PHIL 3310. Exploring the philosophical, ethical, spiritual, existential, social, and personal implications of a godless universe, and supporting their study at Middle Tennessee State University & beyond.
Haven't heard from most of you yet. If you're there and functional please give us a wave. And perhaps comment on This Life, on something else previously posted, or on this:
I love his description of human finitude as involving two basic facts: "I can't maintain my life on my own" and "I'm going to die."
"I have an absolute horror of eternity.' -- Ha! Indeed! Sounds tiring, and boring.
I admit that I began to get a little nervous when Hagglund and his interlocutor distinguished between the desire for eternity (a religious view: bad) and the desire for "prolongation" (a secular view: not so bad). I felt this way because I tend not to place a lot of confidence in valuing something based on its lasting a long time. I get a whiff of monumentalism from that and I'm immediately cautioned by Shelley's verse:
"Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away."
Time--particularly the inconceivably long kind of cosmic time in which our world finally exists--has a way of laying low the surest institutions and other human legacies. So, I appreciate that Hagglund noted this with his comments about the real fragility of our capacity to perpetuate anything. Sticking with his use of finitude, that's what gives what we try to pass on value: it could--in some cases, likely will--die along the way.
We would benefit, I think, from seeing more of our institutions, like democracy, as being necessarily fragile in this way. We'd cherish them more and put greater effort toward keeping them vital.
I get what you're saying, Jamil, about "prolongation" being generally over-rated. I think Hagglund does too, that's why he says that anything we're invested in comes with an expiration date and we should prefer that it does. But once we embrace our finitude and renounce eternity, don't we still want more life, more good times, more happiness, more (in a word) time? Yet knowing, tragically but inevitably, that time will eventually be called.
Spiritual faith in these terms means believing that we can do more good with the finite lives we're privileged to enjoy, before time's up.
But alas, we all need to learn Shelley's lesson (some more than others, as we gird ourselves for the next White House COVID19 briefing).
Thanks for mentioning Ozymandias, always a helpful check on hubris. For those who may not know the poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46565/ozymandias
I love his description of human finitude as involving two basic facts: "I can't maintain my life on my own" and "I'm going to die."
ReplyDelete"I have an absolute horror of eternity.' -- Ha! Indeed! Sounds tiring, and boring.
I admit that I began to get a little nervous when Hagglund and his interlocutor distinguished between the desire for eternity (a religious view: bad) and the desire for "prolongation" (a secular view: not so bad). I felt this way because I tend not to place a lot of confidence in valuing something based on its lasting a long time. I get a whiff of monumentalism from that and I'm immediately cautioned by Shelley's verse:
"Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
Time--particularly the inconceivably long kind of cosmic time in which our world finally exists--has a way of laying low the surest institutions and other human legacies. So, I appreciate that Hagglund noted this with his comments about the real fragility of our capacity to perpetuate anything. Sticking with his use of finitude, that's what gives what we try to pass on value: it could--in some cases, likely will--die along the way.
We would benefit, I think, from seeing more of our institutions, like democracy, as being necessarily fragile in this way. We'd cherish them more and put greater effort toward keeping them vital.
I get what you're saying, Jamil, about "prolongation" being generally over-rated. I think Hagglund does too, that's why he says that anything we're invested in comes with an expiration date and we should prefer that it does. But once we embrace our finitude and renounce eternity, don't we still want more life, more good times, more happiness, more (in a word) time? Yet knowing, tragically but inevitably, that time will eventually be called.
ReplyDeleteSpiritual faith in these terms means believing that we can do more good with the finite lives we're privileged to enjoy, before time's up.
But alas, we all need to learn Shelley's lesson (some more than others, as we gird ourselves for the next White House COVID19 briefing).
Thanks for mentioning Ozymandias, always a helpful check on hubris. For those who may not know the poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46565/ozymandias
Hi i am here! alive and well
ReplyDeleteYay, Debria! Hope you're doing alright.
Delete