Introductions Are My Impediment

Here's another mode of expectation, an expectation that was more than what I could devise in my mind. There were essays that I have put together that may seem eccentric by the mere semblance that it carried. Some of them were more than eccentric. One of my major flaws, albeit, is introductions. For the life of me I can't write well in the beginning of a writing endeavor. Why is that? I wish I knew, but it is there, notwithstanding. So then, what am I to do with this impediment? I've read books on writing (maybe not enough?). Who knows? Perhaps you can give me a hand in this query. How do you begin your writing assignments? And what advice can you offer me?

There Was a Problem

Here is something that I need to learn. And here it was. I was at home, and to my surprise I found my computers working properly (finally). I couldn't believe it. I really don't like Vista (I have the Business version).

Bertrand Russell and the Decalogue: a new law

Disclaimer: This is by no means my view of the Decalogue (the new one Russell presents). I just thought this would be good to note, for those of you who like philosophy. Enjoy.

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A LIBERAL DECALOGUE

By Bertrand Russell

Perhaps the essence of the Liberal outlook could be summed up in a new decalogue, not intended to replace the old one but only to supplement it. The Ten Commandments that, as a teacher, I should wish to promulgate, might be set forth as follows:

1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.

2. Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.

3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.

4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.

5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.

6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.

7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.

9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.

10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness."

"A Liberal Decalogue" is from The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, Vol. 3: 1944-1969, pp. 71-2.

Van Til and Calvin on Man

I have notables of the Christian faith, such as Cornelius Van Til, who by their faith have confessed and further deliberated a true nature of man as distinct from God. As I was reading Van Til's The Defense of the Faith, I couldn't help but look at the study of man. I recently finished the section of the study of man in Calvin's Institutes, which did clarify some of the notions of the noetic effects of sin and such. There was one sentence--or more properly, a paragraph--which roused my curiosity all the more: "Since, then, we see the flesh panting for every subterfuge by which it thinks that the blame for its own evils may in any way be diverted from itself to another, we must diligently oppose this evil intent. Therefore we must so deal with the calamity of mankind that we may cut off every shift, and may vindicate God’s justice from every accusation." (John Calvin, Calvin's Institutes, Book I:xv.1) And thereupon building on this thesis, if you would, Van Til delineates the overall plan for Christ's coming. He states, speaking of Christ, ". . . he [Christ] is our wisdom too in teaching us true knowledge about everything concerning which we should have knowledge" (p.17). I was just amazed at the brevity and cogent expression of this sentence. Philosophy is more broad and comprehensive, and Christ is the magnifier of knowledge interpreted. Therefore, if Christ is prophet, then he, too, is king. He tells us how we ought to seek to be happy. It is no wonder that the divines of the Westminster Assembly answered the first question in relation to God, when the object of happiness is under scrutiny; and Christ is the one who defines it. Amazing! How amazingly profound! But even still, polemics and further debate continues whether the particulars can make sense of the universals within the realm of philosophy. More of these posts to come.

Blah

I can't sleep. I slept too long today. I worked this morning at four in the morning, and again this morning. So I decided to stay up and just relax. We are beginning to get really busy. This morning it was car after car, after the fact that I was only one left on drive-thru. It was fine, though. I'm used to all the high volume. I'm just happy that we are busy. Maybe the tips will assuage my hard work. I think I will be happy this week. The only thing is that I am not getting enough hours. There are some who work with me that I feel are getting on my nerves. For the sake of confidentiality, I am not going to mention who they are. After all, it's a minute amount, maybe two or three. Everyone else is cool. So let's see, what can I say that could relate to philosophy and meaning? Never settle for less than what the mind can deliberate. What we think is best is, after all, the best we can do as human beings created in God's image, or is it not so?

Images

Sharp images. I noticed some of them as I walked down the street to see if any object might arouse my curiosity, maybe a thought to salivate my thinking. Among the myriad of objects that I could have picked up—mainly they were of a more valuable use, such as a stool and a napkin—this sharp image, the image of a woman in a picture, seemed almost content. Isn’t it weird, that we love things that portray some sort of image, though it isn’t near the reality of the image; after all, images are merely stimuli and reflections of what the mind sees, or wants to see. On any note, this image was still very attractive to my mind. The woman wore a red dress, a sort of skirt-dress. It had spots of white with a strap, white, attached to the ends of the neckline part of the dress. She was sitting on a chair reading the newspaper to her husband. The place in which she read was a patio, a taste for virtu and art was among the objects in their home. She had red hair, curly red hair, which fell to her waist, holding her tightly as a lover gently accents her credulity. She was a thin woman. She had light and delicate hands, untainted, fortunately, from all the trappings of “womanhood” adornment. Her eyes were blue, filled with a sadness of transcendent joy. There was green grass, which meant that there was nothing dead in this image. (How could someone be so careless with a thing so beautiful? This is probably the joy of some man, or maybe a joy a woman wishes to be. Dropping a picture so aesthetic in nature, so admirable must be something hard.) Among the green grass and the antiquity of the objects—mainly vases and painting of Saint Barbara, from Sistine Madonna—there were other objects of admiration: a quaint house, servants filled with merriment in servitude, and above all, a book case in the next room; you could see it through the glass door which leads to the house. It looked like the wall was filled with collections of data and novels, books of innumerable genres. It is possible that the sight only spurned my imagination as to what they loved to read. They must have loved the life of deep contentment. Reading was the obvious curiosity I had, because the wife was reading to the husband at the patio. This picture, this image of life filled with contentment, with living life, was so precious to me when I found it. I left it. I had to. Someone else needs to feel this poignant feeling of content satiation.

Levels and Stages

Some notables are vital to the reading project. First—well, where do I start?—is the essential reading, the primary focus of my writing this blog. The author, or I should say authors, Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren (for shortened purposes Adler and Von Doren) begin with the purpose of the initial reading. What is to be expected?

But for now, I want to divert to a reason why I think I should participate in this activity. Why on God’s green earth should I even read? Well, there are certainly different reasons for the activity itself, but for me, I am content to say that it is ultimately to find the answer (or answers) of all philanthropic endeavor—happiness. Let’s find a more proximate goal in mind that I can share with my general audience; the goal, therefore, is for knowledge. Whether one is reading a manual for a television set or a philosophical inquiry, the person seeks answers for his or her intended purposes. So let the reason be that we seek knowledge.

In this reading prospect we have levels in the reading hierarchy, or I should probably add the levels in which we deal in the reading process. Without dealing in the specifics of each level, meaning that the stages not conferred in detail, I will outline only the levels. This installment will only include the primary functions of the first level and the meaning of the two other levels, though I will not outline and explain them like the first.

In the first level most of us have already learned, granted that he or she—the reader—has lived in the states and has had some kind of formal education. Subdivided, the stages are elementary up to the ninth grade stages. A level of high school reading is enough to live and communicate in the modern milieu, but certainly not enough to be a critical writer or reader. This kind of reading requires a more advanced kind of level in reading, a proactive approach, viz. the third level in reading—analytical reading. I will give a more detailed analysis of the primary level and its stages with citations from the book, How to Read a Book. First I need to learn how to hyperlink cross-references on this web log (or as the cyber world puts it, “blog”).