Prospero's Books

Both can be right

2008-10-04T16:28:40-04:00

From Chapter 9, "Computing Matter," of Frank Wilczek's The Lightness of Being (see What I've Been Reading):

Philosophical realists claim that matter is primary, brains (minds) are made from matter, and concepts emerge from brains. Idealists claim that concepts are primary, minds are conceptual machines, and conceptual machines create matter. . . . We do not have to choose between these alternatives. Both can be right at the same time. They describe the same thing using different languages (112).

Embodied ideas

2008-09-25T21:00:12-04:00

From Chapter 6, "The Bits within the Its," of Frank Wilczek's The Lightness of Being (see What I've Been Reading):

The title of this chapter has two meanings. The first is simply that there are littler bits within what not so long ago were though to be basic building blocks of ordinary matter, protons and neutrons. These littler bits are called quarks and gluons. Of course, knowing something's name does not tell you what it is, as Shakespeare had Romeo explain:

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.

Which brings us to the second, more profound meaning. If quarks and gluons were just another layer in a never-ending onion of complex structure within structure, their names would provide impressive-sounding buzzwords you could show off at a cocktail party, but they themselves would be of interest only to specialists. Quarks and gluons are, however, not "just another layer." When properly understood, they change our understanding of the nature of physical reality in a fundamental way. For quarks and gluons are bits in another and much deeper sense, the sense we use when we speak of bits of information. To an extent that is qualitatively new in science, they are embodied ideas (32-33).

Meditations on the Tarot 7: The Chariot

2008-09-16T21:07:17-04:00

(This post is seventh in a series on the book Meditations on the Tarot. See the first for explanation.)

7. The Chariot

The number 7: The number 7 can remind us of the "seven archetypal miracles" in the Gospel of John and "the seven aspects of the name of the Master: 'I am the true vine', 'I am the way, the truth and the life', 'I am the door' . . . ." The number also represents the seven colors of the rainbow and the seven distinct tones of a musical scale (150).

The charioteer: "The charioteer . . . is the victor over trials, i.e. the temptations, and if he is master, then it is thanks to himself. He is alone, standing in his chariot; no one is present to applaud him or to pay homage to him; he has no weapons--the sceptre that he holds not being a weapon. If he is master, his mastership was acquired in solitude and he owes it to the trials alone, and not to anyone or anything external to himself. The victory achieved in solitude . . . what glory and what danger it comprises at one and the same time! It is the only real glory, for it in no way depends on human favour and judgement; it is intrinsic glory . . . . It is, however, at the same time the most real and the most serious spiritual danger which exists. 'Pride" and 'vaingloriousness', the traditional names which one gives to it, do not suffice to characterise it in an adequate way. It is more than this . . . . a kind of mystical megalomania, where one deifies . . . one's ego, and where one sees the divine only within oneself and becomes blind to the divine above and outside of oneself" (152). "The personage on this seventh Card signifies at one and the same time the 'triumpher' and the 'Triumpher'--the megalomaniac and the integrated man, master of himself" (164-65).

The columns: "The four columns supporting the canopy on the chariot . . . signify the four elements taken in a vertical sense, i.e. in their analogous meaning through the three worlds--the spiritual world, the soul world and the physical world" (165).

The canopy: "The function of a canopy . . . is to protect the person who is found beneath it. . . . Taken in its spiritual sense, at which one arrives by way of analogy, the canopy above the man wearing a yellow royal crown expresses two contrary things: that the crowned man is a megalomaniac in the condition of 'splendid isolation', separated from heaven by the canopy, or else that the crowned man is an initiate in the mystery of spiritual well-being and that he does not identify himself with heaven, being consciousness of the difference which exists between himself and that which is above him" (165). "Tabernacles . . . are these not tents, baldachins, canopies under which man is united in love with the Divine, without identifying himself with it or being absorbed by it?" (166).

Overall: "The 'triumpher' of the seventh Arcanum is the true adept of Hermeticism, i.e. an adept of mysticism, gnosis and magic--divine, human and natural. He is not running. He stands upright. He is not seated, deep in meditation. He hold a sceptre which serves him to bridle the two horses (one blue and one red) which draw his chariot. He is not absent, plunged into exalted ecstasy. He is on his way and he goes forward, standing upright all the while in his vehicle. The two horses, the one blue and the other red, have relieved him of the effort of walking. The instinctive forces of 'yes' and 'no', attraction and repulsion, arterial blood and venous blood, trust and mistrust, faith and doubt, life and death and, lastly, 'right' and 'left'--symbolised by the pillars of Jachin and Boaz--have become motive forces in him, obedient to his sceptre. They serve him voluntarily as he is their true master. He trusts them and they trust him--this is mastership according to Hermeticism. For in Hermeticism mastership does not signify the subjugation of the lower by the higher, but rather the alliance of superconsciousness, consciousness and instinctive--or sub-consciousness.This is the Hermetic ideal of peace in the microcosm--the prototype of peace within a humanity divided into races, nations, classes and beliefs" (168).

In this Letter, the author summarizes the lessons of the book so far:

"The Magician is a warning against the intellectual jugglery of the metaphysician, heedless of experience, and against charlatancy of every kind--and at the same time it teaches 'concentration without effort' and the use of the method of analog.
"The High Priestess warns us of the dangers of gnosticism in teaching the discipline of true gnosis."
"The Empress evokes the dangers of mediumship and magic in revealing to us the mysteries of sacred magic."
"The Emperor warns us of the will-to-power and teaches us the power of the cross."
"The Pope confronts us with the humanistic cult of personality and the magical pentagram in which this culminates, and opposes to this holy poverty, obedience to the Divine, and the magic of the five wounds."
"The Lover warns us of the three temptations and teaches us the three sacred vows."
"The Chariot, lastly, warns us of the danger of megalomania and teaches us the real triumph achieved by the self" (164).

As common as grass

2008-09-08T19:46:28-04:00

"Systems thinking looks at a variety of natural systems--from organisms and ecosystems to social systems--and sees them as open systems in a steady state. They are 'open' in that they require constant throughput of energies, substances, and information. They maintain a steady state by self-repair of their internal structures. These internal structures are not fixed, like a clockwork mechanism, but are self-organizing. Thus when conditions outside a system change substantially, the system survives through self-transformation. It makes a sudden, creative advance into novelty.

"Fundamental transformation is not only possible, it is the routine way natural systems evolve. Radical change is as common as grass in world history, because it is as common as grass in the life of all living systems."

--Marjorie Kelly, "On the Very Real Possibility of Transformational Change," Tikkun, July/August 2008, p. 36.

The balance of order and chaos

2008-09-08T10:28:35-04:00

"Within every living system there exists order and chaos simultaneously. For example, the way lipids line up tail to tail in a perfect bilayer to create cell membranes, the way amino acids turn an angle of exactly 100 degrees in a protein alpha helix, the perfect four-fold symmetry of an ion channel protein--this order is aesthetic, and necessary for life. But without chaos life would be without diversity. The chance mutations that occur during DNA replication, the ability of some genes to literally transpose themselves in the genome, the unpredictability of gene expression during development--this chaos creates new physical characteristics, making every individual unique and more able to drive the species forward. I find great beauty in this balance of order and chaos, perhaps because this concept echoes my own aboriginal teachings and upbringing. The delicate balance of life must always be respected."

--Rheanna Sand, a Ph.D. student in biological sciences at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, in "Why I Do Science," Seed, September/October 2008, p. 42.

An audience for miracles

2008-08-24T20:06:14-04:00

"I believe the universe created us--we are an audience for miracles. In that sense, I guess, I'm religious."

--Ray Bradbury, quoted in AARP Magazine, July-August 2008, p. 69

Road trip

2008-08-15T19:50:37-04:00

Good Magazine has published a wonderful interactive map of twenty-three of the world's great journeys, from the Silk Road to Kerouac's On the Road.

The Emerald Tablet 2.0

2008-08-12T17:57:45-04:00

The Emerald Tablet is an ancient document, attributed to the Egyptian god or sage Hermes Tremegistus, that serves as a foundation for alchemy and Hermetic philosophy. Here, the traditional text--in the translation by Titus Burckhardt in his Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul--alternates with my paraphrase, in systems terms.

1. In truth certainly and without doubt, whatever is below is like that which is above, and whatever is above is like that which is below, to accomplish the miracles of one thing.

1. Systems large and small behave in like ways. The shared patterns of their behavior accomplish the miracles of the one thing that is the cosmos.

2. Just as all things proceed from one alone by meditation on one alone, so also they are born from this one thing by adaptation.

2. All systems proceed from the mystery of consciousness that creates and sustains the cosmos. They evolve from this consciousness by adaptation and self-organization.

3. Its father is the sun and its mother is the moon. The wind has borne it in its body. Its nurse is the earth.

3. Our human understanding of the cosmos is born, in part, from our experience of the four traditional elements, or states of matter—earth (solid), water (liquid), air (gas), and fire (plasma)—and their transformations. Cosmic consciousness creates and sustains these elements and their transformations.

4. It is the father of every miraculous work in the whole world.

4. The cosmic consciousness is the origin of everything.

5. Its power is perfect if it is converted into earth.

5. Its power acts through us.

6. Separate the earth from the fire and the subtle from the gross, softly and with great prudence.

6. We must use this power—acting in and on natural systems—with reverence and great care.

7. It rises from earth to heaven and comes down again from heaven to earth, and thus acquires the power of the realities below. In this way you will acquire the glory of the whole world, and all darkness will leave you.

7. Our human consciousness participates in the cosmic consciousness, and the cosmic consciousness penetrates our human consciousness. By understanding this, we can experience, and contribute to, the glory of the cosmos.

8. This is the power of all powers, for it conquers everything subtle and penetrates everything solid.

8. This is the ultimate power, for it allows us to consciously participate in the continuing evolution of the cosmos.

9. Thus the little world is created according to the prototype of the great world.

9. Thus we can help create human systems according to the pattern of natural systems.

10. From this and in this way, marvelous applications are made.

10. In this way, life can be experienced as a marvel, and marvelous things can be done.

11. For this reason I am called Hermes Trismegistos, for I possess the three parts of wisdom of the whole world.

11. For this reason systems thinkers can be called Hermeticists, for we search, in our several ways, for the hidden wisdom of the cosmos.

12. Perfect is what I have said of the work of the sun.

12. We strive to perfect our understanding.

A fabric of spirit and sense

2008-08-03T00:09:27-04:00

"God has not absconded but spread, as our vision and understanding of the universe have spread, to a fabric of spirit and sense so grand and subtle, so powerful in a new way, that we can only feel blindly of its hem."

--Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, quoted by Chet Raymo at Science Musings

Edward Lorenz (1917-2008)

2008-08-02T20:37:28-04:00

Edward Lorenz, father of chaos theory, died recently. Lorenz, a meteorologist, started a revolution by noticing that tiny changes in the values he entered into a weather simulation program could result in huge changes in the resulting "weather." The "butterfly effect" had entered our culture.

The July-August issue of Science & Spirit magazine reports:

Lorenz led a quiet life. And although chaos theory holds as many surprises as quantum mechanics, it lacks the same spookiness and never caused the same passionate debate about its deep meaning.
Or maybe it all traces back to chaos theory's unglamorous roots. In effect, the theory reduced much of science to predicting the weather, and weathermen have never been popular. Lorenz tried to bring his beloved meteorology up to the elite level of physics but instead forced physics and every other science to swallow its pride and accept a little bit of meteorology's humility (13).