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jprussellI just wrapped up Rudolf Otto's The Idea of the Holy and decided to organize my thinking a bit with a post. As always, I'd love to hear what you think.
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Jeff Russell
[Main Blog Post] [Book] Thoughts on The Idea of the Holy
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Date: 2024-09-09 05:25 am (UTC)A note on supernatural - in German it is übernatural, literally above or over the natural, and I have found that the 'standard' English translation of supernatural often doesn't get across the right nuances, probably because of the connotations that it has picked up through the materialism that runs through modern culture. There are times when I think hypernatural would be better in some contexts.
Regarding divination, Gregory Shaw's books on Iamblichus suggest that Iamblichus had a similar idea of divination, ie that it is a communion with the ineffable by which we are able to see through the eyes of the divine.
The different silences are interesting. What I am noticing is that the 'practice' of mysticism is itself a form of tacit knowledge. It has been described to me somewhere recently that it is like learning to dance by just making the movements and practising them until at some point it stops becoming mechanical and just flows. I am a field hockey player and learning the game is similar, looking back it is hard to believe how 'unnatural' the movements and technique were when I was just starting out, yet now in games I sometimes surprise myself with 'instinctive' responses to situations. (I have actually thought of writing about the mysticism of high level sport - in many ways it has a lot in common with mystical practice, including the use of visualisation and ritual.)
For me the value of books like these is that they reinforce the fact that you cannot apply Taylorism to mystical experience.
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Date: 2024-09-09 05:13 pm (UTC)1) That's a nice further way to think about void that jives with what the teachings I study say about "the void," or "Annwn" in the Dolmen Arch course - it is pure potentiality.
2) On the translation, ah, that's interesting. Neither Otto nor Harvey directly address that, that I remember, but it would make sense if übernatural has very different connotations than English "supernatural," which nevertheless is the most straightforward translation. Of course, also, this is my Druid training coming out, as I get grumbly about what is and isn't "nature."
3) Ah, that's interesting about Iamblichus, but perhaps shouldn't surprise me. Of course, I was a little flippant in the post, but notionally, the cards, lots, and so forth are meant as tools for fostering this very attention to the movement of divine and other-than-human forces.
4) On sports, absolutely. Despite not being the most athletic fellow, I rely on a lot of sports metaphors for conveying what learning how to do public speaking is like (I teach a Business Communications class, so public speaking is one of the main focuses). If you'd like a discussion of the spiritual, or at least quasi-spiritual, aspects of high level sport, Josh Waitzkin is fantastic. His book The Art of Learning focuses on learning the kind of skills governed by tacit knowledge very deeply, and how to integrate tacit and declarative knowledge in their pursuit. He's working on a new book, but has been for a few years, so not sure when it will come out, but some of his interviews with Tim Ferriss give a good flavor of what he's about.
5) Lastly, well-said. I suppose I should no longer be surprised by how poorly objective, managerial techniques of understanding and improving apply to some new field I hadn't before considered, since it's become quite a pattern as I look more deeply into lots of things. I think Taylorism is a dandy, if far narrower than originally hoped, tool, but the last century and some change have seen us way over-apply it.
Cheers,
Jeff
miasma
Date: 2024-09-17 02:31 am (UTC)Galina Krasskova is a polytheistic reconstructionist with some interesting points of view. She has written quite a bit about miasma in ancient religion -- and is rather scornful the modern neopagan tendency to see everything as rainbows and unicorn. So you might like to check her blog both for her thoughts and for sources. She is also an artist who creates lovely prayer cards for various deities.
Rita
Re: miasma
Date: 2024-09-17 03:13 am (UTC)Thanks for your comment, and I hope the dopiness passes quickly! Anaesthetics are no joke.
Thank you also for the recommendation. In a bit of what seems like it must be synchronicity, Krasskova's With Clean Minds and Clean Hands, her book on miasma that I've been eyeballing for a while, arrived just yesterday (along with her Honoring the Ancestors)! I'm actually a semi-regular commenter on her blog and have several of her prayer cards.
All of which is to say, that's a very astute recommendation for something I might find helpful and interesting, so thanks again!
Jeff