History and the Idea of Progress

A Thought of the Day:

We’re currently reading through the third volume of John Strickland’s history epic “From Paradise to Utopia“, outlining a somewhat different perspective on the changes and forces shaping the centuries from the Italian Humanism towards the early 19 hundreds in Europe.

A central idea is that once the experience of a spiritual, inner Paradise had been dismissed, new dreams gradually replaced this longing – among these a dream of a future, secular and perfect earthly society. And thus came the elevation of broader ideologies that would kindle these dreams as an aspiration to work towards, but often with disruptive and counter-productive means.

And just as a contrast one might look at other major cultures today that are looking back at the past as the ideal and aspiration to draw from instead. And this basic orientation could often influence a culture at a very deep level.

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Language for the Sacred, and the ineffable Beyond.

Here’s an interesting phrasing of “that which lies beyond” rationality and science, and the linguistic grasp of the left hemisphere, with still a rational vocabulary:

Without necessarily invoking “god” as a supernatural being, it seems fine to recognise an ineffable sacred beyond science but still “natural”.
Beyond science but still natural.

Quote by Ian Glendinning from the live Member Q&A with Iain McGilchrist this week.

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Review of the Renaissance, by James Willis

Thank you to James Willis for a poetic and beautiful review of our book!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58913447-the-renaissance

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A review of the Renaissance

Thank you to Ian Glendinning for a wonderful and generous review of our “Renaissance” book!

The Renaissance

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The theology of St. Aquinas (and Dante) – and Being

Excellent summary of some of the basics of the theology that underlies so much of St. Thomas Aquinas’ work – and in many ways the over-arching idea and representation of Divinity in Dante’s Divine Comedy. A crucial introduction for understanding the vocabulary of much of the writings from the 12- and 13-hundreds:

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The richness of the Tradition – and Mysticism

Happy to see Mark Vernon launching a new course based on his previous book – which outlines a broader canvas of history and theology in the old Tradition. The argument for reviving the mystics might also be largely congruent with McGilchrist’s latest masterpiece “The Matter with Things”, as a means of searching for ways to re-balance the hemispheres and elevate the right hemisphere’s approach to apprehending the world, and what lies beyond.

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The Sense of Time, and being lost in the Moment

In Purgatory 4 Dante comments on the nature of our sense of Time, which is partly related to the context of the Late Repentants – those who were distracted or started late on the Path to seeking deeper, and spiritual, Knowledge.

When any of our senses is aroused
to intensity of pleasure or of pain,
the soul gives itself up to that one sense,

oblivious to all its other powers.
This fact serves to refute the false belief
that in our bodies more than one soul burns.

And so it is that when we see or hear
something which wholly captivates the soul,
we easily can lose all sense of time.

The sense aware of time is different
from that which dominates all of the soul:
the first is free to roam, the other, bound.

This passage comes after the second encounter with a shade where the Pilgrim gets lost in the moment, and delayed on his metaphorical Journey and climb up the mountain of Purgatory.

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A dawn

From the beach in Purgatory:

Thus, where we were, Aurora’s lovely face
with a vermilion flush on her white cheeks
was aging in a glow of golden light.

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Good morning! ๐Ÿ˜Š

Morning coffee ๐ŸŒ‡โ˜•๏ธ

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The nature of Abundance, and Rebirth.

At the end of Chapter one in Dante’s Purgatory, Virgil picks up a reed at the shores – a symbol of Humility – and girds the waist of the pilgrim as Cato had instructed them. Then comes one of the most beautiful and deepest metaphors of the whole canticle:

Oh, miracle! When he pulled out the reed,
immediately a second humble plant
sprang up from where the first one had been picked.

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A Brief Review of “The Matter with Things”

Here is a quick review and rating of McGilchrist’s new book “The Matter with Things”, on GoodReads:

The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the WorldThe Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World by Iain McGilchrist
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This Masterwork is potentially a depth charge for decades to come. Towards the end McGilchrist walks us to the very boundaries of science and rationality through rational language, and then gives us a bridge into the intuitive and Sacred world only apprehended by the right hemisphere. And then walks us back again.

A life-changing book.

View all my reviews

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The Sacred, and “The Matter with Things”

A brief reflection on the last two chapters of “The Matter with Things”:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/sacred-and-with-61530792

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McGilchrist on the Sacred, and Intellectual Humility

In his newest masterpiece “The Matter with Things”, McGilchrist writes about the approach to the apprehension of something transcendent, or Divine:

“What the term โ€˜G-dโ€™ requires of us is not a set of propositions about what cannot be known, but a disposition towards what must be recognised as beyond human comprehension.”

A similar argument is made by Dante on the beach of the Island of Mount Purgatory. The first and crucial key to learning and growing – is the Reed of Humility. And the “washing” of the face.

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Jason and the Argonauts

Great new episode from Adam Bishop on the Unlimited Opinions Podcast:

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Re-discovering the First Millennium

This is another great conversation – an Orthodox Icon Carver and a Protestant Pastor in North America, discussing how the Internet is creating new forms of ecumenical dynamics and growth, and re-discovery of the old Greek Church Founders:

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