Thank you for the introduction to this poet. You have inspired me to reserve a copy of a recently published collection of his work at my local library.
Henrik, if the problems and horrors that humans inflict on each other are in a sense universal–meaning they continue to repeat themselves again and again irrespective of time and culture–then surely something like the ten commandments is useful, no?
Because the type of ethics you spell out, could be interpreted in a number of ways, largely dependent on the psychological and spiritual makeup of the interpreter. We can and should listen to our hearts in an attempt to take care of what we love, and not betray ourselves, yes. But I feel it is a both-and, not either-or.
The way in which we prepare our hearts and beings to send signals to our intuition that seek to increase wholeness, is, I believe, by first looking to the traditional wisdom of the ages, so that we at least don't make basic mistakes that will cloud our perception and cause us to make the incorrect judgements.
I see such wisdom as profoundly non-arbitrary guard rails (Chesterton's fence) which protect us from the ills and madness that seem to be a feature of human nature.
I love your work by the way, and as I was writing this comment I became aware that the sentiment I'm trying to convey may be echoed in your essays on perception. Will leave that for you to decide. All the best
I agree. I was trying to gesture at that with the title (repeat great words)—as in, these things are not easy to figure out from nothing, it takes really deep thinking and cultural evolution and philosophy etc to get to ideas like forgivness and grace and postive sum games and balance of power and on and on. But it is easier to recognize the good in these things once they exist and have been acted out through history, and I think most ppl if they are honest with themselves and consistent (treating themselves like they would others etc; acting on principles that they can stand by in diff circumstances) we converge on some set of ethical ideals that most recognize. Commandments etc are great as a starting point, and then you nuance that as you age and in line with your capacity for practical reasoning and so on.
I think that’s what I was trying to allude to with my original comment—that the ethical intuitions only come about after one puts their faith into the timeless wisdom. At that point we’re engaging with something hyper-real in a reciprocal manner that unfolds wholeness as we consistently listen to those developing intuitions. Really appreciate you responding, thanks for your time sir
I get you. So you’re saying it’s all well and good to have these principles of goodness and beauty etc. But they have to be applied through actual lived experience for us to truly appreciate how true they are, and extent of their influence—both internally, externally, and everything in between?
yes. you need wisdom which you get from lived experience and reflection. plus: the commandments and the like a very compressed and they work well in most normal circumstances but the more out of distribution you move the more you need to move by logic and reflections on your ethical intuitions
Thank you for the introduction to this poet. You have inspired me to reserve a copy of a recently published collection of his work at my local library.
I really enjoyed reading this. Thank you.
Henrik, if the problems and horrors that humans inflict on each other are in a sense universal–meaning they continue to repeat themselves again and again irrespective of time and culture–then surely something like the ten commandments is useful, no?
Because the type of ethics you spell out, could be interpreted in a number of ways, largely dependent on the psychological and spiritual makeup of the interpreter. We can and should listen to our hearts in an attempt to take care of what we love, and not betray ourselves, yes. But I feel it is a both-and, not either-or.
The way in which we prepare our hearts and beings to send signals to our intuition that seek to increase wholeness, is, I believe, by first looking to the traditional wisdom of the ages, so that we at least don't make basic mistakes that will cloud our perception and cause us to make the incorrect judgements.
I see such wisdom as profoundly non-arbitrary guard rails (Chesterton's fence) which protect us from the ills and madness that seem to be a feature of human nature.
I love your work by the way, and as I was writing this comment I became aware that the sentiment I'm trying to convey may be echoed in your essays on perception. Will leave that for you to decide. All the best
I agree. I was trying to gesture at that with the title (repeat great words)—as in, these things are not easy to figure out from nothing, it takes really deep thinking and cultural evolution and philosophy etc to get to ideas like forgivness and grace and postive sum games and balance of power and on and on. But it is easier to recognize the good in these things once they exist and have been acted out through history, and I think most ppl if they are honest with themselves and consistent (treating themselves like they would others etc; acting on principles that they can stand by in diff circumstances) we converge on some set of ethical ideals that most recognize. Commandments etc are great as a starting point, and then you nuance that as you age and in line with your capacity for practical reasoning and so on.
I think that’s what I was trying to allude to with my original comment—that the ethical intuitions only come about after one puts their faith into the timeless wisdom. At that point we’re engaging with something hyper-real in a reciprocal manner that unfolds wholeness as we consistently listen to those developing intuitions. Really appreciate you responding, thanks for your time sir
I get you. So you’re saying it’s all well and good to have these principles of goodness and beauty etc. But they have to be applied through actual lived experience for us to truly appreciate how true they are, and extent of their influence—both internally, externally, and everything in between?
yes. you need wisdom which you get from lived experience and reflection. plus: the commandments and the like a very compressed and they work well in most normal circumstances but the more out of distribution you move the more you need to move by logic and reflections on your ethical intuitions