[FoRK] His Not-So-Dark Materials

[Lion Kimbro]

On Nov 30, 2007 7:03 PM, Jeff Bone <jbone at place.org> wrote:
> >   It's **mystically** complex.
>
> And here we go again.
>
> You're using words like "mystical" and "religion" and so forth in an
> absolutely ridiculous, metaphorical sense --- in a very truly ironic
> way (though I suspect that you don't intend irony.)


  Actually, ...

  ... no, this time I'm just yanking your chain.  {;D}=


  BwaHAHAAHAaHHaHAHAAHaHaHAAAaAAaaAA!!


  It's like...

  ...you know... ...it's "magically delicious?"

    http://www.riversidelife.com/story/story_100000000220.html


  <ahem>

  Perhaps that was in bad form.


  But, to speak to the value --

  Kids, I often think, have more self-respect than adults:
  They won't eat a cupcake, unless it's made to look
  nice.  And they won't eat a merely "delicious"
  cereal;  They will only eat a *magically* delicious
  cereal.

  Now, perhaps we should worry, fret, hem and haw,
  that somewhere, there are children growing up
  believing that their cereal *IS ACTUALLY MAGICAL,*
  and that furthermore, when the Mist comes and the
  people are fleeing the grocery store, those adults
  are going to demand a sacrifice in the cereal isle,
  to their Leprecon saviors.

  So, there's one argument, "The argument from fun."


  The second argument, is that there are metaphysical
  "estoteric" truths, to the natural world.

  What I mean by this, is ideas such as:

  * If you hold onto a vision, you can make it come real.

  * If you speak and think negativity, then you will attract
    negativity.  If you speak and think positivity, then you
    will attract positivity.

  * Small things, even imagined things, can spiral out
    to completely transforming the world.

  * How you think of yourself transforms yourself.

  * Meditation and art can transform consciousness and
    spirit.

  * Truths emerge from conversations, that couldn't have
    arisen alone.  Truths emerge from being alone, that
    couldn't have emerged from conversation.

  These are not idle speculations, these are empirical
  realities.  I would suggest that if you don't understand
  that there is a truth on the other side of these statements,
  that you may just be stubborn.

  The project is not to destroy, demolish, demean, or discard
  these truths, because if we did so:  I would argue that it
  would mean the end of our society.

  The project is to de-mystify their natural origins, while
  simultaneously retaining the (deserved!) sacred respect
  for these truths.

  These truths are esoteric, they are metaphysical, not
  because they are supernatural, but because they're very
  abstract.  (There are whole branches of computer system
  design that I believe are most properly understood as
  "metaphysics."  Not that they aren't valuable, but they
  have a certain character that most closely, to me, resemble
  "metaphysics.")


> The problem with this is, it's hogwash.  It *confuses* some very
> unobjectionable things -- wonder at life, appreciation of complexity,
> etc. -- with some very vague, troublesome, and even *dangerous*
> things that have long plagued human attempts to understand the
> world.

  I think that either one of two things will happen, going forwards
  in society & the world.

  We may:

  (A)  We will evolve a nice simple shared story that everybody
    [can] understand[s], that clearly delineates what presently seems
    confused.

  ...or...

  (B)  Reality will remain complex, but humanities ability to convey
    complexities will sharpen.

  Or both.

  When I go to the movies like Enchanted, Bee Movie, Happy Feet,
  I am always pleasantly delighted by *how carefully* the argument
  that the movies make is constructed.  How they say *just the right
  thing* or show *just the right symbol* at the right time, to tip the
  viewer's perspective and elicit the right emotion, to establish the
  connections, to build the argument.  It's very clever, it's very
  complex, and it's utterly fascinating.

  The other end of (B) is games like "the Sims" and "Sim City."
  I believe that one day, not only will we have Google Maps, but we
  will have several "Google History" projects as well.  We will zoom
  in and out of maps of time, similar to but in far more detail to the
  maps at the beginning of Hegel's book.  Different societies will have
  different maps of time, but I believe that we will have them, and
  we will see the great complexities that are present.  We will see
  the tapestry.  The map is not the territory, but it can easily become
  part of it -- these sorts of maps may well change history.

  On the side of (A,) I think that "once the basics are down," this
  perspective of mine is really quite simple.

  It only makes sense that we revere life, and hold it sacred.
  That's why everyone's trying to protect stuff, and so on, including
  you and Tom.  PostModern cynicism and rebellion can only last
  so long, before caving in on itself.  At the end of the day, we
  just really love life.

  Atheists are presently evolving Sunday schools, and organizing
  as a movement.  They're going to inevitably ask, "Well, what *IS*
  it that we value?"  Many atheists are going to say, "We don't
  share *nutt'in!*"  But those atheists are wrong.  Atheists value life,
  the Earth, the Universe.

  The atheists who embrace spiritual atheism will join with the
  formerly supernatural-chasers, who are taking the road of
  evolutionary spirituality out from their formerly misplaced faith.
  The former supernatural-chasers will be honored by the depth
  of knowledge the spiritual atheists have about the sacred
  scriptures-- the world itself, and the spiritual atheists will love
  the traditions and rituals and psychological insights and party
  skills of the former supernatural-chasers.

  The value that the religious people have is a keen appreciation
  of the (very real) esoterics behind everyday life, behavior,
  motivation and meaning, of the natural drama of life, community
  spirit, and the challenge to open the heart wider and wider.

  This demands synthesis, not obliteration.

  Take care,
    Lion