Gary R., List: Rumi's first quoted remark is indeed reminiscent of this passage by Peirce.
CSP: But there is *another *class of objectors for whom I have more respect. They are shocked at the atheism of Lucretius and his great master. They do not perceive that that which offends them is not the 1ns in the swerving atoms, because they themselves are just as much advocates of 1ns as the ancient Atomists were. But what they cannot accept is the attribution of this 1ns to things perfectly dead and material. Now I am quite with them there. I think too that whatever is 1st is *ipso facto* sentient. If I make atoms swerve--as I do--I make them swerve but very very little, because I conceive they are not absolutely dead. And by that I do not mean exactly that I hold them to be physically such as the materialists hold them to be, only with a small dose of sentiency superadded. For that, I grant, would be feeble enough. But what I mean is, that all that there is, is 1st, Feelings; 2nd, Efforts; 3rd, Habits--all of which are more familiar to us on their psychical side than on their physical side; and that dead matter would be merely the final result of the complete induration of habit reducing the free play of feeling and the brute irrationality of effort to complete death. (CP 6:201, 1898) He does not mention consciousness here, but in accordance with tychism, he maintains that "atoms swerve" because "they are not absolutely dead," i.e., their habits have not reached a state of "complete induration" and will not do so until the infinite future. This entails that they are "*ipso facto* sentient," but not because "a small dose of sentiency" has been "superadded" to their physicality. On the contrary, in accordance with objective idealism, he views "the physical law as derived and special, the psychical law alone as primordial," such that "matter is effete mind, inveterate habits becoming physical laws" (CP 6.24-25, EP 1:292-293, 1891). In that sense, *mind* is ubiquitous, along with consciousness understood as synonymous with *feeling*, but not *self*-consciousness. "What is meant by consciousness is really in itself nothing but feeling. ... What the psychologists study is mind, not consciousness exclusively. Their mistake upon this point has had a singularly disastrous result, because consciousness is a very simple thing. Only take care not to make the blunder of supposing that Self-consciousness is meant, and it will be seen that consciousness is nothing but Feeling, in general" (CP 7.364-365, 1902). Regards, Jon Alan Schmidt - Olathe, Kansas, USA Structural Engineer, Synechist Philosopher, Lutheran Christian www.LinkedIn.com/in/JonAlanSchmidt / twitter.com/JonAlanSchmidt On Fri, Dec 13, 2024 at 2:18 AM Gary Richmond <[email protected]> wrote: > List,: > > I recently came upon this quotation by the 13th century Persian poet and > Sufi, Rumi: > > "Consciousness sleeps in minerals, dreams in plants, wakes up in animals, > and becomes self aware in humans" - Jalal al-Din Rumi > > > This immediately made me think of Peirce's theory that consciousness is > ubiquitous and, in a sense, Rumi's sentence seems to flesh out that idea a > bit, albeit in a poetic sense. > > Rumi develops the above thought a bit further in a poem in his > masterpiece, Masnavi. Here's a few lines of it: > > I died to the mineral state and became a plant, > I died to the vegetal state and reached animality, > I died to the animal state and became a man, > Then what should I fear? I have never become less from dying. > At the next charge forward I will die to human nature, > So that I may lift up my head and wings and soar among the angels, > > > We post-moderns might think more of 'evolution' than of 'dying'. Of > course, Rumi is a poet and a Muslim mystic. However, he also wrote: > > What am I to do, my friends, if I do not know? > I am neither Christian nor Jew, neither Muslim nor Hindu. > What am I to do? What can I do? > > > While essentially a poet, musician, and ritual dancer, it seems to me that > in some of his metaphysical writings that one sees something of a > proto-scientific mind-set at work as well. > > Any thoughts? > > Best, > > Gary R >
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