domingo, marzo 05, 2006
People amaze me. Almost every person I have been able to get to know well has had that effect on me at some point. The complexity of the human mind is simply so fascinating, so puzzling… so beautifully ugly!
If there is something that I enjoy about my major is the intensity with which my professors delve into tensions like this one… the idea that a text can contain so much information about a person’s mind and beliefs and historical or socio-political background… it’s all so amazing to me! So difficult to account for, and yet so profoundly true. How can a creature be so efficient in recording thoughts and beliefs that are not yet complete? How is it that such level of contradiction is balanced in literature in order to understand it? How can anyone possibly understand a passage’s underlying content, the author of which had no intention to expose? And even though I do think that the genuine content of texts is sometimes overstretched, I find truth in many of the abstract notions found in literature. Absolutes are normally excessive, but notions, ideas… positions or standpoints… vague and yet important concepts… those are real to me, and they amaze me. Why do people love absolutes so much? I think them unreal. Concepts. Abstract, fluid, varying concepts amaze me. Religion, theology, history… Literary beauty is full of them… I think the human mind is too, of course. Literature is but the human mind’s way of figuring out the tension between concepts, which because of their very nature tend to contradict each other. Decision-making is but the successful result of personal inner struggle... of mental resolution.
That is why I love to see fascination in other people’s minds. My boyfriend’s fascination with extraordinary characters, my father’s love of poetry, my baby sister’s creative impulses, my brother’s eccentric personality, Val’s crazy decisions, Janie’s bizarre love of others, a cop’s sense that being in church is right … they all make life worth living. I wonder if they realize that their fascinations have become the very object of my own personal fascination. People amaze me.
13 comentarios:
And what of those of us who are fascinated by absolutes?
what kind of absolutes? that might be pretty interesting too...
Real absolutes, of course. ;)
God! Those who are fascinated by God are definitely on my list : ) They definitely make life interesting
hmm... but what exactly do you mean by real absolutes? as in, as opposed to fantastic absolutes or as in as opposed to unexistent absolutes? lol... I haven't slept in a while...
Don't dicuss absolutes with a philosophy major who is also a calvinist....ask Quixote if you don't automatically understand it...Q's M & D
but, QMD, both philosophy and Calvinism are perfectly ambiguous ; ) ! ...and deeply fascinating... Raoul, are you a Calvinist really?
I'll make sure to ask Quijote... there might be a story behind this... (?)
Yup. Five points and all.
I thought you would have figured that out by reading my blog. ;)
As for absolutes...
Yes, of course God and His perfect Law are among them. They are, after all, the most Absolute among absolutes.
But beyond that, I must say that I agree with Plato:
1. There is a truth.
2. It can be known.
3. It can be communicated.
Right, wrong, good, evil, love, hate, truth, beauty... the classic Platonic Forms. All delightfully knowable, all delightfully absolute, all delightfully understood and misunderstood all at once.
Hmm... let's see.. I would say that:
1 absolutes exist
2 they are not of human design or creation
3 they can be experienced
4 they cannot be fully understood or communicated
you're gonna have to tell me whose philosophy this is :-P you know... other than mine... Locke? Emerson? a weird combination of both, maybe..
Sounds like a skeptical blend of Plato and David Hume, actually. Moreso Plato than Hume.
Perhaps a bit of Berkeley, too... but I don't think your worldview necessitates an eternal observer to be present or else it will all disappear.
I agree that we cannot fully comprehend the absolutes... but I think that when we bump up against them, we don't see them as any less absolute. To me, it is a great comfort to know that when I am gone, the absolutes and the outside world will still be there. That is, I find great solace in knowing there is a world out side of me that will go on once my perspective of that world ceases. Not that I think it will cease (as I believe heartily in "away from the body, at home with the Lord", but you get my point).
I would classify myself as a platonist, save for the fact that I see great value in the physical world. So I will be content and delighted to remain a Christian, both philosophically and practically. :)
I told you so. Now, how is it that a child raised by Jesuits adopts the beliefs of Kierkegaard, thinks that Zeno should be revered, nevertheless ends up with one son who follows Calvin,and another who is more mainline deist; but who really spends his time searching for odd but interesting humans.(Witness Pappa Yella)
Not to start a fight, but doesn't Calvin really preach for a scala paradisi ? Q's M&D
OH MY GOD! He's a deist?!? So much to take in!
hmm.. I'll do some reasearch on all these people... I thought you'd say I was a skeptic or something...
..well, no.. didnt think your blog said much about your Calvinism...
now... how is it that my little theory doesn't need God? I sure believe in Him! lol... I protest : ) ! I think He is an absolute, like you said, but I think that although He can be experienced, He cannot be fully understood by us. So although He does not seem any less absolute because of this, a conception of Him cannot be absolute and remain completely true/real. I think I should make a differentiation in my blog between concepts and the objects of these concepts. would that make my point a little clearer maybe?
Perhaps, but I think that's just splitting philosophical hairs. When I refer to absolutes, I refer to the objects themselves, and not our understanding of those objects. I actually don't care about our understanding of those objects so much when I posit the existence of the absolute. Now, when it comes to the way that we view the world, then our views and ideas about the absolutes come in to play.
Oh, and Dad? Quijote ain't a deist. Neither is Bugzie. They're both Christians. Deal with it.
As for Calvin - I'd like to point out that I hold to the five points of Calvinism. But theologically, I prefer the term "Reformed Believer" or just "Reformed", meaning that I hold mostly to the Reformed tradition, which incorporates a lot of the ideas of Calvin, Luther, etc. But if I were to hold to a specific set of theological ideals, I would say I more closely follow those of John Piper, Francis Schaeffer, and J.M. Boice, with a strong influence by Michael Horton mixed with vicious anti-gnostic tendencies and with a scientific bent accepting aspects of Hume's skepticism but rejecting his denial of causality and outright spitting on his belief that miracles are impossible.
Or, I could just say I'm a Presbyterian. ;)
But ultimately, I'm simply a sinner who is fascinated by the sovereignty, majesty, mercy, and Glory of God.
Geez peeps! Common!! Can't we all just get a long? Why ya gotta make it so complicated, hu? Hehehe, love to all! -B
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