tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228648840567624890.post1420489214726161280..comments2023-02-08T03:16:24.937-05:00Comments on Saturday Morning @ The Story-of- Everything Place: What Is Spirit?John Kotrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471048328678222796noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228648840567624890.post-87963863972281125292007-12-12T15:19:00.000-05:002007-12-12T15:19:00.000-05:00We describe Spirit as “indescribable”. And, the ...We describe Spirit as “indescribable”. And, the crux of it lies in that last sentence about describing the indescribable. How can we describe something that is indescribable? We can’t, so, instead we make it a paradox. Kind of like the old Certs commercial, “it’s two, two mints in one”. Parker Palmer, in his book The Courage to Teach, talks about paradox this way. The opposite of a truth is an untruth, whereas the opposite of a profound truth is a more profound truth. And so it is with Spirit, it is a most profound truth that we each discover for ourselves and make into our own more profound truth. As cold is not the opposite of heat, it is merely the absence of heat, so we know spirit by its absence or presence. It is an indescribable truth. The line from John Denver’s song Country Roads “country roads, take me home, to the place I belong” evoke a certain spirit as do the words from Robert Frost’s poem Stopping in the Woods on a Snowy Evening “for I have miles to go before I sleep”. And, isn’t it a miracle that we can see the connection between the two?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228648840567624890.post-58999673626880294712007-10-01T12:16:00.000-04:002007-10-01T12:16:00.000-04:00My answer to the question is “all of the above”. A...My answer to the question is “all of the above”. Although I cannot taste, touch or smell the spirit, I know something is within me. Something drove Michelangelo to paint the lunettes on the wet plaster of the Sistine Chapel – without the preliminary cartoon drawings – as well as sculpt David from a small model. This “something” must have been Spirit, consciousness or God. As an artist, I think I can understand the process. Since Michelangelo made numerous sketches and drawings, it seemed logical that when the time arrived for the painting the lunettes, he knew what composition he would use and the idea (spirit) led him to the fresh plaster or marble (matter) to bring life to a ceiling or a stone.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228648840567624890.post-61288283974263214852007-10-01T12:11:00.000-04:002007-10-01T12:11:00.000-04:00Here's something from Loren Eiseley's "The Immense...Here's something from Loren Eiseley's "The Immense Journey," about Alfred Russel Wallace, who was co-discoverer, with Darwin, of the mechanism of natural selection:<BR/><BR/>"Wallace challenged the whole Darwinian position on man by insisting that artistic, mathematical, and musical abilities could not be explained on the basis of natural selection and the struggle for existence. Something else, he contended, some unknown spiritual element must have been at work in the elaboration of the human brain." (page 84)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228648840567624890.post-59711707577160172732007-10-01T12:03:00.000-04:002007-10-01T12:03:00.000-04:00Ritergal's is a comment that keeps me aware that m...Ritergal's is a comment that keeps me aware that matters of one's "story of everything" are not decided by the intellect alone. All of life's experiences come into play, the heart as well as the head.<BR/><BR/>I'm also surprised by the number of times I've heard about Teilhard de Chardin from commenters. I thought I'd pass on a quote from Thomas Berry and Mary Evelyn Tucker's new book "Evening Thoughts," published by Sierra Club Books. Berry was once president of the American Teilhard Association, and his thoughts are reminders of Teilhard:<BR/><BR/>"Indeed, since the universe is a singular reality, consciousness must, from its beginning, be a dimension of reality, even a dimension of the primordial atom that carries within itself the total destiny of the universe."John Kotrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02471048328678222796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228648840567624890.post-70771834866685076222007-09-28T16:32:00.000-04:002007-09-28T16:32:00.000-04:00If I had to choose just one, I'd go with (b), but ...If I had to choose just one, I'd go with (b), but I'm glad we have the (e) option! For my own part, I adhere to the belief attributed to Teilhard de Chardin that "... we are spiritual beings having a human experience." <BR/><BR/>To me, that means our spirit, essence, soul, or what-have-you existed before this current embodiment and will endure beyond it. I neither know nor care about the details, but if I didn't believe this, I'd have little reason to get up in the morning and ponder such deep topics as this.<BR/><BR/>When I survey the man-made world, I see nothing, tangible or conceptual, that did not begin as an idea or vision in someone's mind. I cannot accept that the ability to have ideas and act on them is due to some sort of cosmic "spontaneous combustion." I have concluded that thought and intention preceded the physical world of matter. <BR/><BR/>Please do not ask me to explain the origin of that thought, nor to accept any explanation of where matter came from (with or without preceding thought). At some point it reduces to an article of faith, and isn't it deliciously ironic that even science must ultimately rely on faith.Sharon Lippincotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16269757107845288737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228648840567624890.post-60329453916227725702007-09-28T11:19:00.000-04:002007-09-28T11:19:00.000-04:00hot off the kitchen table--Spirit, natural as any ...hot off the kitchen table--<BR/><BR/>Spirit, natural as any miracle,<BR/>Great matter's second stage,<BR/>Provoked, shaped with clay,<BR/>Coaxed, warmed, fired to Self.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com