< Back Archimedes and Christianity David Cowles Aug 26, 2025 “Science is not the antithesis of Christianity; it is a subset of it… not the enemy of religion but its most powerful engine.” Don’t blame Archimedes (b. 280 BCE); he got a bum rap. He did not invent the Archimedean Property nor did he lend it his name. That came much later when someone noticed that Archimedes’ work entailed certain previously unidentified assumptions about the structure of the phenomenal world. The Archimedean Property (AP) boils down to the assumption that real phenomena can be exclusively and exhaustively modeled within the domain of Real Numbers (extended to include Complex Numbers). Certainly sounds reasonable and it is…for most purposes. Sure, it fails to capture certain features of the deep structure of the Real World but how often does that come up in polite conversation? You can live your life from birth through NLE and never give a thought to anything beyond Real Numbers…and in fact that’s exactly how people lived from the time of Plato until the 18 th century. We most often discuss AP in the context of Geometry (and Topology). The Euclidean Geometry we learned as adolescents assumes AP. So do most non-Euclidean Geometries (e.g. geometries applicable to curved spaces). However, there is a class of esoteric geometries that reject the Archimedean Property. They seek to model phenomena that can’t be adequately approximated using Real Numbers alone. These phenomena require the introduction of ‘Unreal’ Numbers such as infinities and infinitesimals and ‘p-adic’ numbers (loosely related to logarithms for the few of you out there who don’t have a PhD in Pure Mathematics, yet). Without AP, if any two entities intersect (tangent or overlap), one must be a subset of the other. Nothing touches, nothing overlaps, unless it absorbs totally or is totally absorbed. It’s a readymade plot twist for the next Sci-Fi Silver Screen blockbuster. It’ll be a remake of Goldfinger , which itself retells the legend of King Midas. I touch you, I absorb you…or you absorb me. This gives new meaning to ‘Kill or Be Killed!’ It is a game of tag…for adults, but a game with apocalyptic consequences. Not sure you want to go down this path? No problem: you can try it before you buy it. The game could be simulated on a computer; it could even anchor a whole new genre of computer games, competing with Fortnite , Grand Theft Auto , and Tour of Duty . Of course, such ‘individual imperialism’ is not the only possible response to life in a world without AP. For example, we might decide to live our lives in hermetically sealed pods. Or we might learn to live together, harmoniously and symbiotically, without invading each other’s personal space…what a concept! Or we could just go with the flow. I could welcome the other into myself and I could graciously reciprocate by freely allowing myself to be uploaded into ‘another other’. Again, feel free to try before you buy, but know this: the process may not be reversible…so your life literally depends on the result! ‘Another other’? Makes sense. A absorbs B, another, then AB is absorbed by C, another other, and so on ‘up the food chain’. But what if we turned Jacob’s Ladder into an Ouroboros? What if we allowed A to absorb B…and B to absorb A, simultaneously. What if we allowed our two sets to be subsets of themselves and of each other? Now that would be some cool place to live, agreed? Too much for you? Well, stay tuned! You are the product of a single fertilized sex cell. Today, your body consists of 30 trillion descendants of that cell, working more or less in harmony to ensure your (temporary) survival and to allow you to make all the contributions to human history your parents had planned for you. There will be no peace on earth or cure for cancer without you and there would be no you without the immediate and enduring cooperation of 30 trillion independent organisms (100 trillion over your entire lifetime). But there is something very special about these cells. Unlike simple life forms (e.g. bacteria), most of the cells in your body include a nucleus that houses copies of your primordial DNA. All animal and plant life consists primarily of nucleated cells. But while the first living organisms (prokaryotes) appeared on Earth 4 billion years ago, the first nucleated cells (eukaryotes) evolved just 2 billion years ago. More astounding, every eukaryotic cell on Earth today is likely descended from a single 2 billion year old ancestor. (By comparison, Abraham was a dilatant!) So how did the primal eukaryote evolve? Two unicellular life forms, bacteria perhaps, gave each other reck (Anaximander, Buber) and entered into a covenant (Jeremiah et al.). The process was described in 1986 by Nobel winning biologist, Paul Simon: “If you’ll be my bodyguard, I will be your long lost pal.” ( You can call me Al ) Perhaps Paul was drawing on an earlier description: “You will be my people, and I will be your God!” ( Jeremiah 7: 23). And so it happened! One cell agreed to give up its independence to become the nucleus of another cell in exchange for that cell’s protection (an early version of the feudal contract)…and together they conquered the Earth. Alexander, Augustus, eat your hearts out! We life forms are stubborn. It took 2 billion years for two of us to decide that cohabitation and cooperation might be better than conflict. And now we’re surprised that there’s no peace in the Middle East? It was a high stakes gamble, a giant leap of faith, but boy did it ever pay off! We are indebted to these two risk-taking pioneers for everything from the majestic Redwood Forests to the teeming Gulf Stream Waters, for Mother Theresa, and for you. ‘Thank you’ doesn’t cover it. There is a powerful Theory of Everything (TOE) that fundamentally depends on non-Archimedean topology. No, it’s not some esoteric version of String Theory: it does not require a cosmos with 10…or 26 dimensions. Nor is it obscure. In fact, every reader of this article is, happily or not, quite familiar with it. It’s called Christianity . Let’s just state it outright: Christian cosmology is fundamentally non-Archimedean! Write that 100 times on Sister Mary Martha’s blackboard. But don’t stop there! Christianity not only rejects AP; it also rejects the Transitive Property (if a > b and b > c then a > c) and the Fundamental Properties of Arithmetic (Commutative, Associative, and Distributive). Basically, Christianity repeals 5 years of primary school education. Or not! There is a real domain in which all these traditional properties hold but that ‘local’ domain is embedded in a much broader ‘universal’ domain where they do not. Arithmetic is a subset of mathematics. The Archimedean domain is a sub-region of the broader non-Archimedean Universe. Just as the Newtonian Universe is embedded in the Einsteinian Universe, so physics is embedded in theology . The defining doctrine of orthodox Christianity is Incarnation. The 2 nd person of the Blessed Trinity, the logos through whom ‘all things were made’ has in fact become one of those things . (John 1: 2 – 5) Contrary to the Foundation Axiom of Set Theory, the set is a subset of itself. God is the all-encompassing plenum and an irreducible quantum within that plenum . The Son of God is God. According to the Nicene Creed, Jesus Christ is ‘true God ( plenum ) and true man ( quantum )’. The whole is contained in one of its parts . Cosmos as Fun House! The reciprocal reflections in the Hall of Mirrors extend to infinity. The very concept of scale, so crucial to our understanding of the world, vanishes. The Cosmos is a fractal; no matter where you look it looks the same. It is a pattern endlessly embedded in itself. Embedded, not conflated! The part does not become the whole, nor the whole the part. Call it the Pauline Exclusion Principle . According to Incarnation’s companion doctrine of Trinity, the plenum and the quantum remain distinct personae of the one Godhead. Perhaps the best description of this relationship is provided by Paul in his First Letter to Corinthians : “When everything is subjected to him (Son), then the Son himself will be subjected to the one (Father) who subjected everything to him (Son) so that God may be all in all.” (15: 28) ‘All in all’, Anaxagoras’ pan in panti , describes the fundamental architecture of our non-Archimedean Universe. And it is also the Foundational Principal (Incarnation) of Christianity . It is no wonder that we are rapidly becoming unchurched. We have made a fetish of science. (Science is good but fetishizing anything is not.) Unfortunately, many Christians have responded to the fetish by rejecting the science. But science is not the antithesis of Christianity; it is a subset of it. Once we have overcome the notion that the Universe is Archimedean throughout and properly understood the place of cosmology within metaphysics, we will suddenly find that science is not the enemy of religion but its most powerful engine. Truly, this is the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius . “Come Holy Ghost!” *** Christ Pantocrator, 6th century, Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai. The icon mirrors our theme by depicting Christ as both infinite plenum and finite quantum, true God and true man, embodying the non-Archimedean logic at the heart of Christianity. 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< Back Stations of the Cross David Cowles Mar 14, 2023 “The Stations of the Cross are not just about Jesus’ final hours; they are about all the hours of all of our lives.” When I was in grade school (parochial), there were no Fat Tuesdays to usher in the season of Lent – 40 dreary days leading up to Holy Week. Instead, we were subject to a ‘penitential practice’ perfectly commensurate with the event it presaged: crucifixion. No, not self-flagellation. Lord knows, we had parents enough for that. No, it was a Christian rite known as the Stations of the Cross. If the name sounds ominous, it was! Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover! Every Friday afternoon during Lent – Friday for heavens’ sake, ‘Freedom Day’ for the under 13 crowd – when the bell rang at 2:30, instead of rushing home and out to play, we were marched in silence to the near-by church to celebrate the stations. Some celebration! We sat in silence in a dimly lit church for what seemed like hours…but probably was less than 60 minutes. For excitement we got to watch a priest and two altar boys (sic) walk slowly up and down the aisles of the church, stopping at each one of the ‘stations’, a plaque on a far wall of the church. Some mumbling, a few prayers, then off to the next station! Rinse, repeat! 14 times! Jesus wept! Many years later, in my mid-20’s, I traveled to Europe with my brother. One afternoon, we found ourselves in a grotto with an open air display of those same dreaded stations. In my newly acquired spirit of open mindedness, I decided to walk through them ‘one last time’; suddenly, like Paul en route to Damascus, light broke over Marblehead… I got it! The Stations of the Cross are not just about Jesus’ final hours; they are about all the hours of all of our lives: First Station: Jesus is condemned to death . As are we all, condemned to death that is, from the very moment of our conception. Now is the hour of our death. To live is to die, to live our life as our death. As the Irish would say, “Jesus, we hardly knew ye.” Second Station: Jesus takes up His cross . We are born. With our first post-natal cry, each of us unwittingly accepts a role as an active participant in the pageant of life. We make our mark in the Big Book of the universe. We sign the contract. Third Station: Jesus falls for the first time . Childhood can be overwhelming. We encounter unanticipated obstacles, we stumble, we make mistakes. A road diverges in the wood, and sometimes we don’t really want to take either branch, but of course, we must choose. Jesus too! Christian doctrine holds that Jesus did not sin, but he was most certainly subject to all the same temptations we are, and he too had to make decisions. Should he obey his parents or stay teaching in the temple? Fourth Station: Jesus is met by His Blessed Mother . Who is there to pick us up when we fall? Our mothers, of course. “Kiss it and make it better.” Mothers are healing, mothers are forgiving. Most of us have our first taste of ‘the spiritual’ through our mothers: love and the ontological vistas love opens for us. Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry the cross . Next to our moms, no one is as important to us, growing up, as our peers. (Sorry, Dad!) Throughout our lives, but perhaps most especially during the later stages of childhood, we ‘depend on the kindness of others’. Friends make us feel we belong. Others share our same predicament. They carry our crosses as we do theirs. We’re all in this together! Sixth Station: The face of Jesus is wiped by Veronica . From tween (above) on to teen, young love is our next encounter with ‘the other’. We discover sexuality, and we experience both compassion (mother) and companionship (friends) in a single person. Seventh Station: Jesus falls a second time . The trials of adolescence. The indiscretions of our youth. Who makes the passage from 12 to 20 without copious mishaps? Eighth Station: Jesus consoles the women of Jerusalem . With adulthood comes a more mature relationship with others. We assume our places in society. We enter careers, we form families. We are now capable of mature, reciprocal relationships. “Oh, Master, grant that I may never seek so much to be consoled as to console.” (St. Francis) Ninth Station: Jesus falls a third time . The burdens of adulthood can be crushing. Now we are tempted by the sins of middle age . Tenth Station: Jesus is stripped of His garments . Ultimately, our identities unravel; we find ourselves naked again. If we are to discover our true selves, we must shed our myriad false selves, symbolized by our choice of clothing (uniforms): from sun suit to business suit to sweat suit. Eleventh Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross . We have shed our personae, but now we must put on the cloak of the cosmos, symbolized by the cross, the intersection of all that is. Now we must accept responsibility for our lives, for the part we’ve played in the evolution of the world as it has come to be. This part is no picnic. Twelfth Station: Jesus dies on the cross . Once we have wrapped ourselves tight in the cloak of the cosmos, we are absorbed into it. We die! Thirteenth Station: Jesus is laid in the arms of His Blessed Mother . Death recapitulates life. We are back in the arms of our mothers. Nothing has changed yet everything is different; everything has changed yet nothing is different. Fourteenth Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb . “It is finished!” Beyond the arms of our mothers, we are now comingled with our ancestors, with the cosmos, with Big Bang itself. At the First Station, we were condemned to death. Sentence executed! Hurry Easter! Previous Share Next Do you like what you just read and want to read more Thoughts? Subscribe today for free! Thoughts While Shaving - the official blog of Aletheia Today Magazine. Click here.

< Back Aliens and the Upcoming Great Reveal David P. Bugay, PhD Apr 18, 2026 Five Converging Clues That Suggest an Extraordinary Disclosure Earth’s advertising campaign to catch the attention of aliens began in the year 1895 as we spewed radio waves and then television waves into the universe. We then became more focused in 1972 when we began marketing directly to aliens with satellites containing special plaques telling aliens where to find us. We also sent out advertising through direct satellite and radio beams. When we sell – we sell big time! The advertising campaign may have worked. Many claim aliens have responded and visited earth – and may be here right now. Sixty-five percent of Americans believe there is intelligent alien life. Almost half of us, 47%—52% believe that the intelligent aliens listened – and visited Earth. Today we are far more open about believing in aliens and visitations. Indeed, governments increasingly acknowledge unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs). Astronomers track objects entering our solar system from interstellar space. Pilots and radar systems record maneuvers that defy explanation. No single discovery proves that humanity stands on the brink of contact. Yet several independent developments appear to converge in ways that feel unprecedented. Government agencies and representatives have said that information on aliens will be released “soon.” There is a clear uptick in the number of sightings of craft with no visible means of propulsion in the skies, in the sea, and in space. Will the governments finally reveal what many have suspected are aliens? Will aliens reveal themselves? Is all this simply overactive imagination? Together, they invite a sober but unavoidable question: Are we approaching what many have come to call a Great Reveal? First, three interstellar artifacts: giant space debris or alien ships? Something enormous from another star system entered our Solar System in 2025. We named it 3I/ATLAS. It earned the name because it is the third interstellar (“3” for Third and “I” for Interstellar) to enter our Solar System since 2017. It is as big as the entire island of Manhattan. It is still here and for now, it appears to be orbiting Jupiter. It is the largest, fastest, and most active interstellar object observed. It is officially classified as a comet but has many aberrations which do not fit this profile. This includes a comet tail which points in the wrong direction, unusual chemical elements with CO2 and deuterium; we usually think of deuterium as linked with nuclear fusion power. It is said this is an ancient object; 10 to 12 billion years old. This would potentially make it older than the Sun and as old as the Milky Way Galaxy itself. The oddest thing about 3I/Atlas is the pictures of it. Today, a satellite 150+ miles away can identify a car by type, make, color, and model. Satellites can see far-off galaxies, identify individual stars, and count planets which have atmospheres. But when 3I/Atlas arrived into our Solar System, miraculously, no government camera could focus onto it. All we have received from Earth’s governments have been so fuzzy that the amateur astronomers of Earth did far better with backyard telescopes. The mystery of 3I/Atlas becomes a greater hint of things to come – because of the silence. Silence is a powerful tool to identify nondisclosure. Second, alien technology and biology can be studied – and some even reverse engineered , especially when it crashes. Technology which can make its way through the stars is certainly an advance over what we currently have on Earth; more advanced than all human technology. Sometimes these ships may crash. The material, engines, and even the beings which drive them may be of interest – and studied. The famous Area 51 is rumored to be the capital for reverse engineering alien technology. The not so famous Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio is rumored to house labs to study alien biological remnants – or live aliens. It ran Operation Blue Book which “studied” aliens and reviewed over 12,600 cases. Over the years, Area 51 was hidden until 2012 from official reports – yet it spent half a century running secret testing of numerous aerial flight craft – even off-world craft. Wright Patterson has had former employees claim witness to alien beings – usually deceased. Between these two bases and other undisclosed sites there are assertions from former employees of “off—world technology” and “off—world biology” programs. These allegations resurfaced during U.S. congressional hearings on unidentified anomalous phenomena in 2023 and 2024, reigniting public interest and media speculation. To date there has been little release of any files of programs to the public’s eye except to some congressional oversight members. The less said, the more rumors dominate the subject that reverse engineered craft or the remnants of deceased aliens—or living versions—from off-world origin are fueled by secrecy. The reverse-engineering story reflects not so much about aliens than about epistemology. Where evidence is hidden by necessity or other reasons, speculation fills the gap—and often endures longer than the secrecy that inspired it. Legends of reverse-engineered alien craft and biological remnants persists not because of what has been proven, but because of what was never allowed to be seen. Third, aliens on Earth? Tens of thousands of people have claimed to have seen or encountered aliens. Over the years the reports were laughed at until the volume and credibility grew. Then, these reports were tracked with more precision. Today, there are civilian reporting databases, academic research, and government investigations which are overwhelmed by the number of accounts. The largest of these databases include: the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) and the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). Together these archive tens of thousands of sightings and close—encounter reports submitted over the decades by pilots, military personnel, and civilians. Here are some of the more credible “alien” descriptions. These descriptions range from hundreds of similar reports to some which number in the tens of thousands with similar descriptions. The Greys are the most often mentioned of alien encounters. They are said to be of a small stature (3—5 ft), grey skin, with large black almond-shaped eyes. There is also a claim that these engage in telepathic communication. The reports of this alien body type number in the tens of thousands. The Tall Whites are said to be six to eight feet tall with pale white skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair. They are mentioned in thousands of reports. These “aliens” appear mostly in military reports rather than in contact with everyday citizens. There is a special focus of these in the United States and Europe especially associated with the Nevada test ranges. The Nordics bear a resemblance to the Tall Whites. These reports numbered in the high hundreds to low thousands. There was a drop in reports which mention these after the 1970s, and it is speculated that these were replaced with the Tall Whites in reporting formats. They are described as human—looking, tall in appearance with a strong use of telepathy. Mantid / Insectoid entities are quite different. These reports tell of a tall, insect-like appearance that resembles a praying mantis in appearance. The reports on these numbers are in the high hundreds to low thousands. They are often described as overseers that direct the Greys. These tend to be consistent in their appearance in cross reporting. Skeptics beware – the volume of alien reports suggests a new reality may be in our future. Fourth, are there multi-dimensional beings? Most religions of Earth have beings which can pop into existence or out of existence. We typically call them “Angels,” “Demons,” or some variation. In religious circles we use terms such as “spirits” rather than the term “dimensional” in our dialogues. We believe these spiritual beings to be around us as “clouds of witnesses” in an invisible form, yet on occasion can assume human form. Humans live in four dimensions: height, width, length, and time. These spiritual beings are invisible as spirits yet can also dwell among us. A Biblical reference in Hebrews even says, "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it." A being which can live in a spiritual world yet then step into our four-dimensional world, comes from a different place. In both science lore, science fiction, and alien lore we call that another dimension. In recent years, an increasing number of anomalous reports have clustered around a curious theme: appearance without approach . Witnesses describe individuals or objects which seem to emerge abruptly into perceptible reality—without descent, arrival, or detectable origin. Some accounts are accompanied by ambiguous photographic or video evidence suggesting figures that materialize where moments earlier no presence was observed. Angels, demons, or aliens which occupy a separate plane of existence or dimension may well account for these “comings-and-goings” through portals, dimensions, and sudden appearance. As scientific inquiry presses against the limits of spacetime and consciousness, it reenters territory once monopolized by myth—bringing with it the possibility that humanity has always been sensing the edges of a reality richer and stranger than it knows how to describe it. Many of us remain skeptical—yet for those who embrace religions where the supernatural can occur, whether angels, demons, or miracles—the jargon becomes more acceptable. Aliens step into our world through portals – crazy unless we call them angels or demons. Fifth, alien ships fill our skies and social media today. A deep body of evidence from the U.S. Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence report substantial increases in UAP observations. Improved reporting systems have shown reports have increased steadily year over year. Between May 2023 and June 2024 alone, the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) received 757 new UAP reports, nearly tripling the number documented from two years earlier to over 1,600 incidents. By early 2026, Pentagon officials acknowledged the number was over 2,000 UAP cases, with around 1,000 unresolved. These reports frequently include trained military/commercial pilots, radar tracking, infrared imagery, and other sensor data. These often capture objects that display unusual acceleration, maneuverability, or propulsion systems with no visible source - signature characteristics inconsistent with known aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration’s decision to incorporate UAP reporting into formal air traffic control procedures further underscores a shift toward normalization and transparency of UAPs into daily context. The issue is no longer ignored but rather logged, analyzed, and tracked. It is focused more on posture not on denial, but on preparation. These crafts are not confined to space and clouds but even beneath the oceans. Rumors of underwater UFOs—called Unidentified Submerged Objects (USOs)—report exceptionally large craft, sometimes up to 100 meters long, moving underwater at speeds which exceed 100 knots with maneuverability far beyond conventional submarines. These are not new but can be traced back to the Cold War-era Soviet naval accounts. Senior officers then described sonar contacts tracking objects that appeared to outrun and out-dive known submarines by both the Soviets and U.S. Navy. These anecdotes involved fast-moving submerged contacts near carrier groups. Today there have been several credible military reports of transmedium incidents, including official Navy footage which show unidentified objects that transition seamlessly from air into the ocean. Crews report underwater movement inconsistent with propulsion noise or wake signatures which nothing in today’s technology can perform. The radar–sonar correlations, repeated tracks, and trained observer testimony serve as evidence that some underwater encounters remain genuinely unexplained. Things fly our skies and swim in our oceans at speeds and means unknown to humans. Conclusion: Vigilance Without Sensationalism The Great Reveal, if it comes, may not arrive as a single announcement. It may unfold through convergence—interstellar objects, persistent anomalies, institutional transparency, and cultural readiness. None of these developments alone prove extraterrestrial contact. Together, they suggest that we, as humanity, have entered a time where old assumptions no longer suffice. We have promises that governments will release various files – and we have heard those before. The universe may yet be far more inhabited—and mysterious—than we once imagined. We may have “aliens” self-reveal whether from space, under the sea, or from their dimensions. The task now is neither belief nor disbelief, but discernment. It seems now we might be ready, both government and humanity, for the Great Reveal. *** Roberto Matta’s On the Edge of a Dream (1956) is a large surrealist oil painting filled with swirling forms and vibrant colors that create a sense of shifting, multidimensional space. The work reflects Matta’s signature exploration of psychological and cosmic landscapes, blending abstraction and figuration to evoke a dreamlike, otherworldly environment. Previous Share Next Do you like what you just read and want to read more Thoughts? Subscribe today for free! Thoughts While Shaving - the official blog of Aletheia Today Magazine. Click here.

< Back Atheism and London Buses David Cowles Feb 28, 2023 “If a UK political party were to adopt ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ as its manifesto, it would likely get no closer to the House of Commons than the Tower of London.” I have nothing against Atheism...or atheists. I’m not one, but some of my best friends are. Have you met Schopenhauer, Bakunin, Nietzsche, and Sartre! But not all atheists are besties . Richard Dawkins, the famous evolutionist and legendary ideologue, for example, is not! In 2008 – 2009, Dawkins funded the Atheist Bus Campaign in response to contemporaneous adverts sponsored by Evangelical Christians. No one remembers their ad, but everyone remembers Dawkins’ response. Imagine you’re preparing to board one of London’s iconic double decker busses and as the bus pulls up, you notice this ad plastered on its side: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Dawkins’ meme gives Atheism a bad name! First, the very notion of a ‘campaign’ in this context is disturbing. If there is no God, why would anyone spend their hard earned cash to convince other people of that fact? Who cares? I can understand a campaign for civil rights or disarmament but I cannot get my head around a ‘campaign for atheism’. Julian Baggini, author of Atheism – A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2021) anticipated my objection. He argues that atheism is not just a negation of theism; it has its positive side as well: “…the atheist is almost always a naturalist, believing that there is only the natural world and not any supernatural one…the natural world is all there is.” Still though, this doesn’t quite explain why this ‘anti-religion’ should itself become a ‘proselytizing faith’. But enough with the speculation: “There’s probably no God.” Probably? So let me get this straight, I’m supposed to make the most important decision of my life (God or no God) based on mere probability ? Confirmed theist Blaise Pascal (c. 1650 CE) might have agreed with Dawkins (‘there probably is no God’) but Pascal went one step further, asking: What if I’m wrong? What if there is a God after all? I’m about to throw away the greatest gift this universe, or any conceivable universe, could ever confer (eternal life) based on a probability ? So Pascal did the math, and he came to the only possible conclusion (Pascal’s Wager is not a conjecture; it’s a mathematical fact): P * ∞ = ∞ where P is any number greater than 0 and no greater than 1. Pascal reasoned as follows: first, either God exists (Y)…or he doesn’t (N); second, either I believe in God (Y)…or I don’t (N). He looked at all the permutations and realized that all zero-out, except one: “I believe in God (Y) and God exists (Y)!” Y*N = 0, N*Y = 0, N² = 0…but Y² = ∞. If God exists, all I have to do is believe and I win the jackpot; and if God does not exist, nothing matters anyway so who cares? There’s no downside to faith. Probability doesn’t enter into it! Once you understand the rules of the game, there is only one possible bet. But back to the bus. The 2 nd leg of Dawkins’ illogical syllogism is even more dangerous. To suggest, as Dawkins does, that ‘God’ is a major source of ‘worry’ for theists is totally counter-factual. It is the prospect of a world without God that is ‘worrisome’…actually terrifying. Even Marx acknowledged that religion is an effective opiate. Fact is, people who believe in God, rightly or wrongly, derive a great deal of comfort from that belief. Maybe they shouldn’t but they do. Sorry, Richard! The final leg of Dawkins’ infernal triangle is the most pernicious. “Now…enjoy your life.” I don’t think I’ve been told to ‘shut-up and smile’ since I was 8 years old. The underlying assumption appears to be that ‘enjoyment’ is the purpose and meaning of life. I dream at night; sometimes those dreams are pleasurable. Is that the sort of enjoyment Dawkins is talking about? Doesn’t work for me! I’m looking for something more out of life than ‘Sweet Dreams’. It may be that ‘to sleep, perchance to dream’ is all there is, but I’m not going to accept that without a fight. I’ll side with Dylan Thomas: “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” One thing for sure. I’m not going to spend my money trying to persuade you that dreaming is as good as it gets. Why would anyone do that? Without God, life is perpetual worry. ‘Enjoyment’ doesn’t enter in. Psalm 23 : “Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you (God) are by my side.” What adult (or even teen) can doubt that we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death? The Psalmist draws courage from the belief that we are accompanied on our journey by God, the death-slayer. From what does Richard Dawkins draw courage? A rare single malt? No judgement here: I have done! But there is an even more disturbing message buried in Dawkins’ meme, and it harks back to Rome’s bread and circuses, Marx’s opiate, and Huxley’s soma. If a UK political party were to adopt ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ as its manifesto, it would likely get no closer to the House of Commons than the Tower of London. It’s hard to imagine a more reactionary platform! Beauty, Truth, and Justice are what give life meaning. The ‘function’ of God is to make these objective values operative in our world. They are normative, always and everywhere, in every possible universe, regardless of anyone’s personal predilections. The purpose of life is the advancement of values, not personal pleasure. Have you heard this one? “ On earth as it is in heaven! ” Catchy, don’t you think? Now that’s a slogan I’d pay to put on the side of a bus! Previous Share Next Do you like what you just read and want to read more Thoughts? Subscribe today for free! 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< Back The Multiverse David Cowles Nov 14, 2024 “Now I feel like I’m standing at the counter of a Baskin & Robbins, answering my server’s first question…” One Sunday at dinner, an eight-year-old grandchild casually asked, “Boka, have you heard of the Multiverse.” I had. Among the many blessings I’ve enjoyed in my life is a rasher of grandchildren, any one of whom can engage me in thought-provoking conversation at the drop of a fork. There’s rarely a sit down dinner without talk turning to biology, cosmology or theology. But this Sunday’s topic made me realize that I had not given the concept of ‘Multiverse’ enough thought. The idea is simple: we live in a universe, dah! So, couldn’t there be other universes as well – places where we don’t currently reside? Of course, the answer is, “Yes!” But now I feel like I’m standing at the counter of a Baskin & Robbins, answering my server’s first question, “Can I help you?” “Yes, you can,” but I better tell you how you can help me, or we’re going to be staring at each other for a very long time and the line of potential customers behind me might become a bit unruly: “Three scoops please, Jamoca Almond Fudge, German Chocolate Cake and of course, Pralines & Cream.” Yup, those are flavors of ice cream, unrelated to candy, pastry or beverages of any kind. Like ice cream, the concept of Multiverse comes in flavors. Of course, our standard model of cosmology is built around the idea that we live in a single, unique universe, finite in space and time. In other words, not a Multiverse! Cosmology is a lot like public opinion polling. We only have access to a tiny percentage of the potential data points – because of cosmic expansion, most of the universe ‘created’ at Big Bang has already crossed the event horizon and is no longer even potentially detectable by us. Lewis Carroll notwithstanding, there’s no reason to suppose that physics ‘through the looking glass’ is any different from physics here and now. If that assumption is correct, then (1) polling will accurately predict the outcome of the next election and (2) there’s no need to posit a Multiverse. But Hugh Everett (1957) had a different idea. He thought that every event, every choice, every bifurcation ‘created’ its own unique universe. Instead of ‘many events in one universe’ Everett gave us ‘one event in one universe’. His ‘Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics’ (MWI) delivers the ultimate Multiverse – an Omniverse made up entirely of discrete universes. To be clear, most of us think of Universe as something like ‘the set of all astronomical phenomena’; Everett thinks of Universe as the set of all universes. Between ‘No Multiverse’ and ‘Only Multiverse’, there are a number of hybrid positions. Lisa Randall, for example, posits multiple self-contained universes (called ‘branes’), sharing common borders ( ergo ‘membranes’). Each universe is self-contained, probably erupting at its own Big Bang and continuing to its own Heat Death. But there’s a leak somewhere in the system. Something must cross the ‘Brane/Brane Barrier’ (BBB) or our universe would be unaffected by the others; we would have no way to detect them and no reason to want to. Our prime suspect in Leakgate is Gravity – possibly a solution to the ‘missing mass’ dilemma, perhaps preferable to the ‘dark matter’ fix. These various scenarios have more in common than you might think. For example, they all assume that the omni/multi/uni/verse is finite in space and time. Absent a transcendent creator, I find this counterintuitive. Defenders of these models struggle mightily with the 5 W’s: What, Where, When, How and Why? Finitude per se is its own mystery. Aristotle, on the other hand, didn’t worry about silly adverbs. He proposed a universe infinite in both space and time. But introducing the notion of infinity sets off its own cascade of problems, some scientific, some philosophical. For example, in an infinite universe there would be an infinite number of data points, each point assuming every possible value at least once. But in an infinite universe, every possible value of any data point will occur an infinite number of times. Plus data points form patterns. To the extent that events are independent of one another, the number of patterns they can form is infinite, and each such pattern would repeat an infinite number of times. So our universe would consist of every possible state-of-affairs repeated an infinite number of times. Ugh! Now, if I have a Universe defined as everything that could possibly happen, happening an infinite number of times, and forming an infinite number of patterns, each recurring an infinite number of times…do I have anything at all? Or have I just found a clever way to say, “Nothing!” Not a Multiverse, not a Universe, Nothing. Remember Gregory Bateson’s ontological criterion: a difference that makes a difference . In an infinite model, nothing is different (unique) and therefore nothing makes any difference per se ; everything that can happen, does happen, and it happens an infinite number of times, in an infinite number of contexts, regardless of whatever may have happened before. So the unique universe you and I grew up in, unthinking, has challengers now. MWI has introduced the concept of an Omniverse, Lisa Randall et al. have sketched the outline of a true Multiverse, and finally, Aristotle gave us what is the functional equivalent of an Anti-verse. So yes, I have heard of the Multiverse…but so far, I’m not sold. Keep the conversation going. 1. Click here to contact us on any matter. How did you like the post? How could we do better in the future? Suggestions welcome. 2. To subscribe (at no cost) to TWS and ATM, follow this link . 3. We encourage new articles and reprints from freelance writers ; click here to view out Writers’ Specs Previous Share Next Do you like what you just read and want to read more Thoughts? Subscribe today for free! Thoughts While Shaving - the official blog of Aletheia Today Magazine. Click here.

< Back Robin Hood's Mary Men David Cowles Mar 11, 2026 “Could it be that Robin’s Merry Men are really Mary Men, devoted, like their leader, to the cult of the Blessed Virgin?” Our post-Enlightenment North Atlantic culture draws a bright red line separating fact and fiction. Where the line is drawn and by whom is another matter entirely. We believe there is such a line IRL, even if we can’t say exactly where it is. Most other cultures, however, are a bit more flexible. They understand that history and mythology represent theoretical poles of a fuzzy continuum. George Washington, for example, is certainly an historical figure but many legends (e.g. a certain cherry tree) traditionally attach to him as well. Rarely, but occasionally, a character appears for whom the overlap of history and legend is essential , not just accidental. Think King Arthur or Jean d’Arc. Robin Hood is one of those who explicitly bridge history and legend. It is highly likely that the story of Robin Hood began as the story of a flesh and blood individual. We just can’t say which individual. Several potential ‘Robins’ have been identified in the historical record, but we don’t know which of them, if any, was actually ‘the Hood’. Here’s what we can claim to know about Robin with a reasonable degree of confidence: He lived in a forest near Nottingham with a man called ‘Little John’ and assorted other Merry Men . He was fiercely religious, a ‘daily communicant’, and specially devoted to the cult of the Virgin Mary. He strenuously opposed both the rapacious secular authority (King John) and the opulent church hierarchy. He advocated for a fundamental redistribution of wealth. His signature meme could double as a 21 st century political slogan: Rob the Rich to Give to the Poor . 2500 years earlier, it would have simply been: Jubilee! He was an early practitioner of what’s now called Propaganda of the Deed , defined by Wikipedia as “direct action intended to influence public opinion…(and) meant to serve as an example for others to follow, acting as a catalyst for social revolution.” The lives of Jesus and the Apostles are paradigms of Direct Action, i.e. communicating the Gospel message by living it. Likewise, the early church ( Acts of the Apostles ). Others associated with Propaganda of the Deed include monastic orders, various utopian communities, the Black Panther Party, the Fruit of Islam, Hippies, Yippies (vs. Yuppies) and the Weather Underground. Today, Propaganda of the Deed is associated with the Anarchist Movement. He subscribed to a cosmology and an ethics grounded in the concept of Natural Law: Nature’s Processes x(Oral Torah) instantiate, reveal ( Aletheia ), and communicate God’s laws (Written Torah). The moral quality of a society is reflected in the fecundity of its land and the health of its monarch. (Grail Legend) Based on the near unanimous testimony of the earliest source material, these aspects of Robin’s story would seem to meet the standard criteria for ‘unambiguous historical truth’. Nonetheless, for our purposes, it matters not whether these things are true as history just so long as they ring true as mythology. Accordingly, the character of Robin Hood , as reported and/or imagined, can be understood as the intersection of disparate cultural and intellectual threads: Popular opposition to King John in favor of his brother Richard Coeur de Lion . Revolt of the nobles leading to the Magna Carta . The Virgin Mary as the Christian cognate of various pagan Earth goddesses - Mother Nature, Gaia , Easter , et al. The Magnificat (Luke 1: 46 – 52) – militant Mary’s prescription for socioeconomic justice: “He (YHWH) has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted-up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things but the rich he has sent away empty.” May Day - the date traditionally set aside to celebrate fertility (human & agricultural) and to promote economic justice. Also, the first day of the month chosen by the Church for special Marian devotions and the date most often set aside for the secular celebration of labor. The Maypole, symbol traditionally associated with Robin Hood – a single, vertical tree, Yggdrasil , the axis mundi , Joyce’s omphalos, the umbilical cord of the universe. The maypole symbolizes the connection between heaven and earth, the transcendent and the immanent. Today, a Maypole is decorated every May in honor of the Blessed Virgin. But how does Robin’s sparse biography allow us to connect him to the cult of the Virgin Mary? The forest location is the first clue. Forests and even individual trees were divine according to the Celtic Druids, early disciples of Natural Law. Robin attended Mass several times each day, all while hiding to avoid the Sheriff's posse. With Robin, the grove has its altar! (Ezra Pound) Robin ignores the contingent laws of church and state and instead follows the necessary precepts of Natural Law. A slightly later tradition introduces a ‘love interest’ for Robin, the beautiful Maid Marian. In traditional May Day lore (late 13 th century France), Maid Marian was a shepherdess who was also “Queen of the May” (a title now reserved for Mary, the Mother of God). So, who is Robin’s Marian, really? Texts suggest an alternate spelling of her name: ‘Marion’, a derivative of ‘Mary’. Is it possible that ‘Maid Marian’ and ‘Mary, the mother of Jesus’, are one and the same person? Is it possible that Robin’s storied love affair is a metaphor for his mystical attachment to Mary? This may also shed light on another mystery, Robin’s Merry Men . What makes a bunch of outlaws, hiding in Sherwood Forest for fear of the Sherriff, living off the land and facing almost certain torture and execution if caught, so darn merry ? Could it be that Robin’s Merry Men are really Mary Men , devoted, like their leader, to the cult of the Blessed Virgin? In that case, can we understand Robin’s ‘movement’ as the manifestation of Mary’s eschatological vision ( Magnificat ) as concrete social action? Is the phenomenon we call ‘Robin Hood’ a translation of Mary’s Magnificat into a political Manifesto, communicated broadly via the language of Direct Action (above)? *** Daniel Maclise’s Robin Hood and His Merry Men (1839) presents the outlaw band as noble, theatrical figures gathered in a lush, idealized Sherwood Forest. The painting captures the Victorian fascination with medieval heroism, turning Robin Hood into a symbol of camaraderie, justice, and romantic rebellion. 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< Back Black Hole David Cowles May 19, 2022 “…We just caught our first glimpse of the big black hole that lies, curled up like my favorite pussy cat, at the center of our galaxy.” In early May, thanks to images captured by the aptly named Event Horizon Telescope, we caught our first glimpse of the big black hole that lies, curled up like my favorite pussy cat, at the center of our galaxy. Long ago, before anyone knew anything about black holes, we fortuitously named our galaxy The Milky Way. Apparently even then, we somehow sensed that one day, we would be lapped up like a saucer of milk. Yet, it was oddly comforting to ‘see’ so clearly the ultimate destiny of our spatiotemporal world. Like characters in Douglas Adams’ The Restaurant at the end of the Universe , we sit, peacefully, gazing into the abyss, gazing quite literally at nothing . Besides, this black hole is 26,000 light-years away. But it was also disconcerting, because, make no mistake, my kitty will wake up, and when she does… Well, let’s just say that what I described as “26,000 light-years away” will soon be described as “26,000 light-years close.” Fortunately, Being has another, non-spatial, non-temporal dimension that, thankfully, is beyond the reach of my cat’s tongue. I wonder, “Is my cat aware of this non-extensive dimension just beyond her grasp?” Are we? Image: The first image of the black hole at the center of our Milky Way, Sagittarius A*. Credit: NASA/Event Horizon Telescope. Full caption here. Previous Share Next Do you like what you just read and want to read more Thoughts? Subscribe today for free! Thoughts While Shaving - the official blog of Aletheia Today Magazine. Click here.

< Back Who Dunnit? David Cowles Oct 4, 2022 “Was it Colonel Mustard in the Conservatory with the Wrench? Or…” Ever play the game of Clue ? Who dunnit? Was it Colonel Mustard in the conservatory with the wrench? Or Professor Plum in the library with the candlestick? There are 324 potential combinations of suspects (6), weapons (6), and venues (9); and all 324 possible combinations (6 x 6 x 9) are equally probable. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to reduce 324 potentialities down to one actuality. The game of Cosmology is a greatly simplified version of Clue . You have no opponents! You play the game alone, and you play until you win… or give up trying. Bora-boring! Why is it then that the world’s best minds (carbon or silicon) have been playing Cosmology for at least the last 10,000 years (and probably for many tens of thousands of years before that)? Shoot, it even tops Dungeons and Dragons. “Why are things the way they are?” It seems we can’t help but ask this question. Apparently, M. Descartes, Sum ergo quaero (I am, therefore I seek). But when we do seek to unravel this mystery, it appears that the range of possible solutions is unexpectedly narrow. Consider the following two possibilities: #1 Whatever happens, happens! No further explanation is necessary or even possible. Happening is happenstance! Sidebar #1 : This does not mean that events must occur randomly. Causality and/or other forms of correlation could characterize certain subdomains (‘societies’ or even ‘epochs’ in the terminology of Alfred North Whitehead); also, events themselves have the capacity to form societies and epochs, but any such subdomains would have to be situated in a meta-domain, and the ultimate meta- domain would have to be happenstance. #2 Whatever happens, happens as a result of will (extrinsic or intrinsic). Extrinsic will : things happen according to plan or as directed ad hoc. Note: plan and ad hoc are only distinct in a spatiotemporal context. Otherwise, they are synonymous. Intrinsic will : things happen according to their own free will in the context of a specific actual world. Sidebar #2 : All things (events) are causa sui , but not all things are causa sui ex nihilo . Sidebar #3 : Freedom in the absence of an actual world is happenstance (above). It is the relevant presence of an actual world that enables an event to proceed according to will rather than chance. Will react to world! Amazingly, certain very popular conceptions turn out to be just sub-versions of the two models above: Whatever happens, happens as a result of the initial conditions of the Universe (Big Bang). If initial conditions are the result of happenstance, then see #1 above. If initial conditions result from will, then see #2 . Whatever happens, happens as a result of things that happened in the past (causality). If ‘things in the past’ occurred by happenstance, then see #1 above. If ‘things in the past’ occurred by will, then see #2 above. Whatever happens, happens in the service of a particular future (teleology). If ‘things in the future’ occur by happenstance, then see #1 above. If ‘things in the future’ occurred by will, then see #2 above. So, it turns out that we’re saying something pretty big here! Any cosmological model that relies on efficient causation (so-called cause and effect) or final causation (purpose, meaning) is merely a sub-version of either model #1 (happenstance) or model #2 (will) above. So, your universe comes with a choice of flavors, but just three flavors (don’t want to spoil you): · Vanilla (happenstance) · Chocolate (extrinsic will: God?) · Strawberry (intrinsic will: freedom!) So, pretty simple, right? Ok, but maybe not quite so simple! Have you considered the possibility of a hybrid model: Some events just happen; some events are willed extrinsically; and some events are willed intrinsically. There’s nothing intrinsically – pun intended – wrong with a hybrid model; it doesn’t undermine anything we’ve said above. On the contrary, we just extended our models’ reach… as long as you can figure out what goes where, i.e., how the different domains interact. Good luck with that. Thoughts While Shaving is the official blog of Aletheia Today Magazine ( ATM) . To never miss another Thought, choose the subscribe option below. Also, follow us on any one of our social media channels for the latest news from ATM. Thanks for reading! Previous Share Next Do you like what you just read and want to read more Thoughts? Subscribe today for free! Thoughts While Shaving - the official blog of Aletheia Today Magazine. Click here.

< Back What Christianity Got Right David Cowles Jul 25, 2024 “Christianity cannot exist as part of contemporary culture; it is an alternative to it. It is the antidote.” “All religions are essentially the same, right? I mean, they all believe in a higher power and they all urge us to behave morally.” There’s a name for this. It’s called syncretism , the belief that ‘all religions are compatible’. This way of thinking is well suited to today’s moral relativism and democratic anthropology. We want to build a tent so big that almost everyone…and everything…fits in. To say that someone is wrong or that someone is more right than someone else goes against the modern grain, unless we’re talking about politics – in which case I am always right and everyone else is always flat out wrong, right? From a Christian perspective, it is laudable to admire the spiritual practices of Eastern religions, the historicity of Judaism, and animism's respect for the natural world. But it is a great mistake not to recognize and appreciate the beliefs and practices that make Christianity different from all others. Christianity, especially Catholicism, is unique among the world’s faiths. I do not wish to debate whether various Christian doctrines and rituals have congruence with other religions. I will assert, however, that taken together, these doctrines clearly make Christianity unique…in very important ways. It is fashionable now to believe that all faith is superfluous. After all, science is close to giving us all the answers we need, isn’t it? And you certainly don’t need God to show you how to be ‘good’, do you? Sound familiar? We live in an anti-clerical age; in many ways the Church has brought this on itself. Church has lost the courage of its convictions; it no longer knows how to talk about what it believes. Like a shy middle schooler, it is desperate to fit in…which only makes its isolation more pronounced. In the Middle Ages, bishops sat next to nobles at the king’s banquet table. Oh, how the hierarchy hungers to regain such lost respect! But as any high school survivor knows, respect is won by having convictions and sticking to them, by standing up for yourself, and by living an authentic life, i.e. a life consistent with your professed beliefs. For Christianity, I’m afraid that that ship has sailed! While specific congregations hold on tenaciously to certain doctrines, the Christian Weltanschauung (world view) has all but disappeared. Christianity cannot survive by tacking its counter cultural doctrines onto secular scaffolding. Christianity is the most radical ideology extant in the world today. By far, bar none! Own it! You can’t hide it. But just how radical is it? Let’s take a peek at some of its greatest hits: Trinity – God is not some single minded despot. God is process and Trinity is the minimal structure necessary for process. (A > B > C > A) Logos – “In the beginning was the Word ( logos ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…All things came to be through the Word… In him was life and that life was the light…and darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1: 1 – 5) The order of the Universe is not the product of chance but a manifestation of God. God is order and order God. Incarnation – ‘Godmen’ abound, demiurges that combine aspects of divinity with aspects of humanity. Christ is different; Christ is “true God and true man,” wholly human and wholly divine. Christ is the superposition of two distinct states of being. Apparently, the Council of Nicaea was hip to Quantum logic long before Schoedinger. Incarnation turns the Universe inside out...like an old sock. God created, sustains, and redeems the spatiotemporal world; he is the Alpha (Father) and the Omega (Son) and the Spirit that infuses every moment in between. But this same God is also a quantum (one life) within that world. The whole is a part of itself. Transubstantiation – The material world of ‘substances and accidents (qualities)’ is real; it is not an illusion. But neither is it ultimate reality . Neither time and space, nor matter and energy, nor substance and accident are immutable. Bread and wine can…and do…become the Body and Blood of Christ (Eucharist). “Never could learn to drink that blood and call it wine.” (Bob Dylan) The Great Commandment – Loving your neighbor as yourself is not just an ethical precept. It identifies the self with the other and with God. (Yet the crucial distinctions are not blurred.) Whatever you do for or to others, you do for or to God, and for or to yourself. Ethics is Trinitarian too. Every subject is its own object and every object its own subject. English verbs come in two voices: active and passive. Neither captures what is going on during an event. Expressing the Christian world view calls for a Middle Voice , a grammatical form that has disappeared from most Indo-European languages. How can we expect to sit at the cool kids’ table when we don’t even speak their language? Eternity – The spatiotemporal world is limited by space and time. It had a beginning and it will have an end. But whatever happens happens and cannot unhappen. To be is to be eternally. Being is eternal. Being is eternity. Resurrection – We endure, not as ‘shades’ but as ‘glorified bodies’, wholly material, wholly spiritual. Christianity is not an Idealism (Hegel) but a Materialism (Marx). Death marks the end of our temporal lives, but it clears the deck for eternal life. Apocalypse – “The last enemy to be destroyed is death…that God may be all in all.” (1 Cor. 15: 25, 28) If these doctrines are true, they cannot exist as footnotes to contemporary, secular culture. To believe these things and then to live life as though they made no difference is madness. Christianity cannot exist as part of contemporary culture; it is an alternative to it. It is the antidote. We can’t do without it! Keep the conversation going. 1. Click here to comment on this TWS. 2. To subscribe (at no cost) to TWS and ATM, follow this link . 3. We encourage new articles and reprints from freelance writers ; click here to view out Writers’ Specs. Keep the conversation going. Previous Share Next Do you like what you just read and want to read more Thoughts? Subscribe today for free! Thoughts While Shaving - the official blog of Aletheia Today Magazine. Click here.

< Back The Will of God David Cowles May 18, 2023 “…Whatever injects beauty into the world…fills it with truth…restores justice…is the Will of God. Whatever happens will be redeemed and whatever is redeemed is God’s Will.” In most editions of the Bible, the Book of Job is suspended between Torah and the Gospels . Its position is apt. It is a lengthy (over long?) meditation on the Problem of Evil – a ‘problem’ introduced in Genesis but resolved in Revelation . If this sounds surprisingly simplistic, it’s because it is. Nevertheless, the Problem of Evil is cited by non-believers as the number one reason for their rejection of Judeo-Christian theology. It was also the rationale Bertrand Russell relied on in his best-seller, Why I am not a Christian. Why the disconnect? It begins, unfortunately, with our ( mis ) understanding of the story of creation itself. The popular image of God shouting commands into an abyss is anti-Biblical…and a bit ridiculous. No wonder folks don’t believe. It is important to remember that YHWH said, “ Let there be light.” ( Genesis , 1: 3) He did not say, “Be there, Light!” as most people seem to think. God is not auditioning for the role of ‘frustrated parent’ barking orders at a naughty child; nor is he a raging motorist, yelling, “Start, you sucker!” as his stalled automobile struggles to turnover. Rather, he is a compassionate curator ! Nor did he imagine that light would obliterate primal darkness (“…the earth was without form with darkness over the abyss…” – v. 2). Instead, we learn that God “separated the light from the darkness” (v. 3). Later, in the Gospel of John , we celebrate the fact that “the darkness has not overcome it.” (1: 5) Phase #1 of the creation process was not complete, however, until “God saw that it (the light) was good” (v. 4) and “Evening (darkness) came and morning (light) followed, the first day.” (v. 5) All of which raises an obvious question: Why would an ‘omniscient, omnipotent and benevolent’ God need to ‘wait and see’ before determining that created light was a good thing? Could God have created something that was not good ? Would God need to pause and assess developments before rendering judgement? In a sense the whole so-called Problem of Evil is addressed and resolved in these first 5 verses of the Bible. All the stuff about God’s ‘omniscience, omnipotence and benevolence’ comes later and, for our purposes right now, is beside the point. The testimony of Genesis is clear: God’s hands are clean! Not so, the Book of Job . Here God is put on trial, charged with ‘perverting the course of justice’. Job has quite literally staked his life, his health, his family, his fortune, and his reputation on the verdict. But our prototypical existential hero has a tough ‘row to hoe’. God is represented, albeit incompetently, by a ‘dream team’ consisting of three ‘wise men’ and a ‘fool’. Speaking of ‘fools’, Job appears pro se ; he has himself for a lawyer! Worse, God is not only the defendant but also judge and jury. God would happily recuse himself…but who is qualified to take over? Can anyone say, “Conflict of interest?” The trial raises every imaginable legal issue. Does Job have ‘standing’ to sue God? Can God even be sued? Can God be compelled (by subpoena) to come to court? If the court were to rule against God, how could it enforce its verdict? How could it impose a sentence on the Creator of Heaven and Earth? Now the matter of God’s ‘omniscience, omnipotence and benevolence’ takes center stage. Unlike Genesis , Job presents the Problem of Evil in its more familiar trappings. A full account of trial proceedings are available elsewhere on this site. The transcript is instructive. Job’s understanding of evil is one most of us will recognize: “(Human beings) are quashed more easily than a moth, from daybreak to evening they are crushed; when it is not even nightfall, they disappear, forever unnoticed. The pegs of their tent are pulled up. They die without knowledge.” (4: 19b – 21) ‘I have lived a righteous and just life; yet I am being punished most severely. Others, not nearly as upright as me, often in fact deliberate doers of evil, are not punished at all. They live lavish lives in good health and pass that wealth intact on to future generations (this was before Estate Taxes). I, on the other hand, no longer have assets…or children to leave them to if I did. I live on a dunghill, my body covered with scabs.’ God, however, approaches the problem from a very different perspective: “Behold now Behemoth which like you I created (40: 15)...Of all that’s under heaven, he is mine. I cannot keep silent about him, the fact of his incomparable valor…He has no match on earth, who is made as fearless as he? …Over beasts of all kinds he is king.” (41: 3b - 26) Job views Behemoth from a human perspective. He is fearsome, dangerous and destructive. He is the embodiment of evil. But that’s not God’s perspective. God sees things from Behemoth’s perspective as well as Job’s and God values Behemoth’s qualities, the very qualities that Job dreads. Even more importantly, God sees things from a cosmic, ecological perspective: “ Who cleaves a downpour's channel and a path for the thunderstorm to rain down on land without people, on wilderness with no human in it, drenching utter wasteland and sprouting grassy growth." (38:25-27) But Job is unphased; he will not budge. He meets God’s bluster with his trademarked ‘patience’. He has faith that justice will out: in the end the court will have no choice but to find in his favor. Clearly, God has a broader cosmological mandate than Job. He values Behemoth’s qualities per se , oblivious to the intermediate ends for which they’re used. That is the price we pay for our ontological freedom. God can afford to overlook the transient. He knows the Universe, as he created it, will ‘come round’ in the end. The coming of the Kingdom is inevitable. It is built into the teleological structure of Being. ‘When’ and how that Kingdom comes to be is undetermined; that’s up to us ! But that it comes to be and what it comes to be (divine values) are hardwired. We might sympathize with God’s predicament, but Job never takes his eye off the ball. He ignores God’s pleas for understanding; he stands his ground. Suffice to say, the procedural issues are ultimately resolved to the satisfaction of both parties and, in a stunning reversal of fortunes, God finds against himself and restores all of Job’s assets plus damages . But Job remains underwhelmed. He expected this outcome all along. His hurdles were merely procedural. Once the trial commenced, Job trusted that he would prevail. Even the obvious conflict of interest didn’t concern him. Job did not believe that God’s nature would allow him to act unjustly…and he was right! Right trumps wrong after all. But the court’s decision applies just to this one case; millions of Job’s fellow sufferers, while buoyed by the trial’s outcome, remain mired in pain. The final resolution, the cosmic solution, comes in the New Testament’s Resurrection narratives and in the Book of Revelation . Here we learn (after the prophet Isaiah) that God is our fellow traveler, that he suffers ‘the whips and snares of time’ alongside us, via compassion and ultimately, via Incarnation. He is born, tiny and defenseless, into our world at our level. He endures in full the pain of mortality, the dark night of despair, and a slow and painful death on a cross. Clearly, our God is no wimp! But had the story ended at Cavalry, we’d still be in rough shape; fortunately, it didn’t! Jesus overcame mortality, pain and death via his Resurrection and eventual Ascension into Heaven (where he sits at the right hand of his Father). Finally, the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation , describes in minute detail, albeit coded in symbolism, the process by which evil will be eradicated, root and branch, from the World, and our primal Paradise restored, fulfilling Paul’s assurance that God will be ‘all in all’ (1 Cor. 15: 28), pan in panti ( Anaxagoras ). Once Scripture is understood in this way, i.e. on its own terms and not those imposed on it by non-believers, one can only ask, “What problem of evil?” Previous Share Next Do you like what you just read and want to read more Thoughts? Subscribe today for free! Thoughts While Shaving - the official blog of Aletheia Today Magazine. Click here.

< Back Football and Spirituality David Cowles Sep 19, 2023 “How can I give myself up to the sheer artistry of sport when I am so deeply invested in the outcome of every contest?” It’s not an easy thing to do - watch a game with no attachment to the results! Admire the pageantry, the strategy, the superhuman feats - the dance, both choreographed and improvised – but ignore the outcome. Even as small children, we are sucked into affinities. “We root, root, root, for the home team.” For such loyalty, we might conceivably be forgiven, but it never ends there. With every affinity comes a network of antipathies. “I root for two teams, the Red Sox and whoever is playing the Yankees.” When it comes to professional football, I root for the Patriots (don’t shoot me!). ‘We’re #1 ’ means that every other team is less than one. We hate them all, we wish them ill – competitively of course, not personally – but still, not very spiritual, is it? As soon as we profess affinity for one team in a league, we create antipathy toward every other team in that league. So tonight, the Falcons are playing the Chargers. As a member of Patriot Nation, I hate them both, but do I care who wins? You bet I do! The Falcons are in the other conference; unless we happen to play them during the regular season - or in the Super Bowl - their ups and downs are irrelevant to us. So the Falcons are rated (– 1). We hate them…but not that much. Sidebar : Note the frequent appearance of the pronouns ‘we/us’ in the paragraph above. In my mind, Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, and I constitute a nexus – a nexus that can be the subject or the object of any sentence, a nexus where two members have never even heard of the third. Could this form the basis of a new Trinitarian theology? “Father, Son, may I introduce you to your biggest fan, the Holy Spirit?” – I don’t think so! So much for the Falcons; the Chargers are a different story. They are in our conference and likely to compete with us for a playoff spot. If we both make the playoffs, we are likely to face each other in post-season play. Sorry guys, you get a (– 3). So we’re all in on the Falcons tonight. We hate them less than we hate the Chargers, but we hate the Chargers less than we hate the other teams in our division: (– 5) for them! Very spiritual. Fandom is symmetry breaking. The instant we declare for any NFL team, all 32 teams crystallize into a hierarchy of preferences. Once symmetry is broken, every one of the 496 line segments potentially connecting teams instantly becomes a vector. Given any contest between any two teams, we know immediately who our favorite is. But the insanity doesn’t stop there! Some games are more important to us than others. From the perspective of a Pats fan, a game between two mediocre NFC teams is much less important than a game between two of our division rivals. Theoretically, each of the 496 potential matchups has its own unique ‘importance coefficient’…from the Patriot perspective. The direction of each vector and the relative strength of each coefficient will change when viewed from any of the 31 remaining perspectives. No wonder I like football so much! All this is part of what makes competitive sports so engaging, but it wreaks havoc on my spirituality. How can I give myself up to the sheer artistry of sport when I am so deeply invested in the outcome of every contest? There is, of course, only one right answer: Abandon the illusion that you are part of any nexus that includes any professional football owners, coaches, or players; focus on the divine virtues (gracefulness, persistency, harmony, etc.) that manifest during each game; detach entirely from the outcome. So, now that you know, can I count on you to put this new wisdom into action next Sunday? Of course not! Admit it, you’re addicted, and you can’t quit cold turkey. Would you consider Methadone withdrawal? In my basement, I’ve brewed up some ‘safer drugs’ that still let you admire all the divine virtues without necessarily sacrificing your ‘immortal soul’ in the process: Watch games that don’t interest you. They can’t be NFL games, obviously, but I bet there are some colleges you’ve never heard of, and thanks to ESPN, you can now watch high school football games as well. Off-season, watch XFL and USFL games. Watch NFL games, but only in ‘repeat’. Perhaps you know the outcome, perhaps you don’t. Either way, your cheering cannot impact the outcome the way it does when you’re watching games IRT. Added advantage: fewer commercials, no time-outs, no half-time nonsense. Or finally, you can move to a different planet… like England. Watch Premier League ‘Football’ instead of the NFL. Of course, being who I am, I’m still tempted to pick a favorite: ‘Manchester United’ because they are such a great brand, ‘Nottingham Forest’ because it evokes a childhood hero, or ‘Crystal Palace’ because how could you not root for a team with a cool name like that? But there’s a problem - given a choice between English Soccer and American Football, I’d watch my NFL teams every day of the week…and 5 times on Sunday. Yes, I’m addicted to American football; but more than that, I’m addicted to ‘caring’ – and that right there is the problem! The very existence of professional sports depends on its ability to induce fans to form attachments – otherwise players would be earning minimum wage – but ‘attachment’ is exactly what my guru says I should avoid. In fact, he wants the Commissioner to change the rules of the game. No more keeping score. Teams will execute plays for the sheer joy of completing them; but would you still spend $300/game and sit in snow to watch such a display? Keep the conversation going! 1. Click here to comment on this TWS. 2. To subscribe (at no cost) to TWS and ATM, follow this link . 3. We encourage new articles and reprints from freelance writers ; click here to view out Writers’ Specs. 4. Aletheia Today Magazine (ATM) will be devoting its entire fall issue (released 9/1/23) to artificial intelligence (AI). What are the philosophical, theological, cultural and even spiritual implications of AI powered world? If you’d like to contribute to the AI Issue, click here . Previous Share Next Do you like what you just read and want to read more Thoughts? Subscribe today for free! Thoughts While Shaving - the official blog of Aletheia Today Magazine. Click here.

Ecbatan may share the seven-ringed pattern of the solar system, but Paradise shares the seven-ringed pattern of Ecbatan! < Back Ectaban David Cowles Oct 15, 2022 Ecbatan may share the seven-ringed pattern of the solar system, but Paradise shares the seven-ringed pattern of Ecbatan! “Great bulk, huge mass, thesaurus; Ecbatan, the clock ticks and fades out. The bride awaiting the god’s touch; Ecbatan, city of patterned streets; again the vision:” – Ezra Pound, Canto V Is it possible to present a fully formed Eschatology in just four lines of verse? After all, great works like Revelation require half a thousand verses to tell their tale. But surprisingly, the answer is, “Yes!” And we’ll see that Ezra Pound has done it (above)…once we unpack all the allusions and references contained in those four lines. Ecbatan (‘Ecbatana’) is an ancient city on the Silk Road, located in modern-day Iran. It was the capital city of the Empire of the Medes. In Canto LXXIV, Pound refers to Ecbatan as “the city of Dioce,” the first ruler of the Medes. It is at least remotely possible that this is also the city that the authors of Genesis attributed to Cain and his sons when Cain became a ‘wanderer’ and ‘settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden’ and ‘became the founder of a city’. But what makes Ecbatan so important is not primarily its great age, nor its role in history and mythology; what makes Ecbatan important is its layout. It is the apex of City Planning. Ecbatan consists of seven concentric rings, demarcated by walls. Moving inward, each wall is higher than the next and each a different color. The penultimate wall is silver, the final wall gold, and within that wall, the palace. Inside these walls run those “patterned streets.” The seven rings of Ecbatan call to mind the seven rings of the then known solar system. In Canto LXXIV, the first of the so-called Pisan Cantos, Pound confirms that association when he sets forth in a single line his entire cosmo-political platform: “To build the city of Dioce whose terraces are the colour of stars.” Ezra Pound’s Cantos are at least ab initio modeled after the 100 cantos that form Dante’s Divine Comedy. To understand Pound’s project, it is essential to understand Dante’s. Unlike Pound, Dante is the hero of his own epic. His ‘odyssey’ begins “in the middle of the journey of our life…within a dark wood where the straightway was lost.” He is then conducted by a series of ‘guides’ through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and finally Heaven (Paradiso). Along the way, Dante encounters persons from early Renaissance Italy, the classical world, salvation history, and the Church. Their life stories supply the stuff of his epic. Pound, likewise, weaves cultural and historical events on an eschatological loom. But compared to Dante, Pound casts a much, much wider net. There is hardly a region of the globe or a period of history that does not contribute content to Pound’s epic. While Dante tells the story of ‘Earth as it is in Heaven,’ Pound tells the story of ‘Heaven as it is on Earth.’ For Dante, the seven rings of the solar system were patterned after the seven rings of Paradise; but Pound turns that relationship upside down…and inside out: Ecbatan may share the seven-ringed pattern of the solar system, but Paradise shares the seven-ringed pattern of Ecbatan! If Ecbatan is ‘Enoch,’ the city of Cain, that would make Cain the world’s first urban planner. But even if there is no such association, being the first ‘founder of a city’ makes Cain responsible for developing and introducing the technology that would ultimately have made Ecbatan possible. Either way, Ecbatan (like all cities) traces back to Cain. The theological implications of this are enormous. In Genesis, Cain is presented as committing the first great sin in historical time (i.e., post-Eden). How fitting then, from the perspective of Judeo-Christian eschatology, that Cain be responsible, directly or indirectly, for building a post-historical Eden, Ecbatan! Ecbatan is the Judeo-Christian message of salvation in a nutshell. God does not just passively forgive the sinner; God empowers the sinner to become a co-creator of Paradise. We partner with God in the redemption of the world, and we are led in this venture by Jesus, aka the Christ, our Redeemer. This is the essence of the theological virtue of hope: not only that our sins will be wiped away, but also that our lives will be redeemed. With Job, we affirm, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust…(and) I will see God.” (Job 19: 25 – 26) In this context, it is useful to compare Cantos to another great work of literature, the New Testament Book of Revelation. Paul tells us that only three things will last: faith, hope, and love. Literature is full of books about faith and love, but hope sometimes gets short-shrift. What it lacks in quantity, it makes up in quality; hope is the central theme of three of Western civilization’s greatest works: the Book of Revelation, The Divine Comedy, and the Cantos of Ezra Pound. The Judeo-Christian tradition (including Dante) understands God as “the creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible” (Nicene Creed). Pound joins Alfred North Whitehead, perhaps Carl Jung, and a very few others in reversing that process. For these visionaries, the world in some sense ‘creates God;’ or, at least, there is a mutually creative relationship between the two! Ecbatan of the Cantos is Pound’s version of Dante’s Paradise. It is not a model for Paradise, it IS Paradise. There are no ‘models’ in Pound! The concept of a model necessarily introduces the notion of an ontological hierarchy (“the map is not the territory”). Pound rejects that idea categorically. In Cantos the mythological, the historical, the fictional, the experiential, the theological and the eschatological share a common ontological status. Anthropologists report that many aboriginal societies do not distinguish what happens in history from what happens in dreams or in spiritual experiences. (Read “Speaking Piraha” for reference.) Like Pound, they are ontological democrats! Of course, Ecbatan is Paradise seen from an eschatological perspective. Pity the lowly camel driver resting on the star-colored terraces of the Median capital, not understanding that he is living in Paradise; pity the frenzied investment banker racing across Manhattan in a cab, still not understanding. Christians are fond of saying, “Repent and hear the Good News!” Perhaps we might rephrase, “Read Pound and live the Good News!” Of course, Ecbatan is a once and future city, a once and future Paradise. Throughout Cantos, Pound rhymes the historical Ecbatan with other cities; for example, Wagadu, capital of the Ghanian Empire, four times rebuilt. The message is clear and consistent: Ecbatan is not just a place, it is a mission. Ultimately, we all share a common eschatological imperative, “To build the city of Dioce…” (Not ‘rebuild’ but ‘build!’) The city of Dioce (the Kingdom of Heaven) is only built once, for all time and eternity. Pound’s ‘Paradiso’ begins in earnest with the first Pisan Canto (Canto LXXIV). We now see Canto V (above) as the Cliff’s Notes version of Pound’s later cantos. Note that the map (Canto V) precedes the territory (Canto LXXIV & ff). But is it the case, stated above, that four lines from Canto V constitute a complete and fully developed eschatology? To make that case, we’ll need to unpack each line, beginning with: “Great bulk, huge mass, thesaurus.” Parmenides, the first Western philosopher to leave extant a significant body of work, presented reality under two aspects: the aspect of Truth (Aletheia) and the aspect of Appearance (Doxa). These two complementary, but mutually exclusive aspects are both required in order to build a viable model of reality. Aletheia is Parmenides’ Eschaton; Doxa, his history. Parmenides describes Aletheia as follows: “It is not divisible…but it is full of what is…it is not lacking but if it were, it would lack everything…It is completed from every direction like the bulk of a well-rounded sphere, everywhere from the center equally matched…equal to itself from every direction.” The mini-Paradiso found in Canto V immediately links Pound to the philosophical tradition of Parmenides. Like Aletheia, Ecbatan is massive and symmetrical. Parmenides says that Aletheia lacks nothing because, if it lacked anything, it would lack everything. The same may be said of Ecbatan; above all else, it is complete! But while Aletheia is changeless, things according to the “way of appearance” (Doxa) “come to be and perish, be and not be, shift place and exchange bright color” (aka attributes). This behavior is at the root of all the dissonance and conflict in our everyday experience, but that conflict is the raw material of contrast, which is the source of all intensity. In the ‘Doxa fragments’ of On Nature, Parmenides dwells on the role that “naming” plays in shattering the homogeneity of ‘Truth’ into the seemingly endless variety of ‘Appearances.’ For example: “Thus, according to belief, these things were born and now are, and hereafter, having grown from this, they will come to an end. And for each of these did men establish a distinctive name.” Certain African and Australasian cultures believe that the process of naming (Namo) can actually make things come to be. Pound cites the story of “Wanjina” (Wondjina) whose father sewed up his mouth because he was ‘making too many things’. Parmenides would agree wholeheartedly. The “thrusting forth” of things that “come to be” (Fragment 11) is either caused by or chronicled by the development of the dictionary. The size of a dictionary is a good measure of the immersion of its readers in Doxa. Hence, thesaurus! Thesaurus is the antonym of dictionary. A dictionary records distinctions; a thesaurus, on the other hand, resolves those distinctions by finding common ground. On the one hand, dictionary smashes the crystal vase of Aletheia against the rocks of English Empiricism and American Pragmatism, reducing it to so many shards of glass (Doxa). Thesaurus, on the other hand, painstakingly matches those shards with one another until the vase is whole again (Aletheia). But the reconstructed vase is not quite the same as the original vase. While the shape and volume are still the same, and while the vase can still hold water, now you can see the outline of each and every shard that makes it up. The new vase is vastly more beautiful and interesting…and much, much more valuable; it is the product of negentropy. Reality requires both Aletheia and Doxa to optimize coherence and maximize intensity. Compare this with the creation narrative in Genesis. Words play an important role in God’s creative process: “Let there be light…God called the light ‘day’ and the darkness he called ‘night’…God called the dome ‘sky’…God called the dry land ‘earth,’ and the basin of water he called ‘sea’.” Creation is the process of distinction; it is the living dictionary. Salvation reverses that process; it is a way of harmonizing apparent conflicts into mere contrasts. Salvation is the living thesaurus. “Ecbatan, the clock ticks and fades out” In Paradise there is no time; everything is atemporal (eternal). When the clock ticks for the final time, it fades out and eternity begins. Ecbatan, city of patterned streets, is that ‘final tick;’ it is the membrane between history and eternity. The pattern of its streets and terraces replaces the historical flow of events. A vertical architecture replaces a horizontal flow. Ecbatan is proof that process is not dependent on time. When we speak of Ecbatan, we are not just talking about an historical city or some ‘kingdom (to) come;’ Ecbatan is what it is, what there is, all there is, now and forever. Process is bi-directional. On one axis, process is change (Heraclitus), growth, evolution; on the other, process is harmonization (Whitehead), pattern building. Today, we rely heavily on clocks to help us get where we’re supposed to be, when we were supposed to be there. But when I was growing up, kids didn’t always have ready access to clocks (or watches). No matter, you were still expected to be home on time. So, without thinking about it, we built our own clocks: the progress of the sun in the sky, the changing colors on the horizon, the ‘gas man’ (sic) lighting the streetlamps every afternoon, the corporeal sense of time passing. For all the hours we spent each week in church, we were nothing but a bunch of pagans. These organic clocks worked just as well as any Timex, often better. Through all this, it never occurred to us that time might be nothing other than the clocks (natural or man-made) that we use to measure it. We took it for granted that time was something objective, that it formed the background of all things, that events occur in time. In recent years, however, cosmologists have suggested that this might not be the case. Roger Penrose, for example, suggests that when we are no longer able to construct a ‘clock’ to measure time, time will cease to exist. Others have suggested that objective time is nothing other than an abstraction from the variable organic ‘durations’ of events superimposed on one another. Pound predates Penrose by decades. Yet, he uses Penrose’s imagery. When the last clock ticks its last tick, time folds into eternity. “The bride awaiting the god’s touch; Ecbatan…” This evokes the image of Mary being touched by the Holy Spirit at the moment of Incarnation and of the Church as the “Bride of Christ”. Ecbatan is Mater Dei (mother of God); Ecbatan is Church. Ecbatan is the physical substructure of Paradise. Over and over again, Pound writes, “Le Paradis n’est pas artificiel.” It must be physical and historical…it’s Mary’s womb, Christ’s Church, Ecbatan. While no Marxist, Pound wholeheartedly embraced materialism. “City of patterned streets; again, the vision:” The ‘vision’ Pound refers to is Dante’s vision in Canto XXXIII, the final canto, of his Paradiso: “O abounding grace by which I dared to fix my look on the eternal light so long that I spent all my sight upon it. In its depth I saw that it contained, bound by love in one volume that which is scattered in leaves through the universe, substances and accidents and their relations as it were fused together in such a way that what I tell of is a simple light.” Dante rejects the Heraclitan model of continuous process. In Dante’s vision, all of the events, entities and aspects of the world are organized as “leaves.” Pound’s Cantos recapitulate Dante’s vision using Pound’s own seemingly inexhaustible treasure trove. Cantos consists entirely of such ‘leaves,’ ‘fused together’ into ‘a simple light.’ Rare among authors, Pound avoids the temptation to add personal commentary, emotional shading, ‘mere ideas,’ spin; instead, he literally lets the thing speak for itself (ipse loquitur). In the visual arts, the 19th century saw objects dissolve into impressions. Starting with Cezanne, progressing through the Cubists and culminating in Surrealism and Dada, the 20th century reversed that process. It focused on the thing itself, releasing the object from its utilitarian context and allowing it to tell its own story. Pound performed a parallel function in the literary arena. Ideally, to read the Cantos would be to have the ‘vision,’ Dante’s vision. Both Dante and Pound fixed their looks on the eternal light and saw that it contained that which is scattered in leaves; both Dante and Pound attempt to bind these leaves “by love in one volume…in such a way that what I tell of is a simple light”. Pound confirms: “I have tried to write Paradise.” (Canto CXX) To write Paradise, to ‘create’ light, to build the City of Dioce, that’s everyone’s highest calling. But it is the nature of the human condition that no one will ever succeed, at least not completely. It is for God alone to create light (fiat lux), to build Paradise, but that does not mean that we are not all called to do everything we can do in pursuit of that elusive goal. Like Cain, we contribute what we can to the Eschaton, and we humbly beg forgiveness for what we fail to do. In this context, Canto CXX is worth reproducing in its entirety: I have tried to write Paradise Do not move Let the wind speak That is Paradise Let the Gods forgive what I have made Let those I love try to forgive what I have made. Illustration taken from Buckingham, J.S. (1829). Travels in Assyria, Media and Persia . Page 159. London. David Cowles is the founder and editor-in-chief of Aletheia Today Magazine. He lives with his family in Massachusetts where he studies and writes about philosophy, science, theology, and scripture. He can be reached at david@aletheiatoday.com. Share Previous Next Do you like what you just read? Subscribe today and receive sneak previews of Aletheia Today Magazine articles before they're published. Plus, you'll receive our quick-read, biweekly blog, Thoughts While Shaving. Subscribe Thanks for subscribing! Click here. Return to Table of Contents, Winter 2023 Issue Return to Table of Contents, Holiday Issue Return to Table of Contents, Halloween Issue Return to Table of Contents, September Issue Return to Table of Contents, Beach Issue Return to Table of Contents, June Issue