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Tag Archives: William Blake
Who Is William Blake, Really?
William Blake is a poet, not a metaphysician. When someone writes with aphorism, irony, and wild and flamboyant system building (as Blake and Nietzsche did), they are mocking essentialism; they’re showing that language is infinite; that there are a gazillion … Continue reading
The Tao of Emily, the Calm of Lao Tzu, and Trouble from Blake
Below are two couplets of flower power yin-yang from Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Awake ye muses nine, sing me a strain divine,” written in 1850 when she was aged nineteen. Insofar as anybody knows, it’s the first poem she’d ever written … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, Buddha, Buddhism, Emily Dickinson, Lao Tzu, literature, poetry, Tao, William Blake
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Wrestling with God’s Existence on a Sunday
From the third chapter of William Blake’s poem, Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion (plate 60, lines 52-64): O Lord & Savior, have the Gods of the Heathen pierced thee? Or hast thou been pierced in the House of thy Friends? Art … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, God, Jesus, jim morrison, life, Sunday, William Blake
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The Moon’s Origin (And Why Genesis Cannot Be Right About It)
Concerning the moon’s origin, the Los Angeles Times today tells the basic scientific story with admirable clarity: The Earth and moon formed after the proto-Earth collided with another huge planetary body, sometimes referred to as Theia. […] Two planets, one Earth-sized … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, Genesis, religion, science, the moon, William Blake
8 Comments
What the Lightning Said: My Definition of Art
Art, by my definition, is a report of what the lightning said. It’s bound up with the ontological mystery (the mystery of being itself); an artist’s attempt to represent to others an experience of that mystery (what it feels like … Continue reading
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Tagged art, creative writing, definition, giorgione, God, lightning, mark twain, meaning, religion, stephen greenblatt, the ontological mystery, William Blake, writing
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The Theist’s Hell vs. The Atheist’s Hell: Which is Worse for Children to Learn About?
Startling the mind of a child (or a vulnerable adult) with threats of hell is manipulative and, yes, even abusive. I see no sense in denying it. But there is a premise that underlies the condemnation of hell preaching that deserves scrutiny: … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, atheist, child abuse, existentialism, heaven or hell, hell, innocence to experience, Jesus, Nietzsche, the devil, William Blake
27 Comments
Thinking about Symmetry via Stuart Kauffman, William Blake, AR Ammons, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Robert Frost—and My Wife
Biologist Stuart Kauffman blogs for the National Public Radio (NPR) website, and recently wrote a post reflecting on the universe’s symmetry breaking: To begin at the beginning, . . . The universe started extremely hot, dense, and essentially uniform, or isotropic. Perhaps all four … Continue reading
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Tagged ar ammons, Big Bang, origins, philosophy, physics, Robert Frost, science, stuart kauffman, symmetry, the universe, William Blake
1 Comment
3-D for Real: Do We Live in a Holographic Universe?
Earlier this week, there was a mind-bending New York Times article on gravity that also touched on the possibility that we live in a holographic universe. Here is one of the key passages from the New York Times article explaining the so-called … Continue reading
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Tagged 3-D, existentialism, Garrett Lisi, holographic principle, holographic universe, love, philosophy, physics, poetry, quantum entanglement, science, William Blake
15 Comments
The Is-Ought Distinction: What Would Nietzsche Say to Sam Harris?
Sam Harris has of late generated a lot of public discussion by reopening this can of worms: In the realm of values, is Hume right that no “is” should be governing our “oughts”? Put another way: Can science ever really arbitrate a human moral question? If science, for … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, atheist, Charles Darwin, david hume, ethics, evolution, God, Nietzsche, philosophy, Sam Harris, science, William Blake
12 Comments
A great Henry David Thoreau quote
No method nor discipline can supersede the necessity of being forever on the alert. What is a course of history, or philosophy, or poetry, or the most admirable routine of life, compared with the discipline of looking always at what … Continue reading
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Tagged college, education, Henry David Thoreau, life, literature, philosophy, poetry, psychology, vision, walden, William Blake
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Innocence to experience—to emotional blackmale
After the gorilla’s existentialist period of Camus-like despair, I suppose that the next episode will be devoted to his religious conversion: a trainer comforts the gorilla by convincing him that he doesn’t really die—but nevertheless might go to hell if he … Continue reading
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Tagged Albert Camus, death, eternal life, existentialism, gorillas, life, life after death, philosophy, psychology, the sinner's prayer, William Blake
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To See a World in a Grain of Sand
And an instrument in a Jeep:
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Tagged art, cars, creativity, drumming, harmony, life, music, thinking out of the box, trucks, William Blake
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Judy Garland Singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
And with heartbreaking power:
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Tagged Christmas, death, experience, hope, innocence, joy, judy garland, life, longing, love, peace, William Blake
2 Comments
“The Road”: Cormac McCarthy’s Version of Helen Reddy’s “You and Me Against the World”?
Slate recently reviewed the film version of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and reported that watching it is—how shall I put this politiely?—emotionally problematic: The Boy and Man on the road, nameless in the long-dead world. Their cart and tarp and tins … Continue reading
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Tagged cormac mccarthy, existentialism, fathers and sons, film, helen reddy, innocence to experience, life, love, movies, philosophy, the road, William Blake
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Atheism is Dead?
There will always be atheists in the world—so I’m not talking about a demographic trend. I don’t know where atheism is heading with the masses. For all I know, it may be growing faster than any other idea in the world. Go team! … Continue reading
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Tagged agnostic, agnosticism, atheism, atheist, Christianity, cults, death, hippies, religon, terence mckenna, urizen, William Blake
11 Comments
Urizen the Bearer of Circumfrences
A biographer of William Blake discusses Blake’s take on materialist reduction and the nature of mind:
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Tagged agnosticism, atheism, life, materialism, mind, poetry, urizen, William Blake
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Something to Think About
An image of the Andromeda Galaxy from a book published in 1899: The Andromeda Galaxy is still there. The person who made its image is long gone. What traces of your actions will still be in this world a hundred years from … Continue reading
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Tagged 1899, 19th century, andromeda galaxy, astronomy, Blake, poetry, space, telescope, William Blake
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As Non-Empirical Languages, Do Philosophical Systems Have Greater Epistemic Validity Than Theological Systems?
I would say no. When we are dealing with non-empirical (that is, non-scientific) languages, I don’t think that you can give substantially greater epistemic weight to the conclusions of philosophers over those of theologians. When I think of some of the … Continue reading
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Tagged Alvin Plantinga, apologetics, atheism, empiricism, philosophy, positivism, postmodernism, richard rorty, science, theology, William Blake
10 Comments
“I am deluded by the turning mills”: How William Blake Might Have Responded to Richard Dawkins’s “The God Delusion”
From the third chapter of William Blake’s poem, Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion (plate 60, lines 52-64): O Lord & Savior, have the Gods of the Heathen pierced thee? Or hast thou been pierced in the House of … Continue reading
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Tagged agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, Christianity, philosophy, poems, poetry, religion, Richard Dawkins, skepticism, William Blake
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