vol VII: Notes
2014
Notes
[Notebook: DB 77 Discretion]
[Sunday 19 January 2014 - Saturday 25 January 2014]
[page 39]
Sunday 19 January 2014
Ruth Park Fishing in the Styx. The power of writing is the power of formalism, a stationary point in the dynamics of life which serves as a source for new dynamics. So Park's adventures serve as a motivation for me and other readers to expand the boundaries of our lives to meet hers and to make the effort to enrich our lives with fruitful activity. Park
In the first instance knowledge does not change anything. The world is the way it is, divine or not. But then the knowledge becomes a new fixed point in human space which inspires new dynamics. In my case I want us to
[page 47]
see ourselves and our world as divine and to treat one another and the world accordingly, ie recognise that reality is as perfect as can be and not some defective product of a vindictive God angered by human disobedience.
Perhaps time to relax from stoicism. The heavy work is over and the joys of reproduction set to begin.
Most, if not all, cultures include a religious element which involves believing in some supreme power and attempting to learn and practice the demands of that power. In terms of military might, political power and wealth, the current most effective religious denomination is Christianity. Christianity preaches a simple narrative of Fall and Resurrection, the backbone of almost every human story. . . . The Christian picture begins with the creation of the World and of the the people, our ancestors, to inhabit and enjoy it, on one condition. The Bible says they were not allowed to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, 'for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.' The Fall'. The punishments, work, pain and death. The World transformed into a crippled version of its former self. Then the Resurrection, and then finally Revelation, the New Jerusalem and heaven. A great yarn, but essentially false.
The phrasing of the question [from the Ian Ramsay Centre] implies the Christian world view, a Christian frame to the role of God in the world. Here we want to step out of the frame and explore the proposition God is the World . This is consistent with much of the ancient speculation about God augmented by modern mathematics, logic, physics and science in general. of the Universe is divine all our experience becomes experience of God and theology can become a real science, the science of everything, embracing all the other sciences. Ian Ramsay Centre for Science and Religion
Monday 20 January 2014
[page 48]
Tuesday 21 January 2014
Park page 235: Catholicism: 'What a mirror of humankind it is! Brave, corrupt, brilliant, opinionated, staggering along on basic instabilities, human indeed.'
page 301: 'The only thing you have to offer another human being is your state of mind.' and all the consequences of that state of mind like love, money, work etc etc.
Wednesday 22 January 2014
I am tense and energetic: I feel the stress-energy tensor in my being. Where does this feeling come from? The limitation of resources and consequent possibility of error in my life. Something could go wrong and I do not have the resources to correct it. Something could go right and I do not have the resources to take advantage of it. In both cases resources bring peace of mind, but on the other hand it is lack of peace of mind that motivates me to go out to work and to do all the other jobs necessary to maintain my life and happiness and that of the people around me.
What's holding me back? Does my secret self think I am wrong? Is it still stuck in the years of my Catholic indoctrination, or is it right? A personal case of inherited (downloaded) culture vs reason. Nevertheless, the evidential and business case for the divine Universe seems unassailable and so I will push ahead despite my reluctance, which is probably only a product pf my general aversion to work when some alternative is offering. From an economic point of view, my trench
[page 49]
digging days are numbered and the time is coming to make a living out of intellectual property rather than physical labour. The upside is great, but it may be a long time before I can make it pay. Meanwhile, write a submission to the [Ian Ramsay Centre, Special Divine Action].Dear Francis. This is my fourth letter to you. [I have had no reply.] This may be just bureaucratic inefficiency or a belief in the system that a reply is not necessary.: this correspondent is not worth the trouble. I ultimately hope to convince you that it is essential for your survival to take notice of me, since ultimately the truth will out and those denying the truth will lose support. In the meantime my imaginary dialogue with you helps me clarify my point of view and bring into stronger relief the defects in your position. I commend you on the liberalization of Catholic [attitudes] to fellow humans, but I note that you are holding fast to traditional Catholic beliefs like the inferiority of women and the sinfulness of the world. [These], and many other Catholic positions, are false. My aim is to show both their falsity and the means of their correction. They key to this position is acceptance of the hypothesis that the Universe is divine. God is not other. We are part of it and it is part of us. I contrast this to the position taken by the Church, that God is a mysterious being that we can only get to know through the Church.
Uncritical faith is not secure. 'Trust Us" immediately signals the possibility of deception. The foundation of this well founded mistrust is the cult of secrecy that elites use to maintain and consolidate their power. So I have chosen to be a traitor fo the Church and expose the hollowness and deceit which have built its power.
Thursday 23 January 2014
[page 50]
General covariance and gravitational symmetry. Gravitation is open to all the ℵ1 permutations of ℵ0 objects, treating them all identically with no coupling to what they mean. The only practical constraint is the metric, the dot product of a permutation and its inverse (?), covariant.contravariant = metric [interval].
Friday 24 January 2014
Do the pleasant surprises outweigh the disappointing events? If we judge this question on population growth, the human race is doing absurdly well, but we are beginning to get a clearer vision of the limits to growth outlines by the Club of Rome and their contemporaries. Meadows
[to GALILEO DB 78 page 1]
Standing on Galileo's shoulders. Galileo and his contemporaries began the scientific revolution, but this revolution remains incomplete because the political and economic power of the Church has stifled the development of theology, keeping it effectively in its medieval prerevolutionary infancy.
[back to DISCRETION DB 77 page 50]
Galileo is the Jesus of science
Saturday 25 January 2014
Knowledge is power, so it is natural for the politically powerful to pervert epistemology whenever they can, saying 'ignore the evidence, trust us'. This dictum is enforced with violence and murder in many jurisdictions. Historically one of the worst offenders have been religious groups that claim a divine right to murder unbelievers.
The scientific revolution is an epistemological revolution, the transition from allegedly eternal truths owned by elites who are well suited by the status quo, to dynamic truths based on real time evidence. The fundamental evil of the Church (I keep finding new ones) is its commitment to eternity, allowing it to sit back and
[page 51]
enjoy the benefits of power without doing anything to earn their welfare, hereditary wealth. A good thing (if properly distributed), a bad thing if fraudulently concentrated.
We cannot separate knowledge and power in practice but intellectually we see knowledge as formalism and power as the associated dynamism.
Galileo wove his influence (and probably saved his life) through a wide circle of influential friends (and enemies) Networking brings power, something I have to learn from my hiding place in the woods soaking in rather than emitting new theological ideas.
Like politicians, popes will say anything to maintain their power, including claims that they are telling the truth, 'the gift of truth'. John Paul II: Fides et ratio § 2
