the peace that passeth understanding?

more the human restlessness that surpasseth understanding.

terra cognita, mare incognitum, mundus supernus incognitus

a couple of days ago, James Cameron took a well-supported and -funded solo trip to the deepest known place in the oceans. that this is known to be the deepest, is part of what Cameron indicated when he said that with satellites we (humans) can look down upon and into all the regions -- however "distant" -- of the earth's surface. what was once terra incognita (actually, a Latin specialist says it were better to write orbis terrarum incognita -- for the entire globe, rather than one area unknown or known) has become terra cognita. Cameron suggests -- though these are not his words -- that the seas are still mare incognitum; to which he added the unknown of space, outer space, the enormous universe, which could likewise be termed: mundus supernus incognitus.

Cameron also did not find monsters ('here be monsters') long and often seen or imagined in the oceans deep, be they mythic or biblical, those of the time we call the age of exploration, or those in fiction, 'scientific' or not.
it is also to be noted, what James said, as he remarked about taking a moment at depth: 'to take it all in' --- this life experience, that is. to get from it as much as possible, also in the realization that he was there doing it.

"Rome was not built in a day"

that "Rome was not built in a day" (c. 1530s) has been a cliché much longer than the word cliché has existed in the sense it has today (c. 1888), but the expression continues to be used thoughtlessly, as if this were not obvious.

global village?

I heard again the other day the cliche that we live in a "global village".
sentimental sociology to my mind.
I am sure most people who repeat this have never lived in a village; for is it not rather a global city (even if people do need to live as if society were a village)?

Mathus, Darwin and Moses

[journal extract]

13 March 2012     5:15 am      Moscow

it is interesting to learn that Malthus was an "annihilationist" (that hell was not eternal for those who failed in the growth-of-mind) and that he viewed human suffering via famine, poverty, etc (natural and moral evil?) as means by God to human development.

i must consider all of this more closely, and widely, again later, but it begins to seem to me as of a piece with the human exaggerated sense that he can understand the world and "God". many have rejected "God" because "He" "allows" evil, and disbelieved in "God" because Darwin "proved" we are 'apes' (vaguely stated). well, if Genesis is no longer convincing, neither, in my reading, is the human ability to explain himself materially. elementary school humans may be upset that Darwin proved Moses wrong ∴ we are apes and there is no "God" -- but it seems to me that the human history of ideas shows that humans imagine too much of their own capabilities -- which becomes even more convincingly popular in the institutions called universities.

a "Harry Haller" in Spaso House

one is born into one's nationality, and unless there was some pre-natal choice (as some ancient accounts would reveal), that is hardly one's achievement, or fault. and even this assumes that one is speaking of "nationality" in the sense of one's political identity, and not as many educated Russians did, and perhaps still do, mainly as of one's culture, ethnicity or country. how serious is it to be proud of the nationality into which one is born (by chance or fiat)? and what was American patriotism in 1776 or 1861, and what will it be in 2076?

American "values", eg freedom, equality, etc, are now (historically again) spoken of abroad as universal human values. secular, they are perhaps not much less ultimately undefinable than characterizations of the divine. and while it is almost impossible in our world to agree on (non)things divine, it is perhaps much more possible for many of differing nationalities to imagine we agree in the ambiguous ideals of eg "freedom".

a "Harry Haller" in Spaso House need not be unpatriotic, but he need see necessary attempts at political solutions as temporary, and often like Nietzsche's "all-too-human", however sincere and well-intended.

-- thoughts from a "town hall" with the new ambassador March 22, 2012, where the transcendent did not disturb, even by its absence.

agnothi seauton I -- a great, unobserved social experiment?

the changes in Russia since the signatured end of another empire in history, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR, CCCP), has presented an opportunity to observe humans, political systems, societies, cultures...in a time of broad and deep social change. it is an additional indication of the demographics of societies and psyches, that so few people have cared (or dared?) to pay attention to this great historical, social "experiment"-experience as such. as an opportunity to learn more about humanity. most just live(d) in it, not reflecting much on it or themselves. carpe diem of an unreflective sort.

sub specie aeternitatis?

whatever may be believed, many in the "civilized", modern world, live assuming mostly, and mostly unconsciously, that life is sub specie terrae, sub specie mundi.

no holy grounds, only deadly grounds

"And he said, Draw not near here: put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground." (Exodus 3.5)

I believe there is no such "holy ground" in our world today, our world of terra supercognito...of geo-maping and spy satellites...of demi-literate tourist hordes flying casually hither and thither seeing all things packaged and unpacked ("been there, done that"), of ancient cities built, destroyed and rebuilt, of no untread places on earth...

perhaps such places were only in our imaginations...but where does one fear to tread today -- I dont mean childish fools -- except for places like Chernobyl and Fukushima.

the alphas and omegas of history

history (in the sense of the lived human past) seriously understood and learned from is rare, which surely adds to its popularity in being so naively and perennially repeated, also in the passions and philosophies many (have often) imagine(d) they discover(ed).
still, it is perhaps inevitable that a person's life and time seems to be the alpha and omega of life and world, the beginning and the end of time and history, since each is inbounded in it.
nevertheless, history shows this is naive.

sic transit gloria Quixote?

"The Bucket List" and Don Quixote as figure, and for that matter all the now popular lists of 'things to do before you die', are related. the main problem being that we live in a time and place when and where "God" seems not only absent, but in which we are uncertain “He” was ever there.

"Russian spring" II?

two Moscow rallies

a British correspondent lamented as we chatted near Pushkin Square of his not being able to see “the other rally”, as he must stay and report on “this one”. I was not so bound, having gone to and observed the “Pro-Putin Rally”, and then to see the “Anti-Putin Rally”.

there has been some recent talk of a “Russian Spring”, but in fact the “Russian Spring” happened in the summer of 1991, August. (though that was a different “wave” of socio-political change in the world, related to the fall of the “Iron Curtain”.) with many contemporary commentators this seems to have been already forgotten, though there were tanks on the streets then, and there was an order given to take the Russian “White House” , surrounded though it was by some 15,000-25,000 Russians who wanted a new, better country.

it is a step forward in the political development of Russia that enough people have shed enough fear to come out onto the streets at protest rallies: Bolotnayas I and II, Prospect Sakharova, the “Great White Ring” around the “Garden[less] Ring” of Moscow...
and tonight there were two rallies in Moscow. while there were many police at hand – off to the side ready if need be – this was, and is, not a “Russian Spring” as in summer 1991. perhaps it might be better named Russian Spring II.

in 1991 some 99% of the population of Moscow went about their daily lives as if nothing were happening around the Russian "White House"...as if to say: ‘you decide if we live in the USSR, or something different'. that defense of the Russian White House was said by many of those who were there to have gathered the brightest and most beautiful faces…

there was a rally tonight of those who clearly belong to the crowd, and one of those who do, or would, not.

Moscow crowds and individuals -- march 5, 2012

there were two rallies in Moscow this evening: the “Pro-Putin Rally” near the Kremlin on the Manezh; the other, an “Anti-Putin Rally”, at Pushkin Square. one meeting had people who clearly were part of the dormant Russian crowd; the other had many of the best, bright, and beautiful faces. one might also compare intellectual and educational levels, or independence of personality and thoughtfulness.

the letters of Paul and the letters of James, William, in the Moscow Metro

the old woman, the "babushka", who sat beside me yesterday in the Moscow metro wagon was reading her Евангелие, her gospel, her good news from 'messengers on high'. glancing at her, reading, I wondered if her well-worn Bible had the letters of Paul in it, and whether she spent much time seeking sense and guidance from them as well...

the letters of Paul... I was reading the "selected" letters of William James, who in the course of his life also came to write much about "religion", also in published letters.

two very different life journeys -- both apparently serious -- sitting for a time side by side. her life closer to its physical end than mine may be, so already "written" as it were. her surely consoling good reading was nice and quaint, even mythic, to my mind; even in good translation William James would I feel certain have been of no use to her.

the Letters of Paul, and the letters of James, William.

Apostle... Psychologist/Philosopher... how much history, time and mind is there between!/?

the woman and I sat next to each other on the same train, going different ways.