Political
Theology: Four New Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty -
Page 118 - Paul
W. Kahn - 2011 - Preview - More
editions In the postmodern world, the sources of fundamental belief, the
diversity of metaphysical approaches, the conflicts between religious and
secular outlooks, and even the conflicts between the biological and physical
sciences are just too many and too deep to think that we can offer a single
theoretical model to characterize the epoch. Perhaps we should say that we live
in a “postepochal” age. We find that people operate with diverse systems of
belief, which do not fall into any coherent order. We have discovered that we
can live with this incoherence. The center does not hold, but things do not
fall apart.
A dissertation that focused only on the thinker himself and not on
some amount of contemporary application would not have been nearly as
interesting to me; … I wanted it to involve some amount of constructive
dialogue between the ideas of Śāntideva and of Martha Nussbaum…
Over the three years I’ve been writing here, possibly the blog’s most
enduring concern has been the contrasting worldviews of ascent/descent and
intimacy/integrity. I have tried to understand their contrasts fully so that
any integration between them can be a synthesis and not merely a compromise – one of the key
methodological points that arose at the dissertation’s end. I think the
dissertation did a lot to help me spell out this problématique –
this set of interrelated questions that animates my blog’s inquiries. So have I
figured out any sort of answer or result to those questions? Hell, no. But ask
me again in another ten years.
Every scripture, whether sacred or secular, will necessarily contain
within it certain Truths or at least aspects of the Truth, which represent part
of the universally available experience of mankind. At the same time, the
specific circumstances, details, form of language and assumptions made in the
expression take on the cloak of the specific period and situation in which it
was brought forth. It is important, when trying to obtain any deeper sense or
value from any scriptural text, to be able to distinguish between the “eternal”
and the “temporal” aspects of the teaching. The eternal portions can have value
and provide guidance to people of virtually any period or circumstance, and
they tend also to harmonise well with the universal truths expounded in other
scriptures. The temporal portions, being necessarily circumscribed and limited,
will tend to be less applicable and less able to be understood by others,
whether separated by time, space or circumstance…
Sri Aurobindo sets here therefore a measuring rod that takes us beyond
the divisions of the mind and the disputes that are engendered by the
intellect. It is necessary to find that which originates in higher levels of
consciousness and which therefore has the capacity to unify the apparently
conflicting aspects we find at the mental level.
English poetry is receiving lesser attention these days: Aju
Mukhopadhyay merinews.com Santanu Halder 24 March, 2013
Usually some pent-up emotion like love, as we understand usually,
grievance against the ruler or society or some unknown love for Nature or the
divine or some extraordinary feeling about life and surrounding gives birth to
poetry. Good poetry must be a synthetic product of thoughts, ideas, dreams and
visions grasped intuitively. Imagery, symbolism, subtle ornaments make the
poetry enjoyable; pleasant to hear, beautiful to see. Whatever the force that
dominates a poem a unique creation gives ananda. I do not think that efforts to
write poetry to make propaganda of any sort, to make loud publicity in favour
of religious belief or arguing through gross words make any poetry.
Any sentiment may be expressed through poetry but that must be free
from the crude utterances though sometimes apparently crude ideas about love or
anger or other violent feelings too may give birth to poetry if the emotion is
properly used for the sublime lies in the lap of the crude physical sheath too.
Good Morning telegraphindia.com Hello It's Sunday , March
24 , 2013
Mantric words of Sri Aurobindo, voice of Dr C.S. Mukherji, Nijantik, 9/1 Lower Rawdon Street ,
4.30pm.
Prayers to Sri Annai: Sri Aurobindo Devotees Trust,
Sasi Balika Vidya Mandir, R.S. Puram, 9.30 a.m. and Sri Annai Meditation
Centre, W7C, Kovaipudur, 4 p.m.
