31 October 2010
Divine Properties
What is man's connection to the world? It would appear that of all of man's capacities his ability to witness or observe is his most treasured attribute. If one were to study what makes people happy I would expect to see a wide variety of answers. This in part would be due to the diverse nature of how man observes the world. He bases his values upon what he interprets as beauty. Beauty possesses a wide range of characteristics mainly because men as individuals have many different angles from which to gaze. Virtue, often times, is man's attempt to contain or catch beauty. The pursuit of virtue, as stated by Thoreau, brings into focus innocence, sincerity, and truth. Within his limited scope man can easily become delusional by confusing what is visually beautiful as opposed to spiritually beautiful. It is not the mountain or the mountain lion that contains true (spiritual) beauty. It is the connection that allows the mountain to feed the lion and the lion to feed the mountain. Such mechanics in all of man's studies have shown but a glimpse into its operation. Yet still after all of the charting and labeling man cannot explain the reason behind why it all works. To what purpose is our ability to 'see' all of this?
23 October 2010
Thoreau and His Great Experiment
After reading through the first few chapters of Henry David Thoreau's Walden, I admire his approach in running an experiment on himself to pursue the origin of virtue. Is it possible that with everything that has been incorporated in our lives and the superfluous complexities that have accompanied our progression through time enable us to understand and see virtue? His case seems to stand on the grounds of getting back to the basics.
When I look out at today's cultural setting it would seem that we are moving backwards by moving forwards. It would seem that we are exacerbating an end by a manufactured means. Rather than individuals pursuing independent spiritual freedoms and sharing in that experience with others we are merely synthesizing a spiritual polymer to create a manufactured soul! The dividing lines between the upper echelons of society and those falling behind are creating an illusory mode of social acceptance. If you purchase a product and display its name for the world to see then somehow that is supposed to give the purchaser a sense of societal acceptance. Yet spiritually they have sacrificed a personal part of their being in order to separate a piece of their identity onto a product that does not breath or live. Strip a person naked of all material possessions and what does one have left?
When I look out at today's cultural setting it would seem that we are moving backwards by moving forwards. It would seem that we are exacerbating an end by a manufactured means. Rather than individuals pursuing independent spiritual freedoms and sharing in that experience with others we are merely synthesizing a spiritual polymer to create a manufactured soul! The dividing lines between the upper echelons of society and those falling behind are creating an illusory mode of social acceptance. If you purchase a product and display its name for the world to see then somehow that is supposed to give the purchaser a sense of societal acceptance. Yet spiritually they have sacrificed a personal part of their being in order to separate a piece of their identity onto a product that does not breath or live. Strip a person naked of all material possessions and what does one have left?
03 October 2010
What is Fate?
What is fate?
Is it a coincidence of occurrences that we humans attempt to add some sort of significance to or is there some kind of blueprint that connects life to the universe and fate is simply the universe filling gaps where necessary for life to continue, perhaps through some method of odds or probability (after all, was Edison not the only person inventing the lightbulb?). I think of John Muir's life and I imagine what shape our world would have had he not have gone blind. Would someone else have come to fill that evolutionary niche and preservation as we know it would exist or would we have turned this great nation into an exacerbated Easter Island? Would Theodore Roosevelt still have enacted the Antiquities Act of 1906 were it not for the advice and dialogue with John Muir? Would Gifford Pinchot have exercised his concept of conservation to "conservatively" timber old growth forests from the northern mountaintops of California? Would we have national parks today?
Is it a coincidence of occurrences that we humans attempt to add some sort of significance to or is there some kind of blueprint that connects life to the universe and fate is simply the universe filling gaps where necessary for life to continue, perhaps through some method of odds or probability (after all, was Edison not the only person inventing the lightbulb?). I think of John Muir's life and I imagine what shape our world would have had he not have gone blind. Would someone else have come to fill that evolutionary niche and preservation as we know it would exist or would we have turned this great nation into an exacerbated Easter Island? Would Theodore Roosevelt still have enacted the Antiquities Act of 1906 were it not for the advice and dialogue with John Muir? Would Gifford Pinchot have exercised his concept of conservation to "conservatively" timber old growth forests from the northern mountaintops of California? Would we have national parks today?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)