Dear Gary We do not have enough material to say anything about what Peirce personally thought about this but he was deeply acquainted with Schellings whole work and philosophy. But considering how much trouble the little word “mysticism” bring with it is understandable. Because in vulgar Western thinking “mysticism” is put in a dualistic relation to rational and considered to be irrational, which is so wrong on a deep level of understanding. Einstein and many of the quantum physicist were mystics. So is Basarab Nicolescu who is also a quantum physicist and work with new developments of logic in his transdisciplinary center. http://ciret-transdisciplinarity.org/bulletin/b15c4.php .
I think this is the main reason people avoid this aspect Peirce’s philosophy, because in the way we have been thought these things do not fit together. He cannot be so concerned with rationality and logic and then integrate important aspects of Schelling and a theology? But our regular columnist in CHK Lou Kauffmann http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Kauffman dabbles very much with many of these thoughts about the void and the evolution of logic and rationality in a wonderful creative way, that makes it such a pleasure to work with this inventor of Knot Logic. Best Søren Fra: Gary Fuhrman [mailto:g...@gnusystems.ca] Sendt: 21. maj 2014 22:46 Til: peirce-l@list.iupui.edu Emne: RE: [PEIRCE-L] De Waal seminar chapter 9, section on God, science and religion: text 1 Søren, Ben, list, I don’t want to downplay the affinities between Peirce and the mystics you mention, Søren — your previous post was quite eloquent and persuasive — but I don’t want to downplay the differences either. Peirce’s religious orientation is, as Anderson says in Strands of System, quite idiosyncratic and hard to classify. The idea of “the natural light” was not original with Peirce, of course, but what he did with it is distinctive. And in my view, significantly different from mysticism. But that’s a vague word, almost as vague as “God”, so it would be unreasonable to argue about it any more than I already have. Ben, thanks for the pointer to Anderson’s book (and for the other meticulous work you posted today!) — I’d actually bought it from Google Play but hadn’t got far into reading it yet. He does quote the whole letter to Rev. Brown, as Brent does, but I think his comments on it are more balanced. He introduces the text of the letter by saying: “Because Peirce did not mention the contents of this letter elsewhere and because we do not know if he in fact sent it, it is difficult to know how much to make of it.” His comment at the end of it goes like this: “I do not wish to make more of this than necessary, especially since Peirce did not see fit to make more of the event himself. Nevertheless, it makes less problematic the fact that Peirce began to give voice to his thinking concerning religion in the early nineties. Moreover, it suggests one source of Peirce's ability to endure his subsequent logician's life of increasing sacrifice and desperation.” The suggestion is that what Peirce got from the experience, aside from an increased interest in religion, was the strength to carry on with his philosophical quest. It doesn’t suggest that the content of Peirce’s philosophy, or his religious beliefs, was much affected by the experience. So that’s an alternate take on the letter somewhat different from Brent’s and Stephen’s. gary f. } The train that can be expressed is not the express train. [gnox] { www.gnusystems.ca/gnoxic.htm<http://www.gnusystems.ca/gnoxic.htm> }{ gnoxics From: Søren Brier [mailto:sb....@cbs.dk] Sent: 21-May-14 2:36 PM Dear Gary and list Your quote made me think of John of the Cross famous poem of the dark night describing the mystical union. http://www.ewtn.com/library/SOURCES/DARK-JC.TXT . I have italicized the places where the a-personal in the union is described though the poem is within the frames of Christianity, which John managed to stay within but Eckhart was kicked out from after his death. STANZAS OF THE SOUL 1. One dark night, fired with love's urgent longings -- ah, the sheer grace! -- I went out unseen, my house being now all stilled. 2. In darkness, and secure, by the secret ladder, disguised, -- ah, the sheer grace! -- in darkness and concealment, my house being now all stilled. 3. On that glad night, in secret, for no one saw me, nor did I look at anything, with no other light or guide than the one that burned in my heart. 4. This guided me more surely than the light of noon to where he was awaiting me -- him I knew so well -- there in a place where no one appeared. 5. O guiding night! O night more lovely than the dawn! O night that has united the Lover with his beloved, transforming the beloved in her Lover. 6. Upon my flowering breast which I kept wholly for him alone, there he lay sleeping, and I caressing him there in a breeze from the fanning cedars. 7. When the breeze blew from the turret, as I parted his hair, it wounded my neck with its gentle hand, suspending all my senses. 8. I abandoned and forgot myself, laying my face on my Beloved; all things ceased; I went out from myself, leaving my cares forgotten among the lilies. Best Søren Fra: Benjamin Udell [mailto:bud...@nyc.rr.com] Sendt: 21. maj 2014 20:18 Til: peirce-l@list.iupui.edu<mailto:peirce-l@list.iupui.edu> Emne: Re: [PEIRCE-L] De Waal seminar chapter 9, section on God, science and religion: text 1 Quick followup on "L 482" or whatever it really is: Douglas R. Anderson quotes Peirce's whole letter to John W. Brown on pages 15-16 in Chapter 1 in _Strands of System_ and adds, "MS, Fisch Collection" http://books.google.com/books?id=jc5r7WoNEE8C&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=%22Peirce%22+%22John+W.+Brown%22&source=bl&ots=1aP337-t1e&sig=9mtD-IDxK7zpfD9NvbojyNy4IZ0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=rt18U8_sGsXisATup4BI&ved=0CEAQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22Peirce%22%20%22John%20W.%20Brown%22&f=false There's a chapter end note 11 indicated but I can't access the page with its text in Google Preview. Best, Ben
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