Here is a subconscious double standard: Infinities of time seem a little different from infinities of space. It is natural to think that space extends out in all directions forever (or is this a culturally instilled belief?). Time is supposed to be infinite only in the future direction. We ask when time began but rarely where space began. The infinity of past time The infinity of past time is an unpopular belief. Yet it would...
Philosophy
Everything on philosophy related to Maier files series. Posts and Thoughts examining existence, change, properties, space, time, causality, and possibility.
If we knew how the words in our native language were made and what they have meant to successive generations of the men and women who have used them, we should have a new and very interesting kind of history to read. For words, like all other creations of man, were not deliberately manufactured to meet a need, as are the various parts of a bicycle or of an automobile; but grew gradually and slowly...
In the annals of history, obscured by the veil of secrecy, an enigmatic struggle persists—a clandestine war that transcends the superficial causes and known leaders. Evola, in a thought-provoking essay, delves into this concealed conflict, unraveling a three-dimensional conception of history. This article seeks to unravel the depths of Evola’ discourse, exploring the metaphysical nature of the war, scrutinizing the entities involved, and dissecting the nuanced tactics employed by the covert forces. Understanding the Subterranean...
Gelegentlich ergreifen wir die Feder and schreiben Zeichen auf ein weisses Blatt, Die sagen dies and das, es kennt sie jeder, Es ist ein Spiel, das seine Regeln hat. —Hermann Hesse. Das Glasperlenspiel From time to time we take our pen in hand and scribble symbols on a blank white sheet. Their meaning is at everyone’s command; It is a game whose rules are nice and neat. —Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game, When Hermann...
Unveiling the Enigmatic Wisdom: Deciphering the Esoteric Meaning of “Sit laus vobis Qui loculum antiqui cordis In fonte aspicitis. O vas nobile Quod non est pollutum Nec devoratum In saltatione antique spelunce. Et quod non est maceratum In vulneribus antiqui perditoris” In the labyrinthine world of ancient texts and cryptic symbols, there exists a riddle (Hildegard von Bingen) that has tantalized the intellect and stirred the soul for generations. It is a passage that reads:...
Gravity …. I fell. An introduction by Richard Panek. I had been sitting in a chair for a quarter of an hour, killing time in a bookstore. I had selected from a nearby shelf a book that I thought might relate to the subject I was researching at the moment—I no longer recall what. I’d pushed my chair away from a communal table, crossed my legs, and opened the book to a random page. The...
In the kaleidoscope of human understanding, Mary Midgley’s seminal work, “Are You an Illusion?” beckons us to embark on a profound exploration of the interplay between common sense and scientific orthodoxy. Embarking on a journey through the realms of thought, Midgley skillfully unravels a compelling narrative. This narrative challenges the prevalent belief that science, especially physics, reduces our inner selves to mere illusions. In this expansive journey, the labyrinth of history and the intricacies of...
If you have been the proverbial fly on the wall in Descartes’s bed-room in La Flèche, in southern France, in 1636, you may have watched Descartes laying in bed observing you. His most remarkable idea came to him while observing a fly crawl along a curved path, which he thought about illustrating in terms of its distance from the walls. A revolution in thought was in the making; mathematics would certainly never be similar. The...