Re: Death and Chaos and Entropy

From: Nils Weinander <nilsw_at_ibm.net>
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 13:32:19 +0200


Julian:
>
>Let's get our little cross-list Mysticism thread going again ! ;-)

Poor readers...

>> All three are continuous spectra, with the eternal,
>> true, unchanging at one end and the transient, illusory
>> and mutating at the other end. Mystics strive to reach
>> the transcendent at the eternal/true/unchanging end.
>> Entropy is at the other endpoint.
>
>I'd quibble with "continuous" and "eternal".
>One of the Mystic Threes is : Beginning, Middle, End.

A Vithelan mystic wouldn't quite agree that this is mystic, as you state:

>Mysticism (obviously) transcends Beginning and End for : Eternity.

>Mystically, there's little difference between Now and Eternity,

Indeed, for the liberated mystic, Now is Eternity.

>But I was positing the entropic mind as performing an
>anti-transcendance (is there a better word for this?),
>or becoming tragically stuck in the Middle
>(or the Beginning, or the End),

and scottish Alex:
>
>Surely Iradgenderi are the other 'endpoint'? The commonplace
'entropy'
>is just par for the course for everyone in the East, and the capital-E
>mythically scarey variety doesn't really seem to figure.

What I mean is that Entropy is at the bottom end, because it's the final dissolution: the fragments of matter, time and consciousness turned inifinitely small. Iradgenderi (beings of illusion, change and transformation) are a bit above that on the scales IMO.
>I don't really agree that the Mystic is Eternal,
>and the non-Mystic Transient.
>Actually, one of the usual Mystic states you can strive for
>is precisely a strong awareness of transient things,
>and their fragile, spiritual beauty. An aesthetic of Time
>if you will, and probably the core motif of Imperial Lunar Art Forms.

Again, a Vithelan mystic would disagree (somewhat). She would of course recognize transience, but also be aware that it's part of the illusory world that tempts and tugs at you to stay at it's level and not transcend it. Sure, transient things can be beautiful, but you have to refute them to evolve.



Nils Weinander | Everything is dust in the wind nilsw_at_ibm.net | http://www.geocities.com/Paris/8689/

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