Random Transcendentalism
Cell Division
Magnetism
The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide . . .
Standing on the bare ground, my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball. I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me. I am part or particle of God . . .
There is no screen or ceiling between our heads and the infinite heavens . . . no bar or wall in the soul where we, the effect, cease, and God, the cause, begins.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, various essays
I believe in the flesh and the appetites; Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a miracle.
Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch and am touch’d from;
Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass"
Circular Crops
Cell Division
Magnetism
Circular Crops
4 comments:
I've never been much of one for poetry. Maybe it's because it's so hard to figure out what these people are trying to say. I mean, I appreciate a good metaphor and all that, but is Emerson truly saying he's part of God? How, exactly?
We are not God, in any way, shape or form. We are God's creations. Come on gentlemen...get with the program. And, regarding poetry, let your yeas be yeas and your nays be nays.
Rae Ann, I yield the soapbox in the event you wish to resume your sermons.
dh, these aren't exactly poetry, though Whitman's is called that I guess. What they are saying isn't that they or we *are* God but are *part* ("part or particle") of God/the Universe. And modern science suggests that we all are made of the same stuff, just arranged differently depending what we are. The cell division and magnetism pictures suggest, to me, the similarity of everything at the smallest of scales. Think about what transcendent means. Surely, when you have a religious experience you feel connected to God, don't you? What Emerson is describing is his own experience of feeling connected to God. Personally, I think he sounds like he was high at the time. ;-) And Whitman, actually, is a bit more extreme. I'm surprised you picked on Emerson instead. lol
And the circular crops don't really mean anything. I just like that picture because when I saw them from a plane several years ago I thought, "well, no wonder the aliens are making crop circles. They must think that we are trying to tell them something with our circles."
Well, of course I picked on Emerson. Whitman was no challenge. lol Seriously, I've tried to read both (if only I had a dollar for each time I tried to plow through Walden), and find them incredibly boring.
And yes, there are times when spiritually I feel connected to God, but not, I think, in the way either of these bozos was trying to describe. You may have hit tne nail on the head (Personally, I think he sounds like he was high at the time.), not that there's anything wrong with that. OK, well, there is, it's against the law. But not that there's anything else wrong with that.
I actually appreciated the graphics you included. There's an obvious visual connectivity between the cell division and magnetism pics. Very cool. And I don't know why, being fairly ignorant about art, but the circular crops call to my mind something of retro or art deco. It's like I've seen it before...I just don't know where. Oh wait. I know now...Pacman. ;-)
Well, to be perfectly honest I've never read any of Emerson's or Whitman's complete works. I just liked these particular quotes. And yeah, I got that pacman thought too. lol
funny word ver. = sinuaxdh
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