building up a shared point of view—
measurable goals,assessable outcomes,
Documentarian & Ornithologist, Mao
Gymnasium: “naked training.”
I choose, as a determining POINT in my life, to acknowledge a bullet fired into the armpit of my grandfather, Samuel Scoville, Jr. by a thief in the night sometime in the late 19thc.
The thief escaped, my grandfather having pulled his own pistol from beneath the pillow, squeezing off a couple of rounds and sending the burglar scurrying into the
For reasons of family notoriety, the incident was reported in both
In those days couples were not advised to be alone. Unaccompanied.
Sam took a steam-driven locomotive train down to
For one thing: YOU, dear Reader, wouldn’t be reading THIS HERE right now, resurrecting these words to walk around in your skull-haus this very be-here-now moment. So even you are impacted forever by that bullet.
(I could drive up to Connecticut right now, retrieve the small bite of lead, drop it in your hand and remind you how co-incidental our life is—how inexplicable, how arbitrary & selective our accounts, how much we omit which is also absolutely necessary, how inadequate our because & affects.)
The bullet is a NECESSARY but INSUFFICIENT cause of who-I-am, without which any explanation would be incomplete. Sam Scoville
Free speech aborted at University. Words from Canada's best commentator. We must be able to compare creeds and their effects, have a Gold's Gymn and then judge. http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2014/04/12/rex-murphy-on-ayaan-hirsi-ali-universities-have-become-factories-for-reinforcing-opinion/
ReplyDelete"Damn it, a university exists to unsettle, to throw down established attitudes, to shine the searchlight of reason on all ideas. Universities are supposed to be bold, confident, courageous institutions, whose biggest duty to their students is to expand the range and depth of their ideas, not confirm their prejudices."
ReplyDeleteSam quoting Sam? An article of faith.
ReplyDeleteMy Alma Maters' mottoes are 1) Quaecumque vera--Whatsoever things be true. 2) Timor Domini sapientia initium--The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
ReplyDeleteBoth assume that there are things that are true and wise. Not to mention just, righteous and loving--"wise" probably means that in the appropriate mixture for the situation. A "prejudice" is not the same as first premises. (Though I have to admit that I don't know what I am talking about when saying "first premises"; I am imagining things like natural law, assuming some sort of transcendence beyond what can be seen... Reason's search light can't go everywhere. It seeks its own glory and is easily mutated to fit agendas... It can become quite stupid and "unwise".
Closing parenthesis missing.
ReplyDeleteI was quoting from your article--not mysefl. And I agree about reasin: my exquisite lucid rationality occludes the darkness it would investigate--like lighting a candle in a cave to study dark..
ReplyDeleteSorry, I only read it once. It sounded like you with the damn it.
ReplyDeleteSorry, that didn't come out quite right either. This is the sentence about universities that had lodged itself with me: "Universities are losing their halo. They are now factories for reinforcing received opinions, what the market holds as right and true — so-called “progressive” ideas. They have a deep hostility to ideas and opinions that wander outside their small circle of acceptability. They choose which protests they endorse and which they deplore." There seem to be too many no-go zones among those who pride themselves on their liberalism and progressivism, just the people who should not be succumbing to the fear of backlash. I liked the contrast between daycare and university. Which are we dealing with. There is appropriate language and different modes of operating for different times and places. -- I had never heard the word "cant" before. Somewhat related loosely to your favorite "shibboleth", another word one never hears around here.
ReplyDeleteSecular & Sacred HUMANISM. Defenders of the faith all around. I once described Warren Wilson as Daycare for Hippies to a reporter and the phrase got spread all over.
ReplyDeleteI see.
ReplyDeleteOnly the Lutherans got it right but the rest of the world is reluctant --recalcitrant one might say if not incorrigible .
ReplyDeleteThere are only two religions: free righteousness in Christ or glory in the works of man. I've thought lately how Paul says he is the worst of sinners, persecuted, etc. and how I am not like he in terms of seeing myself this way. The only time I really know myself as sinner is when I am at the communion rail receiving forgiveness. Then I know it. It's a two handed thing, too.
ReplyDelete"Good for you"
ReplyDeleteSo, when are you going to have the guts to say something about Islam and in defence of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who was shamed for her courage to speak against those who want to earn heaven even by imperialism and injustice?
ReplyDeleteGuts? Westboro Baptists? Thailand child slavery? Plenty to be outraged against. School and synagogue shootings? I don't think guts are an issue. Guts are an issue maybe when one stirs the shit that's close to home--.Guts galore or else got to be nuts.
ReplyDeleteThe issue is: a heart of flesh or a heart of stone.
ReplyDeleteHeart of stone and trying to make virtue of it. A student tells me being sensitive is both a blessing and a curse, and I say being oblivious is both a curse and a blessing.
ReplyDeleteEach in its time, sensitivity and oblivion, as with ordered loves. It takes prayer to work on the situation. But a heart of flesh speaks to me more about motivation. Or passion. As well as zeal for what is right and helpful.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Obedience (listening, hearing)--to be at work on any situation.
ReplyDeleteWhich is not the same as situation ethics.
ReplyDeleteI reckon
ReplyDelete