Tuesday, July 21, 2020

On the Conservation of Energy and the Uselessness of Theology

Henri Bergson taught that we need more than reason alone to make sense of this world: we also need intuition.

Science teaches us that energy is always conserved, and never lost.

Religion teaches us that spirit goes on, and does not die.

Perhaps spirit IS energy, and energy is spirit. My intuition tells me that it may indeed be so.

So what, then, is matter? We know that it is not solid, that it is mostly empty space, and is held together by energy: in other words, by spirit.

What, then, is the world? Was Madonna right when she sang that she was a "material girl," living in a "material world?" Her own life makes us doubt, considering her later fascination with Kabbalah and with Hinduism.

Perhaps Shakespeare was right when he wrote that "all the world's a stage, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Granted that the world is a grand illusion, just on the face of the physics of it, does it really signify nothing?" My intuition says "no."

I don't think we can get answers to these questions from theology, which assumes a dogmatic knowledge that it does not have. It cannot tell us anything about Divinity, because Divinity is for us not thinkable.

So we are back to what we can see with our eyes, illusory or not.

If we apply both reason and intuition to this world, we may at least be able to tell good from evil.

Henri Bergson is gone. He died of pneumonia on January 4 1941, at the age of 81, after standing in line for many hours in the winter cold of Paris, waiting to register with the Nazis as a Jew.

Did any part of Henri Bergson survive his physical death? My intuition says "yes."

Requiescat in pace. May his memory be for a blessing.


***


Copyright © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Quatrains of St. Jerome II

The Fool plays one against another
but he is weak, and he is lame.
He ís nobódy's brother.
Dó not pláy his game.






Text Copyright © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Monday, July 20, 2020

He Lives in Light and Shadow

He lives in light and shadow,
and light and shadow are what he is.
He is more energy than matter,
and so are you.

Il vit dans l'ombre et la lumière,
et la lumière et l'ombre sont ce qu'il est.
Il est plus d'énergie que de matière,
et vous aussi.

El vive en la luz y la sombra,
y la luz y la sombra son lo que él es.
Él es más energía que materia,
y tú también.

Ele vive na luz e na sombra,
e luz e sombra são o que ele é.
Ele é mais energia que matéria,
e você também.







Text and image Copyright © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Sunday, July 19, 2020

Quatrains of St. Jerome - I









The Crown
will bring down
the Fool,
the Spires' tool.

La Couronne
fera tomber
l'idiot,
l'outil des aiguilles.

La corona
derribará
al tonto,
herramienta de las agujas.

A coroa
vai derrubar
o bobo,
ferramenta dos pináculos.






Text Copyright © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Saturday, July 18, 2020

What Are We?

What causes the aura,
which we seldom see,
but we see at need,
or unexpectedly?
The Kirlian leaf,
when halved,
is still complete,
and living cells fluoresce.
Why have we
hidden channels
of communication
and of memory,
to which time is no barrier?
The veil is very porous
between night and day,
between death and life.

We are spirit,
dressed in ever-changing
DNA.

We are mostly space,
galaxies in
perpetual motion,
held together
by spirit.






Text and image Copyright © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Thursday, July 16, 2020

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Fazebk Doesn't Like Me Anymore

Fazebk doesn't like me anymore.
My nakedness makes them sore.
It's community standards, they say,
but I see it another way.
If hypocrisy is their game,
our communities are not the same.







Text and image Copyright © 2020 by Donald Jacobson Traxler.