Future, Present, & Past:



Speculative
~~ Giving itself latitude and leisure to take any premise or inquiry to its furthest associative conclusion.
Critical~~ Ready to apply, to itself and its object, the canons of reason, evidence, style, and ethics, up to their limits.
Traditional~~ At home and at large in the ecosystem of practice and memory that radically nourishes the whole person.

Oυδεὶς άμουσος εἰσίτω

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

One hazard of thinking


Philosophy is insanely ambitious. "To think the whole," indeed!

Sometimes a rush of analogies occurs to one in a downpour. It's as if some clinamen in the rain of ideas suddenly causes a congealing. Get it all down, as quick as possible! But the hand is clumsy, and the mind, that mercurial omnivore, dances further and further ahead. Wait, mind, wait!

This rush can be exhilarating -- until it's not. The slightest admixture of ego is enough to unbalance one. But the ego is a sly thing, and you don't notice -- or rather, you collude with yourself in "not" noticing, and the rush of excitement builds. And then, you take a moment, and realize, my God I'm out of my depth. Suddenly the sweet self-congratulation turns brittle and bitter. "I'll never get this all down, I'll never make it hang together."

All this is far easier to avoid in dialogue. It's another reason why thinking by oneself is dangerous for beginners like me.