Near this place is interred
Theodore King of Corsica
who died in this parish December 11th 1736
immediately after leaving
The Kings bench prison
By the benefit of the act of insolvency
in consequence of which
he registered his Kingdom of Corsica
for the use of his creditors.
The grave great teacher to a level brings
heroes and beggars, galley slaves and kings
But Theodore this moral learn'd ere dead
Fate poured its lemons on his living head
Bestowed a Kingdom and denied him bread.
St Anne's Church Yard, Soho, London
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
From pieces of paper #2
Chapter 81
In the snow outside my window I see a small green frog, one eye blinking and the other wide open, unmoving looking at me. I know this is God.
He appears just like this before me and watches to see if I will understand.
He is talking to me with his eyes by opening and closing them.
When God talks to humans he doesn't want humans to hear his voice
And I don't think it at all strange. it is as if it should be like this. It is as if God is in fact a frog. The intelligent round eye doesn't so much as blink once. It is really kind that he should deign to gaze upon this wretched human being, me.
His other eye opens and closes as it speaks a language incomprehensible to humans. Whether I understand it or not is not God's concern.
I could of course think that maybe there is no meaning at all in this blinking eye, but its significance could lie precisely in its not having meaning.
There are no miracles. God is saying this, saying this to this insatiable human being, me.
Then what else is there to seek? I ask of him.
All around is silence, snow is falling soundlessly. I am surprised by the tranquillity. In heaven it is peaceful like this.
And there is no joy. Joy is related to anxiety.
Snow is falling."
Gao Xingjian
Inscrutable or what?
In the snow outside my window I see a small green frog, one eye blinking and the other wide open, unmoving looking at me. I know this is God.
He appears just like this before me and watches to see if I will understand.
He is talking to me with his eyes by opening and closing them.
When God talks to humans he doesn't want humans to hear his voice
And I don't think it at all strange. it is as if it should be like this. It is as if God is in fact a frog. The intelligent round eye doesn't so much as blink once. It is really kind that he should deign to gaze upon this wretched human being, me.
His other eye opens and closes as it speaks a language incomprehensible to humans. Whether I understand it or not is not God's concern.
I could of course think that maybe there is no meaning at all in this blinking eye, but its significance could lie precisely in its not having meaning.
There are no miracles. God is saying this, saying this to this insatiable human being, me.
Then what else is there to seek? I ask of him.
All around is silence, snow is falling soundlessly. I am surprised by the tranquillity. In heaven it is peaceful like this.
And there is no joy. Joy is related to anxiety.
Snow is falling."
Gao Xingjian
Inscrutable or what?
From pieces of paper #1
I have been driven to tidy my office - I was sure that something of importance was lurking unresolved, undealt with and festering in the pile of papers. So far I haven't found it but I have come across some scribbled notes.
Maybe if I put them on this blog then maybe they won't get lost.
Art & Truth
"We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realise truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfullness of his lies.
If he only shows in his work that he has searched, and re-searched, for the way to put over lies, he would never accomplish anything."
Pablo Picasso
Ain't that the truth!
Maybe if I put them on this blog then maybe they won't get lost.
Art & Truth
"We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realise truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfullness of his lies.
If he only shows in his work that he has searched, and re-searched, for the way to put over lies, he would never accomplish anything."
Pablo Picasso
Ain't that the truth!
Friday, February 02, 2007
My point of view on the matter - Humanism
I received the following in an email regarding a forcoming conference relating to religious education:
"I have already made my belief in the humanist element clear in that as a human being I attend to human needs and beyond that the needs of humankind. I believe that mankind is a noble being destined forever to achieve great things. You are aware that mankind pulls these great things from an invisible realm, or if preferred, the world of ideas to the physical world. It is because of the existence of this hidden realm that I believe in the writings of the great philosophers and beyond them the writings of the Manifestations of God to whom every great philosopher acknowledges their powerlessness.
What I am trying to convey is this that I believe in a Power that most of humankind have failed to grasp.
If you could likewise point out your views on the matter it would be much appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you."
I responded with the following:
Humanism is in many ways, like all words, capable of many definitions and its meaning has changed over the years. In the context of today's religious education in this country a useful starting point could be the minimum agreed statement by the international Humanist umbrella organisation, the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU).
The minimum statement is as follows:
"Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality."
It is my experience that there are many people who though they are sincerely religious and gain their inspiration from revelatory sources are actually humanist in their outlook. By this I mean that they employ a humanist ethic in establishing a moral basis for their actions. When they do not steal or do not act cruelly, for example, they may quote and gain insight from wise words provided by all sorts of ancient texts but their behaviour is not simply a submission to an edict but is subject to their having thought through the consequences of their actions. This does not make them Humanists and they should, in my opinion, not be counted as such, but it does mean that they are justifying or grounding their behaviour in the same way as a Humanist does.
There are of course some religious people who claim as justification for their behaviour the prescripts of ancient writings which they say must only be taken literally and cannot be interpreted. Such a thing is clearly impossible for the moment one person tells another of what is written they will be necessarily interpreting those words. So what they actually are saying is that there is some superficial simple interpretation which they are actually espousing. The Humanist however does not accept that there is sufficient evidence for the existence of revelation (nor does the Humanist accept that there is any sufficient evidence for the existence of a transcendental god or gods and is therefore necessarily atheist or agnostic regarding all gods, both ancient and modern) and accords no more authority to so called "holy" books or texts than to any other highly valued sources. Humanists believe all texts are solely the works of the human imagination and human effort. Being ancient indicates a certain longevity for some ideas, which might well therefore be described as "tried and tested", however it follows logically that the more ancient the text the more lacking in knowledge were the human beings who penned them.
It is for the wise of today, who have the potential, in terms of available knowledge, to be the wisest people who have ever lived, to do their best to extract, with reference to present circumstances, the valuable knowledge from the past, and equally to reject (or simply ignore) the ill-informed, the prejudiced and the dangerous. It is up to human beings to improve the human condition and this is a work in progress which requires constant evaluation and re-evaluation as circumstances change and evolve. For me it is this endeavour of the human imagination and spirit that gives meaning and value to my life.
"I have already made my belief in the humanist element clear in that as a human being I attend to human needs and beyond that the needs of humankind. I believe that mankind is a noble being destined forever to achieve great things. You are aware that mankind pulls these great things from an invisible realm, or if preferred, the world of ideas to the physical world. It is because of the existence of this hidden realm that I believe in the writings of the great philosophers and beyond them the writings of the Manifestations of God to whom every great philosopher acknowledges their powerlessness.
What I am trying to convey is this that I believe in a Power that most of humankind have failed to grasp.
If you could likewise point out your views on the matter it would be much appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you."
I responded with the following:
Humanism is in many ways, like all words, capable of many definitions and its meaning has changed over the years. In the context of today's religious education in this country a useful starting point could be the minimum agreed statement by the international Humanist umbrella organisation, the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU).
The minimum statement is as follows:
"Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality."
It is my experience that there are many people who though they are sincerely religious and gain their inspiration from revelatory sources are actually humanist in their outlook. By this I mean that they employ a humanist ethic in establishing a moral basis for their actions. When they do not steal or do not act cruelly, for example, they may quote and gain insight from wise words provided by all sorts of ancient texts but their behaviour is not simply a submission to an edict but is subject to their having thought through the consequences of their actions. This does not make them Humanists and they should, in my opinion, not be counted as such, but it does mean that they are justifying or grounding their behaviour in the same way as a Humanist does.
There are of course some religious people who claim as justification for their behaviour the prescripts of ancient writings which they say must only be taken literally and cannot be interpreted. Such a thing is clearly impossible for the moment one person tells another of what is written they will be necessarily interpreting those words. So what they actually are saying is that there is some superficial simple interpretation which they are actually espousing. The Humanist however does not accept that there is sufficient evidence for the existence of revelation (nor does the Humanist accept that there is any sufficient evidence for the existence of a transcendental god or gods and is therefore necessarily atheist or agnostic regarding all gods, both ancient and modern) and accords no more authority to so called "holy" books or texts than to any other highly valued sources. Humanists believe all texts are solely the works of the human imagination and human effort. Being ancient indicates a certain longevity for some ideas, which might well therefore be described as "tried and tested", however it follows logically that the more ancient the text the more lacking in knowledge were the human beings who penned them.
It is for the wise of today, who have the potential, in terms of available knowledge, to be the wisest people who have ever lived, to do their best to extract, with reference to present circumstances, the valuable knowledge from the past, and equally to reject (or simply ignore) the ill-informed, the prejudiced and the dangerous. It is up to human beings to improve the human condition and this is a work in progress which requires constant evaluation and re-evaluation as circumstances change and evolve. For me it is this endeavour of the human imagination and spirit that gives meaning and value to my life.
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