I realize the holidays were rough, but really! Spring is approaching and it is time to get back into the naturereligionconnection.org swing. I am cook’n over here in Central Ohio, and all I get are a few souls wandering the internet from Turkey and South Africa! Well, Welcome to them — and how cool! — and maybe they are more astute than some of my more ‘loyal’ followers (like Mark and Rita and Rick!) Busted!
I have become Big on the legitimacy of the Idea of “Response and Ability”; wow, think of that, “Responsibility” at its core is our awareness that we have an ability to respond. No other animal Reflects on its response ability. So, I am definitely looking for a big readers’ Response because you do have the Ability!
And speaking of responsibility, a rising theme here at The Connection is the knowledge that has been ‘down loaded’ into our human environment. Not “the” environment of physics or chemistry, but our living and human environment, there is a big difference. Language and the Conventions of Human Communication, our various Institutions of Art, Education, Science, Religion and Politics, contain a storehouse of knowledge and implication — rules about “what it is” and “how to be” a Person. Of these “rules” and response abilities, we are only vaguely and randomly aware, currently. Science knows the world theoretically; these other “institutions” (from the Latin, statuere: to cause to stand up) ‘know’ and carry on The Practice of Personhood (practical knowledge).
(The “rules” of personhood cause us to stand up — statuere — or stand out from the background of biology and the hard physical sciences. Famous Greek statues: Discobolus by Myron form 450 BC. and the Artemision Bronze or God from the Sea, recovered from the Aegean and thought to be either Zeus or Poseidon poised to throw his thunderbolt or trident.)
Some of the Hot New Pieces you may have missed are the following. The Nature Religion Manifesto: a short piece and crudely poetic. What Connects the Universe: another short piece that tries to suggest an alternative to a universe with only Causes as the explanation for All That Happens. Freedom 5: Reasons in Persons, a longer piece with great photos (the Javanese Flying Cucumber) and 10 cartoon! It fleshes out the idea of the Practices of Personhood. Also, an interesting article on the current American political situation by Thomas Friedman. Ya, gotta love cave-person cartoons.
Helping to clarify “The Rulez” for Persons — The Nature Religion Connection!
Nature Religion Connection 