This year, the kids and I, we, stare at photos of the towers before. Towers made by, made for, super heros. How could they be so tall? How they shimmer in the sunlight. How they point to heaven. How great, so very great, they are for scaling with sticky hands and a red and blue spandex suit. How very great for jumping from, spraying webs, free falling in a bending arc to be swept back upward toward the neverending american sky.
Dear babes, "our problems are manmade---therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable--and we believe they can do it again." JFK
Luke: I want to ride to school on a hover craft. Mom: Design it, I'll help you build it.
In response to JFK's comment, doesn't it seem possible that humans can create problems so big that it would take something greater than humanity to solve it?
ReplyDeleteNot to sound catty, but does JFK's statement mean that everything is knowable? Every mystery is actually a problem we have not yet solved. Personally, I am more comfortable with allowing some amount of mystery to existence, and I think you are too.
As far as human's destiny, I refer to Aquinas: Man's final end is the beatific vision. If true, then this is something humans cannot achieve without assistance.
Just some basic questions/comments from a philosopher who also engages in theological musings.
Also, my sister's husband was a couple of blocks away from the towers on that day.
ReplyDeleteI thought the jfk quote raised issues, particularly, as you say, on whether or not everything is knowable. But I like it as a statement of inspiration to work toward solutions to the problems we create. Something along the lines of Einsteins "the significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." An aside: 911 is difficult to discuss, orally or written, in the usual way that horrific historical acts leave the observer speechless.
ReplyDeleteAs for human destiny, Aquinas and JFK appear to be diametrically opposed in their thinking. If I had to place my life on someone else's great thinking, I'd have to side with Aquinas. But, since at this point, I'm lucky enough to continue to wrestle with the bigger questions using my own brain, I side with neither,fully, yet.
Thank you for commenting. I've always really valued your insight. My second piece of advice to the children today would be, "do not engage in a philosophical debate with a phD philosopher, when you are but a mere J.D."
Spicher, must "mystery" equal "a problem to be solved"? If not, then one can allow for mystery but also believe that humans have the potential to fix the problems that they've created. But, of course, nuclear meltdown--or whatever we call that nowadays--may well fix plenty!
ReplyDeleteFor myself, I cannot see how straggling and limping toward (or while keeping in mind) a "beatific vision" helps me make sense of the messes we've created or inspires me to keep on keepin on. But then again I don't really know what the beatific vision is supposed to represent! Ha. (The best I can figure that it means--and this is the idiot's shorthand and stupid misunderstanding and oversimplification of Aquinas--"things will be better in heaven.") (By the way, I feel incredibly inept in this moment, almost as phony as when I tried to describe the early Japanese noh theater to students the other day: "Can anyone picture this?" I kept asking. No response. "I sure as hell cannot picture it. Well, how could we after, ya know, the Fast and the Furious Part II?" I know, I know!) While I can see how that--living in anticipation of the beatific vision--could be super helpful on the individual level, if the main goal is surviving emotionally, I cannot see how it helps us as a collective, well, not throw our hands in the air.
I think that I've not followed Mary's last bit of advice! Where's the exit door?
Lori, i cannot let talk of nuclear meltdown ( which is actually the larger context of the jfk quote) pass without paying homage to the cockroach. Without beatific vision, its species will outlive us all, a mystery.
ReplyDeleteHa!
DeleteLori,
ReplyDeleteI meant the "mystery equal to problem" as another way of wording the question, which I now realize was not very clear. I think that mystery and problem are two separate categories. Problems can be solved, but mystery is ultimately unsolvable.
Also, the beatific vision comment was more directed to the part of JFK's quote about human destiny. He seems to imply (without knowing the full context) that human destiny is based in the physical world. I was only trying to say that idea is too limited since many people believe in some kind of transcendence. And since beauty is one thing that helps people transcend, I always find Aquinas' notion of a beatific vision more compelling. As a side comment, it is worth noting that Catholics have a more robust concept of 'heaven' than Evangelicals. So, beatific vision is not very similar to Evangelical notions of heaven, though they might use some of the same terms.
I do like the idea of transcendence.
ReplyDelete