Re: MD Double-think

From: Paul Turner (pauljturner@yahoo.co.uk)
Date: Fri May 02 2003 - 16:13:55 BST

  • Next message: Steve Peterson: "Re: MD Philosophy and Theology"

    Hi Scott

    > I think this needs partial correction. I understand
    > "figuration" *as*
    > perception, not as happening "along with"
    > perception. That is, it is the
    > process that turns what Barfield calls "the
    > particles" -- e.g., the photons,
    > air vibrations, etc., into things moving in space.
    > But yes, it can be
    > considered as a kind of thinking, and, most
    > importantly, can and has changed
    > over the centuries.

    Fair enough, in this post I was using Barfield as a
    means to an end to help describe the way I feel the
    MoQ fits into my thinking.

    > Good analogy, except that we *can* with some
    > difficulty see the black on
    > white patterns, but we cannot experience the
    > particles.

    You're right, it's only an analogy, I thought it might
    help demonstrate what I meant by 'figuration' in this
    post, I can see it's not identical to what Barfield
    means.

    > I would put it as: figuration is (since about 1500
    > AD) completely void
    > (consciously) of participation. Translation: we
    > perceive objects independent
    > of ourselves as subjects. SOM is the beta-thinking
    > that results from taking
    > this situation as absolute. (Science is the
    > alpha-thinking that results.)

    Agreed.

    > > I don't know if it's possible to deliberately and
    > > permanently change your 'figuration', I suspect it
    > is.
    >
    > That's what mystics do, at least in the sense of
    > coming to realize
    > (experience) figuration's contingency. (Also,
    > psychedelic drugs might be
    > said to temporarily change one's figuration, but
    > without necessarily
    > breaking one's S/O preconceptions, which is why they
    > are as likely to be
    > harmful as beneficial.)

    But in experiencing figuration's contingency, is
    figuration necessarily permanently changed?

    > > My general feeling right now is that it is a
    > gradual
    > > thing and that, using Barfield terms, maybe the
    > MoQ
    > > needs to start as beta-thinking and slowly move
    > across
    > > into alpha-thinking and begin to seep into
    > figuration
    > > completely over the next few hundred years.
    >
    > Socially, yes. Individually, one can hope for faster
    > results.

    Mysticism?

    > The real
    > question in my mind is how soon Western
    > institutional religions will catch
    > on to this. It is, in my opinion, their only viable
    > option to modern, and
    > postmodern, secularism.

    Is it only religion that needs to catch on?

    Paul

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