Science versus mysticism? Posted by wimsey on October 13, 1998 at 18:54:24:
SUBMISSION TEXT (cut and paste)
TITLE:kipper's game
DEFINITION:a novel
CREATOR:barbara Ehrenreich
PRIMARY CATEGORY:Learning
SECONDARY CATEGORIES:science & magic
RELATIONSHIP TO THE CORE WAVE:Has the scientist and the mystic always been in opposition in the search for truth.? Did the mystic or the scientist discover and harness fire? Which leader fed his clan better, the great mystic or the great scientist?
QUOTES: "mystics seek to enlarge the mind. Scientists seek to condense the truth"
ENCAPSULATION:As a time Transcendant Idea I see all our individual and collective endeavours falling into either of these categories. Either we are trying to expand our awareness etc. to encompass new experience and information or we are trying to condense the experience or information and link it to the known in order to compartmentalize it and compress it. As the mystic , we seek by expanding, exorcising our filters and bias and linear logic and assume an emptiness, releasing what we "think we know". As the scientist we seek microscopically, using all our previous bias and filters and linear logic, a void or space in between the bodies of "Knowledge" where the "truth" or unknown must reside.
MAIN SUBMISSION:How many times have I chastised myself because I did no follow my "gut" feeling or my intuitive response. On the other hand, how often have I experienced failure because I didn't focus on the evidence and facts before making a decision. I would guess I aml not alone in this and am experiencing a timeless dichotomy. Is there a human preference in technique for the gathering of truths or do we undulate between mysticism and science depending on perceived successes. In other words, the revered leader is the one who accumulates the truths that result in a well fed tribe regardless of his choice in method.
DEEPER:
CONNECTIONS: Suggest Alien Dream as an example of the undulation towards mysticism because of perceived failures of science and to Meru Project because the sacred letters seem to imply the whole message (truth) is a blend of the literal(science) and the sacred(mysticism)
GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION: How about Rome where the term metaphysics was thought to originate in about 70BC
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