SANDY !!!

I couldn't  find  a  more explicit  and  revealing line to describe the passing of hurricane Sandy , than  those lines  by  the  poet / philosopher   Wordsworth ;

   There  was  a  roaring  in  the  winds  all  night ,
    The  rain  came  heavily  and   fell  in  floods . 



A  quick comment on the night  and day  when hurricane Sandy came by , thanks for your time . 
 

KIERKEGAARD AND MONTAIGNE ....

Though Kierkegaard  insisted on the distinctive  individuality of each existing self ,  he remained curiously ambiguous about his own true self .  Perhaps most readers do not take seriously enough  Kierkegaard sense of humor . In  EITHER/OR  he relates that he had been taken  up into the seventh heaven  where the assembled  gods gave  him the privilege of making any  wish , which they would fulfill .

 For a  moment I was at a loss . Then I addressed  myself to  the gods  as follows ; " Most honorable  contemporaries , I  choose this one thing , that I always have the laugh  on my side ." Not one of the  gods said  a word ; on the contrary , they all began to  laugh . From that  I  concluded that my wish was granted , and found that the  gods knew how  to express themselves  with taste ; for it would  hardly have been suitable  for them to have  answered gravely ; " Thy wish is granted ."

Kierkegaard wit is easier to grasp than his message .  Montaigne , also a  thinker of  Existentialism , had explained  the problem ; " If my mind could  gain a  foothold , I would not write essays , I  would make decisions , but it is always in apprenticeship and on trial ."

  Yet  we need not be troubled by our inability to sum up  and make Kierkegaard's  message  intelligible . There can never be a system for existence , because  existence is always  incomplete  and developing .

Kierkegaard says , and again I'm quoting from : Either/or ,  "What wonder , then , that the world goes from bad to worse , and that its evils increase more and more , as boredom increases , and boredom is the root  of all evil . The history of this can be traced from the very beginning of the world . The gods were bored , and so they created man , Adam was bored because he was alone , and so Eve was created . Thus boredom entered the world , and increased in proportion to the the increase of population . Adam was bored alone ; then Adam and Eve were bored together , then Adam and Eve and Cain and Able were bored en famille ; then the population of the world increased , and the peoples were bored en masse .

But man is misled if he thinks he can relieve boredom by what he sees when watching the affairs of the world , or even the elections of his own little society . The only relief is to stay home , where the existing individual bores himself into  inventiveness .





D.J.B.  helped research and analyse the philosophers  and I'm grateful ,  as to you my good readers my usual thanks for your time and patience , salamat.

A REALISTIC LOOK......

FOR some of you , or those of you familiar with Michel Kilo , a Syrian  exiled activist , against the Assad regime ,  he published recently an article in a Lebanese news-paper (Assafir)  professing and setting forth  the future of the popular movement in Syria , describing the behavior and attitudes of the general Syrian populace after the  fall of the present regime and of the Assad clan .

His  Utopian and almost  Heavenly angelic  views and descriptions of the political prospects , social behavior , and outcome of the whole revolution , are inviting at best , of a smiley grimace ,  one would have , upon hearing  the  impossible being invoked  and predicted for the future of this unfortunate country .

IT is very difficult , (almost impossible in most cases, )  for a society  to change it's  fundamental methods of thinking , and it's social/political course , because most men during such transitions must rely on the  old established methods . While  at the same  time  gradually  learn to observe , criticize and replace . So transitions take  time ,  a decade , a generation , or even longer . As  a rule , people tend to  sympathize  for a longer time with the  old  ideas  during  transitions , though in diminishing degrees .  So I  place these coming years for Syria , within the time  frame of the  older mode ;  changing  the  classification only  when the new  is clearly  in power .

THIS scenario  is not by any means , exclusive to Syria , it would absolutely fit  any  and all  countries  undergoing social  and  political revolutions and old oligarchic regimes changes , as in most  Arab nations .  Egypt for one , is a perfect example of  this  change/non change , in mood, ways  and behaviors . Here I'm commenting on another good article in today's  Arab papers , by the Egyptian author and political columnist   Ala' Assouani , commenting and complaining about this  non changing mood and behavior of Egyptian people and politics .


Thank you all , for your time .

A BLOGGING AFFAIR ....

ERASMUS (c. 1466 - 1536)  the Dutch  philosopher wrote ;  " Creep not upon the earth , my brother, like an animal . Put on those wings which  Plato says are caused to grow on the soul by the ardor of love .  Rise above the body to the spirit , from the visible to the invisible , from the letter to the mystical meaning , from the sensible to the intelligible , from the involved to the simple . Rise as by rungs until you scale the ladder of Jacob .

A blog , as a literary work , [ as I often describe them] is not a telegram , or an e-mail , and definitely not a twitter or the like ; it shouldn't have  necessarily a message to convey , any more than events or characters . In place of themes , one would often disperse and  circulate  random non-objective symbols and obscure literary allusions throughout the  article .

Only well informed readers , and insiders can decode these allusive references , the fact that some words or pictures are unclear is not a problem for them , but a virtue . Sometimes to be serious a blog  must be  ambiguous , elusive , enigmatic , indeterminable  and even  opaque .

Length is irrelevant to classification . The point is not quantity of words , but their connection to the events  and  characters presented in the work .

Most of the times , people reason  by  doubting , and that leads to questioning , and by questioning  they learn the truth . That is an axiom I follow in reasoning and writing blogs .

We are all  seekers of truth , we all want to know why and how . Man is the asking animal . And some of us live and strive by the why  and  the why why !!




A quick explicit explanatory thought . Thanks for your attention . 

A WORLD IN PROGRESS !!!

WE have a common sky . A common firmament encompasses us . What matters it by what kind of learned theory each man looketh for the truth ? there is no one way that will take us to so mighty a secret .     SYMMACHUS , roman thinker , A.D 384.

The new  Christianity , writes the author  Michelle Goldberg , is a "total ideology" ; the goal is the take over of  "every aspect of public and private life,"  including but not limited to government , science , history , culture , and relationships .  It holds that the secular authorities in the United States must be replaced by men of faith , who will refashion American life  according to God's teachings . U.S civil law  holds  Pat Robertson , must be replaced by biblical law .

" Christian politics ," writes George grant - director of Coral ridge Ministries (Florida) - " has as it's primary intent  the conquest of the land  (America ), of men , families , institutions , bureaucracies , courts , and governments  for the kingdom of Christ ."

As in all forms of totalitarianism and aspiring theocratic movements , the  fundamental purpose of  this  theocracy is to spread the ideas  regarded as holy , and eliminate opposition to them .  Such a purpose requires  a thoroughgoing reorientation  of the national mind ,  entailing thought control .  The result will be a nation conditioned to forget facts , understanding , liberty and individualism , while remembering  Jesus , God , and his earthly representatives  in the church ,  writes L. Peikoff .

IT  adds up to a historic popular  feeling that ;  something  fundamental has gone wrong with the United States . The only possible fix , the new  Christians tell us , is authentic  religion . What they seek is  revolution across  the whole of  American  culture , in the  name of a mode  of thought  that has not  ruled here since  the time of the puritans ,  again quoting  Mr Peikoff .

Because it is defined in  terms of fundamental  principles , the new  Christianity  is not , as some think , inherently  provincial , rural  uneducated poor people . The new Christian movement is in all aspects of  American societies .

IF we replace every word in the previous paragraphs saying  Christian , by the word Musslem , and every Jesus with a Muhammad or  Moses , and every America by Arabia  or Musslem world ,  wouldn't we reach the same frightening conclusions ?  and watch  the  same scenarios only in different parts of the world ??   Are we then  to blame  and condemn   Abraham and the prophets  for  all this  or our own  modern religious  narrow  mindedness .

" God is dead ,"  said  Nietzsche  in the nineteenth  century . A recent  book title gives the twenty-first- century's  reply ;  " God is back."




I  owe  L. Peikoff  for his  insightful  and deep analysis of the American progression and future .  As usual my gratitude for your time and patience .