Descartes

" THE MASTERY OF NATURE IS TO BE ACHIEVED THROUGH NUMBER AND MEASURE "

- "The Angel" who appeared to René Descartes in Ulm, in September 1619 and told him to establish on Earth the doctrine of Rational Materialism

" ...and Rene Descartes was a drunken fart,

'I drink, therefore, I am' "

- The Four Bruces

The Irony of Science

"I suppose, accordingly, that all the things which I see are false; fictitious. I believe that none of those objects which my fallacious memory represents ever existed; I suppose that I possess no senses; I believe that body, figure, extension, motion, and place are merely fictions of my mind. What is there, then, that can be esteemed true? Perhaps this only, that there is absolutely nothing certain. But how do I know that there is not something different altogether from the objects I have now enumerated, of which it is impossible to entertain the slightest doubt? Is there not a God, or some being, by whatever name I may designate Him, who causes these thoughts to arise in my mind? But why suppose such a Being, for it may be I myself am capable of producing them? Am I, then, at least not something? But I before denied that I possessed senses or a body; I hesitate, however, for what follows from that? Am I so dependent on the body and the senses that without these I cannot exist? But I had the persuasion that there was absolutely nothing in the world, that there was no sky and no earth, neither minds nor bodies; was I not, therefore, at the same time, persuaded that I did not exist? Far from it; I assuredly existed, since I was persuaded. But there is I know not what being, who is possessed at once of the highest power and the deepest cunning, who is constantly employing all his ingenuity in deceiving me. Doubtless, then, I exist, since I am deceived; and, let him deceive me as he may, he can never bring it about that I am nothing, so long as I shall be conscious that I am something. So that it must, in fine, be maintained, all things being maturely and carefully considered, that this proposition: I am, I exist; is necessarily true each time it is expressed by me, or conceived in my mind."

~ René Descartes

Probably one of my all-time favorite philosophers, much of his work laid the foundation for modern western philosophy and set the foundation for the modern scientific method. I would also consider Descartes to be the most influential character to agnosticism. He doubted God, he doubted the objective world around him that he perceived through his senses, he even doubted he had a physical body (Hundreds of years before the invention of virtual reality!). He even doubted his own existence, until he found this was the one thing that could not be doubted, the fact that he was consciously aware of himself doubting his own existence proved he must exist! The famous phrase “Cogito Ergo Sum” otherwise known as “I think, therefore I am.” Our own conscious experience is in fact the only thing we can be certain to exist without a doubt.

Little known fact:

In 1619, while in his early twenties and serving for the Hapsburgian army, one night Descartes has a series of three dreams. In these dreams an Angel appeared to him and told him "The conquest of nature is to be achieved through measure and number." Ultimately the revelation he had from these dreams is what inspired him to persue his works.

So the foundations of modern science were based on a revelation from an angel in a dream. HA! Talk about ironic, how very rational indeed

Purgation

The Penitent Man Kneels Before God

There are 3 parts to Penitence :

• Confession ("I am at Fault")

• Contrition ("I am Sorry")

• Satisfaction ("You have done What is Required to Make Amends")

Or, alternatively, you could just decide you prefer to sh*t all over everything :

WINTER, 1691

SALEM VILLAGE, 
MASSACHUSETTS COLONY

It is Seventy-One years after The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, and England has not yet signed a formal charter.

The New World, still a wilderness frontier, has no clear governing body.

The Winters are bitterly cold, there is little food or dry wood to burn, and hostile Indians threaten this small outpost of settlers.

The only existing law is provided by the Puritan Church, which demands that individual sins be cleansed through PUBLIC HUMILIATION.

Into This World a handful of girls are about to unleash a terror so great that it will forever curse the town of Salem.

Ann Putnam: 

Who will forgive us... who will forgive us?

NOT OPRAH

Justice
Prudence
Temperance
Fortitude 

+

Faith
Hope

Charity

Timon of Athens

"...that idea of The Far-Off Man, way, way out there,  but what does The Hermit tell us...?


If you try this get as lonely as you can get, you become visibly aware which you can't get away from it, because when you get very lonely very fast you become extremely thin and everything that goes on is or now ordinarily unnoticed cum spiritum 

First of all, you will find that there is a  Community of Insects.

And they are tremendously interested in You, and not necessarily hostile, in maybe some cases they are so.

But alone in The Forest, when you get really quiet, you'll notice little creatures will come and inspect you look you all over an
they'll go away and tell their friends and they'll come and look to see what it is and you become aware of every single sound and you realize that alone you're in the midst of a vast burning crowd - it may not be human but it's everything else - so
that the the point of being honest the discipline leads you to understand that 
You can't Resign

The lonelier you are, the more you're joined together with everything else. "

" Look at it - from another point of view, supposing I say everybody's playing the game Me First  - now, I'm going to play the game You First, to use the phrase of Bonhoeffer who called Jesus The Man for Others - now, let's see if we could play that game instead of Me First, You First 

Or,

"I'm the one see who's so generous I'm the one who's so loving so self-effacing and all you insolent brats ...."

- Alan Watts

" This controversial play follows the declining fortunes of a man of extravagant contradictions.  

The fabulously rich Timon believes all his friends to be as open-hearted and generous as himself. When his wealth suddenly evaporates, however, he discovers the truth and his altruism turns to a bitter hatred of mankind. Stirred up by the cynical Apemantus, Timon retreats to the woods where he plots the destruction of Athens, the city that had formerly seemed to embody everything pleasurable and civilized. The cosmic scope of his hatred is communicated in a series of powerful and disturbing dramatic tableaux. 

The Curse :

SCENE I. Without the walls of Athens.

Enter TIMON

TIMON

Let me look back upon thee. O thou wall,
That girdlest in those wolves, dive in the earth,
And fence not Athens! Matrons, turn incontinent!
Obedience fail in children! slaves and fools,
Pluck the grave wrinkled senate from the bench,
And minister in their steads! to general filths
Convert o' the instant, green virginity,
Do 't in your parents' eyes! bankrupts, hold fast;
Rather than render back, out with your knives,
And cut your trusters' throats! bound servants, steal!
Large-handed robbers your grave masters are,
And pill by law. Maid, to thy master's bed;
Thy mistress is o' the brothel! Son of sixteen,
pluck the lined crutch from thy old limping sire,
With it beat out his brains! Piety, and fear,
Religion to the gods, peace, justice, truth,
Domestic awe, night-rest, and neighbourhood,
Instruction, manners, mysteries, and trades,
Degrees, observances, customs, and laws,
Decline to your confounding contraries,
And let confusion live! Plagues, incident to men,
Your potent and infectious fevers heap
On Athens, ripe for stroke! Thou cold sciatica,
Cripple our senators, that their limbs may halt
As lamely as their manners. Lust and liberty
Creep in the minds and marrows of our youth,
That 'gainst the stream of virtue they may strive,
And drown themselves in riot! Itches, blains,
Sow all the Athenian bosoms; and their crop
Be general leprosy! Breath infect breath,
at their society, as their friendship, may
merely poison! Nothing I'll bear from thee,
But nakedness, thou detestable town!
Take thou that too, with multiplying bans!
Timon will to the woods; where he shall find
The unkindest beast more kinder than mankind.
The gods confound--hear me, you good gods all--
The Athenians both within and out that wall!
And grant, as Timon grows, his hate may grow
To the whole race of mankind, high and low! Amen.

Exit

Jasmine

MALE REPORTER
Uh, excuse me, Jasmine. 
What can we do to show our love for you?

JASMINE

You don't have to do anything except love one another. 
(smiles broadly) 
Although a temple would be nice. Something massive and awe-inspiring, yet warm and nurturing, celebrating the gentle pleasures of a peaceful, precious coexistence where violent behav—

" Any name of God which is found in the Bible can not be applied to the Deity prior to His self-manifestation in the Creation, because the letters of those names were produced only after the emanation. . . . 

Moreover, a name implies a limitation in its bearer; and this is impossible in connection with the “Ein Sof”. "

WOMAN

Now, what're we going to call me?

FRED

You don't have a name!

WOMAN

No.

FRED

You should have a name. 

WOMAN

Yes.

FRED

I don't know. 

I can't imagine one word, you know, summing you up. 

I mean, you're a superior being. 

Shouldn't you— Don't you want to choose it yourself?

WOMAN

No one born to this earth can choose their own name. 

They are named by those who love them. 

There are some rules even I must follow.

BORG: 

What is your designation?

LAFORGE: 

Designation?

BORG: 

Third of Five. 

CRUSHER: 

You mean our names. 

We don't have designations. 

We have names. I'm Beverly. This is Geordi.

BORG: 

Do I have a name?

LAFORGE: 

Do you want one?

[ Notice how they do not let  him answer - they just decide for him. ]

BORG: 

A name.

CRUSHER: 

I'm Beverly, he's Geordi, and you.

BORG: 

You 

CRUSHER: 

You 

LAFORGE: 

No, no, wait a minute. 

That's it. Hugh. 

What do you think?

BORG: 

You.

LAFORGE: 

No, not you. 

Hugh.

BORG: 

Hugh.

CRUSHER: 

Okay. Now, I'm Beverly.

LAFORGE: 

I'm Geordi.

BORG: 

We are Hugh.

[ Because 7 of 9 is most assuredly not Anika Hansen - all later claims to the contrary notwithstanding. ]

7 : 

When I was separated from the Collective I, too, was damaged. 
I was no longer connected to the hive mind. 
I lost many abilities that I had acquired as a drone, but I adapted. 

NEELIX: 

Because Captain Janeway didn't give up on you. 
She kept trying to help you. 

7 : 

But not by restoring me to what I'd been. 
By helping me discover what I could become.

"And God separated the light from the darkness. God call the light day, and the darkness he called night." 

And, again, the fact that things are named is also very important. 

You see this later with Adam, because God gives Adam the job of naming all the animals. It’s sort of like the animals don't actually exist until they’re named. 

That's another indication of the authors of the Bible attempting to come to terms with the fact that our cognitive faculties and our ability to speak have something to do with the way that we cast chaotic potential into actuality.

 We can't really get a grip on something before we have a name for it, which is why, for example, you all have names. 

Everything that you encounter has to have a name, because before it has a name, it's just part of the blurry background. 

You could say it exists before it has a name, and that's True, but it's also true that it doesn't exist before it has a name. 

As soon as you give something a name, its nature changes. 

You’ve transformed it into something that's not so much mere potential anymore. 

It’s, at least, on its way to being actuality, and to being a tool. And so the act of naming is repeated continually in the first chapters of the Bible. 

The reason for that is this continued emphasis on the importance of consciousness, conscious articulation, and speech. "

Red Matter

See, see, where Christ's blood streams in the firmament!

One drop would save my soul, half a drop: ah, my Christ!—

Rend not my heart for naming of my Christ!

Yet will I call on him: O, spare me, Lucifer!--

Where is it now? ‘Tis gone:

   And see, where God stretcheth out his arm,

 And bends his ireful brows!

Mountains and hills, come, come, and fall on me,

And hide me from the heavy wrath of God!

No, no?

Then will I headlong run into the earth

The Old Man of The Sea

They observed the winds and the air, and the matters of which Arda was made, of iron and stone and silver and gold and many substances: 

but of all these 

Water they most greatly praised. 

And it is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance else that is in this Earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen.

Now the Children of Ilúvatar are Elves and Men, the Firstborn and the Followers. And amid all the splendours of the World, its vast halls and spaces, and its wheeling fires, Ilúvatar chose a place for their habitation in the Deeps of Time and in the midst of the innumerable stars. And this habitation might seem a little thing to those who consider only the majesty of the Ainur, and not their terrible sharpness; as who should take the whole field of Arda for the foundation of a pillar and so raise it until the cone of its summit were more bitter than a needle; or who consider only the immeasurable vastness of the World, which still the Ainur are shaping, and not the minute precision to which they shape all things therein. But when the Ainur had beheld this habitation in a vision and had seen the Children of Ilúvatar arise therein, then many of the most mighty among them bent all their thought and their desire towards that place. And of these Melkor was the chief, even as he was in the beginning the greatest of the Ainur who took part in the Music. And he feigned, even to himself at first, that he desired to go thither and order all things for the good of the Children of Ilúvatar, controlling the turmoils of the heat and the cold that had come to pass through him. But he desired rather to subdue to his will both Elves and Men, envying the gifts with which Ilúvatar promised to endow them; and he wished himself to have subject and servants, and to be called Lord, and to be a master over other wills.

But the other Ainur looked upon this habitation set within the vast spaces of the World, which the Elves call Arda, the Earth; and their hearts rejoiced in light, and their eyes beholding many colours were filled with gladness; but because of the roaring of the sea they felt a great unquiet. And they observed the winds and the air, and the matters of which Arda was made, of iron and stone and silver and gold and many substances: but of all these water they most greatly praised. And it is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance else that is in this Earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen.

Now to water had that Ainu whom the Elves can Ulmo turned his thought, and of all most deeply was he instructed by Ilúvatar in music. But of the airs and winds Manwë most had pondered, who is the noblest of the Ainur. Of the fabric of Earth had Aulë thought, to whom Ilúvatar had given skin and knowledge scarce less than to Melkor; but the delight and pride of Aulë is in the deed of making, and in the thing made, and neither in possession nor in his own mastery; wherefore he gives and hoards not, and is free from care, passing ever on to some new work.

And Ilúvatar spoke to Ulmo, and said: 'Seest thou not how here in this little realm in the Deeps of Time Melkor hath made war upon thy province? He hath bethought him of bitter cold immoderate, and yet hath not destroyed the beauty of thy fountains, nor of my clear pools. Behold the snow, and the cunning work of frost! Melkor hath devised heats and fire without restraint, and hath not dried up thy desire nor utterly quelled the music of the sea. Behold rather the height and glory of the clouds, and the everchanging mists; and listen to the fall of rain upon the Earth! And in these clouds thou art drawn nearer to Manwë, thy friend, whom thou lovest.'

Then Ulmo answered: 'Truly, Water is become now fairer than my heart imagined, neither had my secret thought conceived the snowflake, nor in all my music was contained the falling of the rain. I will seek Manwë, that he and I may make melodies for ever to my delight!' And Manwë and Ulmo have from the beginning been allied, and in all things have served most faithfully the purpose of Ilúvatar.

But even as Ulmo spoke, and while the Ainur were yet gazing upon this vision, it was taken away and hidden from their sight; and it seemed to them that in that moment they perceived a new thing, Darkness, which they had not known before except in thought. But they had become enamoured of the beauty of the vision and engrossed in the unfolding of the World which came there to being, and their minds were filled with it; for the history was incomplete and the circles of time not full-wrought when the vision was taken away. And some have said that the vision ceased ere the fulfilment of the Dominion of Men and the fading of the Firstborn; wherefore, though the Music is over all, the Valar have not seen as with sight the Later Ages or the ending of the World.

Then there was unrest among the Ainur; but Ilúvatar called to them, and said: 'I know the desire of your minds that what ye have seen should verily be, not only in your thought, but even as ye yourselves are, and yet other. Therefore I say: Eä! Let these things Be! And I will send forth into the Void the Flame Imperishable, and it shall be at the heart of the World, and the World shall Be; and those of you that will may go down into it. And suddenly the Ainur saw afar off a light, as it were a cloud with a living heart of flame; and they knew that this was no vision only, but that Ilúvatar had made a new thing: Eä, the World that Is.

Thus it came to pass that of the Ainur some abode still with Ilúvatar beyond the confines of the World; but others, and among them many of the greatest and most fair, took the leave of Ilúvatar and descended into it. But this condition Ilúvatar made, or it is the necessity of their love, that their power should thenceforward be contained and bounded in the World, to be within it for ever, until it is complete, so that they are its life and it is theirs. And therefore they are named the Valar, the Powers of the World.

But when the Valar entered into Eä they were at first astounded and at a loss, for it was as if naught was yet made which they had seen in vision, and all was but on point to begin and yet unshaped, and it was dark. For the Great Music had been but the growth and flowering of thought in the Tuneless Halls, and the Vision only a foreshowing; but now they had entered in at the beginning of Time, and the Valar perceived that the World had been but foreshadowed and foresung, and they must achieve it. So began their great labours in wastes unmeasured and unexplored, and in ages uncounted and forgotten, until in the Deeps of Time and in the midst of the vast halls of Eä there came to be that hour and that place where was made the habitation of the Children of Ilúvatar. And in this work the chief part was taken by Manwë and Aulë and Ulmo; but Melkor too was there from the first, and he meddled in all that was done, turning it if he might to his own desires and purposes; and he kindled great fires. When therefore Earth was yet young and full of flame Melkor coveted it, and he said to the other Valar: 'This shall be my own kingdom; and I name it unto myself!'

But Manwë was the brother of Melkor in the mind of Ilúvatar, and he was the chief instrument of the second theme that Ilúvatar had raised up against the discord of Melkor; and he called unto himself many spirits both greater and less, and they came down into the fields of Arda and aided Manwë, lest Melkor should hinder the fulfilment of their labour for ever, and Earth should wither ere it flowered. And Manwë said unto Melkor: 'This kingdom thou shalt not take for thine own, wrongfully, for many others have laboured here do less than thou.' And there was strife between Melkor and the other Valar; and for that time Melkor withdrew and departed to other regions and did there what he would; but he did not put the desire of the Kingdom of Arda from his heart.

Now the Valar took to themselves shape and hue; and because they were drawn into the World by love of the Children of Ilúvatar, for whom they hoped, they took shape after that manner which they had beheld in the Vision of Ilúvatar, save only in majesty and splendour. Moreover their shape comes of their knowledge of the visible World, rather than of the World itself; and they need it not, save only as we use raiment, and yet we may be naked and suffer no loss of our being. Therefore the Valar may walk, if they will, unclad, and then even the Eldar cannot clearly perceive them, though they be present. But when they desire to clothe themselves the Valar take upon them forms some as of male and some as of female; for that difference of temper they had even from their beginning, and it is but bodied forth in the choice of each, not made by the choice, even as with us male and female may be shown by the raiment but is not made thereby. But the shapes wherein the Great Ones array themselves are not at all times like to the shapes of the kings and queens of the Children of Ilúvatar; for at times they may clothe themselves in their own thought, made visible in forms of majesty and dread.

And the Valar drew unto them many companions, some less, some well nigh as great as themselves, and they laboured together in the ordering of the Earth and the curbing of its tumults. Then Melkor saw what was done, and that the Valar walked on Earth as powers visible, clad in the raiment of the World, and were lovely and glorious to see, and blissful, and that the Earth was becoming as a garden for their delight, for its turmoils were subdued. His envy grew then the greater within him; and he also took visible form, but because of his mood and the malice that burned in him that form was dark and terrible. And he descended upon Arda in power and majesty greater than any other of the Valar, as a mountain that wades in the sea and has its head above the clouds and is clad in ice and crowned with smoke and fire; and the light of the eyes of Melkor was like a flame that withers with heat and pierces with a deadly cold.

Thus began the first battle of the Valar with Melkor for the dominion of Arda; and of those tumults the Elves know but little. For what has here been declared is come from the Valar themselves, with whom the Eldalië spoke in the land of Valinor, and by whom they were instructed; but little would the Valar ever tell of the wars before the coming of the Elves. Yet it is told among the Eldar that the Valar endeavoured ever, in despite of Melkor, to rule the Earth and to prepare it for the coming of the Firstborn; and they built lands and Melkor destroyed them; valleys they delved and Melkor raised them up; mountains they carved and Melkor threw them down; seas they hollowed and Melkor spilled them; and naught might have peace or come to lasting growth, for as surely as the Valar began a labour so would Melkor undo it or corrupt it. And yet their labour was not all in vain; and though nowhere and in no work was their will and purpose wholly fulfilled, and all things were in hue and shape other than the Valar had at first intended, slowly nonetheless the Earth was fashioned and made firm. And thus was the habitation of the Children of Ilúvatar established at the last in the Deeps of Time and amidst the innumerable stars.

Peaches

Q : Isn't The Point that Ben wouldn't have been able to find another way to be chummy with a woman who wasn't sexually appealing? 

A: He would be able to. 

But that isn't The Point. 

The Point is that Sexual Revolution tends to get in the way of ACTUAL Revolution. 

Nonsense issues distract attention away from real ones. 

Pay equity, child care, honest-to-God sexual harassment. 

And in this case, a speech in front of the UN General Assembly. 

So. You -to Sam- 25 percent on the assessments for Category A. 

You -to Charlie- I don't know what your thng is. 

And you -to Celia- stop trying to take the fun out of my day. 

And with that, I'm going back down to the mess, because I thought I may have seen there -  a peach.

...and Get a Sponsor.

"Go to Meetings.

And get a Sponsor."

- Stuart Smalley

Go to Meetings...

"Go to Meetings.

And get a Sponsor."

- Stuart Smalley

The Tams

SIMON & RIVER 

SHY/SIMPLE/RELATIVELY-PERFECT-MAN

Tam is a Hebrew word meaning shy or simple or relatively perfect man.

The Simon has (or had) a job; he was employed; he has nice, clean, neat hair, clipped accent, fine clothes and good manners - he was "respectable"

The River runs wild.

"I look out for me and mine. 

That don't include you 'less I conjure it does. 

Now you stuck a thorn in the Alliance's paw. That tickles me a bit. But it also means I got to step twice as fast to avoid them and that means turning down plenty of jobs. Even honest ones. 

Put this crew together with the promise of work, which the Alliance makes harder every year. 

Come a day there won’t be room for naughty men like us to slip about at all. 

This job goes South, there well may not be another. 

So here is us, on the raggedy edge. 

Don't push me, and I won't push you.

Esau, a “man of the field,” [ a savage ] became a hunter who had “rough” qualities that distinguished him from his twin brother. 

Among these distinguishing qualities were his red hair and noticeable hairiness.

Jacob was a shy or simple man, depending on the translation of the Hebrew word “Tam” (which also means “relatively perfect man”).

Throughout Genesis, Esau is frequently shown as being supplanted by his younger twin Jacob (Israel).

11And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: 

12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing. 

13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.

14 And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved. 

15 And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son: 

16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck:

ZOE: 

You've never heard of Reavers?

SIMON: 

Campfire stories . . . Men gone savage at the edge of space, killing, and . . .

ZOE: 

They're not stories.

SIMON: 

What happens if they board us?

ZOE: 

If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh and sew our skins into their clothing, and if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order.