Ballpoint pen sketch in 11" x 8.5" sketchbook of old apartment building, west of downtown Paragould, circa 1980.
~
Click pictures in posts to enlarge
Friday, September 27, 2019
Days Gone By
~
Ballpoint pen sketch in 11" x 8.5" sketchbook of old apartment building, west of downtown Paragould, circa 1980.
Ballpoint pen sketch in 11" x 8.5" sketchbook of old apartment building, west of downtown Paragould, circa 1980.
Monday, September 23, 2019
The Carnivore Diet
Is the Latest Fad to Ignore That Food Does More Than Just Feed Us
Link there^^to article by Alan Levinovitz, or copy and paste below.https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/7xqqyz/carnivore-diet-appeal?utm_campaign=sharebutton&fbclid=IwAR2dzrT1NDZkyJ0-BgXaK_X0PN8Y9UvcTaoOxTyB3_RUGeEK2lZqRVGTdmo
Monday, September 16, 2019
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
An article by Amber O'Hearn
~
Eat meat. Not too little. Mostly fat.
The whys and hows of trying the Carnivore Diet.
Link to the article in the title of this post, or you can copy and paste
from here:
http://www.empiri.ca/p/eat-meat-not-too-little-mostly-fat.html
Eat meat. Not too little. Mostly fat.
The whys and hows of trying the Carnivore Diet.
Link to the article in the title of this post, or you can copy and paste
from here:
http://www.empiri.ca/p/eat-meat-not-too-little-mostly-fat.html
~
Photo by Rose Nunez Smith
Sunday, September 8, 2019
Saturday, September 7, 2019
UFOs ARE IMPORTANT
~
The following is from Joseph Burkes MD's Contact Underground page on Facebook.
Don't let your eyes gloss over...
The following is from Joseph Burkes MD's Contact Underground page on Facebook.
Don't let your eyes gloss over...
WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO CONVINCE PEOPLE THAT UFOs ARE IMPORTANT?
Joseph Burkes MD
UFO historian Richard Dolan has described the initial reaction of many people to his passionate involvement with the subject. They express interest; they might even describe something they saw on TV concerning the phenomenon. Then after a few minutes of his well-informed explanations, their eyes gloss over and they are clearly bored.
THE ROLE OF AUTHORITY FIGURES
Yes, it’s true; opinion polls indicate the public is interested in UFOs. Advertising executives have long known this, but the fascination is for most part quite superficial. Why is this? I suspect partly because of the massive denial of authority figures that say, “There is nothing to it.”
After all, the world is so complex; we rely on authorities to put to use vast amounts of data to make what we hope are reasonable decisions. Most people have little understanding of the technological “miracles” that science has achieved, but they are grateful and trust the devices, like planes, autos and computers to work reliably.
Needing to trust leaders I suspect might be built into our biology. For a million years before civilization was established, hunter-gatherers worked in small groups to survive. Shamans that could use primitive psi abilities combined with careful observations of nature played a decisive role. Leadership was a question of life and death and those clans that had the best leaders, the “shamen” and “sha-women” that knew how best to kill the animals or find the healing herbs and deliver the babies, played a critical role in survival. So most of us have a strong tendency to “follow the leader” and when this becomes extreme “We the People “become ”we the sheeple.”
LINKING UFOs TO SOLUTIONS FOR MAJOR PROBLEMS
For the UFO question to have a truly major impact on the mass consciousness, this subject will need to be transformed from an entertaining diversion and become a way of addressing the seemingly insurmountable problems our planet is facing. This is already being attempted by those within the UFO community that discuss the possibility of downloading into our technological culture the secrets of the energy propulsion systems of flying saucers. So-called “free energy” in one fell swoop might eliminate poverty and pollution, thus possibly reversing or at least slowing down global warming.
Of course in order for the so-called ETs to give us such devices they might understandably insist on a peaceful transformation of our planet to replace what ufologist Stanton Friedman called our perpetual state of “tribal warfare.” This is going to be a hard sel. This is because for the last seventy years the military and political leaders, the mass media and academia, all in service to their corporate masters, have mostly insisted when it comes to UFOs, “There is nothing to it.”
HE WHO PAYS THE PIPER CALLS THE TUNE
From the control groups’ point of view, those clandestine forces determined to keep a lid on the UFO issue, an important strategy would be to recruit authority figures to block any significant discussion of flying saucers. Opinion makers that step out of line would therefore find that their access to funding has been cut off. This is all done behind the scenes and is quite effective in my opinion.
In the USA the National Academy of Sciences has made it perfectly clear that UFO studies are not part of the “legitimate” agenda for professional science. As a result, scientists that state this subject should be studied will themselves unable to secure research grants, thus effectively ending their careers.
In broadcast journalism, reporters and talk show hosts that might attempt to inform the public in a detailed way would likely find themselves without corporate sponsors. The major newspapers are controlled through their editorial boards that in turn are dependent on corporate advertisements to continue publishing.
This analysis is not a conspiracy theory. I describe the way power works. In the former Soviet Union it was the political dictatorship of the Communist Party that attempted to regulate almost every aspect of people’s lives. That social experiment failed miserably. In the West however social control is far more sophisticated, decentralized and uses the knowledge of social psychology called “public relations” to effectively manipulate the masses.
RESISTANCE TO CHANGE ALSO COMES FROM WITHIN
On the individual level our tendency to identify with our thoughts results in profound attachments to old ideas. This resistance to changing one’s point of view flows from the ego itself. People strive to defend their religion, political ideology, or moral customs to the point where some would even kill to maintain them. Just look at the present situation in Syria, or at the millions killed centuries ago during the Protestant Reformation in Europe.
Something similar in my opinion applies to acknowledging the high probability that the ET explanation for the flying saucer phenomenon is true. Such a realization threatens to radically change the conceptual paradigm of our entire civilization. Since humans so strongly identify with their present beliefs, it is understandable that many reject such a brave new worldview in which we might have to accept an ET presence.
UFO INTELLIGENCE HAS A TIGER BY THE TAIL.
What about the intelligence responsible for flying saucers? Could “they” (whoever they ultimately turn out to be) simply fill the sky with structured craft? Or stage the proverbial “landing on the White House Lawn?” Such actions would certainly convince the masses that flying saucers are of the greatest importance. In my judgment this scenario is the least one likely to ever take place. Given the militaristic mindset of our civilization, a sudden realization of the reality of UFOs could be catastrophic. My guess is that careful gradual efforts to alert us to their importance is the game plan of the intelligences responsible for the phenomenon and probably within some elements of the establishment as well.
So what will it take to change mass public opinion on the flying saucer question? If the alleged ETs continue the present pattern of interactions, millions of individual sightings yearly, interspersed with occasional massive waves, I imagine that there will be opportunities to slowly build public awareness by a responsible program of education.
RESPONSIBLE PROGRAM OF PUBLIC EDUCATION
This will require UFO enthusiasts to discipline the crazies in our midst, think creatively and most importantly of all build stable, well-financed organizations to carry out the educational campaign. All this will need to be done in the face of powerful opposition by corporate groups that have great experience in controlling public opinion, the economy and their political operatives that run governments.
“TURNING PAGES IN A PLAY BOOK
Can we trust UFO intelligence to follow what we imagine is their existing “game plan?” I suppose not. UFO researcher Michael Lindemann once said that we should never assume that we can think like the so-called “aliens.” Nevertheless the ever-changing pattern of interactions, as pointed out by UFO researcher Grant Cameron, appear to be as if the aliens are turning the pages of a “play book.” This can be seen as the appearance of “Men in Black” in the 1960s, so called “abductions” in the 70s, crop circles in the 80s and continuous past and present mental interactions with millions of experiencers. Many of whom are instilled with a sense of mission. They are striving to convince their fellow Earthlings that we should look up and accept what our “lying eyes” are seeing.
My guess is that UFO intelligence is able to present us with a multitude of creative new ways to wake us up from our collective stupor concerning their “wonders in the sky.” I am of the opinion that their presence is non-harmful and very likely to be beneficial to mankind. Bringing others to this hopeful perspective I imagine is a challenge that UFO activists will continue to face for some time.
About the Author: Joseph Burkes MD is a Board Certified Internal Medicine physician. He retired from the Southern California Permanente Group after 30 years of service in 2008. During the 1960s through the 1980s he was a volunteer peace and social justice activist working with Physicians for Social Responsibility, The United Farm Workers Union and pro-labor coalitions that were part of the occupational health and safety movement.
Dr. Burkes volunteered as a Working Group Coordinator for the Close Encounters of the 5th Initiative from 1992 till 1998. He has continued to study the flying saucer phenomenon working with the Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial and Extraordinary Experiences (FREE) and the Peruvian contact network now called Rahma. Joseph Burkes MD is co-author of the book “Paths to Contact” edited by Jeff Becker. He also has co-authored a chapter on UAP medical healings with researcher Preston Dennett in the FREE compendium “Beyond UFOs.”
Joseph Burkes MD
UFO historian Richard Dolan has described the initial reaction of many people to his passionate involvement with the subject. They express interest; they might even describe something they saw on TV concerning the phenomenon. Then after a few minutes of his well-informed explanations, their eyes gloss over and they are clearly bored.
THE ROLE OF AUTHORITY FIGURES
Yes, it’s true; opinion polls indicate the public is interested in UFOs. Advertising executives have long known this, but the fascination is for most part quite superficial. Why is this? I suspect partly because of the massive denial of authority figures that say, “There is nothing to it.”
After all, the world is so complex; we rely on authorities to put to use vast amounts of data to make what we hope are reasonable decisions. Most people have little understanding of the technological “miracles” that science has achieved, but they are grateful and trust the devices, like planes, autos and computers to work reliably.
Needing to trust leaders I suspect might be built into our biology. For a million years before civilization was established, hunter-gatherers worked in small groups to survive. Shamans that could use primitive psi abilities combined with careful observations of nature played a decisive role. Leadership was a question of life and death and those clans that had the best leaders, the “shamen” and “sha-women” that knew how best to kill the animals or find the healing herbs and deliver the babies, played a critical role in survival. So most of us have a strong tendency to “follow the leader” and when this becomes extreme “We the People “become ”we the sheeple.”
LINKING UFOs TO SOLUTIONS FOR MAJOR PROBLEMS
For the UFO question to have a truly major impact on the mass consciousness, this subject will need to be transformed from an entertaining diversion and become a way of addressing the seemingly insurmountable problems our planet is facing. This is already being attempted by those within the UFO community that discuss the possibility of downloading into our technological culture the secrets of the energy propulsion systems of flying saucers. So-called “free energy” in one fell swoop might eliminate poverty and pollution, thus possibly reversing or at least slowing down global warming.
Of course in order for the so-called ETs to give us such devices they might understandably insist on a peaceful transformation of our planet to replace what ufologist Stanton Friedman called our perpetual state of “tribal warfare.” This is going to be a hard sel. This is because for the last seventy years the military and political leaders, the mass media and academia, all in service to their corporate masters, have mostly insisted when it comes to UFOs, “There is nothing to it.”
HE WHO PAYS THE PIPER CALLS THE TUNE
From the control groups’ point of view, those clandestine forces determined to keep a lid on the UFO issue, an important strategy would be to recruit authority figures to block any significant discussion of flying saucers. Opinion makers that step out of line would therefore find that their access to funding has been cut off. This is all done behind the scenes and is quite effective in my opinion.
In the USA the National Academy of Sciences has made it perfectly clear that UFO studies are not part of the “legitimate” agenda for professional science. As a result, scientists that state this subject should be studied will themselves unable to secure research grants, thus effectively ending their careers.
In broadcast journalism, reporters and talk show hosts that might attempt to inform the public in a detailed way would likely find themselves without corporate sponsors. The major newspapers are controlled through their editorial boards that in turn are dependent on corporate advertisements to continue publishing.
This analysis is not a conspiracy theory. I describe the way power works. In the former Soviet Union it was the political dictatorship of the Communist Party that attempted to regulate almost every aspect of people’s lives. That social experiment failed miserably. In the West however social control is far more sophisticated, decentralized and uses the knowledge of social psychology called “public relations” to effectively manipulate the masses.
RESISTANCE TO CHANGE ALSO COMES FROM WITHIN
On the individual level our tendency to identify with our thoughts results in profound attachments to old ideas. This resistance to changing one’s point of view flows from the ego itself. People strive to defend their religion, political ideology, or moral customs to the point where some would even kill to maintain them. Just look at the present situation in Syria, or at the millions killed centuries ago during the Protestant Reformation in Europe.
Something similar in my opinion applies to acknowledging the high probability that the ET explanation for the flying saucer phenomenon is true. Such a realization threatens to radically change the conceptual paradigm of our entire civilization. Since humans so strongly identify with their present beliefs, it is understandable that many reject such a brave new worldview in which we might have to accept an ET presence.
UFO INTELLIGENCE HAS A TIGER BY THE TAIL.
What about the intelligence responsible for flying saucers? Could “they” (whoever they ultimately turn out to be) simply fill the sky with structured craft? Or stage the proverbial “landing on the White House Lawn?” Such actions would certainly convince the masses that flying saucers are of the greatest importance. In my judgment this scenario is the least one likely to ever take place. Given the militaristic mindset of our civilization, a sudden realization of the reality of UFOs could be catastrophic. My guess is that careful gradual efforts to alert us to their importance is the game plan of the intelligences responsible for the phenomenon and probably within some elements of the establishment as well.
So what will it take to change mass public opinion on the flying saucer question? If the alleged ETs continue the present pattern of interactions, millions of individual sightings yearly, interspersed with occasional massive waves, I imagine that there will be opportunities to slowly build public awareness by a responsible program of education.
RESPONSIBLE PROGRAM OF PUBLIC EDUCATION
This will require UFO enthusiasts to discipline the crazies in our midst, think creatively and most importantly of all build stable, well-financed organizations to carry out the educational campaign. All this will need to be done in the face of powerful opposition by corporate groups that have great experience in controlling public opinion, the economy and their political operatives that run governments.
“TURNING PAGES IN A PLAY BOOK
Can we trust UFO intelligence to follow what we imagine is their existing “game plan?” I suppose not. UFO researcher Michael Lindemann once said that we should never assume that we can think like the so-called “aliens.” Nevertheless the ever-changing pattern of interactions, as pointed out by UFO researcher Grant Cameron, appear to be as if the aliens are turning the pages of a “play book.” This can be seen as the appearance of “Men in Black” in the 1960s, so called “abductions” in the 70s, crop circles in the 80s and continuous past and present mental interactions with millions of experiencers. Many of whom are instilled with a sense of mission. They are striving to convince their fellow Earthlings that we should look up and accept what our “lying eyes” are seeing.
My guess is that UFO intelligence is able to present us with a multitude of creative new ways to wake us up from our collective stupor concerning their “wonders in the sky.” I am of the opinion that their presence is non-harmful and very likely to be beneficial to mankind. Bringing others to this hopeful perspective I imagine is a challenge that UFO activists will continue to face for some time.
~
About the Author: Joseph Burkes MD is a Board Certified Internal Medicine physician. He retired from the Southern California Permanente Group after 30 years of service in 2008. During the 1960s through the 1980s he was a volunteer peace and social justice activist working with Physicians for Social Responsibility, The United Farm Workers Union and pro-labor coalitions that were part of the occupational health and safety movement.
Dr. Burkes volunteered as a Working Group Coordinator for the Close Encounters of the 5th Initiative from 1992 till 1998. He has continued to study the flying saucer phenomenon working with the Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial and Extraordinary Experiences (FREE) and the Peruvian contact network now called Rahma. Joseph Burkes MD is co-author of the book “Paths to Contact” edited by Jeff Becker. He also has co-authored a chapter on UAP medical healings with researcher Preston Dennett in the FREE compendium “Beyond UFOs.”
~
Friday, August 16, 2019
Wei Wu Wei
~
"How many of the ways (disciplines, exercises, practices) recommended as helpful, or even necessary, for the attainment of Satori are not in fact consequences of that state erroneously suggested as means?" --Terence Grey(Wei Wu Wei)
"How many of the ways (disciplines, exercises, practices) recommended as helpful, or even necessary, for the attainment of Satori are not in fact consequences of that state erroneously suggested as means?" --Terence Grey(Wei Wu Wei)
~
Chemtrails Conspiracy Theory
https://keith.seas.harvard.edu/chemtrails-conspiracy-theory
(link is also in post title)
Edit 8/31/2022:
A couple of comments from a YouTube video: What in the World Are They Spraying? (Full Length)
2,001,323 views Dec 20, 2010 http://www.facebook.com/WhatintheWorl...
17K
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Justin Wallis
11.7K subscribers
-----------------
Grommo
Grommo
3 years ago
What substance are clouds made from that gives them the ability to stay in the sky for hours and start off small and grow bigger? ie if you have a collection of that same substance it can do the same thing regardless what it's called. Does anyone disagree?
Do clouds still behave the same way if you change the spelling for them? ie Do clouds still behave the same way if you call them by the German name? Do "wolke" still have the ability to stay in the sky for hours and grow bigger? What substance are wolke made from?.... the same thing as english clouds right? That substance is water condensation, so water condensation can stay in the sky for hours, regardless if you call it clouds, or wolke, or contrails, it's still water condensation and can persist for hours.
It's amazing so many people can be tricked by propaganda hoax videos to not understanding that.
1
Belfrey1
Belfrey1
8 years ago
But I do remember seeing it in my childhood, and there's plenty of documentation of it. Consider the 1970 paper from the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences ("Airborne observations of contrail effects on the thermal radiation budget"), stating: "The spreading out of jet contrails into extensive cirrus sheets is a familiar sight. Often, when persistent conditions exist from 25,000 to 40,000 ft, several long contrails increase in number and gradually merge into an almost solid interlaced sheet."
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
What if the Universe is Conscious? | Joe Rogan and Duncan Trussell
For a while I actually thought I was the only one...
Friday, June 28, 2019
"-- dear old Ireland, where the beautiful Shannon flows."
~
Approx. 5.5"x8.25", watercolor on paper.
The title is from the quote of unknown origin I put right across the thing, like a greeting card - well it was my Mom's birthday or Xmas or something - I was making a greeting card. Below is the unedited scan of it just as I found it, in a manilla envelope, stuck in the closet where it's undoubtedly been ever since I gave it to her in 1975.
Well how's this gonna look
the green(ish) background
Approx. 5.5"x8.25", watercolor on paper.
The title is from the quote of unknown origin I put right across the thing, like a greeting card - well it was my Mom's birthday or Xmas or something - I was making a greeting card. Below is the unedited scan of it just as I found it, in a manilla envelope, stuck in the closet where it's undoubtedly been ever since I gave it to her in 1975.
the green(ish) background
~
Saturday, June 22, 2019
the Ghooric Zone
~
--
~
"The human species is too young to have beliefs; we need to stick with the questions." -- Anne Strieber
~
~
"The human species is too young to have beliefs; we need to stick with the questions." -- Anne Strieber
~
Thursday, June 13, 2019
Driving and Drawing
~
A couple of ballpoint sketches in a 3.5"x5" sketchpad, from a drive this past Sunday.
Lake Frierson State Park...
...and the highway swooping past Crowley's Ridge State Park.
A couple of ballpoint sketches in a 3.5"x5" sketchpad, from a drive this past Sunday.
Lake Frierson State Park...
...and the highway swooping past Crowley's Ridge State Park.
~
Sunday, June 2, 2019
The Case Against Art--John Zerzan - Primitivism
Mr Zerzan seems to have failed to notice that the original "culture of symbols" is not what he calls art; that is to say, the original art form is thought itself. Maybe...
Thursday, May 30, 2019
New work
~
Ground Up, 20"x16" oil on canvas, May 2019
I read parts of a book at the county library back in the early 70's, called The Vanguard Artist, from the early or mid 60's. Various leading abstract painters and sculptors were interviewed. One of them said the stuff you keep hidden in the closet, wouldn't show anyone 'cause you think it's no good, that's probably your most creative work.
This piece reminds me of that statement, mostly the first part.
Ground Up, 20"x16" oil on canvas, May 2019
I read parts of a book at the county library back in the early 70's, called The Vanguard Artist, from the early or mid 60's. Various leading abstract painters and sculptors were interviewed. One of them said the stuff you keep hidden in the closet, wouldn't show anyone 'cause you think it's no good, that's probably your most creative work.
This piece reminds me of that statement, mostly the first part.
~
Friday, May 24, 2019
Rouault on critics
~
"A painter who loves his art must be careful not to see too much of critics and men of letters. These gentlemen, however unconsciously, distort everything, thinking that they are explaining it—the artist's thought, sensibility, and intentions. They take away his strength, just as Delilah took away Samson's. They have no gift for nuances, and they have an instinctive aversion for everything that is beyond their reach and baffles them." ~Georges Rouault
"A painter who loves his art must be careful not to see too much of critics and men of letters. These gentlemen, however unconsciously, distort everything, thinking that they are explaining it—the artist's thought, sensibility, and intentions. They take away his strength, just as Delilah took away Samson's. They have no gift for nuances, and they have an instinctive aversion for everything that is beyond their reach and baffles them." ~Georges Rouault
~
Image: Georges Rouault, The Three Judges, 1913, Gouache and oil on board; Dimensions: 29 7/8 x 41 5/8" (75.9 x 105.7 cm); Credit: Sam A., MoMA
~
Saturday, May 11, 2019
Thursday, May 9, 2019
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Friday, February 22, 2019
Friday, February 1, 2019
"It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all"
~
The argument from reason:
Metaphysical naturalism: the view that nature as studied by the natural sciences is all that exists. Naturalists deny the existence of a supernatural God, souls, an afterlife, or anything supernatural. Nothing exists outside or beyond the physical universe.
The argument from reason seeks to show that naturalism is self-refuting, or otherwise false and indefensible.
According to Lewis,
"One absolutely central inconsistency ruins [the naturalistic worldview].... The whole picture professes to depend on inferences from observed facts. Unless inference is valid, the whole picture disappears.... [U]nless Reason is an absolute--all is in ruins. Yet those who ask me to believe this world picture also ask me to believe that Reason is simply the unforeseen and unintended by-product of mindless matter at one stage of its endless and aimless becoming. Here is flat contradiction. They ask me at the same moment to accept a conclusion and to discredit the only testimony on which that conclusion can be based."
— C. S. Lewis, "Is Theology Poetry?", The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses
-------------
Similar views by other thinkers
--------------------------------
Philosophers such as Victor Reppert,[5] William Hasker[6] and Alvin Plantinga[7] have expanded on the argument from reason, and credit C.S. Lewis as an important influence on their thinking.
Lewis never claimed that he invented the argument from reason; in fact, he refers to it as a "venerable philosophical chestnut."[8] Early versions of the argument occur in the works of Arthur Balfour (see, e.g., The Foundations of Belief, 1879, chap. 13) and G.K. Chesterton.
In Chesterton's 1908 book Orthodoxy, in a chapter titled "The Suicide of Thought", he writes of the "great and possible peril . . . that the human intellect is free to destroy itself....It is idle to talk always of the alternative of reason and faith. It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all. If you are merely a sceptic, you must sooner or later ask yourself the question, "Why should anything go right; even observation and deduction? Why should not good logic be as misleading as bad logic? They are both movements in the brain of a bewildered ape?""
Similarly, Chesterton asserts that the argument is a fundamental, if unstated, tenet of Thomism in his 1933 book St. Thomas Aquinas: "The Dumb Ox":
"Thus, even those who appreciate the metaphysical depth of Thomism in other matters have expressed surprise that he does not deal at all with what many now think the main metaphysical question; whether we can prove that the primary act of recognition of any reality is real. The answer is that St. Thomas recognised instantly, what so many modern sceptics have begun to suspect rather laboriously; that a man must either answer that question in the affirmative, or else never answer any question, never ask any question, never even exist intellectually, to answer or to ask. I suppose it is true in a sense that a man can be a fundamental sceptic, but he cannot be anything else: certainly not even a defender of fundamental scepticism. If a man feels that all the movements of his own mind are meaningless, then his mind is meaningless, and he is meaningless; and it does not mean anything to attempt to discover his meaning. Most fundamental sceptics appear to survive, because they are not consistently sceptical and not at all fundamental. They will first deny everything and then admit something, if for the sake of argument--or often rather of attack without argument. I saw an almost startling example of this essential frivolity in a professor of final scepticism, in a paper the other day. A man wrote to say that he accepted nothing but Solipsism, and added that he had often wondered it was not a more common philosophy. Now Solipsism simply means that a man believes in his own existence, but not in anybody or anything else. And it never struck this simple sophist, that if his philosophy was true, there obviously were no other philosophers to profess it."
In Miracles, Lewis himself quotes J. B. S. Haldane, who appeals to a similar line of reasoning in his 1927 book, Possible Worlds: "If my mental processes are determined wholly by the motions of atoms in my brain, I have no reason to suppose that my beliefs are true ... and hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms."
The argument from reason:
Metaphysical naturalism: the view that nature as studied by the natural sciences is all that exists. Naturalists deny the existence of a supernatural God, souls, an afterlife, or anything supernatural. Nothing exists outside or beyond the physical universe.
The argument from reason seeks to show that naturalism is self-refuting, or otherwise false and indefensible.
According to Lewis,
"One absolutely central inconsistency ruins [the naturalistic worldview].... The whole picture professes to depend on inferences from observed facts. Unless inference is valid, the whole picture disappears.... [U]nless Reason is an absolute--all is in ruins. Yet those who ask me to believe this world picture also ask me to believe that Reason is simply the unforeseen and unintended by-product of mindless matter at one stage of its endless and aimless becoming. Here is flat contradiction. They ask me at the same moment to accept a conclusion and to discredit the only testimony on which that conclusion can be based."
— C. S. Lewis, "Is Theology Poetry?", The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses
-------------
Similar views by other thinkers
--------------------------------
Philosophers such as Victor Reppert,[5] William Hasker[6] and Alvin Plantinga[7] have expanded on the argument from reason, and credit C.S. Lewis as an important influence on their thinking.
Lewis never claimed that he invented the argument from reason; in fact, he refers to it as a "venerable philosophical chestnut."[8] Early versions of the argument occur in the works of Arthur Balfour (see, e.g., The Foundations of Belief, 1879, chap. 13) and G.K. Chesterton.
In Chesterton's 1908 book Orthodoxy, in a chapter titled "The Suicide of Thought", he writes of the "great and possible peril . . . that the human intellect is free to destroy itself....It is idle to talk always of the alternative of reason and faith. It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all. If you are merely a sceptic, you must sooner or later ask yourself the question, "Why should anything go right; even observation and deduction? Why should not good logic be as misleading as bad logic? They are both movements in the brain of a bewildered ape?""
Similarly, Chesterton asserts that the argument is a fundamental, if unstated, tenet of Thomism in his 1933 book St. Thomas Aquinas: "The Dumb Ox":
"Thus, even those who appreciate the metaphysical depth of Thomism in other matters have expressed surprise that he does not deal at all with what many now think the main metaphysical question; whether we can prove that the primary act of recognition of any reality is real. The answer is that St. Thomas recognised instantly, what so many modern sceptics have begun to suspect rather laboriously; that a man must either answer that question in the affirmative, or else never answer any question, never ask any question, never even exist intellectually, to answer or to ask. I suppose it is true in a sense that a man can be a fundamental sceptic, but he cannot be anything else: certainly not even a defender of fundamental scepticism. If a man feels that all the movements of his own mind are meaningless, then his mind is meaningless, and he is meaningless; and it does not mean anything to attempt to discover his meaning. Most fundamental sceptics appear to survive, because they are not consistently sceptical and not at all fundamental. They will first deny everything and then admit something, if for the sake of argument--or often rather of attack without argument. I saw an almost startling example of this essential frivolity in a professor of final scepticism, in a paper the other day. A man wrote to say that he accepted nothing but Solipsism, and added that he had often wondered it was not a more common philosophy. Now Solipsism simply means that a man believes in his own existence, but not in anybody or anything else. And it never struck this simple sophist, that if his philosophy was true, there obviously were no other philosophers to profess it."
In Miracles, Lewis himself quotes J. B. S. Haldane, who appeals to a similar line of reasoning in his 1927 book, Possible Worlds: "If my mental processes are determined wholly by the motions of atoms in my brain, I have no reason to suppose that my beliefs are true ... and hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms."
~
Top image: Rembrandt (possibly)
Text: Wikipedia
Bottom image: Reality eran_folio_by_pyxelated
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Monday, January 14, 2019
"All Sad People Like Poetry"
~
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparell’d in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;—
Turn wheresoe’er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
But there’s a Tree, of many, one,
A single Field which I have looked upon,
Both of them speak of something that is gone:
The Pansy at my feet
Doth the same tale repeat:
Whither is fled the visionary gleam?
Where is it now, the glory and the dream?
from Wordsworth's Ode on Intimations of Immortality
image and title from Penny Dreadful, the tv show
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparell’d in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;—
Turn wheresoe’er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
But there’s a Tree, of many, one,
A single Field which I have looked upon,
Both of them speak of something that is gone:
The Pansy at my feet
Doth the same tale repeat:
Whither is fled the visionary gleam?
Where is it now, the glory and the dream?
~
from Wordsworth's Ode on Intimations of Immortality
image and title from Penny Dreadful, the tv show
~
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