Skip to main content

The Absolute Mystery - Part 3

 At the lecture from the previous day, the professor with the bow tie and the pointed loafers had said something to the effect of ...  "even granting for arguments sake - variables existing within the realm of appearances... liable to cause diverse perceptions and interpretations, and able to produce divergences in methodologies with regard to theories of knowledge currently in play, we arrive at a set of possibilities that can be mapped out comprehensively..." That part which Q quoted verbatim in his mind was music to his ears -... The mapping out of possibilities to the nth degree... He seemed to have stumbled upon a kindred spirit... This professor had posited the A.M. as Absolute Mystery a.k.a. U.R for Ultimate Reality to cover all possible bases - pleasing to believers in God and non-believers alike... convenient for partisans of Natural Law, of Iron Fate, of Karma or Blind Chance, of Molecular Randomness, or Cosmic Evolution, of the Whimsicalities associated with Multiple Deities operative within Nature - suitable for seekers after a Higher Intelligence, an Ultimate Goodness, an Infinite Power or a Supreme Maximum as Nicholas of Cusa would have said, and non-objectionable  for those resigned to the Vacuum, the Void, the Great Abyss, the most splendid and amazing Absence of anything behind the curtain...Nobodaddy, the ghostly Demiurge... 

Everything had gone splendidly until during the Q&A - or was it the coffee and cake meet and greet afterwards - when Q had floated his ideas about the "expectations" attached to each person's perceptions regarding the A.M. - as had by now become such an ecumenical replacement for the name previously referred to as God or Fate.  Speaking for myself alone, Q had said, even though I suspect there are others who would require as much, I have found myself longing for a daily press conference of some sort - from the A.M. - a way of "reading the tea leaves" if you catch my drift... The philosopher J.G. Hamann - if i am not mistaken looks at Nature in this manner - thinking it entirely plausible... hints, simple hints you see just to help us make sense of everything... But the man with the bow tie - ever unflappable and impassive had replied, whether irritated or bemused was anyone's guess - It is quite remarkable that you would make such a demand of the Absolute Mystery - which would be seen as presumptuousness in the extreme (assuming the true God in all of its majesty to exist) or sheer folly (like a man screaming at the clouds to reply in kind).  But Q was persistent - Yes I realize it may sound daft perhaps to the great majority that expects very little from the Absolute Mystery as you call it - but some of us are quite in need of reassurance. I should observe as well that when the A.M. is thought only as the Great Unknown - no one is much inclined to complain - but posit God as somewhere in the mix - and people will start griping non-stop... And why, may one suppose? Well - I go back to my idea of the daily press conference...  unless - unless - and here I anticipate your reply - it might be said that we humans are too dim and distractible to pick up on the myriad of CLUES... The man in the bow tie answered him: No - I was not going to answer you that exactly... Your demand... is at best a rhetorical question...Do you find yourself getting the daily ANSWERS that you crave??? NO in fact ! - said Q - and this is quite a torment for someone (like myself) who needs so much reassurance - as one can imagine... You see my point don't you? ------ No - I don't see that I do.....  Well - it's quite simple --- The average bloke - the ordinary mortal perhaps does not reflect on these matters very much until adversity hits or some crisis intervenes... and then the mind is taken out of its customary orbits... But in my experience of the world - these such concerns are part of my daily thoughts....I mean the part about whether there is a cosmic "support net" of any kind to give us consolation... Not as an abstract principle, mind you - but as something we FEEL...daily... ------ Oh - Now I see... ---- Because it is a fair question - although I don't consider myself a professional philosopher of any stature - only an amateur - yes it is a fair question - as to why so many people have this sense of their lives going wrong... or having never been given a fair shake... or ending up far worse than where they started... or... or... just having been dealt a major swath of unforeseen pain from which they are unable to recover... Think of the # of lives - can you map those out... ---- Well - excuse me - but I see your point about suffering --- that was not the subject of my book exactly - Well you see my point - about so many lives being deemed "failures" (whether fairly or not) when compared to trajectories with fewer mishaps - to put it simply. --- And which proves? Which proves that something out there would seem to be working AGAINST US... is it not so?  And does that figure into your theories? --- Oh by all means - the A.M. principle - I suppose could include malevolence or indifference - a reality that is simply not working in concert with human needs, desires and aspirations... ---- I can already hear my detractors saying not enough of the blame has been put upon humans themselves and their gross stupidities, their manifold ignorance, their disordered psychologies, their wanton schemes and their skewed notions of  "prosperity" "glory" "success" "contentment"... Believe me - I have heaped enough scorn upon myself in this regard - But....But... I am merely asking you - as the genuine philosopher in the room to tell me - with the number of lives that end a particular way - "in misery" "full of regret" ... What shall we do with those #s... The Absence of the A.M. is unacceptable... I won't allow it in fact... But anger and bitterness - endless fist-waving at God - is that a viable alternative? The man in the bow tie was flummoxed - not knowing what to say...

Finally Nurse Amanda blurted out... I think I get it... You have done well ...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1974

Prologue - > We are fortunate to live in a time, or so it is said, when we of the future no longer feel the burden of gender to such a degree as in previous ages; nowadays there is no pre-established norm or "role" for us to perform or hold onto like a chain about the neck. There was a time, of course, and not so long ago, when men were de facto expected to be  tough strong, resilient, athletic, assertive... and which to judge by the role models in movies and popular culture which we could add on silent, stoical, protective, while no great shock was registered if there should be a woman or more than one who in some degree was known (also through popular culture, movies, novels, songs, etc. in comparison with her male counterparts) as:  soft, demure,  flirtatious, sociable, wise,  and to which one might add on: practical, prescient, intuitive, gregarious, solicitous, nurturing and perhaps multi-tasking,  socially-aware, loyal, resilient .   With regard t...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Suburbs

 I have spent much of my early life in the suburbs and after a brief stint in the big city - with its noise, crowding and cramped spaces,  I find myself immersed again in this familiar realm - an environment that seems part of my destiny. I've always thoughts of the suburbs as a place meant for children - where children can feel safe and protected - with non-busy streets and clean sidewalks - room to ride one's bike or go door-to-door selling cookies. To consider how many of our early impressions and sensations were spawned by this largely artificial world...How different such a milieu is from other places on earth, war zones, rain forests, Siberian outposts, tiny mountaintop villages or large sprawling mazes of high rise apartments in vertically-inclined mega metropolises...The suburbs are a place where a definite order and routine can be imposed...where regularity is king... lawns get mowed on time, shrubs are trimmed, garbage bins are placed at the curb and returned to thei...
Post a Comment
Read more

The "Endless Summer" Feeling a.k.a. "Time Stop Mechanism"

Growing up out west - we had what was known as the "endless summer" feeling - a moment in the summer when - not Time per se - but hectic, anxious, nerve-wracking time would come to a standstill. Change would still happen of course, things would continue moving, interacting, but at a slower, more predictable pace...the rhythms of summer would take over with sunny days giving way to balmy nights...a certain degree of repetition would lend structure to this seeming "pause" in the action...Clouds still move across the sky, waves still crash against the shore, traffic on the roads, people walking, biking, swimming - but all in a self-contained world over which one had some semblance of control..Long days at the beach, lying in the sun or playing tennis at the community college, watching the heat rise on the pavement, shooting baskets on the outdoor courts, sitting poolside at a neighbor's house, sitting on the lawn at dusk, staying outside on summer nights with no wi...
Post a Comment
Read more