Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Transcendence and Transfiguration.

May the perish on which I was born,
And the night in which it was said,
‘A male child is conceived.’
May that day be darkness;
May God above not seek it,
Nor the light shine upon it.
May darkness and the shadow of death claim it;
May a cloud settle on it;
May the blackness of the day terrify it.
As for the night, my darkness seize it;
May it not rejoice among the days of the year,
May it not come into the number of months.
Oh, may that night be barren!
May no joyful shout come into it!
May those curse it who curse the day,
Those who are ready to arouse Leviathan.
May the stars of its morning be dark;
May it look for light, but have none,
And not see the dawning of the day;
Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb,
Nor hide sorrow from my eyes.

This passage couldn’t be so dark if there wasn’t so much Light shinning through.

I used to have this passage memorized. That was back when God and I talked more.


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Kaplan's considerations.

Whomsoever says, “I am here now” speaks truly. Is it a necessary truth? Nope. It’s not necessary de re that I am here now. De dicto, however, if “I am here now” is true, then necessarily, I am here now.

What of the following: “Necessarily, anyone who says, “I am here now” speaks truly”? I think this is another instance of the de dicto reading. After all, the proposition seems to pick out a relation between a state of affairs (i.e. “being here now”) with a proposition correctly expressing such a state of affairs (i.e. the sentence “I am here now” that expressed the true proposition “I am here now.")

...?

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Saturday, March 21, 2009

How to (dis)solve the 'Liar's Paradox' redux:

(1) Proposition (1) is false.
(2) Proposition (1) merely refers- it has no first-order predicate.
(3) The second-order predicates of 'truth' and 'falsity' supervene on first-order predication.
(4) (1), having no first-order predicate, cannot have the second-order predicates of 'truth' or 'falsity' (i.e. (1) is not a proposition)
(5) Since (1) cannot be true or false, it cannot generate a paradox.
(6) Therefore, there is no "Liar's Paradox".

.:addendum:.

As the Philosopher says:
"None of the above is said just by itself in any affirmation, but by the combination of these with one another an affirmation is produced. For every affirmation, it seems, is true or false; but of things said without any combination none is either true or false (e.g. 'man', 'white', 'runs', 'wins', ['proposition (1)']."

Categories IV, 5-10.

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God hates divorce.

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Sunday, March 15, 2009

Yearning for chrysalis.

I’m incredibly broken. Looking back on my relationship history all I see is a myriad of brokenness. I hesitate to even write because I’m afraid of false confession- of seeking pity, of finding an outlet for my self-loathing, of embarking upon pathetic self-pity. I’m even disgusted at the plausibility that admitting this is just another form of it on a higher level. At some level I’m sure it probably is. At another level I’m also being honest. I have faith the Holy Spirit will help me discern the difference. The Holy Spirit will help me confess. He’ll give me room to mourn without letting it bleed into disingenuous self-pity.

It may be out of cowardice, or it may be out of genuine self-assessment and humility, but I long to be wrapped into a cocoon where I can be shaped into a man who knows how to love and be loved in return. I need the incubation period so I can stop destroying others and abusing myself. My self-development is completely out of my hands- I’ve tried and tried and just don’t have the resources, on my own, to build myself up anew. I know that where I’m going is something that is latent within me as potential, but I’m completely incapable of initiating and guiding the process on my own.

“Become who you are!” Nietzsche implores me. But he gives me no means whereby I can. How can I, as he puts it, pull myself from my own bootstraps and cause myself to be?

And then the Holy Spirit shouts back at me with a delicate voice saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”

I long for Your Kingdom. I long for all things to be made anew. I long for the end of violence of strife, of pity and shame. I long to love You as I think I love myself- I long to love others the way You love me. Raise me up anew. Shape me and form into your Image, the Image of your Only Begotten.

“Lord, I believe! But help me in my unbelief!”

Let me hear Wisdom’s voice. Place me beside the way, where the paths meet. Put me by Your doorstep, fix my eyes so I watch for You at the gates. I wish to find You so I can find Life. I wish I will daily be Your delight, so You can rejoice in Your inhabited world.


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