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! šŸ˜Š

Morning coffee šŸŒ‡ā˜•ļø

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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 ā€˜G-dā€™ 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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Schism, Dante, and the history of the last two millennia

A great conversation between historian Fr. John Strickland, and Sam Adams of the “Transfigured” Youtube Channel.

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