fragments, 10/3/02
Oct. 4th, 2002 01:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsyche8:18 p.m.
Spirit, unlike flesh, gives birth to Spirit painlessly. The Spirit enters and leaves this plane with no pain. There is no difficulty in this generation.
But birth in the physical plane is always accompanied by pain. And the metaphysical metamorphosis from flesh squared to flesh multiplied by Spirit is psychically excruciating. It is psychic labor. One's body becomes the crucible, the medium, the plane through which the Spirit works its magick.
Only the flesh bears pain. The Spirit, ever resilient, transubstantial and immaterial, merely bears witness to the perception of pain.
8:42 p.m.
The power of man is the power to name.
The power to name is the power of negation.
I wrote these two sentences about five years ago--in a poem--well before I dove headfirst into metaphysics. But still I wonder at the truth these words may encapsulate.
power of man = power to name
power to name = power of negation
[thus] power of man = power of negation
Is this true? Geometrical rules may allow for this manipulation of language, but logic doesn't necessarily follow. Funny math can produce funky results.
The first statement I wholeheartedly believe. It's a truth I lifted from Genesis [of course]. The second is entirely made up by my errant mind, and it is with this statement that I find my trouble.
The power to name--to demarcate--is the power to differentiate. This leads to the power to compare and contrast. This, in turn, leads to our complex mental abilities. For our minds could not operate without a system of classification. We must make sense of the world; this seems, to me, to be the true human imperative. Only through the world can we make sense of ourselves.
Spirit, unlike flesh, gives birth to Spirit painlessly. The Spirit enters and leaves this plane with no pain. There is no difficulty in this generation.
But birth in the physical plane is always accompanied by pain. And the metaphysical metamorphosis from flesh squared to flesh multiplied by Spirit is psychically excruciating. It is psychic labor. One's body becomes the crucible, the medium, the plane through which the Spirit works its magick.
Only the flesh bears pain. The Spirit, ever resilient, transubstantial and immaterial, merely bears witness to the perception of pain.
8:42 p.m.
The power of man is the power to name.
The power to name is the power of negation.
I wrote these two sentences about five years ago--in a poem--well before I dove headfirst into metaphysics. But still I wonder at the truth these words may encapsulate.
power of man = power to name
power to name = power of negation
[thus] power of man = power of negation
Is this true? Geometrical rules may allow for this manipulation of language, but logic doesn't necessarily follow. Funny math can produce funky results.
The first statement I wholeheartedly believe. It's a truth I lifted from Genesis [of course]. The second is entirely made up by my errant mind, and it is with this statement that I find my trouble.
The power to name--to demarcate--is the power to differentiate. This leads to the power to compare and contrast. This, in turn, leads to our complex mental abilities. For our minds could not operate without a system of classification. We must make sense of the world; this seems, to me, to be the true human imperative. Only through the world can we make sense of ourselves.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Some random responses...
Date: 2002-10-04 10:46 am (UTC)Another note: words aren't always used to split. In mantras we see words used as manifestations of ultimate reality; there's no dualistic split here.
I've been pondering, with no real conclusion to speak of: "In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God." This implies language being present right from the beginning! But is this dualistic language, or mantra-like unified language? What about wordless creation? Would that still be creation? Furthermore, Jesus was "the Word made flesh." How does that happen? And are we Word made flesh, as well?
Or is "Word" just a poor translation?!
Verb is the Word!
Date: 2002-10-04 01:42 pm (UTC)The problem with the Bible is the problem of translation (and the follow-up problem of interpretation, of course). In the Greek, "Word" is Logos, and Logos can mean several things. "Word" doesn't necessarily mean "word"--it could mean "ratio", for example. (I plan to read a good translation where I could interpret the Gospels in a mathematic vein. :)
I'm convinced that the Greek Gospels were written with many puns and other forms of wordplay and use of symbolism. The problem with English speakers is that we tend to literalize everything, but sometimes there simply are plays on words. But when we don't have the original language at our disposal, we can only take what words we are handed. This means we are necessarily starting at a disadvantage!
Theologically, the early Christian fathers did posit that Christ, the Word or Logos, was with God in the beginning. Christ is uncreated, just as God is. Perhaps this goes back to the very dualistic thinking that prevailed, especially philosophically, in the Greek-speaking world at that time. Does this mean that Christ arose at the very same time that God did? (I guess that's not a very well-phrased question, if God stands outside of time....) I don't have an answer--I'm still trying to square these beliefs with my own ideas of the universe.
Then, again, you could start from the tack of: What is a word? I can't think of the name of the philosopher, but someone posited that words themselves are empty forms, truly corresponding to nothing in the natural world. They are conveyors, but convey nothing in and of themselves. Now, as someone who adores the English language, this is a very interesting proposition. What if the Word carried meaning into the universe, but like regular words, corresponds to nothing?
I have just started thinking along these lines, so I have no real ideas to put forth. Just stuff running through my little mind. :)