Epigraph from The Therapy of Desire, Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics, by Martha Nussbaum, c.1994/2009:
Philosophy does not stand outside the world any more than man’s brain
is outside him because it is not in his stomach; but philosophy, to be
sure, is in the world with its brain before it stands on the earth with its
feet, while many other human spheres have long been rooted in the
earth and pluck the fruits of the world long before they realize that the
“head” also belongs to this world or that this world is the world of the
head.
(--KARL MARX, 1842)
And:
The philosopher desires
And not to have is the beginning of desire.
To have what is not is its ancient cycle …
It knows that what it has is what is not
And throws it away like a thing of another time,
As morning throws off stale moonlight and shabby sleep.
(--from WALLACE STEVENS, “Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction”)
I suspect my attraction to philosophy has to do with thought that resides and hides behind thinking. And if, according to Heidegger, we are not yet thinking, thought is well concealed and safe from our incurious minds so easily distracted and happily obtuse.
It is the discovery that occurs despite my predictable ignorance that is thrilling. When something lights up. Yes, it is sometimes work to plow through sentences and efforts on the part of authors to make it (somewhat) easier to glean and partially understand.
For me, each book, each page, each paragraph, each sentence, each phrase is a kind of holon in a holography. Each slice, each fragment contains the whole.
So, whenever one looks into a composition of words arranged for a reader, one is looking through a lens into the hidden whole -- if we are attuned to what is being presented.
To say I understand what I read might be too thorough an estimation. Instead, to say that I approximate or apprehend what is passing through my eyes (or ears) might be a closer telling.
There is a difference between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. Philosophy, it is said, is the love of wisdom .
Etymology
The word philosophy comes from the Ancient Greek words φίλος (philos) 'love' and σοφία (sophia) 'wisdom'.[2][a] Some sources say that the term was coined by the pre-Socratic philosopher Pythagoras, but this is not certain.[4]
The word entered the English language primarily from Old French and Anglo-Norman starting around 1175 CE. The French philosophie is itself a borrowing from the Latin philosophia. The term philosophy acquired the meanings of "advanced study of the speculative subjects (logic, ethics, physics, and metaphysics)", "deep wisdom consisting of love of truth and virtuous living", "profound learning as transmitted by the ancient writers", and "the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, and the basic limits of human understanding".[5]
Before the modern age, the term philosophy was used in a wide sense. It included most forms of rational inquiry, such as the individual sciences, as its subdisciplines.[6] For instance, natural philosophy was a major branch of philosophy.[7] This branch of philosophy encompassed a wide range of fields, including disciplines like physics, chemistry, and biology.[8] An example of this usage is the 1687 book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton. This book referred to natural philosophy in its title, but it is today considered a book of physics.[9]
The meaning ofphilosophychanged toward the end of the modern period when it acquired the more narrow meaning common today. In this new sense, the term is mainly associated with philosophical disciplines like metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Among other topics, it covers the rational study of reality, knowledge, and values. It is distinguished from other disciplines of rational inquiry such as the empirical sciences andmathematics.[10](--wikipedia)
In German, Lernen lassen translates as "let learn." Or "to let learning happen."
That's pretty much what I conceive philosophy, especially the teaching/learning of philosophy, to be. It is not an indoctrination, nor a computation. The conversation held through philosophy, the conversation between participants engaging one another and a common topic of interest, is best envisioned as a letting learning happen.
In 1861, Americans went to war to keep a cabal from taking control of the government and turning it into an oligarchy. The fight against that rebellion seemed at first to be too much for the nation to survive. But Americans rallied and threw their hearts into the cause on the battlefields even as they continued to work on the home front for a government that defended democracy and equality before the law.
* Like words for gods and men, the wordelfis used in personal names where words for monsters and demons are not.[39]Just asálfaris associated withÆsirin Old Norse, the Old EnglishWið færsticeassociates elves withēse; whatever this word meant by the tenth century, etymologically it denoted pagan gods.[40]In Old English, the pluralylfe(attested inBeowulf) is grammatically anethnonym(a word for an ethnic group), suggesting that elves were seen as people.[41][42]As well as appearing in medical texts, the Old English wordælfand its feminine derivativeælbinnewere used inglossesto translate Latin words fornymphs. This fits well with the wordælfscȳne, which meant "elf-beautiful" and is attested describing the seductively beautiful Biblical heroinesSarahandJudith.[43]
Likewise, in Middle English and early modern Scottish evidence, while still appearing as causes of harm and danger, elves appear clearly as humanlike beings.[44] They became associated with medieval chivalric romance traditions of fairies and particularly with the idea of a Fairy Queen. A propensity to seduce or rape people becomes increasingly prominent in the source material.[45] Around the fifteenth century, evidence starts to appear for the belief that elves might steal human babies and replace them with changelings.[46]
The last Sunday of the liturgical year, called Christ the King has long been a conundrum for me. Today I learned the following.
Fun Facts to Know and Tell About Christ the King Sunday
by Melissa Hayes, Director of Liturgy, All Saints Church, Pasadena November 24, 2017
When we first started exploring this history of the feast of ‘Christ the King’ Sunday, I assumed it had been in our lectionary since the publication of the King James Bible (1611) – or at least the composition of Handel’s Messiah (1741). I decided to research its history going to the library (i.e., Google) and learn a bit more about it. I thought the first link (Wikipedia) was a joke – or at least a mistake: it claimed the feast day was established in 1925! Other links confirmed that:
Pope Pius XI instituted the Feast of Christ the King in 1925 to remind Christians that their allegiance was to their spiritual ruler in heaven as opposed to earthly supremacy, which was claimed by Benito Mussolini.
The encyclical Quas Primas, symbolically marked that Christ must reign now temporally. In its replacing of the feast on the last Sunday of Pentecost, the later Mass of Paul VI calendar symbolized the new orientation of the Second Vatican Council in that Christ will reign, not now among nations, but at the end of time.
The Anglican Church, Lutherans, Presbyterians and Methodists joined in adding this Feast Day to their lectionary. I couldn’t find the Feast Day in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, but it does appear in the 1979 version (our current version.)
I took this information to our Language & Liturgy group and we had a field day with it. To 21st century ears the language of “Christ the King’ Sunday can sound like heavy-handed, hierarchical hold-over from our patriarch dominated past – and yet it makes perfect sense when you realize it was a response to the growing fascist movement in Europe.
Our group discussed Jesus standing against the empire and what that leadership looks like. We admitted our human response to someone of great spiritual authenticity is to venerate them – even if titles and hierarchies are not important to them. Our findings led us to conclude that Jesus “kingship” does not involve domination or triumphalism — but the radical, all-powerful compassion and love of Jesus seeking justice for all.
So here’s the Collect of the Day we pray at All Saints on Christ the King Sunday (this year November 26th:)
Most Gracious God, who in Jesus of Nazareth showed us an alternative to the kings, queens and emperors of history, help us to revere and emulate Jesus’ leadership: To love, and to seek justice for all people. Help us to recognize the true grandeur and life-changing power based in loving you and all of our neighbors. In Christ Jesus with you and the Holy Spirit, may we co-create a world ruled not through domination, but in that radical and all-powerful compassion and love. Amen.
A hedge against fascism, a plea for compassion and love.
And while the moniker of King still sits uneasy in my vocabulary, the articulation of a radical decree to love and serve with attentive compassion is something my mind / heart is willing to pronounce.
Mazel tov!
Pārasamgate,
Svāhā! (Etymologically, the Sanskrit term derives from the root words सू sū- "good" and आहा -āhā "to call".[8][9]
You go girl!
Vincerò ([vintʃeˈrɔ]; "I will be victorious") is the concluding cry of the aria "Nessun dorma"from Puccini's opera Turandot.
