The title refers to the previous post and to a Log24 post of
March 24, 2016 — the date of creation of the Steem blockchain.*
* This blockchain led to the Steemit social networking platform. See a sample
page from that platform. That page suggests a related discussion… Was it
“Looney Toons” or “Looney Tunes”?
“Magic mirror on the wall. . .”
Related material on amnesia —
The Mandela Effect in a 2020 film. . .
. . . and in a web page from 9/15/2016.
(A title for Harlan Kane.)
Cartoon caption from The New Yorker issue dated Dec. 2, 2019 —
“Someday I’ll buy a little place in the country
and take my finger off the Zeitgeist.”
This (along with the previous post) suggests a Log24 search for Zeitgeist.
That search concludes, appropriately for today, with a meditation
on giving thanks.
— M. A. Foster, The Book of the Ler
"The Hulens themselves are closemouthed, secretive."
Above: Esther Dyson, pictures from Google's
2011 Zeitgeist conference at Paradise Valley, AZ.
See also "Everything's a story" (Feb. 19, 2004).
"In Der Teufel frisst Fliegen gilt es,
eine russische Prinzessin im Exil zu retten,
während der Geist eines wahnsinnigen Serienmörders
die Stadt heimsucht." — www.cliquenabend.de/spiele/…
"First we take Manhattan . . . ." — Leonard Cohen
"OCT 14, 2019 • 8:00 PM"
"Culturally, code exists in a nether zone.
We can feel its gnostic effects [link added]
on our everyday reality, but we rarely see it,
and it’s quite inscrutable to non-initiates.
(The folks in Silicon Valley like it that way;
it helps them self-mythologize as wizards.)
We construct top-10 lists for movies, games, TV—
pieces of work that shape our souls.
But we don’t sit around compiling lists of the world’s
most consequential bits of code, even though they
arguably inform the zeitgeist just as much."
— https://slate.com/technology/2019/10/
consequential-computer-code-software-history.html
“I need a photo opportunity, I want a shot at redemption.
Don’t want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard.”
— Paul Simon
See also John Collier's short story "The Lady on the Grey."
Note that the title of the previous post was "Black Well,"
almost the same as that of Tanner's graphic novel above.
( Sequel to the post of 12 AM Wednesday )
The following highlighted phrase was found, with a different spelling,
in The New Yorker issue dated Sept. 12, 2016.
The article in which the phrase was embedded is not recommended.
Neither is the book (which the foolhardy explorer may easily find)
from which the above snippet was taken.
* That of Fields of the Lord .
„Ich begriff plötzlich, daß in der Sprache oder doch
mindestens im Geist des Glasperlenspiels tatsächlich
alles allbedeutend sei, daß jedes Symbol und jede
Kombination von Symbolen nicht hierhin oder dorthin,
nicht zu einzelnen Beispielen, Experimenten und
Beweisen führe, sondern ins Zentrum, ins Geheimnis
und Innerste der Welt, in das Urwissen. Jeder Übergang
von Dur zu Moll in einer Sonate, jede Wandlung eines
Mythos oder eines Kultes, jede klassische, künstlerische
Formulierung sei, so erkannte ich im Blitz jenes
Augenblicks, bei echter meditativer Betrachtung,
nichts andres als ein unmittelbarer Weg ins Innere
des Weltgeheimnisses, wo im Hin und Wider zwischen
Ein- und Ausatmen, zwischen Himmel und Erde,
zwischen Yin und Yang sich ewig das Heilige vollzieht.“
— Hermann Hesse, Das Glasperlenspiel .
Berlin: Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Verlag, 2012, p. 172,
as quoted in a weblog.
"Only connect." — Howards End
According to René Guitart in May 2008 —
"In fact, in concrete terms, the Mathematical Pulsation is
nothing else but the thing that everyone does when doing
mathematics, even the most elementary ones. It is a very
special gesture in understanding ('geste de pensée'), well
known by each mathematician. The mind have to go to
and fro between to antinomical postures: to have the
situation under control, to leave the door open. To master
and to fix (a clear unique meaning) or to neglect and to
change (toward other possible meanings). Because of the
similarity of the pulsation of inspiration and expiration in
breath with the pulsation of closing and opening phases
in mathematical thinking, at the end of [Guitart (2003/a)]
I suggested to consider the famous book 'Zen in the Art
of Archery' [Herrigel (1997)] as a true treatise in didactic
of mathematics: just you have to replace everywhere the
words 'archery' by 'mathematical proof'."
Related material: Heisenberg on Beauty and the previous post.
Update of 6:20 AM Oct. 19, 2015 —
„Ich begriff plötzlich, daß in der Sprache oder doch
mindestens im Geist des Glasperlenspiels tatsächlich
alles allbedeutend sei, daß jedes Symbol und jede
Kombination von Symbolen nicht hierhin oder dorthin,
nicht zu einzelnen Beispielen, Experimenten und
Beweisen führe, sondern ins Zentrum, ins Geheimnis
und Innerste der Welt, in das Urwissen. Jeder Übergang
von Dur zu Moll in einer Sonate, jede Wandlung eines
Mythos oder eines Kultes, jede klassische, künstlerische
Formulierung sei, so erkannte ich im Blitz jenes
Augenblicks, bei echter meditativer Betrachtung,
nichts andres als ein unmittelbarer Weg ins Innere
des Weltgeheimnisses, wo im Hin und Wider zwischen
Ein- und Ausatmen, zwischen Himmel und Erde,
zwischen Yin und Yang sich ewig das Heilige vollzieht.“
— Hermann Hesse, Das Glasperlenspiel.
Berlin: Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Verlag, 2012. p. 172,
as quoted in a weblog.
For a version in English, see Summa Mythologica (Nov. 3, 2009).
"Historically, the idea of a concept script
derives from the Leibnizian project of developing
a so-called 'universal characteristic'
(characteristica universalis )…."
— Dorothea Lotter, "Gottlob Frege: Language,"
in Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Frege as quoted by Lotter —
"Arithmetical, geometrical and chemical symbols
can be regarded as realizations of the Leibnizian
conception in particular fields. The concept script
offered here adds a new one to these – indeed,
the one located in the middle, adjoining all the others."
Wittgenstein —
"Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment
of our intelligence by means of our language."
"Die Philosophie ist ein Kampf gegen die Verhexung
unsres Verstandes durch die Mittel unserer Sprache."
— Philosophical Investigations (1953), Section 109
Frege, Preface to the Begriffsschrift —
"If it is one of the tasks of philosophy
to break the domination of words over the human spirit
by laying bare the misconceptions
that through the use of language
often almost unavoidably arise
concerning the relations between concepts
and by freeing thought from that with which only
the means of expression of ordinary language,
constituted as they are, saddle it,
then my ideography, further developed for these purposes,
can become a useful tool for the philosopher."
"Wenn es eine Aufgabe der Philosophie ist,
die Herrschaft des Wortes über den menschlichen Geist
zu brechen, indem sie die Täuschungen aufdeckt,
die durch den Sprachgebrauch über die Beziehungen der Begriffe
oft fast unvermeidlich entstehen,
indem sie den Gedanken von demjenigen befreit, womit ihn allein
die Beschaffenheit des sprachlichen Ausdrucksmittels behaftet,
so wird meine Begriffsschrift, für diese Zwecke weiter ausgebildet,
den Philosophen ein brauchbares Werkzeug werden können."
… und Nachtformen des Urgrundes
From George , by Friedrich Gundolf (Berlin, Bondi, 1920):
Wenn das Schlußgedicht des Teppichs "Der Schleier"
das ganze gestaltige "Leben" des Dichters als
einen Traum-nu des Geistes zeigt so ist damit
der Geistestag vollbracht und der Geist selbst
der dies vermag ist am Ende seiner Herrschaft
er steht vor dem Urgrund der ihn bewegt:
er erkennt sich selbst wenn nicht als Stoff
so doch als Kraft zu träumen. Die kosmische Nacht
in die er blickt ist zugleich Widerspiel des Gestaltenreiches
das er als Geist der Erde verwirk licht
und Widerspiel des Gesetzes das er als Geist des Lebens
verewigt kurz sie ist Traum und Tod "Traum"
nicht als die Fülle der Gesichte sondern als "Maja"
die Scheinung des Wesens vermöge
deren der Urgrund sich der Bindung im Raum immer wieder entzieht
wie er im Tod der Bindung durch die Zeit entgeht.
Traum ist die Aufhebung des Raum-Ichs,
Tod die Aufhebung des Zeit-Ichs— beides sind
Nachtformen des Urgrundes
die raumschaffende und -vernichtende Bewegung und
das zeitschaffende und -vernichtende Sein.
The original:
Related material: Die Scheinung in this journal.
See George Steiner on Autistic Enchantment, as well as…
(Click images for further details.)
This year, Autism Awareness Day was April 2.
Click to enlarge.
See also March 9, 2007 and the film Queen to Play (NY-LA release: 2011, April 1).
The U.S. premiere of Queen to Play was on April 25, 2009 at the Tribeca Festival.
"Now, I'll open up a line of credit for you.
You'll be wantin' a few toys."
— A Robert De Niro character quoted in
Lines (St. Andrew's Day, 2011)
Update of 10:10 AM EDT April 8 (Easter Day)—
See an "old Brooklyn haunt" in The Easter Phantom.
The Abridgment of Hope
Part I: Framework
From Log24,
Here’s Your Sign,
Aug. 8, 2002–
“Paz also mentions the Christian concept of eternity as a realm outside time, and discusses what happened to modern thought after it abandoned the concept of eternity.
Naturally, many writers have dealt with the subject of time, but it seems particularly part of the Zeitgeist now, with a new Spielberg film about precognition. My own small experience, from last night until today, may or may not have been precognitive. I suspect it’s the sort of thing that many people often experience, a sort of ‘So that’s what that was about’ feeling. Traditionally, such experience has been expressed in terms of a theological framework.”
Part II: Context
From Ann Copeland,
“Faith and Fiction-Making:
The Catholic Context“–
“Each of us is living out a once-only story which, unlike those mentioned here, has yet to reveal its ending. We live that story largely in the dark. From time to time we may try to plumb its implications, to decipher its latent design, or at least get a glimmer of how parts go together. Occasionally, a backward glance may suddenly reveal implications, an evolving pattern we had not discerned, couldn’t have when we were ‘in’ it. Ah, now I see what I was about, what I was after.”
Part III: Context Sensitivity
Ludwig Wittgenstein,
Philosophical Investigations:
373. Grammar tells what kind of object anything is. (Theology as grammar.)
|
Another definition of context-sensitive grammars defines them as formal grammars where all productions are of the form
Such a grammar is also called a monotonic or noncontracting grammar because none of the rules decreases the size of the string that is being rewritten. If the possibility of adding the empty string to a language is added to the strings recognized by the noncontracting grammars (which can never include the empty string) then the languages in these two definitions are identical. |
Part IV: Abridgment
“Know the one about the Demiurge and the Abridgment of Hope?”
— Robert Stone, A Flag for Sunrise, Knopf, 1981, the final page, 439
Also from Stone’s novel, quoted by Ann Copeland in the above essay:
|
You after all? Inside, outside, round and about. Disappearing stranger, trickster. Christ, she thought, so far. Far from where? But why always so far? “Por qué?” she asked. There was a guy yelling. Always so far away. You. Always so hard on the kid here, making me be me right down the line. You old destiny. You of Jacob, you of Isaac, of Esau. Let it be you after all. Whose after all I am. For whom I was nailed. So she said to Campos: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” (416) |
Bagombo Snuff Box
(in memory of
Burt Kerr Todd)
“Well, it may be the devil
or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to
serve somebody.”
— “Bob Dylan”
(pseudonym of Robert Zimmerman),
quoted by “Bob Stewart”
on July 18, 2005
“Bob Stewart” may or may not be the same person as “crankbuster,” author of the “Rectangular Array Theorem” or “RAT.” This “theorem” is intended as a parody of the “Miracle Octad Generator,” or “MOG,” of R. T. Curtis. (See the Usenet group sci.math, “Steven Cullinane is a Crank,” July 2005, messages 51-60.)
“Crankbuster” has registered at Math Forum as a teacher in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). For a tall tale involving Ceylon, see the short story “Bagombo Snuff Box” in the book of the same title by Kurt Vonnegut, who has at times embodied– like Martin Gardner and “crankbuster“– “der Geist, der stets verneint.”
Here is my own version (given the alleged Ceylon background of “crankbuster”) of a Bagombo snuff box:
In a recent Edge article, “The Vagaries of Religious Experience,” a Harvard psychologist, Daniel Gilbert, quotes Einstein on his own religious vagaries:
“(I had) a deep religiosity, which, however, found an abrupt ending at the age of 12. Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true. The consequence was a positively fanatic orgy* of freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is intentionally being deceived by the state through lies. It was a crushing impression. Suspicion against every kind of authority grew out of this experience, a skeptical attitude towards the convictions which were alive in any specific social environment– an attitude which has never again left me.” (Autobiographical Notes, 1949)
Gilbert adds,
“Einstein’s orgy* of freethinking forever changed our understanding of space and time, and the phrase ‘Religion for Dummies’ became, in the view of many scientists, a redundancy.”
Here is another Einstein quotation, from the paragraph in Autobiographical Notes following the paragraph quoted by Gilbert:
“It is quite clear to me that the religious paradise of youth, which was thus lost, was a first attempt to free myself from the chains of the ‘merely-personal,’ from an existence which is dominated by wishes, hopes and primitive feelings. Out yonder there was this huge world, which exists independently of us human beings and which stands before us like a great, eternal riddle, at least partially accessible to our inspection and thinking. The contemplation of this world beckoned like a liberation…. The road to this paradise was not as comfortable and alluring as the road to the religious paradise; but it has proved itself as trustworthy, and I have never regretted having chosen it.”
Einstein describes “the road to the religious paradise” as “comfortable and alluring.” He might therefore have profited by the book saluted in the previous entry… a book that might be described, to adapt Gilbert’s charming phrase, as “Religion for Dummies like Einstein.”
For an approach to the contemptible religion of Scientism that is more subtle than Gilbert’s, see “Einstein’s Third Paradise,” by Gerald Holton, another Harvard savant.
* In the original, the words “orgy of” appear in square brackets to indicate an interpolation by the editor, Paul A. Schilpp, a Methodist minister (pdf). Einstein’s own words were “eine geradezu fanatische Freigeisterei.” Gilbert’s omission of the brackets indicates both the moral slovenliness typical of those embracing Scientism and the current low standards of scholarship at Harvard. (Related material: The Crimson Passion.)
Here’s Your Sign
Last night, reading the 1990 Nobel Prize Lecture by Octavio Paz, I was struck by the fact that he was describing, in his own life and in the life of his culture, what might best be called a “fall from grace.”
I thought of putting this phrase in a journal entry, but decided that it sounded too hokey, in a faux-pious sort of way — as, indeed, does most Christian discourse.
I was brought up short when I read the morning paper, which, in a review of the new Mel Gibson movie “Signs,” described Gibson’s character’s “fall from grace” in those exact words.
The Paz lecture dealt with his childhood, which seemed to him to take place in a realm without time:
“All time, past or future, real or imaginary, was pure presence. Space transformed itself ceaselessly. The beyond was here, all was here: a valley, a mountain, a distant country, the neighbours’ patio.”
Paz also mentions the Christian concept of eternity as a realm outside time, and discusses what happened to modern thought after it abandoned the concept of eternity.
Naturally, many writers have dealt with the subject of time, but it seems particularly part of the Zeitgeist now, with a new Spielberg film about precognition. My own small experience, from last night until today, may or may not have been precognitive. I suspect it’s the sort of thing that many people often experience, a sort of “So that’s what that was about” feeling. Traditionally, such experience has been expressed in terms of a theological framework.
For me, the appropriate framework is philological rather than theological. Paz begins his lecture with remarks on giving thanks… gracias, in Spanish. This is, of course, another word for graces, and is what prompted me to think of the phrase “fall from grace” when reading Paz. For a less academic approach to the graces, see the film “Some Girls,” also released under the title “Sisters.” This is the most profoundly Catholic film I have ever seen.
A still from “Some Girls“:
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