Reality is inexplicable. Scientific knowledge is simply mirroring the actual atomic structure of this matter we live in, within thought, as best as we are able to. It is sort of, a painting. We are painting reality- we are describing it, to ourselves; we are recapitulating the structure of the universe within the structure of thought, NOT explaining it. But philosophy is not science. Philosophy is not an outdated modality of science, it isn’t even an alternative to science, it is as separate from science as an apple is from my cock, I mean, from a banana. But also my cawk.
Btw, it’s not a meme; I am omniscient. Every foreign language quote is in italics, every unique author and text is written in bold characters:
Hardly believing himself to have fathomed the mysterious bond of Poesy’s ‘voluptas dissimillima natura’, [Gualterus Quinnus Britannus, in: Corona Virtutum Principe Dignarum ex Variis Philosophorum. Etiam labor & voluptas dissimillima natura, societate quadam naturali inter se junguntur. The purpose of human society is only to forge the bond between labor and pleasure, which exists nowhere in the world of Nature.] the poet, unlike the philosopher,- pretending not to the ‘Dei Mortales’ [mortal god] of immortal Wisdom in hominis immortalem, after the phrase of Lucian,- [God is but an immortal man, and man, a mortal God. An aphorism of Lucian’s, as recorded in: Reusnerii Aenigmatographia sive Sylloge Aenigmatum et Griphorum Convivalium; Aenigmata de Umbra Theodectes Phaselites, item alia quadam de Theseo Circumscripto. Quid sunt homines? Dei mortales. Quid sunt Diis? Homines immortales. Compare the ‘free mixture’ of things human and things divine in the Greek imagination, in Matthaeus Collinus Choterinae, Ode Continens Precationem ad Deum Pro Pace et Tranquillo: humana sacris miscuimus in corpore qui latebras habitant, commertia coeli mente colunt.] nor with the Mind’s deathless progeny,- in mensis femine intelligibiles patris radios sapientiae, [Cosmas Magalianus Bracarensis, in Sacrae Scripturae Conimbricae; Sacram Iudicum Historiam, Explanationes et Annotationes Morales, P. 699. Adhibentur etiam mensis his Essenae faeminae, anus fere quibus non coacta castitas, sicut apud Graecos … corporis voluptates per totam vitam contempserunt. Nimirum divinae, non mortalis prolis cupidae. Spei, in the Historico-theologicum Carmeli Armamentarium; Scutum Septimum: nimirum divinae, non mortalis prolis cupidae, quam solae Deo charae animae ex scipsis pariunt, excipientes pro femine intelligibiles patris radios, ut decreta sapientiae contemplando percipere valeant.] in mensis aeternare sapientia extendi in aeternitatem,- [Lull, in the Proverbiorum: Sine aeternare sapientia non posset extendi in aeternitate. Note also, Ludovicus de Ponte Oletanus, ex Meditationes de Praecipuis Fidei Nostrae Mysteriis cum Orationis Mentalis Circa Eadem Praxi; Interpretes Melchior Trevinnius: Nam memoria & intellectus solum diligunt, cum recordantur & cogitant, ac perpenduntea, quae ad amorem provocant; imaginandi & appetendi facultates etiam tunc diligunt, cum producunt imaginationes & affectus, quo excitant & acuunt amorem; sensus diligunt, quando oculi, aures, lingua, & gustatus oblectantur, videndo, audiendo, & loquendo de reus, quae ad ipsum amorem diriguntur: & omnia membra corporis diligunt quando subserviunt ad exequenda opera amoris Dei.] thereby endeavoring to lift himself beyond his origin, in animis mortalia temnere vota,-- [Andreas Jallosicus, in Poematum Tiberinae; Elegia V. Love gathers the hopes of the multitude, vulgar happiness dispels them, and virtue remains solely to lift the heart above its origin: amor sacri spesque salusque gregis, vani murmura vulgi felicem, virtus te tua sola beat; sic animis maior mortalia temnere vota; aemula sic superis pectora ferre doces; virtus dudum super astra locavit. (Or likewise,in Emmanuelis Pimentiis Scalabitanus Eborenses; Poematum; de Christo Triumphatore, P. 230: Es puer; & solas hilarat tua gratia sylvas; es vir, & es populis deliciosus amor. Vivus, inassuetam demonstras pollice vitam; mortuus, extinctis nuntia fausta refers. Tristiam in risus, mutas in gaudia luctus; bella geris, pulchra tempora pacis eunt.) To ‘mortalia temnere vota’, compare ‘temnis hominesque Deumque’: Non metuis, nec amas, regi nec fidis Olympi; non animum quidquam symbola sacra movent; fanda nefanda patris, temnis hominesque Deumque. From Adamus Siberius Schoenaviensis Grimmae, in Poematum Sacrorum per Oporinum; Epigrammatum Lib. II; Acarpo.] to lift himself, in a word, beyond Sin,- in cuncta repente mala constans, in cuncta creati morte relinquis,- [Intereant casu bona vel mala cuncta repente et vere constans nil vagus orbis habet. Paulus Negelius Republ. Aurbachiae, in: Enchiridion Precationum Sacrum Hassiae. Secondarily, Triumphus Poeticus Mortis ex Turnemainnus: omnipotens aeterne Deus, qui cuncta creasti; genus humanum non dira in morte relinquis, effigiem que tuam non perisse finis.] Sin, that were the sickle that cutteth through all things; Sin, that were reft from the flesh, torn ‘in factave carnis victor’; (Non equidem proprias per vires, factave carnis: vivida per Christi vulnera, victor eras. A beautiful phrase from out of Nicolaus Rodingus, ex Treisensis Pastoris Epitaphia Celli.) Sin, that riddles out the heart of the World in detinet viciis improba vita; [Lyresius Clivanius, in: Echo Elegiaca. Te fidei moveat vox illa doloris, quam tumidae spernit fax modo naris, sis pia spes miseris, quos haresis implicat, detinet in viciis improba vita, murus eris semper velut alter aheneus illis noxia bella piis qui pariunt, sic Christi poteris mystes bene vivere, et dicere piis esse levamen, haec tibi fixa, scio, est studiorum semita. The same poet expresses this idea again, though in more visual language, using the image of the sickle, in the following text: Vitus Iacobaeus ex Seyttentalleri Dialogus Elegiacos. Thus, we have: quam nihil est certum constansque sub orbe, quam fluxis pereunt omnia facta viis; quam manet infestus nec inevitabilis ordo, qui sua nos mortis iura subire facit. Qua neque ingenua probitate fideque moveri, omnia fatidica quae male falce secat. Unica quae claris virtutibus invida dextram iniicit, & saevas in fera damna manus. Sic nullus uti flecti probitate nec arte, vel prece, vel quavis relligione queat. Compare the phrasing, where we also find the repetitions: ‘fidei moveat… doloris … improba vita’, with 'ingenua probitate fideque moveri… male’.] Sin, that were the Mystica Crucis insignit ad hortum paradisacum and ultimate pathos of the artist-philosopher, which looks hopelessly beyond us in mortalis alto pectore,-- [Aegidius Vresanus, in: sive Poemata Embricam Clivorum Religiosis. We have here a variation of the Ovidian refrain concerning man’s search for divinity and transcendence: Mystica quos Crux insignit, quos embrica nutrit. Si paradisiacum via nulla patescit ad hortum; serta parate, pia ferte rosaria matri. Huc ades aeternae, quem tangit cura, salutis; sors tua mortalis, non sit mortale quod optas. As you desire immortal things, being mortal, so you are beholden to undying beauties, though you will die. Finally, one does not need to reach the stars to avoid the Styx; see Ioachimus Tydichius, in: Carmine Elegiaco in Proverbia Salomonis. Astra salutiferae via tendit ad ardua vitae, et vitare docet te loca foeda stygis. Plurima mortalis secum deliberat alto pectore, consilium constituit que grave.] must learn to pay a certain deference before Nature,-- to weigh the meter and the Scale of things in primus imaginis addit Astra trutinis auctorem,- [An non, Iustitiae quae sit natura, bilibri discimus ex trutina, quam primus imaginis auctor addidit Astraeae: in Joannes Ivitius, Carmen et Epigramma. To ask he who would question the course of Nature what he might add to the image of the celestial firmament, make improvement upon the design of God, or better portion the motion of the stars.] to travel the mystickall gate of Sophia ‘in porta imaginem creatura creatas’ [Ex creaturam imaginem, in portat imago. Raymundus Sabundeus, in the Theologia Naturalis, de Utilitate Redditionis Debiti; Titulus CXX, P. 172. Illam creaturam quae portat imaginem & similitudinem suam quia post deum sequitur immediate imago sua. Note also, Harprechttus Filius Sendivogius, in: Lucerna Salis Philosophorum tuis Ophir Dono Fert Theca Saturni. P. 61: Per ullam artem, neq; per ipsam Naturae, inter omnes creatas creaturas.] and peer beyond the ‘thin veil of human flesh’,- in tristes luminis oras prodit, exili humanae tectus velamine carnis,- [Andreas Sartorius, in Partus Virginis Iessaeae: exili humanae tectus velamine carnis, ecce deus, deus ecce in tristes luminis oras prodit, & immites mundi se expellit auras.] readeth the celestial keimelion [κειμηλιον] its mighty Oracle, [Garcaeus Iuniorii Brenniis, in Primus Tractatus Brevis et Utilis de Tempore; Epistola Dedicatoria: motus luminum integra tempora series retenta est, ab initio mundi usque ad Persicam; pulcherrimum keimelion ut rectius intelligamus & admiremur, oraculum proposuit deus generi humano, luminaria omniaque sidera firmamenti condita esse, ut sint in signa, tempora, dies, & annos.] that were the thesaurus of Nature,- ex primaevo scientiarum thesaurum incomprehensible divinae fatum, [Francisci Antonii Zindt in Kenzingen, Commentatio Historico-Ethica de Fato Hominis: Et nullo non ab Orbe nascente Aevo, Omnipotens Fatorum Rector Homini futura Hominum Fata patefacere destiti, quippe vigente adhuc sola Lege Naturae primaevo Hominum Parenti, praeter infusum Divinitus amplissimum Scentiarum Thesaurum, incomprehensible Divinae Incarnationis Fatum.] and measureth the stars by the stars,- in aeternitatem regni mensurat ex potestate aeterna proprium,- [Judaismus Convictus, Camenecensis Publicae Luci Authore Puteanius Casimirus; P. 54-55: qui aeternitatem regni Messiae mensurat ex potestate aeterna ejusdem Messiae, quae cum aeterna aeternitate proprie dicta sit, ut pote Messiae qui est Deus. Only what endures, truly is; only what endures forever, endures at all,- as we endure in longum Deus salvum, quo longum sideris nitore, (As in Enochus Suantenius, Litavit ex Familiae Varenianae Sacrum; Cineribus Incomparabilis Literum Herois Theologi Summi Augustus Varenius; Septuplici Hectatombe Heroicum Versuum: Longum Deus assere salvum, quo longum sideris hujus incolumi nobis liceat gaudere nitore.) sparing neither mortuary comportments in the latency of our Nature, that were quietum ossibus indulgere. Joahannes Molanus Belgae Trevirensus; Hyacinthiis Bergii in Disquisitio Critica; Poemation Turpe et Lugubre Nellericidium: Turpe est, inquis, mortuorum insultare cineribus, nec quietem ossibus indulgere. Note also, Joachim Curaeus, in: Exegesis Perspicua & Ferme Integra Controversiae de Sacra Coena. 2 ] as things earthly by the earth,- ratione coelestia ex coelo, nasci terrestria ex terra, [Christiana de Rerum Creatarum Origine per Lambertus Danaeus, P. 124.] and like by like in their turn, cum nihil astrifero tibi non inserviat orbe Olympus, spiritumque duces ad tua iusta volent Mundus,-- [Pascham datum Marcus, Baptista encaeniat, Euge, non Vae, clamemus; Mundus, Olympus, ovant. In: Molnarus, Epigrammata in Carmen Jubilaeum Cassoviae. Cum nihil astrifero tibi non inserviat orbe: spiritumque duces ad tua iusta volent. In: Petrus Pontus Caecus Brugensiis, Carmen Invectivum.] lest the poet finds himself doubly-fooled, and with little upon which to stake his heart in stimuli mortalia altum mens inchoat,- [Stenechthon, Epaenesis de Illustrium Familiarum ex Ioanne Engerdii. Secondarily, ex mundo saecli fraudesque aurea Saturnis; the world longs to be fooled, and the poet deceives himself in aiming to deceive it. Lettingius, Carmen ad Martinum Gregorii Geldrum. Cedent mundo fraudesque doli que, aurea praeterea Saturni saecla redibunt, … et terras Astraea reviset.] should he bear still in his drear charge the 'semina Prometheae’ upon the desperations of Time,- in prima fovere sacra Prometheae coepisti semina flamme,- [Fallettius Trignanus, ex Phalethus Savonensis Poematum ad Hercule Atestinum: Augescit que puer, plenis qui fortior annis vernantes tenui vestit lanugine malas: ac pede decurrit volucri formosa iuuentus; immutat que, comam saeclis effeta senectus; nam pater omnipotents te nostra Musica vitae aurigam dominam que, dedit, tu prima fovere sacra Prometheae coepisti semina flamme. 1 The poet as bearer of the Promethean flame. Compare, ere the fading poet dedicate himself to a fading world, ‘dedit quondam morientibus eripit artes in terras saecula mutat’, in Publius Gregorius Tiphernus, Opuscula; Ioanne. Umbris Pontanii Naeniae, ex Nutrix Somnum Invitat, Epigramma, & Sulpitiae Carmina. Die mihi Calliope quidnam pater ille deorum cogitat an terras & patria saecula mutat: quasque, dedit quondam morientibus eripit artes; nosque, iubet tacitos etiam rationis egentes quid reputemus enim.] for the Parnassian summit bestows, not laurels, but rest,- not applause, but silence,- in sacra parnassi sede quiescas laureaque,- [Carmina Antonius Gigantis Forosemproniensis Exametra, Elegiaca, Lyrica, & Hendecasyllaba: Ocyus ut sacra parnassi in sede quiescas, laureaque exactos compenset laeta labores. The artist labors to reach the height of his powers, only to rest on laurels that were always a meager compensation.] and our faded glories speak more eloquently than our youthful boasts,- (Youth’s low ambition, or ‘levis ambitio procellas’) antiquior aevo evictis gloria, saecula non jactat fatis inventi,- [Camillus Eucherius Quintus, Inarime de Balneis Pithecusarum. Verax inventi gloria tanti auctorem non jactat adjuc, antiquior aevo multa quidem evictis produxit secula fatis. See also, Janus Cosmi Anysius, in: Protogonos Tragoedia et Epistola de Religione. Here, too, the pride of youth (Quae credit alto per patentia aequora, levis ambitio, inepta, sui inops amentibus quantas procellas excitabit gentibus.) is measured against that of age: “Exempla pulchra vetera plus adeo placent; id discitur libenter, affert quod lucrum.” Note the use of the ‘semina Prometheae’ as a lexical nucleus for these various associations of the poetic instinct, mortality, and ambition.] that altereth in essence if not in form, as the poet says,- materiale unum, formale alterum,- [Jacob Herrenschmidiis, in the Osculologia Theologico-Philologica Christianorum, Gentilum, Exoticorum et Commentariolus. Materiale unum, formale alterum. Materiale, inquit, videri potest, formale est invisible. Subsumimus Ecclesiae materiale videri posse, sed quatenus est formale fidei non videtur, sed creditur. Quid enim est fides, nisi credere quod non vides. Quae apparent, jam non fidem habent, sed cognitionem.] or, in accordance with the dictum of Lavater,- as Beauty knoweth Beauty best, so the fine painter paints best, the fine hand,- [Or, in the phrase of another poet, so strength best reveals strength, and courage painteth courage: Aeneas quondam charo confisus Achate, Euryalus Niso, fortis uterque fuit. Quam bene junguntur similes, virtute corusci! Sunt animosi Ipsi, nos animant que suos. See Aescherus Tigurinae, in: Vota Syncharistica; Colloquium Apollinis tou Musagetou & Polyhmniae. Likewise, the philosopher finds the picture of man in hominis essentia picta aurificis statera Thimantis; in umbra vitam vivere, ab remotam hominum oculis, turbas fugit non fugavit. (The philosopher knows that we must flee from the Multitude, in order to discover the One. See Pelecyus, in: de Officio Hominis Religiosi; Epistola. Coenobii umbra vitam vivere ab hominum oculis remotam constituisset, turbas fugit non fugavit.) Secondarily, note: 'In Thimantis operibus plura intelligerentur neq trutina examinandum populari, sed essent picta aurificis statera.’ See: Heidfeldii Sphinx Philosophica Excudebat Corvinus in Herbornae Nassoviorum; Scrupuloso Lectori Precatur Aenigmatistes. As Timanthes the painter demonstrated, it were the artist that measures the height of art, and not art that finds the limit of man, for one can scale the full measure of human nature,- not by consideration of the multitude,- but in the perfected representation of one of its heroic individuals, (neq, trutina examinandum populari, sed aurificis statera. … Thimantis pictoris artificium olim co nomine celebratum, fuit, quod in ejus operibus plura intelligerentur, quam essent picta.) as similarly stated out of Thrasybulus Clidipyrgus Gnisus, ex Carmen Adiuncta est Copia Literarum: “Praesentem fugimus virtutem ac odimus ipsi, quareimus amissam; sic nescia fortis semper mens hominum praesentis, nec sibi constat.” To know the strength of the man as a whole we must nonetheless also know his strength in the moment; human inconstancy has likewise its place in the constancy of our Nature.] for the ends of art were not the ends of man, [Janus Caecilius Helvetiis Freii, Opuscula Varia et Cribrum Philosophorum qui Aristotelem Superiore et hac Aetate Oppugnarunt: Iste est finis artificis, non autem artis. Art consummates and brings to its conclusion all the artist could not.] and our poeticam contagionis, borne in nobilis ardor defervescere coeperat, [Romae saltim alto sublimis solio haec diva sedebat, quam diu heroicae virtutis patriique soli conjuncto amore Poetarum incaluere pectora; postquam vero pullulantis luxuriae avaritiaeque contagione hic tam nobilis ardor defervescere coeperat, illam protinus de sua dignitate, venustate ac robore multum amisisse observamus. Petrus Gustavus Suedelius, in: de Usu Poeseos in Sacris. For want of Virtue, the charms of lesser poetry induce a faltering race. Compare the figure of the solitary poet, hidden from the touch of sin ‘in the shadow of the Muses’,- alienis omniam culpae in Musis cantando umbra. Eliaeus Argentoratus, Fasiculus; in Autodidactum Lucifugam: Odisti lucem, caecis latitas que, lacunis, vivis ut in vasto bestia sola specu. Quae facis, illa probas, aliena sed omnia culpas, te doctum, solum te cor habere putas. Sic Musis cantando tuis, vanissime, nescis, quales efficiat, quos fovet, umbra, viros.] that seeketh to flee from mortal love by an love immortal,- ita mortalis amore evades humaniorem, ita immortalis laborem facesses sudorem Poetis, [Tobias Silesiae Aleutnerus, in: Epigrammatum Chilias in Pentacosiades, Praescriptio. Ita Deus quidam eris: ita immortalis, mortalis licet, pio in Musas humaniores amore ac beneficio evades; ita laborem facesses ac sudorem Poetis. It is of great benefit to the industrious poet, that he avoids love in all but her image. As Goethe tells the poet; fear Love, though try not to avoid it. Or, from Amralkeisus Cenditae, cum Scholiis; in, Accedunt Sententiae Arabicae Imperatoris; ex Rosarium Politicum sive Amoenum Sortis Humanae Theatrum de Persico in Latinum a Georgii Gentius: felis Leo est in capiendo mure; sed mus est in certamine Tigris. (The cat cannot be sure of catching the mouse, but the mouse can be sure of catching the cat.) ] with hope to therefor purchase succor from our crucis arborem,- [Brunnerus, in: Fasti Mariani cum Divorum Elogiis; Sermo Maximilianus Boiariae. Paraphrs. Sed numquid Triumphalis obliviscemur coronae? Laudo trophaeum nobile, crucis arborem. At tu cape has coronas victor Amor, & si omnibus his rosae sese immisceant, ne has repudia. Spinae nuperae dederunt. Ecce ante currus triumphales cum mundo daemonem, cum morte carnem. Hath the victor forgotten his crown? Love which, shall it entertain ambition, cannot claim the rose and not the thorns.] hardly the final estimation of our Nature, or reprovement of the god Amore, that makes small distinction in those of her own order and of man,- for love, as much as war, hath no end but in itself, praelia pacis amore putabit, moliri pacis amore indignum. [Humanae Sapientiae Poetico-Historicum ac Ernestus Augustus Osnabrugensiis; Protrepitcon Calliopes: Praelia moliri nisi pacis amore putabat, pacis amore Caesareo indignum pectore.]
[size=85]1. Anthony David Nuttall, in “The Alternative Trinity: Gnostic Heresy in Marlowe, Milton, and Blake.”, traces a similar linguistic web depicting Prometheus as a duplicitous image of poetic independence and creativity next to a subservience to Nature and the course of Fate: (“We have come far enough in this story to know that no allegiance can be trusted; that which is hated can become, suddenly, that which is loved. But the Gnostic belief in a wicked, tyrannical Demiurge does imply, with surprising constancy, a hostility to nature and therefore to pastoral. This diurnal round of rocks and stones and trees is, to the Gnostic, the wheel of the torturer on which we are all broken. ‘Nature’ is a hate-word, not a love-word. ‘The Garden’, by Milton’s friend Andrew Marvell, is a brilliant, hostile, pastoral commentary on Paradise Lost, written before Paradise Lost existed.”) 1) On Poetry and Poets; Politiani, Silvae IV., Nutricia. Thou who dared before all others to fan the celestial seeds of the Promethean fire in man: tu prima fovere ausa Prometheae caelestia semina flammae. 2) Vida, de Arte Poetica: Dona deum Musae; vulgus procul este profanum! Has magni natas Iovis olim duxit ab astris callidus in terras insigni fraude Prometheus, cum liquidos etiam mortalibus attulit ignes. Long ago wise Prometheus by his celebrated deception led these daughters of great Jove (the Muses) from stars to earth, when he carried inconstant fire to mortals. 3) Chapman, Shadow of Night: "Therefore Promethean poets with the coals of their most genial, more than human souls, in living verse created men like these … " Milton, using the word vestigia, recalls his use of the same term in the bitter ‘vestigia’ of earthliness carried even by the angels. 4) Milton, ad Patrem: Nec tu vatis opus divinum despice carmen, quo nihil aethereos ortus, et semina caeli, nil magis humanam commendat origine metem, sancta Promtheae retinens vesitigia flammae. Retaining as it does a trace of the Promethean fire, nothing argues better for our heavenly beginnings, for our celestial seed, for the human mind commended by its origin, than poetry.
- As to our ‘mortuary insult’, compare, out of the Solennis Actus of 1608, the ‘calumniatrix sophistica’: in placidamque furore dulce invides cineres atravit mortui. See Joachim Curaeus, in: Exegesis Perspicua & Ferme Integra Controversiae de Sacra Coena, as likewise recorded in Goclenius, out of the following text: Excudebat Guolgangus Kezelius Oratio Ανασχενασιυ; "Necastis heu necastis sapientissimam, nulli nocentem Musarum Luscinniam."; … medax calumniatrix sophistica misere flagellatum necavit; nec tantum necavit, sed ei etiam dulcem placidamque quietem Diabolico furore invides, in mortui mane saeviit, cineres eius rabiose atrevit, contra divina & human iura exquisitissimis cum lacerans criminibus.[/size]
Anyone think they know more than I do? Show of hands? No. I don’t even know why I bother. Besides knowing all things past, I know all things in the future, too. It’s all just jerking off to me now.