Hi Marsha --
> I think that which is prior to our experience is best left > undefined. To me, using the word 'primary' is saying too much. > The word 'purpose' seems very presumptuous. While unknowable, > within my frame of reference (constellation of overlapping, > interconnected, ever-changing static patterns of value) I find > events and relationships very interesting and exciting. Therefore, > I try to make the 'best' of these events and relationships. I live my > life. And I'm happy corresponding with you is a part of that life. Far be it for me to try to push a metaphysical hypothesis on you when you are obviously not ready for it. I'm glad that you find the ever-changing patterns of events and relationships exciting, and can understand why you're presently content to leave the "unknowable" undefined. Yet, there are many out there who are hungry for understanding beyond factual knowledge. These are the folks I'm trying to reach. A great many subsist on faith in religious doctrine, others seek the wisdom of the venerable philosophers or the spirituality of New Age mysticism, while some are convinced that scientific objectivism will eventually resolve all their questions. What troubles me is that our society, with the help of Hollywood and the media, has succumbed to emotional fads based on issues which have no logic or wisdom behind them. One of these fads is the belief that the desire for higher understanding is a relic of the past that "intellectual enlightenment" has overcome. Elitists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens play on this ruse by trying to convince the vulnerable that religion is the root of all evil and that it's time we put spirituality behind us. They profit from the sale of books pitting Science against Religion, as if this were not a battle already played out in centuries past. Yet, they say nothing about the values that have been trashed by a culture which has made "having fun" the first priority, with little if any concern for fiscal, moral, or civil responsibility. In a small book titled "Roots of Freedom", John Danford wrote: "The hedonism of individual pleasure-seeking, the sense that there is no limit to what is permitted in the name of individual fulfillment or 'actualization', the disappearance of any sense of obligations-these are early warnings of a free society's decay." Unfortunately, he's right. I would venture to say that most citizens today are so accustomed to enjoying the latest technological gadgets and an affluent life style, they've come to believe that America is invulnerable. The sad truth is that they're in a state of denial about many "realities" confronting them, not the least of which is the threat of a barbarian culture fully committed to the destruction of their way of life. A retired chemistry professor, and friend of many years, told me recently he thought value is really only "what's important". I would turn his definition around and say that what's really important is value. In seven decades on this planet I have watched the values that made this nation great fall by the wayside to be replaced by the hubris of power, the deferment of individual responsibility, the mediocrity of multicultural egalitarianism, and the senseless rejection of metaphysical reality. By the time you reach my age, Marsha, I suspect you will be expressing some of the same observations. Hopefully by that time you will have sensed a need to revisit the concept of "primary source" and discover what is fundamental to your life-experience. Thanks for a stimulating discussion. Essentially yours, Ham Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
