This reminds of Rutger Hauer’s in Blade Runner, all those moments in time, lost; except the ones I shared will my children. As a mother and wife I have spent most of my adult life by myself but it wasn’t until my children were older that we developed shared memories.
What I couldn’t share with my children and now my granddaughter I am raising is my time spent in quiet prayer and contemplation. In between my children being more self-sustaining and my granddaughter, I was able to go to daily mass and spend time with Christ in our church’s chapel where we had Perpetual Adoration. Few parishes are blessed with that. The memory of the peace and quiet I experienced sustains me even now when I can’t actually be there. But this is what people without Christ never experience. The noise in their heads must be deafening. Long story short, I think that is why they are so angry. And so, the peace of Christ be with you all.
“Do you think he experiences the beauty of the view?”—Andrew
I think similar things, and some things much stranger, like, “Does a cat think you have removable skin when he see you take off your coat?” Of course not. Cats are too stupid—cunning, but stupid—but dogs might. 🤷🏼♂️
I went to an aquarium yesterday and watched all the fish swimming around living their fishy lives, and I kept thinking, God is such a loose canon--like he just goes around making these totally whacko forms of consciousness and he never even asks our opinion about it at all lol
Having just gotten up, I’m too addled at the moment to give a more thoughtful comment than to say that I’ve long considered “The Between” to be the coolest book title I’ve ever encountered. Now I’m off to look it up because I can’t remember the author’s name. Carry on , Klavans. You rock.
My favorite book (besides one of yours) is "At the Back of the North Wind". George MacDonald's first description of North Wind looking in the hole of Diamond's bedroom and saying someone covered her window is this great idea of space and what do we see and whose space is it. There is much more of course but that is one fun idea in the book.
I don't think animals appreciate anything. Appreciation is a human trait. I think atheists use our appreciation as a pseudo valuation of human life. But it's a circular argument. The music of Beethoven is only of value to humans (and only then those that have functioning hearing). To say we are valuable because of the arts is a circular argument. Only humans hold art to be valuable. So what makes us the arbiters of what is valuable? Then you get into Nietzschean territory. Humans are ONLY valuable because we were created valuable.
I once had an expert dog trainer tell me that dogs have no memory. So I turned to my dog and spelled the word "beach," and the dog jumped up and rushed around in joy because she loved the beach. I said, "She may have no memory, but she sure knows how to spell." I think you're coming at this argument the wrong way round. We've been taught that human consciousness creates fiction and illusion because we've been taught there is no such thing as spiritual truth for it to perceive. The problem with this idea is that it happens to be incorrect. And once you start from the position that consciousness can reveal spiritual truth, the action of consciousness in everything from ants to whales becomes much more mysterious and suggestive.
Maybe my final sentence should have read “we are valuable because we are created in the image of God, not because of what we do”. I can see why you misunderstood.
This reminds of Rutger Hauer’s in Blade Runner, all those moments in time, lost; except the ones I shared will my children. As a mother and wife I have spent most of my adult life by myself but it wasn’t until my children were older that we developed shared memories.
What I couldn’t share with my children and now my granddaughter I am raising is my time spent in quiet prayer and contemplation. In between my children being more self-sustaining and my granddaughter, I was able to go to daily mass and spend time with Christ in our church’s chapel where we had Perpetual Adoration. Few parishes are blessed with that. The memory of the peace and quiet I experienced sustains me even now when I can’t actually be there. But this is what people without Christ never experience. The noise in their heads must be deafening. Long story short, I think that is why they are so angry. And so, the peace of Christ be with you all.
“Do you think he experiences the beauty of the view?”—Andrew
I think similar things, and some things much stranger, like, “Does a cat think you have removable skin when he see you take off your coat?” Of course not. Cats are too stupid—cunning, but stupid—but dogs might. 🤷🏼♂️
I went to an aquarium yesterday and watched all the fish swimming around living their fishy lives, and I kept thinking, God is such a loose canon--like he just goes around making these totally whacko forms of consciousness and he never even asks our opinion about it at all lol
😂
Having just gotten up, I’m too addled at the moment to give a more thoughtful comment than to say that I’ve long considered “The Between” to be the coolest book title I’ve ever encountered. Now I’m off to look it up because I can’t remember the author’s name. Carry on , Klavans. You rock.
My favorite book (besides one of yours) is "At the Back of the North Wind". George MacDonald's first description of North Wind looking in the hole of Diamond's bedroom and saying someone covered her window is this great idea of space and what do we see and whose space is it. There is much more of course but that is one fun idea in the book.
I don't think animals appreciate anything. Appreciation is a human trait. I think atheists use our appreciation as a pseudo valuation of human life. But it's a circular argument. The music of Beethoven is only of value to humans (and only then those that have functioning hearing). To say we are valuable because of the arts is a circular argument. Only humans hold art to be valuable. So what makes us the arbiters of what is valuable? Then you get into Nietzschean territory. Humans are ONLY valuable because we were created valuable.
I once had an expert dog trainer tell me that dogs have no memory. So I turned to my dog and spelled the word "beach," and the dog jumped up and rushed around in joy because she loved the beach. I said, "She may have no memory, but she sure knows how to spell." I think you're coming at this argument the wrong way round. We've been taught that human consciousness creates fiction and illusion because we've been taught there is no such thing as spiritual truth for it to perceive. The problem with this idea is that it happens to be incorrect. And once you start from the position that consciousness can reveal spiritual truth, the action of consciousness in everything from ants to whales becomes much more mysterious and suggestive.
Maybe my final sentence should have read “we are valuable because we are created in the image of God, not because of what we do”. I can see why you misunderstood.
Thank you. 💜