Exegesis Volume 4 Issue #18 From: Andre Donnell Subject: Re: Exegesis Digest V4 #16 From: "Francis G. Kostella" Subject: Sorry about the delay
Exegesis Digest Mon, 01 Mar 1999

Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 07:51:07 +1300
From: Andre Donnell
To: Exegesis
Subject: Re: Exegesis Digest V4 #16
 

Rog wrote, in part:

 > < snip > It seems my purpose to advocate an abandonment of authoritarian
 > quantities and the acceptance of the invisible numbers themselves for
 > intellectual qualities that they are...naked emperors rapidly changing their
 > garb as if to impress me with a ever expanding wardrobe, which my heart
 > cannot see.

This makes great sense to me. "Authoritarian" is a good word to describe quantification, for we do indeed seem to delude ourselves that we "know" (and control) what something is when we name it. For example, we call something an inch and then say we know how long it is! Yet we have not penetrated the mystery at all. There is a very similar process at work behind the reification of time.

Yet - I think the trick is to realise that quantification and mathematics do not actually *try* to explain anything, much though many may think they do. The mystery lurks undiminished within the equations. Mathematics is also poetry!

When all is said and done, all we are expressing is relationships we perceive between different parts of our experience *as humans*. I quite agree then that "music, mathematics, and myth" illuminate our irrationality.

 > < snip > Knowing I am an irrational being seems more important than
 > attempting to
 > prove that I am perfectly rational. I think to insist on Cartesian
 > mechanisms, the physics of causes and such, is a labor which expresses the
 > preference of the individual so inclined...it like everything else seems a
 > "way" or "path" where to going is the goal, and the process is an end in
 > itself.

Well Rog, I don't know that it is entirely fair to equate William's efforts with a desire to prove we are rational - if that is what you mean. There *does* seem to be a part of us we name "rational", and which seems to need it's own peculiar kind of food. But that does not mean we should confuse the particular process with the intent!

Or in other words, my own interest in what William has to say is that he appears - astonishing concept! - to be trying to motivate the undoubted talent and wisdom on this list toward a concerted effort to get closer to certain mysteries that we may collectively agree upon. That may mean, novelly, a changing of views for all of us, and a more than merely rational outcome: better than the shaking of bones at each other (mostly on other lists) which I have lost patience with. He, and you, have kept me interested.

Andre.

Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 15:09:33 -0500
From: "Francis G. Kostella"
To: exegesis
Subject: Sorry about the delay
 

My apologies to list readers for my delay in processing the list messages. All of the people and computers here became ill at the same time and the computers had to wait for the people to get better before receiving any attention. Most of us are up and wobbling about at this point. Aside from minor glitches as computers are repaired, things should proceed smoothly (!!) from this point. Please don't hesitate to post.

--fran

End of Exegesis Digest Volume 4 Issue 18

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