Immortal Curiosity

Each moment I hope to apply pen to paper, to touch upon one of the currents flowing in my mind, finally to find it acceptable, and possess the unified awareness to divert its flow into ink. I hope it will pool into glyphs of sufficient ability to later remind of their progenitors. But my thoughts, my awareness, this world, these senses, this moment– each becomes, by unique turns, ever more faceted, allowing of ever more interpretations, re-considerations, contemplations. What was passed over as easily as a single step on level ground one year is revealed to be treacherous and filled with difficulty the next. This pattern is further reinforced by my thoughts on the past and my mind as it was, or seemed to be.

Concerning Richard Tarnas’ “Cosmos and Psyche“–

Having not heard of the book before coming across it sitting on a shelf, I perfunctorily read the description on the back cover. The paragraph revealed what might be quite an interesting and informative philosophical and scientific work, as others I had come across. But the phrase “correspondence between planetary alignments and the archetypal patterns of human history” threw me for quite a loop. Astrology? From a “distinguished philosopher”? Something must be amiss. It did make me curious enough to purchase the work, of course.

Section 1 - Transformation of the Cosmos

Tarnas begins with a sweeping and inspiring overview of the widespread impact of the Copernican Revolution. He focuses on the various philosophical and psychological shifts it implied in the minds of those who accepted it, and that must have been in place in the academic world at large for such a conception to have arisen and eventually gain acceptance. A particular lucid summary of the broadest strokes of this change comes within the second chapter (pg. 9):

Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge is an inviting, informative work on several topics, primarily attempting to present what Wilson terms the “consilient world view”. He reviews a number of human investigations and endeavours, presenting how they variously show evidence for the effectiveness of consilience or have failed to utilize it, to their benefit or detriment, respectively. In addition, he present proposals for the inclusion of consilience in studies that have entirely or mostly neglected it, taking into account their current milieu.

Originally written in February 2006. Taken from an older blog I do not keep up anymore, I am moving this here to be listed with my other philosophical writings. My thoughts on the topic may currently differ from when it was written, but I find it interesting nonetheless.