From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Nov 11 2004 - 15:13:54 GMT
Greetings Ham,
First, I'm glad you've returned to the forum in spite of your many
frustrations with some of the thoughts expressed here. I don't think
there's a more interesting philosophical forum on the entire Web that
welcomes contributions from all educational levels and all points of view.
I've always found your contributions especially thoughtful and
provocative. For that, much thanks.
> In this same context, I have lately come to
> the conclusion that the split between finite existence and its
> undifferentiated Source is immutable. Any attempt to intellectualize this
> phenomenon as either wholly biological or wholly spiritual amounts to
> "fuzzy logic". The two "modalities" are irreconcilable from the
> existential viewpoint. I don't know if this makes any sense to you, Platt,
> and I know that the debate will go on interminably, but it is my intuition
> that there is an absolute principle at work here which makes it impossible
> to resolve the dual/non-dual enigma in logical terms. Perhaps this
> explains why Eastern philosophy continues to beckon us.
I absolutely and wholeheartedly agree. The interminable debate regarding
the nature of "true" reality amounts to little more than the pleasure we
derive from flapping our gums to produce little puffs of wind. Relevant to
your insight is the following quote from physicist Paul Davies which I
firmly believe:
"But in the end a rational explanation for the world in the sense of a
closed and complete system of logical truths is almost certainly
impossible. We are barred from ultimate knowledge, from ultimate
explanation , by the very rules of reasoning that prompt us to seek an
explanation in the first place. If we wish to progress beyond, we have to
embrace a different concept of "understanding" from that of rational
explanation."
Incidentally, my unwillingness to discard Intelligent Design as an
explanation for the mysteries unsolved by Darwinian Theory (life arising
miraculously from no-life and mind from no-mind) also comes from Mr.
Davies:
"The universe looks as if it is unfolding according to some plan or
blueprint. The input is the cosmic initial conditions, and the output is
organized complexity, or depth. The essential feature is that something
of value emerges as the result of processing according to some ingenious
pre-existing set of rules. These rules look as if they are the product of
intelligent design. My own inclination is to suppose that qualities such
as ingenuity, economy, beauty, and so on have a genuine transcendent
reality -- they are not merely the product of human experience -- and that
these qualities are reflected in the structure of the natural world."
My experience confirms such transcendent reality, the same reality Mr.
Pirsig uses as the basis of his metaphysics.
Would you be amenable to the notion that your undifferentiated "essence"
is the source of those transcendent qualities of which Mr. Davies and Mr.
Pirsig speak?
Best,
Platt
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