I think Borges said somewhere that the once popular genre of sermons, which people listened to for education and entertainment, was reincarnated as science fiction. That sci fi was the only home for theological ideas in the modern, popular bookshelf. And if you read a book like Imaginary Magnitude or FIASCO by Stanislaw Lem, you cannot help but agree. As a youth, Lem argued in Krakow cafés with Karol Wojtyla, a young seminarian, who would later become Pope John Paul II. So they were in orbit around the same ideas. And there is, of course, the famous dinner at The Eagle and Child attended by Tolkien, Lewis, and Arthur C. Clarke. Lewis left the discussion and started the space trilogy. Clarke left the discussion and started Childhood's End. Both books are answers to the same set of questions, which, I suppose, are essentially the questions at the very bottom of The Abolition of Man.
The place where woo and science collide is Jungian Psychodynamics. The most approachable writer I've found on it on here is https://substack.com/@riverkenna .
Some of Jung's most notable ideas (e.g. the collective unconscious, archetypes, symbolism) were developed through his reading of Emanuel Swedenborg, a famed 18th century scientist and theologian/seer. So I'd say that where woo and science collide is even more precisely in Swedenborg's body of work, where rationalism and spiritualism are beautifully interwoven into a consistent, accessible explanation of God, His creation, and our human journey through this world, towards the next. The book Heaven and Hell is Swedenborg's best known title. Here's a good overview on the Jung/Swedenborg connection:
Beautiful work. Thank you, Spencer… I am currently reading Phantastes by George MacDonald and your dad’s book The Truth and Beauty. Your article strikes a very true chord. Without wanting to make this about me, I do want to let you know how much I appreciate your work and your way with thoughts and words.
There’s still something cool about the “vanity of vanities” of King Solomon, the irony of “those who speak do not know” of Lao Tsu, and the moderately smarter-ness of “all I know is I know nothing” of Socrates and the stoic thought that you should get out of bed early because what, do you think your better than any other of God’s creatures (?). Because at least then you can just do what you believe you should and leave the rest up to what the woo-woos call The Great Whatever.
Genesis 1:16 "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also."
The sun, moon, and the stars rise in the east and set in the west, although not all groups of stars move in the same manner as the sun and the moon.
Notice how the stars differ in brightness and color. Sirius is classified as white but has a shade of green. Vega is another star classified as white but has a tinge of blue. There are stars of varying colors--red, light rose, yellow, greenish and topaz-hues.
I think Borges said somewhere that the once popular genre of sermons, which people listened to for education and entertainment, was reincarnated as science fiction. That sci fi was the only home for theological ideas in the modern, popular bookshelf. And if you read a book like Imaginary Magnitude or FIASCO by Stanislaw Lem, you cannot help but agree. As a youth, Lem argued in Krakow cafés with Karol Wojtyla, a young seminarian, who would later become Pope John Paul II. So they were in orbit around the same ideas. And there is, of course, the famous dinner at The Eagle and Child attended by Tolkien, Lewis, and Arthur C. Clarke. Lewis left the discussion and started the space trilogy. Clarke left the discussion and started Childhood's End. Both books are answers to the same set of questions, which, I suppose, are essentially the questions at the very bottom of The Abolition of Man.
The place where woo and science collide is Jungian Psychodynamics. The most approachable writer I've found on it on here is https://substack.com/@riverkenna .
Some of Jung's most notable ideas (e.g. the collective unconscious, archetypes, symbolism) were developed through his reading of Emanuel Swedenborg, a famed 18th century scientist and theologian/seer. So I'd say that where woo and science collide is even more precisely in Swedenborg's body of work, where rationalism and spiritualism are beautifully interwoven into a consistent, accessible explanation of God, His creation, and our human journey through this world, towards the next. The book Heaven and Hell is Swedenborg's best known title. Here's a good overview on the Jung/Swedenborg connection:
https://gettherapybirmingham.com/emanuel-swedenborgs-mystical-visions-and-their-influence-on-carl-jungs-psychology/
Beautiful work. Thank you, Spencer… I am currently reading Phantastes by George MacDonald and your dad’s book The Truth and Beauty. Your article strikes a very true chord. Without wanting to make this about me, I do want to let you know how much I appreciate your work and your way with thoughts and words.
Definitely an advantage of novelty. How can conventionality ever be cool?
There’s still something cool about the “vanity of vanities” of King Solomon, the irony of “those who speak do not know” of Lao Tsu, and the moderately smarter-ness of “all I know is I know nothing” of Socrates and the stoic thought that you should get out of bed early because what, do you think your better than any other of God’s creatures (?). Because at least then you can just do what you believe you should and leave the rest up to what the woo-woos call The Great Whatever.
Genesis 1:16 "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also."
The sun, moon, and the stars rise in the east and set in the west, although not all groups of stars move in the same manner as the sun and the moon.
Notice how the stars differ in brightness and color. Sirius is classified as white but has a shade of green. Vega is another star classified as white but has a tinge of blue. There are stars of varying colors--red, light rose, yellow, greenish and topaz-hues.