“Maybe the brain is not a source of our thoughts but a funnel for them, condensing and limiting the otherwise limitless soul into manageable ideas and propositions.”
This helps bridge the struggle I have in desire to believe and the ephemeral experience of art or literature, and the very work a day world when I get my head out of the clouds
The mind as the funnel and not the source. Brilliant.
It took me a moment and some thought and rereading your essay two more times. Special moments of joy, a beautiful reef to scuba or watching my children and now grandchildren’s smiles, that a bit of heaven.
What you say about the brain is how I feel about time. It isn't one of the dimensions - quarks are eternal traits. Rather time has been placed on us to help us make sense of the eternal through a limited experience. I've heard life described As a crucial nanosecond In eternal life. What you said at the end that there is only "now" And it is up to us to choose whether it is an eternal "now" Or a bound and limited now. I think the mark of the Beast has something to do with the Babylonian clock and being stuck in the temporal. Idols bind us in time. Covenant binds us to Him who is the animating force of the world.
I couldn't help but ask myself, "And what is the root word of 'funnel'? Why, 'fun' of course." Sorry... sometimes the stuff on here is so deep I just revert to silliness. 🙄
The funnel analogy is like Lewis's analogy in Mere Christianity where he describes the brain as being like a radio set- not the mechanistic source of of all experience, but as a way for our infinite Father to communicate with the eternity that He placed in the hearts of men.
I appreciate your emphasis on words that demand the attention to the present moment, a concentration shift. I have been praying this way for a while. Actually a Sanford Meisner listening exercise I picked up in grad school is a great aid in this approach.
“Maybe the brain is not a source of our thoughts but a funnel for them, condensing and limiting the otherwise limitless soul into manageable ideas and propositions.”
This helps bridge the struggle I have in desire to believe and the ephemeral experience of art or literature, and the very work a day world when I get my head out of the clouds
The mind as the funnel and not the source. Brilliant.
Totally. It’s not irrelevant but it’s not exhaustive either.
You have certainly given me a lot to think about this morning.
I aim to boggle!
It took me a moment and some thought and rereading your essay two more times. Special moments of joy, a beautiful reef to scuba or watching my children and now grandchildren’s smiles, that a bit of heaven.
What you say about the brain is how I feel about time. It isn't one of the dimensions - quarks are eternal traits. Rather time has been placed on us to help us make sense of the eternal through a limited experience. I've heard life described As a crucial nanosecond In eternal life. What you said at the end that there is only "now" And it is up to us to choose whether it is an eternal "now" Or a bound and limited now. I think the mark of the Beast has something to do with the Babylonian clock and being stuck in the temporal. Idols bind us in time. Covenant binds us to Him who is the animating force of the world.
Interesting. Very Kantian. I wrote a little about time this way in my book.
Great letter👏🏼
Will you and Andrew Klavan, no relation, be publishing these letters in one book ? Pls pls
I couldn't help but ask myself, "And what is the root word of 'funnel'? Why, 'fun' of course." Sorry... sometimes the stuff on here is so deep I just revert to silliness. 🙄
“Maybe the brain is not a source of our thoughts but a funnel for them.” Yes. The brain can’t think any more than a piano can make music.
"My cat's breath smells of cat food" Ralf Wiggum
The funnel analogy is like Lewis's analogy in Mere Christianity where he describes the brain as being like a radio set- not the mechanistic source of of all experience, but as a way for our infinite Father to communicate with the eternity that He placed in the hearts of men.
I appreciate your emphasis on words that demand the attention to the present moment, a concentration shift. I have been praying this way for a while. Actually a Sanford Meisner listening exercise I picked up in grad school is a great aid in this approach.