“To imagine a God who judges many of the forms of life He created to be sinful, then tortures us eternally for our brief participation in them, is hardly to imagine a solution to the problem of evil.” – Susan Neiman, Evil in Modern Thought
Cosmic psychopathy is probably not the solution
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9 thoughts on “Cosmic psychopathy is probably not the solution”
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That’s a thought loop I tend to stay clear of.
Same here. And that god is not my god. Or more accurately, I am not his.
Today I am rereading Kant on the difference between the beautiful and the sublime. I have always been, in my art and my writing, less concerned with busy happiness and more in awe.
My lack of Kant is an embarrassing gap in my philosophical readings. The only work of his that I have read (rather than read about) is his “Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals” (trans. Abbott), which I read only once, and that was seven years ago this month. I’m assuming you may be reading “Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime,” but I’m only guessing. What can you tell me of Kant’s “difference between the beautiful and the sublime,” if you have a moment?
Awe is an appreciation of the world modern persons seem to have lost or perverted, and more’s the pity.
Yes, that is what I am reading. Years ago I read The Critique of Pure Reason, and then could hardly move. This one is reaffirming and much clearer.
The sublime is to the beautiful as the night is to the day. As melancholy is to gaiety. The sublime in art is less concerned with happiness and more in awe of the terrifying loneliness of existence.
A great oak, a sacred grove, towering and powerful thought, as opposed to a flower bed, trimmed trees and pretty ideas.
Thank you. That is presented with precision and grace.
This reminds me of something the late David Lynn Hall said to me once (and I don’t know but he may have got this from someone else) about what various philosophers read: “The Anglo-Americans read everyone, the French read only the French, and the Germans read the Mind of God.”
Mutt that I am I read what makes sense in the moment.