Yes! Here\u2019s the low down on the higher-ups! Try on this metaphor for size: I (and you, of course, all of us) am sort of a cell surface on the skin on the edge of a ridge in a pattern of finger-prints on the tip of a finger and where I connect with the world, the touch, the laptop keyboard, that\u2019s sort of everyday life. I am also the deeper parts of the cell that receives nourishment from the metaphysical roots of being, but these \u201cangels\u201d and \u201cessences\u201d are not in heaven, but deep within me, part of me. There are subcutaneous tissues of all sorts, bone, tendon, and beyond those, muscles farther into hand and arm, and beyond those blood vessels and nerves from a mysterious distant core carrying \u201cblood\u201d and oxygen and nutrients from sources and organs within that core of which my tiny little cell on the finger can never know. We humans with our knowledge of physiology and anatomy are still learning about the marvels of the organism that serves as our temple, and that, too, is only the surface manifestation of depth-energies, body-mind beyond matter, that we imagine in our own anthropomorphic way as people-like gods and angels. But what if their relationship to us was more like the relationship of the blood or muscle or bone cells and all to the fingertip where, to change metaphors, the \u201crubber meets the road\u201d? <\/p>\n
My \u201cangels\u201d are thus with me always, feeding and serving me. They are a deeper part of me, or equally descriptive, what I have the illusion of as \u201cme\u201d is just the exterior surface of what is equally them and me, or \u201cwe.\u201d Anyway, if I\u2019m smart, and in return for their service for me, I\u2019ll try to serve the organism that they express. They are not other but rather a deeper \u201cme,\u201d and \u201cI\u201d in turn are part of a myriad of others who also serve the greater good\u2014or, if I\u2019m foolish, the greater folly. Anyway, it\u2019s fun trying to develop my intuitions about the cosmos. I love this quote from the great modern philosopher, Alfred North Whitehead (1861 \u2013 1947), from his book, \u201cModes of Thought\u201d (1938, pp.237-238.):
\u201cThe use of philosophy is to maintain an active novelty of fundamental ideas illuminating the social system. It reverses the slow descent of accepted thought towards the inactive commonplace. If you like to phrase it so, philosophy is mystical. For mysticism is direct insight into depths as yet unspoken. But the purpose of philosophy is to rationalize mysticism; not by explaining it away, but by the introduction of novel verbal characterizations, rationally coordinated.
Philosophy is akin to poetry, and both of them seek to express that ultimate good sense which we term civilization. In each case there is reference to form beyond the direct meanings of words. Poetry allies itself to metre, philosophy to mathematic pattern.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yes! Here\u2019s the low down on the higher-ups! Try on this metaphor for size: I (and you, of course, all of us) am sort of a cell surface on the skin on the edge of a ridge in a pattern of finger-prints on the tip of a finger and where I connect with the world, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,13,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-foolin","category-spirituality-and-philosophy","category-wisdom-ing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}