community and death and beauty

what does it mean for a community to be able to say
our reason for existence is in something beyond us

we exist so that by exhausting our need for existence
we give witness to something else

we are being deliberate about our obsolescence

there may be a day when this community no longer exists
but for as long as it does we give witness to that thing
which is well beyond us
we live by ideals so that in that by the successful expression of those ideals
we eventually have no purpose...our duty is complete

i was thinking about this recently as a way of not stating
what is obvious in monastic life
i was thinking about this during the funerals of two recently deceased monks

one of the monks was an artist and he spent a good deal of time
in his life trying to give beautiful expression to things
during his life he was never acknowledged for any particular piece
people tended to know he was an artist
but most people could not name any particular piece he had crafted

the other monk was a scholar a reader a linguist
he took great pride in knowing the origin of words
he was famous for his enjoyment of bawdy limericks
he understood the expression of christianity as being
a festival spirit of joy
a festival that is always nearly over and forgotten

the truth about community is that it will live
according to the transcendental values held close held true

for a christian community to say
we are in this world but not citizens of this world
leaves the community with the problem of having to organize
life
around practical matters as if they are necessary for matters that transcend our most practical designs

in the rule of benedict garden tools are given a status
equal to that as the vessels of the altar
so that the notion of survival is granted both a practical and
a transcendental purpose
we are beholden to partake in the mystery of creation
and beholden to acknowledge our dependency
on the creator and we aim our efforts
toward a hoped-in perfection

a bronze sculpture will endure quite a long time
many generations
and the name of the artist may disappear
but that is no matter for the artist
his goal is something to which he perhaps
cannot even bring adequate words

yet

he must try

new post

i suppose the last post was a bit too combatative in form to attract the wider scientific community whom i most certainly thought would by now have answered the relatively innocent query into communal dispositions if you will

in a recent life event i was able to experience first hand how the scientific mind might be valuable for community living...in a recent bout with skin encrustation a horrific combination of dry red nervous treacherous skin rash afflicted i was with discomfort and pain and stress

through a manner of "knowledge deduction"  a process of rather quick but patient observations of the characteristics of my dis-ease for most certainly i was truly dis- eased i was relieved unwillingly of my desire for contentment ah well such is physical mayhem

any how

this intellectual mind went through a process of tipping the scale to one or two characteristics eliminating these in order to address the skin...he cured me

i took his "scientific "  advice

and i took it seriously

i went to a tanning booth i drank cocanut milk smoothies i took some benedryl i finally got some sleep my nerves settled down i stopped swimming in a chlorinated pool

in short i submitted my very life to well reasoned medical opinion and i benefitted greatly

so just by way of dialectical detante
i want it known far and wide that i have accepted and seen the value
in some form of  medical science

and thus i enjoy the necessary communal attitude that attitude that makes community so
much better let me tell you
gratitude the attitude of gratitude can be brought forth happily from the generous bestowal of medical science

i also receive accupuncture from the same guy

he's a wizard

first class

and i guess i must admit however grudgingly that i am sitting at a computer console spelling out inane thoughts to the whole of the cyber world and nobody listens....i mean that is some science too  can't forget that

so bring along the scientists
let one sit in the garden
let another make the food
let another dispense good medicine
let another fix the cars
let another paint the house
let another chop some wood
let another clean the floor
let another light the incense
let another make the incense
hey there's another use
a scientist may be able to make incense

invaluable possibility

where will we put the microscope
that's the only question

wind energy
now there's a good project for a scientist

artists are probably more problematic for community life
they're so needy and reactive and expressive
maybe we need to encourage the artists to just be a bit more didactic
and systematic and diligent
and this too will benefit the art work

anyway

worthless servants
that's all we are

the presumptions of science are no more than one more channel on an outdated tv set

i wish to thank stu and sally
for the lively and deep reflection/conversation
elucidating as it were
the inner sentiments of science and scientists
thinking of god

i am taking my point of departure here
in concern for the words written by pierre tielhard de chardin sj
regarding the awareness of man
with the new astounding power in the 1940s
the power to devastate the world with atomic fire

it is my particular bias that the collective thinking
inherent in the "progress" of science reached a turning point
toward general hubris in the 20th century
with regards to two ends of the life spectrum
which have now come under confident control of the
world of technology and medical science
i regard this rather tentatively for i view the advance
as one riddled with ignorance
and thus subject to tragedy

the effort to gain control over human reproduction
through the use of synthetic contraception and abortion
has spelled a definitive break with the past
birth even conception was considered something both
ordinary
and miraculous
as well as life threatening
today at least in the countries sporting medical self confidence
there appears to be a sense of control over these matters
in ways mankind in general has never known

and with the development of nuclear power
it is clear but never really stated much anymore
that there is in the possession of the military
(if no one else)
the inherent ability to extend widespread destruction
if not the ability to wipe out all signs of human life
at least to reduce human life to a desperate remnant
(one that has been imaginatively explored in various science fiction modes)

the overarching question which i intend to bring to
the elevated discussions here at communitas dies
is:
does science serve some useful purpose
in beginning developing maintaining and propogating
community life?

a physicist i know will say:
well if you have a campfire you have science

but i am thinking of applied science
the science we confront daily
the science which is held out before us
as somehow essential to viable patterns of survival

i ask myself
where does "science" enter into the life i live
and how essential is it
can a community live without reference to scientific knowledge??

consider the community in which i presently reside:
where does science meet the reality of daily life?
my abbot is a chemist
( i have wondered whether or not his training in chemistry
affects his way of thinking in his role as "christ in our midst")

certainly science is involved in the architecture
certainly science is involved in the heating and cooling of buildings
certainly science comes into play in the feeding of 2000 plus people every day
plumbing electricity computers automobiles
the teaching of science is at a premium on this college campus
(recent reports hold that an alumnus is set to go into space with NASA)

but these matters are directed toward education primarily
and i find myself asking:
what good is any of this to me?

i contend that most applied science is both useless
and highly exaggerated in importance
i do not need atomic accelerators or any knowledge that comes form them
i do not need astronomy
i do not need geology (although i dream of rocks and volcanoes and
tectonic plates)
i do not need any of the science associated with microbiology
i do not need most medical science
i do not need computers
i do not need laboratories
i do not need anything that comes from the human sciences
(in fact i have recently concluded that there is something horribly bereft
in the presumptions of these disciplines)

any community must find practical means by which
to sustain life
heat food light sanitation
these seem to be the basics upon which any community could
sustain some form of shared life

a christian community must attend to the word
and reason and knowledge enter deeply into this matter of lived expression

thus i regard that there is quite a distinction between
running an institution
one which requires intensive attention to practical scientific matters
and sustaining a community

theoretically a community could band together around
a fire around tents or teepees
hunting fishing gardening might all require some form of "knowledge"
and be indeed increased with efficiency
given data from the world of scientific trial and error

humans are inclined to knowing
this is a given
a community might be understood as a place of shared knowing

i will contend that what is promulgated as "science" in our day is
essentially superfluous
unnecessary
nothing comes to us through the world of science
which cannot be safely done without

this is not to say that there is no usefulness
in knowing the movement of the stars
the twitching and rumblings of the earth
the chemistry of things
all knowledge is to some extent useful

but a basic community must recognize that
science is far less important
than the willingness to enter into a shared life
with basic food basic prayer
and a commitment to reflection
a commitment to a way of knowing which is not so much applied
as contemplated

i call for the end to practical science
it must no longer be taught in the schools
philosophy is the goal
and leisure is the context

to hell with the pragmatists and utilitarians

to heaven with those who know
it is enough to pray
and entrust ones livelyhood to the will of

god

footnote follow-up

http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=2287&C=2169

Science as an Instrument of Worship

I posted this on my own blog, but since stu may be intersted in this, I will also post it here.

My aunt just pointed me to this excellent article written by an astronomer-colleague of hers.

http://biologos.org/uploads/projects/wiseman_white_paper.pdf

It inspires me to think again about developing a presentation that I could give to church groups.  This article could form a good outline for such a presentation.

cecilian community

what could it mean to have a community
founded on music
a community where the presentation of music
is the foremost reason for existence
and perhaps with the understanding that
the music presented is always presented to god
as best we can know
and this requires discipline the community is
disciplined by the demands
of music and everyday people in the community arise
and realize they are required to make music
and the music must correspond with what the day means
and what the day could mean in a less than perfect realm

people are attracted to music like
deer to running streams

music fire and food
these are community things

the ideal is the effort to get the music right
little else matters

it's worth a try

rings of communion

each day our lives are like
the ripples made when a stone
is tossed into a quiet pond

many stones many ripples
each life expanding out in concentric rings
rings merging into rings
rippling small waves through one another
like so much moving water

the rings defy the downward motion of water
they go horizontal
they roll out and collide with other rings
and the rings bob on the surface
dancing and intersecting
 become momentarily one
with a whole series of concentric rings
one following the other
gyrating and jerking on the surface
rings which seek the shore
and then seek even more
the placid state of certainty
where only the faint memory of expanding rings
kiss against the stones