Aristotle says that Man is a "human animal". Because of this man has "aggression". Yet the level of aggression one has is no matter in judging human action, because we have free will.
This means that no matter how we feel, no matter for what reason- it is our choice to act from this feeling, or with this feeling, to do whatever we wish to try. Man can sublimate his aggression, can channel his aggression, or through transformation can change his aggression.
Therefore it matters not what he feels, but how he acts and what he does. Then his aggression gets: 1) masked through sublimation which buries it; 2) channeled and focused through his power- thus transformed- into a positive endeavour; or 3)through his power dissolved into nothing.
In both the latter cases, a person can possess a "monstrous" aggression throughout all his body and all his thinking- but NOT in his heart. Therefore his aggression can become transformed each and every day into good, into love, or through forgiveness into nothing. It is then invisible in the record of his action, but shows in the intensity and force of his action, through the excellence in performance, and through the intensity of his love for others.
Because this aggression can be changed there is nothing to have fear of, and nothing to hide from others, because it is channeled into good, into love, or into work. Someone like this is just fine with every part of who he is, because it is from our acts towards others that we are judged.
This power of the tranformation of aggression, and suffering, through the power of forgiveness and free will can become a daily healing of the self. Through the transformational power of free will, we can choose to change and perform the behavior of who we want to be, and perform the behavior of what we want to do.
Man can change because Man has the power of transformation. Man has free will.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Transparency - One of the Responsibilities of both Government and Citizenship
Why transparency of government is so important to citizens, and coversely why it is a responsibility of citizens to honestly and faithfully go about their lives with each other and with their government, has to do with the freedom of the individual and the source of his or her action, and is presented in the paragraph below by Hayek.
From "The Constitution of Liberty" by Friedrich A. Hayek
"We can probably include all forms of violence under coercion, or at least maintain that a successful prevention of coercion will mean the prevention of all kinds of violence. There remains, however, one other kind of harmful action which is generally thought desirable to prevent and at first may seem distinct. This is fraud and deception. Yet, though it would be straining the meaning of words to call them "coercion," on examination it appears that the reasons why we want to prevent them are the same as those applying to coercion. Deception, like coercion, is a form of manipulating the data on which a person counts, in order to make him do what the deceiver wants him to do. Where it is successful, the deceived becomes in the same manner the unwilling tool, serving another man's ends without advancing his own. Though we have no single word to cover both, all we have said of coercion applies equally to fraud and deception."
From "The Constitution of Liberty" by Friedrich A. Hayek
"We can probably include all forms of violence under coercion, or at least maintain that a successful prevention of coercion will mean the prevention of all kinds of violence. There remains, however, one other kind of harmful action which is generally thought desirable to prevent and at first may seem distinct. This is fraud and deception. Yet, though it would be straining the meaning of words to call them "coercion," on examination it appears that the reasons why we want to prevent them are the same as those applying to coercion. Deception, like coercion, is a form of manipulating the data on which a person counts, in order to make him do what the deceiver wants him to do. Where it is successful, the deceived becomes in the same manner the unwilling tool, serving another man's ends without advancing his own. Though we have no single word to cover both, all we have said of coercion applies equally to fraud and deception."
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
The Value in Being a Good Citizen- From "Democracy in America"
The value in being a good citizen, following the rule of law, and the benefit of living in a democracy.
From 'Democracy in America' by Alexis De Tocqueville,- part I, 'Notion of Rights'
"After the general idea of virtue, I know no higher principle than that of right"....
"The man who submits to violence is debased by his compliance; but when he submits to that right of authority which he acknowledges in a fellow-creature, he rises in some measure above the person who gives the command. There are no great men without virtue; and there are no great nations,- it may also be added, there would be no society,- without respect for right; for what is a union of rational and intelligent beings who are held together only by the bond of force?..."
"The government of the democracy brings the notion of political rights to the level of the humblest citizens, just as the dissemination of wealth brings the notion of property within the reach of all men; to my mind, this is one of its greatest advantages".
From 'Democracy in America' by Alexis De Tocqueville,- part I, 'Notion of Rights'
"After the general idea of virtue, I know no higher principle than that of right"....
"The man who submits to violence is debased by his compliance; but when he submits to that right of authority which he acknowledges in a fellow-creature, he rises in some measure above the person who gives the command. There are no great men without virtue; and there are no great nations,- it may also be added, there would be no society,- without respect for right; for what is a union of rational and intelligent beings who are held together only by the bond of force?..."
"The government of the democracy brings the notion of political rights to the level of the humblest citizens, just as the dissemination of wealth brings the notion of property within the reach of all men; to my mind, this is one of its greatest advantages".
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
First Amendment Free Exercise Clause-"Some Keep the Sabbath"..
The first amendment protects freedom of the exercise of religion in the United States, which means citizens can demonstrate their religious beliefs in different ways. My favorite poem expressing this right and deeply shared sentiment, and a more private approach to religious belief is in the famous poem by Emily Dickinson- "Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church".
"Some keep the Sabbath going to Church-
I keep it, staying at Home-
With a Bobolink for a Chorister-
And an Orchard, for a Dome-
Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice-
I just wear my Wings-
And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,
Our little Sexton-Sings.
God preaches, a noted Clergyman-
And the sermon is never long,
So instead of getting to Heaven, at last-
I'm going, all along".
"Some keep the Sabbath going to Church-
I keep it, staying at Home-
With a Bobolink for a Chorister-
And an Orchard, for a Dome-
Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice-
I just wear my Wings-
And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,
Our little Sexton-Sings.
God preaches, a noted Clergyman-
And the sermon is never long,
So instead of getting to Heaven, at last-
I'm going, all along".
Monday, December 10, 2007
The Description of the Truth of This Time in Our Country's History
The description of the truth of this time; the transition from the 20th century through the first decade of the 21st century; in our country's history will need no great and intricate new philosophy of government, nor any new grand theory of history, nor any new dazzling tool of economic theory. The description of the truth of this time in our country's history has already been written and lies plainly in the words of Thomas Paine, from the "Rights of Man".
And so it was that...
"If there is a country in the world, where concord, according to common calculation, would be least expected, it is America. Made up, as it is, of people from different nations,* accustomed to different forms and habits of government, speaking different languages, and more different in their modes of worship, it would appear that the union of such a people was impracticable; but by the simple operation of constructing government on the principles of society and the rights of man, every difficulty retires, and all the parts are brought into cordial unison. There, the poor are not oppressed, the rich are not priviledged. Industry is not mortified by the splendid extravagance of a court rioting at its expense...."
"A metaphysical man, like Mr.(Edmund)Burke, would have tortured his invention to discover how such a people could be governed. He would have supposed that some must be managed by fraud, others by force, and all by some contrivance; that genius must be hired to impose upon ignorance, and show and parade to fascinate the vulgar. Lost in the abundance of his researches, he would have resolved and re-resolved, and finally overlooked the plain and easy road that lay directly before him." pgs. 134-135
The "Rights of Man" was presented to George Washington with these words:
"To George Washington, President of the United States of America
Sir,
I present you a small Treatise in defence of those Principles of Freedom which your exemplary Virtue hath so eminently contributed to establish.- That the Rights of Man may become as universal as your Benevolence can wish, and that you may enjoy the Happiness of seeing the New World regenerate the Old, is the Prayer of..
Sir,
Your much obliged, and Obedient humble Servant.
THOMAS PAINE"
And so it was that...
"If there is a country in the world, where concord, according to common calculation, would be least expected, it is America. Made up, as it is, of people from different nations,* accustomed to different forms and habits of government, speaking different languages, and more different in their modes of worship, it would appear that the union of such a people was impracticable; but by the simple operation of constructing government on the principles of society and the rights of man, every difficulty retires, and all the parts are brought into cordial unison. There, the poor are not oppressed, the rich are not priviledged. Industry is not mortified by the splendid extravagance of a court rioting at its expense...."
"A metaphysical man, like Mr.(Edmund)Burke, would have tortured his invention to discover how such a people could be governed. He would have supposed that some must be managed by fraud, others by force, and all by some contrivance; that genius must be hired to impose upon ignorance, and show and parade to fascinate the vulgar. Lost in the abundance of his researches, he would have resolved and re-resolved, and finally overlooked the plain and easy road that lay directly before him." pgs. 134-135
The "Rights of Man" was presented to George Washington with these words:
"To George Washington, President of the United States of America
Sir,
I present you a small Treatise in defence of those Principles of Freedom which your exemplary Virtue hath so eminently contributed to establish.- That the Rights of Man may become as universal as your Benevolence can wish, and that you may enjoy the Happiness of seeing the New World regenerate the Old, is the Prayer of..
Sir,
Your much obliged, and Obedient humble Servant.
THOMAS PAINE"
Saturday, December 1, 2007
The Beauty Present in Everyday Life
In the Critique of Judgment Kant describes what it means to say that something is beautiful. He says that the beautiful is a kind of reordering,- through a touching of the supersensible substrate- (beyond the sensible) the feeling of which is what we know as beautiful. It is one way of saying that when we feel beauty, we are touched by god.
For me the examples of beauty I have been privileged to witness are below.
A) Kant says that in human art that which is beautiful is also what is “exemplary”, an example and ideal of the combination of capability, sensibility, and technique, that when experienced produces the feeling of beauty in us. We know this beauty through the work of history’s famous masters, in those celebrated as the world’s finest.
1) The magnificent paintings of Marc Chagall in the Musee National de Marc Chagall- “La Message Biblique”, off of Rue Cimiez in Nice. My favorite is the painting “Abraham and the Three Angels”. It is much larger than appears in books and expresses with awe and reverence the theme of the divine captured through the figures in much of Chagall’s work, and in the use of color in all of his work.
2) The impressionist collection at the Art Institute of Chicago.
3) Itzhak Perlman playing solo at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim conducting. A truly magnificent performance and virtuosity without compare.
4) Yo Yo Ma at Ravinia.
5) The architecture of Helmut Jahn and Frank Geary.
6) The skylines of the cities of Chicago and Seattle.
7) Notre Dame in Paris, Notre Dame in Vieux Montreal, the Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago.
Most of us personally witness these kinds of beauty as “extravagances” and “rarities”. Just as rare are the beauty found in the far away places of nature that we see just as less often.
1) The Dancing fires of the sky that reach to the firmament of the Northern Lights.
2) The spectacular color of the Smokey Mountains in the third week of fall in the drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway from eastern Tennessee to North Carolina, and in the drive from Eastern Tennessee to Ashville North Carolina.
3) The sweep of the bay of angels in Nice. The cliffs of Nice and Ville Franche-Sur-Mer, and the drive on the pas corniche between Ville Franche and Monte Carlo.
4) The iridescent blue of the Caribbean.
5) The spectacular colors of scuba diving off of Cozumel.
Then there is the beauty, now common and accessible to us, brought to us through the miracle of electronic media.
1) A documentary of Picasso showing a demonstrated ability to paint that is beyond belief.
2) Beethoven’s ninth symphony, Tchaikovsky’s 4th symphony, Mahler’s ninth symphony, and the entire soundtrack of the film “Amadeus” containing the music of Mozart.
3) The incomparable acting of Meryl Steep in “Sophie’s Choice”, Julia Roberts in “Erin Brockovich”, Hallie Berry in “Monster’s Ball”, Denzel Washington in “Glory”, Tom Hanks in “Philadelphia”, Shirley McClaine in “Terms of Endearment”, Marlon Brando in “the Godfather”, Al Pacino in “Looking for Richard”, and Charlize Theron in “Monster”, and of course others.
4) The incomparable directing of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Sidney Pollack.
8) The literature of Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Charles Dickens, William Faulkner, Saul Bellow, and Cormac McCarthy. The poetry of Walt Whitman, Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson.
5) The Philosophical constructions of Kant, Hegel, Levinas, and Ricoeur. The Theology of St. Augustine, Jurgen Moltmann, St. Paul, St. John, and Pope John Paul II (The Great)
6) The great singers- too many to mention. For me especially the great female voices which shower down like the voices of angels.
And of course many others brought to us by electronic media.
Deeper and more dear to us is the beauty of nature found in the Areas surrounding places we love. For me the drive on highway J in the Mark Twain national forest, through the ridge valleys that appear to depict the pastoral beauty and tranquility of 100 years ago along highway j.
The drive from Morrisonville in central Illinois, which has the flattest farmland. Because it is almost all farmland, the scene of these drives is always a blanket of color that stretches are far as the eye can see. Green, green, green of the spring through to mid-summer. Golden, golden, golden in the fall. The richest black, black, black after harvest. The shimmering, sparkling and blinding white, white, white when fresh snow covers the fields and the sky has no clouds. For me, and probably most others I know, these beautiful scenes found are the most beautiful places we know, those that can be found near to us, because we are home or are going home.
The most beautiful words to us as Americans are the words of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and the writings of Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton and Madison- of the rule of law and nonviolent change through the democratic process- through elections, and legislation.
The most beautiful and profound words I know are the words of Christ and the theology of nonviolent Christian forgiveness in the New Testament of the Bible. To be a follower of Christ, to be a true Christian, means to follow these words in your daily lives and acts- to give the best of yourself in everything you do- with our family, with our work, and with our fellow citizens and neighbors.
The most beautiful thing I have ever experienced, by far, is the smiling face and the presence of someone I love.
The Beauty of the World, and thus the Beauty of God, are right in front of each of us, and are present to each of us, in various ways, and in the most common ways, every single day.
For me the examples of beauty I have been privileged to witness are below.
A) Kant says that in human art that which is beautiful is also what is “exemplary”, an example and ideal of the combination of capability, sensibility, and technique, that when experienced produces the feeling of beauty in us. We know this beauty through the work of history’s famous masters, in those celebrated as the world’s finest.
1) The magnificent paintings of Marc Chagall in the Musee National de Marc Chagall- “La Message Biblique”, off of Rue Cimiez in Nice. My favorite is the painting “Abraham and the Three Angels”. It is much larger than appears in books and expresses with awe and reverence the theme of the divine captured through the figures in much of Chagall’s work, and in the use of color in all of his work.
2) The impressionist collection at the Art Institute of Chicago.
3) Itzhak Perlman playing solo at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim conducting. A truly magnificent performance and virtuosity without compare.
4) Yo Yo Ma at Ravinia.
5) The architecture of Helmut Jahn and Frank Geary.
6) The skylines of the cities of Chicago and Seattle.
7) Notre Dame in Paris, Notre Dame in Vieux Montreal, the Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago.
Most of us personally witness these kinds of beauty as “extravagances” and “rarities”. Just as rare are the beauty found in the far away places of nature that we see just as less often.
1) The Dancing fires of the sky that reach to the firmament of the Northern Lights.
2) The spectacular color of the Smokey Mountains in the third week of fall in the drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway from eastern Tennessee to North Carolina, and in the drive from Eastern Tennessee to Ashville North Carolina.
3) The sweep of the bay of angels in Nice. The cliffs of Nice and Ville Franche-Sur-Mer, and the drive on the pas corniche between Ville Franche and Monte Carlo.
4) The iridescent blue of the Caribbean.
5) The spectacular colors of scuba diving off of Cozumel.
Then there is the beauty, now common and accessible to us, brought to us through the miracle of electronic media.
1) A documentary of Picasso showing a demonstrated ability to paint that is beyond belief.
2) Beethoven’s ninth symphony, Tchaikovsky’s 4th symphony, Mahler’s ninth symphony, and the entire soundtrack of the film “Amadeus” containing the music of Mozart.
3) The incomparable acting of Meryl Steep in “Sophie’s Choice”, Julia Roberts in “Erin Brockovich”, Hallie Berry in “Monster’s Ball”, Denzel Washington in “Glory”, Tom Hanks in “Philadelphia”, Shirley McClaine in “Terms of Endearment”, Marlon Brando in “the Godfather”, Al Pacino in “Looking for Richard”, and Charlize Theron in “Monster”, and of course others.
4) The incomparable directing of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Sidney Pollack.
8) The literature of Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Charles Dickens, William Faulkner, Saul Bellow, and Cormac McCarthy. The poetry of Walt Whitman, Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson.
5) The Philosophical constructions of Kant, Hegel, Levinas, and Ricoeur. The Theology of St. Augustine, Jurgen Moltmann, St. Paul, St. John, and Pope John Paul II (The Great)
6) The great singers- too many to mention. For me especially the great female voices which shower down like the voices of angels.
And of course many others brought to us by electronic media.
Deeper and more dear to us is the beauty of nature found in the Areas surrounding places we love. For me the drive on highway J in the Mark Twain national forest, through the ridge valleys that appear to depict the pastoral beauty and tranquility of 100 years ago along highway j.
The drive from Morrisonville in central Illinois, which has the flattest farmland. Because it is almost all farmland, the scene of these drives is always a blanket of color that stretches are far as the eye can see. Green, green, green of the spring through to mid-summer. Golden, golden, golden in the fall. The richest black, black, black after harvest. The shimmering, sparkling and blinding white, white, white when fresh snow covers the fields and the sky has no clouds. For me, and probably most others I know, these beautiful scenes found are the most beautiful places we know, those that can be found near to us, because we are home or are going home.
The most beautiful words to us as Americans are the words of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and the writings of Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton and Madison- of the rule of law and nonviolent change through the democratic process- through elections, and legislation.
The most beautiful and profound words I know are the words of Christ and the theology of nonviolent Christian forgiveness in the New Testament of the Bible. To be a follower of Christ, to be a true Christian, means to follow these words in your daily lives and acts- to give the best of yourself in everything you do- with our family, with our work, and with our fellow citizens and neighbors.
The most beautiful thing I have ever experienced, by far, is the smiling face and the presence of someone I love.
The Beauty of the World, and thus the Beauty of God, are right in front of each of us, and are present to each of us, in various ways, and in the most common ways, every single day.
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