E-mail David Christopher Lane
directly at dlane@weber.ucsd.edu
Author: John Wall Publisher: Alt.religion.eckankar Publication date: 1996
E-mail David Christopher Lane
directly at dlane@weber.ucsd.edu
I
want to go back to the home base now.
I just had a chance to check out some more of your critique of Ken Wilber and wanted to respond to your "Feynman's Clocks" episode. I like Feynman, too, and I've read his two popular books. Wilber doesn't grab me, and I haven't read any of his books. However (hey, if there wasn't a "however," I wouldn't bother to write, right?), I can never just sit idly by when a rationalist claims to be more reasonable than an irrationalist. There is no logical reason why Feynman's finding of a physical cause for the clock-stoppage is more reasonable than Wilber's finding of a mystical cause for the wind storm. There is also no difference in degree of maturity of views between finding meaning in physical events and rationalism versus finding meaning in mystical events and irrationalism. There is no logical basis for positing the "it's only poetic; it's only aesthetic; it's only metaphorical; etc.," approach. That is "only" a bias. Even if you insist that Feynman's clock stoppage was a chance event with no mystical dimension whatsoever, you cannot prove your position. If you can't prove it, it is unscientific. Your stand is not "reality," but a mere preference, an opinion. Everything is imbued with meaning, Dave. Not just isolated events, but the whole works. It's all there, whether we notice it or not -- just as earth was a sphere before anyone noticed. Sure, Feynman found a rational cause for the clock stoppage. He also implied an irrational cause (alas, I don't have the book handy to look up his version of the story). There are only a few reasons for accepting the rational cause and excluding the irrational. Either your belief system is being jeopardized (fearsome stuff!); or you simply have no taste for meaningful events because you've let atrophy, or failed to develop, your soul; or you simply need to reproduce the effect of the clock stoppage sometime in the future and therefore need to understand the mechanics of it. The presence of a rational cause does not exclude the irrational cause, and vice versa. They are not mutually exclusive. They are both "real," and the constellation of the two ignites our most profound humanity. It's not just chance that favors the prepared mind. It depends on what one is preparing for. Archimedes said "Eureka!" when it dawned on him how to find the ratio of gold to silver in the king's crown. The monk said "Aha!" when it dawned on him that the kingdom was within.
