On Oct 31, 2008, at 3:46 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
What is a mystery to me is why any sensible man would take seriously
anything that originated with Madame Blavatsky, and that is leaving
aside the
second
generation -Stefan George who would only publish his poetry
privately in Very
Special Typefaces. Benjamin does not come off well.
I think it's worth taking into account the kinds of ground-shifting
that had occurred from the mid-19th century until the 20s or so, among
them:
1. Geologic time was extended back a staggering amount of time before
the literal reading of the Bible.
2. The relationships among all living things was recodified by Darwin.
3. Freud described subconscious psychic activity and its operative
effect on conscious behavior.
4. Einstein described an unrecognizable universe of inexplicable time
and distance relationships.
All of these belief-breaking developments shared a common feature:
their conclusions were not self-evident and they relied on apparently
hidden connections, which their adherents claimed were recordable and
verifiable. Geologic time, descent of species, subconscious forces,
time-space continuum, all were hard to see--much less to understand
and even believe. But science marched on, pressing its case,
persuading many that these theories were valid and their effects
pervasive. Thus, talking about the aura of objects took on the
character--and persuasiveness--of science.
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Michael Brady
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
