ya βencounterβ ,it is experienced, we participate in truth, it is a habit, it is properly small and prosaic, daily, I leave gigantic truths are for β¦β¦.
Encounter is a wonderful word, implicit mystery and recognising prescence.
Yes, Miller, but it is the most critical of encounters - the encounter with the Truest Self!!
Just subscribed. I've read both Master and Emissary and TMWT. The only problem was I highlighted a massive proportion of the text, which kind of defeats the purpose of highlighting.
"immanent and transcendent at the same time" would seem to be a good description of the Incarnation...
Exactly, my friend!
Me too!
Greatest story ever told: perfection really. That said Iβm not a believer.
Thank you for this, Iain. As always, your thoughts are helpful and refreshing.
George Steiner, the great advocate for civilised values and behaviour, civility and tolerance but acutely aware of the dark forces in humankind particularly exhibited in Fascism ( his family fled Nazi persecution, I believe ), wrote a 'beautiful' book on these themes, called
'Real Presences'.
Which I know well, Stephen.
My dear Iain McGilchrist, I am now on my THIRD READING of βThe Master and his Emissary,β and for good reason, as I have quoted your seminal work -in spades- on our co-authored publication due in August.
I would remind you here of Newtonβs Third Law if Motion - Maxwellβs electro-magnetic nature of light- the Copenhagen Interpretation of QM - and the very structure we all know- the bicameral human brain [Julian Jaynes and his 1976 book,βOrigin of Consciousnessβ¦β¦β]
Our publication is the convergence of true science and true spiritual beliefs- the waning of dialectical materialism and the ascendancy of faith and spiritual reality.
ECCE HOMA, THE DISCOVERY OF COMPLEMENTARITY IN THE ENTANGLED HYDROGEN ATOM, OR, HOW INTELLIGENCE HAS CREATED THE UNIVERSE.
Martin Cosentino
Mark Lance Moody
Arendt's observation prompts the question: Why would someone want to exchange what is given for what is made and can be controlled? Following your work, is this a consequence of an inversion in our preferred ways of attending and thinking? I think the answer becomes clear when we consider how we tend to respond when Plotinus asks us that same question you chose as the epigraph for The Matter with Things: "But we - who are we?"
Often enough today, a response that one may encounter is that we, as individuals that display "agency", derive this agency from our "ability to control causal chains that lead to the achievement of predefined goals." This appears to favor the mode of attention of the left hemisphere. In contrast to this response, one could provide a different view of agency, as being the "capacity to care" about that which cannot be explicitly controlled, involving an outward orientation to the world that focuses on our relationship with others. [1] This is the opposing mode of attention foregrounded here. That connection between who we see ourselves to be, how we attend to the world as it is revealed to us, and the sort of lives we live, is so profound.
[1] Doctor T, Witkowski O, Solomonova E, Duane B, Levin M. Biology, Buddhism, and AI: Care as the Driver of Intelligence. Entropy. 2022; 24(5):710.
https://doi.org/10.3390/e24050710
I think it is more than a war on life. It seems to be a war against our vitality, our uniqueness, and all that makes us human. Their vision possesses them, and blinds them to the reality of human existence, warts and all.
Those running Western nations seem to have a vision for how life ought to be, and this is compared to reality which is found wanting. Their fantasy trumps our grubby existence and cannot be tolerated.
No doubt there are many ways to consider this, but mental illness would not be far from the truth.
Thatβs what I call a good start bravo
Thank you for that wonderful article. As Judith Curry said, "when you mix science and politics you get politics". I see Catastrophic anthropogenic global warming as "left brained" and the environmental movement as being hijacked by total left brain thinking. To bringing living in harmony with nature down to one issue of reducing CO2 at the expense of everything else as totally myopic.
Well said Andrew, and then add to that the obsession with quantification, which provides such a striking common denominator between corporate capitalist and "Green" mindsets.
Is quantification really a part of the green mindset, or have greens simply had to adopt such a mindset in order to be listened to by those in power?
Greens are laughed at by policy makers if they appeal to nice things, the harmony of nature etc. So they're forced to crunch numbers, set targets, etc etc.
Interesting point. But the thing is, once you adopt a mindset you soon come to "own" it, and to behave accordingly. And you completely forget your starting point in the process, even assuming that it actually was your starting point, which is already a major assumption where current Greens are concerned.
"...with a single paragraph recommending NS Lyons, has been completely dominated by the postscript on Lyons. This seems to me in itself a comment on our age."
Well said.
I like what Kafka had to say:
"...Simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet."
No one waits in stillness anymore : (
I had an epiphany watching the You Tube of Solzhenitsynβs 1978 Harvard convocation address. He was speaking in Russian, it was raining, his clothes looked military or Maoist, his beard made him look like Socrates but also quirky and definitely not cool or fashionable and the English translation was choppy and hard to understand. Mind you I had read the transcript of the speech 5 or 6 times before seeing the video and had fully imbibed his message as a profound and alarming warning to us: I was a disciple of the great man.
There he was in person, the author of those great words and I was heart broken, he look small and irrelevant. The audience - just my notion - milled impatiently, soggy, cold, pretending to listen to some crusty old philosopher (Russian!) lecturing them on the error at the root of their society and the disaster that this would portend: beware βthe crowbar of events β he said.
My epiphany: they couldnβt care less. Truth, lol, these were the best and most privileged and they were going into the world to conquer, truth be damned, best you stay out of the way buster.
It reminds me of a joke I overheard at a bar:
β truth is like poetry and most people hate fucking poetry.β
Actually, that quote is from the movie, the big short. Clever,eh.
Thanks, Iain. These posts are the first time I've read your words, though I have seen you interviewed, with Alistair (someone), drinking single malt and talking about the Second Sight in the Scottish Islands. There is a strong presence of paradox in all of this thought-- yes and also no-- or as we say in New Zealand "Yeah nah," (a koan-like interjection that doesn't mean yes or no but is rather, as far as I have been able to articulate, a form of acknowledgement and a means of conversation-furtherance).