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Death of God (Philip Pullman)

March 28th 2008 03:51

From The Amber Spyglass (2000).

***

In Pullmanverse "God" isn't the creator, but merely the first of the angels (he lied to the angels born after him).

Moreover, angels are physical beings.

"Well, where is God," said Mrs Coulter, "if he's alive? And why doesn't he speak any more? At the beginning of the world, God walked in the garden and spoke with Adam and Eve. Then he began to withdraw, and Moses only heard his voice. Later, in the time of Daniel, he was aged -- he was the Ancient of Days. Where is he now? Is he still alive, at some inconceivable age, decrepit and demented, unable to think or act or speak and unable to die, a rotten hulk? And if that is his condition, wouldn't it be the most merciful thing, the truest proof of our love for God, to seek him out and give him the gift of death?"

***

Later, having landed her vessel, an "intention craft", Mrs Coulter comes upon God.

Before she could make up her mind which way to go, she heard voices, and withdrew behind a column. The voices were singing a psalm, and coming closer, and then she saw a procession of angels carrying a litter...

Mrs Coulter was close enough to see the being in the litter: an angel, she thought, and indescribably aged. He wasn't easy to see, because the litter was enclosed all round with crystal that glittered and threw back the enveloping light of the mountain, but she had the impression of terrifying decrepitude, of a face sunken in wrinkles, of trembling hands and a mumbling mouth and rheumy eyes.

The aged being gestured shakily at the intention craft, and cackled and muttered to himself, plucking incessantly at his beard, and then threw back his head and uttered a howl of such anguish that Mrs Coulter had to cover her ears.

***

Skip forward a chapter, and, in the middle of a battle, two children, Will and Lyra, come upon God. The children don't know who he is.

"Oh, Will, he's still alive! But -- the poor thing..."

Will saw her hands pressing against the crystal, trying to reach to the angel and comfort him; because he was so old, and he was terrified, crying like a baby and cowering away into the lowest corner.

"He must be so old -- I've never seen anyone suffering like that -- oh, Will, can't we let him out?"

Will cut through the crystal in one movement and reached in to help the angel out. Demented and powerless, the aged being could only weep and mumble in fear and pain and misery, and he shrank away from what seemed like yet another threat.

"It's all right," Will said, "we can help you hide, at least. Come on, we won't hurt you."

The shaking hand seized his and feebly held on. The old one was uttering a wordless groaning whimper that went on and on, and grinding his teeth, and compulsively plucking at himself with his free hand; but as Lyra reached in too to help him out, he tried to smile, and to bow, and his ancient eyes deep in their wrinkles blinked at her with innocent wonder.

Between them they helped the ancient of days out of his crystal cell; it wasn't hard, for he was as light as paper, and he would have followed them anywhere, having no will of his own, and responding to simple kindness like a flower to the sun. But in the open air there was nothing to stop the wind from damaging him, and to their dismay his form began to loosen and dissolve. Only a few moments later he had vanished completely, and their last impression was of those eyes blinking in wonder, and a sigh of the most profound and exhausted relief.

Then he was gone: a mystery dissolving in mystery.

***

What was that quote from Eliot's "Hollow Men" again?...

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Free Standing Sculpture (Margel Hinder)

March 4th 2008 07:12

Situated at the top of Martin Place, outside the Reserve Bank.

Its plaque notes, besides title and artist, that it was sculpted in 1964, "assisted by Frank Lumb and Frank Hinder".

Free Standing Sculpture - Margel Hinder - 1964

I suppose, when I look at it, it reminds me of a whole bunch of things -- of stalactites and stalagmites, of gothic architecture, and also of skyscrapers (which, after all, are also "free standing sculptures"). The holes in the formation are a little like windows.

In places, and looked at in the right way, it has a boat shape or a bat shape, and it can curve like the Harbour Bridge.

Arbitrary spikes producing an overall curve and roundness. -- Form from chaos, and harmony from ugliness.

It frames itself.

It can be towering, and it can be cavernous -- caves within caves.

Intricate, like filigree.

Marks like footprints or handprints, but they could also be natural formations. Many aspects of the sculpture, at least when I look at it, seem to be playing around this idea of human-built / natural, regular / irregular.

The texture is at the same time rough and organic, and artificial, metallic. It's a bit like fossilized wood, or the flowstone from old lava, and it's a bit like cement.

In a sense, everything is "natural", including skyscrapers.

Like some sort of parasite clinging to the building. Or else an extension of the building -- mirrored in it, growing out of it.

Notice, also, the way it alludes to bits and pieces from the surrounding area -- the spires of St Mary's, the shape or colour of a Commonwealth Bank logo or a statue.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia - Martin Place

And compare it with these sculptures by Robert Klippel in the NSW art gallery.

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Scone Mare and Foal (Gabriel Sterk)

February 4th 2008 03:39

Some shots of the "Scone Mare and Foal", by Gabriel Sterk, unveiled 3 March 1982. Bronze, 1.4 tonnes, 1.7m high and 2.2m long.

Seems to be a lot of butt- and crotch-sniffing going on.

Incidentally, the town of Scone is pronounced not like the pastry, but like "own" (with a "sk" at the front).

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How the golden compass works (Philip Pullman)

January 28th 2008 05:01

Rather reminiscent of tarot cards
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Bluff

January 26th 2008 03:18

A friend, IW, tells this story:

A child drops a banana peel. The teacher on playground duty notices. In order to teach the child a lesson, the teacher orders her to carry the peel for the remainder of lunchtime. The child woefully complies

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Beauty and the breast (Fenella Souter)

January 21st 2008 08:25

So I've lately been interested in people's attitudes to bodies (their own and others') after watching "Naked on the inside".

How does your body make you think and feel, how does this connect with your beliefs about what you're allowed to do and forbidden from doing, what are the meanings of nakedness, etc

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Quotes from The Prophet (Kahlil Gibran)

January 19th 2008 05:46

Last night I had a discussion in which it was pointed out, among other things:

1. The Prophet is very open to interpretation, like anything literary or artistic

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Piggy back (right) (Juan Munoz)

January 18th 2008 08:03

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Kant attack ad (James DiGiovanna and Carey Burtt) (LINK)

January 6th 2008 04:42

Thanks to MH for the link!

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Civic virtue vs laws

December 27th 2007 01:27

More laws isn't always a bad thing, but perhaps, sometimes, there are better alternatives.

A couple of ideas on this frickin' huge topic

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Comment by Nonymous
on Faith

February 12th 2008 06:17

Hi Carl,

You might have in mind something like the human eye (an oft-cited example), or "vestigial" bits like the appendix.

I'm not a fan of any existence-of-God intelligent design arguments, but I imagine that someone who is would reply:

1. That these really are simple. Some people do claim (I don't know how dodgily) that the eye and the appendix are functional; and frankly I don't know how the matter could be decided scientifically; or, more importantly, it could be replied

2. That an existence-of-God intelligent design argument doesn't require that everything works in the best possible way, or even efficiently (after all, God might simply be a bad designer). You only need the presence of design (however bad the design is) at a single step (not at every step).

But a more indirect response to your comment might be that the idea of "intelligence" needn't necessitate consciousness. For instance, could we ever attribute intelligence to a computer; and, if so, might we attribute it to other things also -- like a corporation, a government, a society, an ecosystem, a planet, or evoution itself, or the universe?

Someone who took this sort of position might be able to claim that there is "intelligence" in the "design" of lifeforms -- but presumably this position would also be a far cry from an existence of God argument...

Comment by Nonymous
on More on compulsory voting

January 22nd 2008 01:31

Was reading, recently, of a survey done of the "iGen" (ages 18 to 35) in Western Australia. The newspaper article noted:

"[W]hile 91 per cent of iGens are enrolled to vote and two-thirds say they regularly watch or read the news, only 26 per cent could correctly identify that the Legislative Assembly was a WA chamber of Parliament and a meagre 2 per cent could correctly name the Governor of WA. National politics fared slightly better with 46 per cent knowing the Senate was a Federal House."

I take this as some sort of evidence of political ignorance despite compulsory voting -- the latter doesn't necessarily avoid the former.

Comment by Nonymous
on Petro Georgiou on the proposed Australian citizenship test

January 20th 2008 18:14

Courier Mail, 21/01/08, page 2

Citizenship test holds no values

Fair go, let’s drop the citizenship test, writes Mirko Bagaric

There are some values to which all people and communities should aspire. But they aren’t relative. They don’t depend on culture, race or personal preference. And certainly none of the values is to be found in the citizenship test -- which, with its 20 per cent failure rate, is proving to be a roadblock for many worthy people further enriching our opulent country.

The citizen test was a gimmick introduced by the Howard government to shore up desperately needed votes by appealing to the racist sentiments of some voters.

The ploy failed because Kevin Rudd, well ahead in the polls, played the "me-too" card and refused to give voters an emotive point of difference between him and John Howard.

But now Rudd is in power, it is time he showed leadership and abolished the citizen test or risk being tainted with the same racist brush as Howard.

The citizen test, with its focus on all things Australian, costs taxpayers millions of dollars to administer.

It also fuels resentment from applicants who are required to swot up for it and places a cultural gulf between Anglo-Saxons and the 4.8 million people in Australia who were born overseas -- especially those occupying the 16 per cent of households that don’t speak English at home.

The flip side of preference is discrimination. It can be no other way -- it’s a mathematical truth.

Unashamedly embracing Aussie ways necessarily requires abdication of non-Australian values. There is no upside to this.

It will place a wedge between some migrants and their neighbours.

Of course, things might be different if anyone could identify a subset or even single value that is predominantly Australian to which we should all aspire.

The best anyone has been able to come up with is mateship and a "fair go".

These dismally fail the "made in Australia" test. They are coveted in all societies. They simply go by different names. In other places mateship means loyalty. Fair go means ensuring that all people have the opportunity to prosper roughly commensurate with their talent and level of commitment.

Instead of forcing Australian citizenship aspirants to rote learn historical facts about Australia, Rudd should work towards achieving a morally enlightened (culturally irrelevant) mindset within Australia.

This would provide a concrete framework around which an entire community can be forged and live harmoniously as a result of a fair allocation of opportunities, benefits and burdens.

Within that framework, people would be free to express themselves and engage in any activities or projects of their choosing which did not unfairly interfere with the capacity of others to do likewise.

This would result in cultural dilution and enrichment, as opposed to cultural hegemony.

To do this, Rudd needs to broaden the horizons from which he obtains his values inspiration.

This would open his mind to a slow, but evident, convergence in the most important value judgments that define individuals and societies.

For a nation which is renowned for its tolerance and progress on matters of social justice, the citizen test is decidedly un-Australian.

Dr Mirko Bagaric is a lawyer and author.

Comment by Nonymous
on Na na na na na na Leader. More Freaky Videos from Tom Cruise.

January 18th 2008 13:03

Have to confess, I wasn't that disturbed by the video. More disturbed by what the Jesus Camp people did with the cardboard cut-out of George Bush.

Comment by Nonymous
on I'm back!

January 9th 2008 21:29

Happy New Year EB. Sounds like an interesting 2008 for you.

Comment by Nonymous
on The near death test

January 5th 2008 19:09

Dear Greg,

Thanks for the comment!

I'm afraid I don't have much to say in response to it, but I think part of what you're pointing towards is the difficulty of formalizing a decision-making procedure. One can't use head alone, anymore than one can do logic without extra-logical premises -- but on what basis does one decide how much head and how much heart, and when to trust one over the other.

Regarding moments of clarity, perhaps one could be cynical and say that these are often moments of conditioning. For instance, lives change in the wake of trauma, -- "I swear before God that I'll never go hungry again." -- Is this really clarity, or is this circumstance?

Dear Fredda,

A very interesting and useful comment!

Living with the idea that time is passing by and we are getting closer to death is so stressful.

I think there's a lot of reasons Westerners are stressed about time (even though modern technology is full of "time-saving" devices).

Factors would include various sorts of genetic and conditioned behaviour and desires, including acquisitiveness, drives towards security, drives towards power, competitiveness with others ("success" usually means, basically, beating others), and the so-called "hedonic treadmill" -- allegedly, the desire to experience a certain level of happiness can push you to run faster and faster -- if one approaches the wrong way, one needs more effort to experience the same high, like needing higher and higher doses of heroin, as the brain acclimatizes to the greater buzz.

I live in the Philippines which, before the Spaniards came, did not have words for minutes, hours or seconds. the smallest units of time were morning, afternoon

Mind you, just because one thinks in terms of mornings and not minutes needn't make one's life less stressful. -- You might still worry about using the morning as efficiently as possible, and might worry, in turn, about using days, weeks, months, years, lifetime as efficiently as possible.

Division of time into small units might contribute to some extent to stress (because then the "minute" becomes an object of thought -- you can think about how you're using your minute). But I want to suggest that it's focus on the fact of limitation that's important, not the time interval per se.

I guess the secret is to change you r view of time and just live with the SEASONS, with nature's natural cycles.

I suppose Westerners look at life as a whole, and there's various ways they set out life plans. For instance: (1) they could have various desires they want to satisfy -- either various things they want to do before they die (marry, visit India, have kids, own a sports car), or various ongoing projects that keep them busy (like increasing their intelligence, building a corporation, creating art); (2) they could want to maximize some quality -- maximize the amount of pleasure they experience over a lifetime or the help they can give to poor people or the welfare of their children; (3) they could view life as a work of art they want to embellish in particular ways.

Now, I think it's true that on all of these models the fact that death limits things is a problem (although, on the third model, it's also a good thing -- it provides the frame for the art). Time becomes a precious resource you have to use as carefully as possible.

There is especial anxiety if one doesn't believe in life after death.

What plan of life are you suggesting in contrast (where time is not as important, and one doesn't focus on limitations)?

Well, I think you're basically suggesting something like a duty- or right-based approach where one doesn't worry about time because one doesn't worry about the whole of life, the "big picture". Rather, in whatever situation one finds oneself, there is a right thing to do -- a "natural" thing, as you put it. This idea has Confucian echoes, and perhaps some Jewish people and Christians (monastic ones in particular) might live this way (if you do believe in life after death, and the point is to get into heaven, then maybe as long as whatever you're doing is not evil, you're basically satisfied with yourself).

If it is possible to speak of the "correct" way to live life, a duty-based approach might well be correct. It's an interesting fourth alternative. Though I should mention here that, on adopting this approach, you're then faced with difficult questions of determining what is the right thing to do in any situation.

They did not think they were alloted 100 years on the planet and that it is divided into days, months and years. They did not see "it" or the world or reality or the universe as something separate from time. They lived and flowed WITH IT, which is why they did not see it as something that "passed" them by.

I think in this part of your comment you could be interpreted as making the claim about right thing to do at any moment. But you also seem to be suggesting the idea that humans should see themselves as part of a whole -- and that if they do so, they will be less stressed in terms of their own lives.

Well, (1) part of the argument in the Monty Python galaxy song is that "human life is insignificant in the scheme of things, so don't worry about what you do with it". The Stoics used the same argument -- Marcus Aurelius emphasizes this time and again. And Aurelius also (2) wants people to focus on the good of the whole, and not of the individual person, and this also, he thinks, takes away fear of death and the stress of making decisions regarding one's life.

Personally, I'm not persuaded by either of these arguments. As for the second, I don't know that focus on the whole takes the stress of one's own life -- you might still worry about how best to serve the whole. As for the first, I think it only works if it's true that people believed, in the first place, that (1) their lives were important in the scheme of things, and (2) that therefore they should worry about how to spend it. The first might well be true (most people think they're special), but I don't think they base the importance of making decisions about their life on the fact of this specialness.

Comment by Nonymous
on Petro Georgiou on the proposed Australian citizenship test

January 5th 2008 16:41

Sunday Territorian, Darwin, 6 January 2008, page 17

Sunday forum
Dodgy citizenship test must be "first to go"
by Scott Stirling

AUSTRALIA to review dodgy citizenship test -- the headline taken from an Indian daily newspaper says it all, really.

The controversial citizenship test introduced by the Coalition Government last year could be the first symbolic sacrifice as Australia begins a transformation away from the divisive and nationalistic nature of the Howard years.

[…]

A core element of the Howard strategy and the Howard mantra during his term as Prime Minister was the promotion and fuelling of a nationalistic fervour amongst Australians, especially the youth.

While Keating had fostered and promoted a global view encouraging Australians to embrace the value of being part of something bigger than just our own nation, Howard worked hard to turn the focus back inward to our own white picket fences and our nice back yards.

[…]

In many ways the introduction of a citizenship test was a culmination of the build-up of nationalistic fervour and was a physical accompaniment to the famous John Howard statement that "we decide who comes into this country and the circumstances in which they come".

The official line from the government website is that the test helps potential Australian citizens to "gain an understanding of Australia’s values, traditions, history and national symbols".

What it does in practice is marginalise potential Australian citizens that we should be embracing with open arms.

Australia is, after all, a nation built on the back of migration -- colonised by migrants in 1788.

Ever since, we have relied on migration to fuel our growth as a western democratic country. The economic prosperity that we all enjoy today is in no small part thanks to the thousands of migrants who have chosen to pursue Australian citizenship and to put their lot in with ours.

Whether it was the flood of Europeans in the 1950s or the boat people of the ’70s and ’80s, Australia has enjoyed immense benefit from migration and no citizenship test has ever been required to validate it.

The Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme is a classic example of the contribution of migrant labour -- 70 per cent of the workforce who developed the incredible engineering project were skilled migrants attracted from post-war Europe. Many of these people stayed on after the completion, bringing their families out to join them.

Darwin is no stranger to multiculturalism. It is one of the most celebrated aspects of our community and one of the biggest draw cards when it comes to all-important tourism.

Who could imagine a life in Darwin without the tastes and aromas of the various markets, the amazing cultural festivals that we enjoy each year and the less visually obvious, but no less important economic contribution, made by Territory families with a migrant background.

While the citizenship test was sold by the Howard Government as a harmless tool that would help to ensure that only really committed wannabe Aussies could obtain citizenship, it has had the effect of making citizenship harder to come by and the inevitable result of turning people away from the process.

In this context, it is positive to hear that new Immigration Minister, Senator Chris Evans, has announced a review of the citizenship test process.

While the test is unlikely to be scrapped in the short term -- Evans has committed the Government to supporting the overall concept -- it is the nature of the questions and the support provided to potential citizens that will be improved.

Rather than being an obstacle to Australian citizenship and a symbol of Australian nationalism I am hoping that the new Government finds a way to use the test as a tool to encourage the uptake of Australian citizenship amongst our migrant community.

By improving access to English language training and to other broad adult education services the Department of Immigration and Citizenship can play a positive role for our newest arrivals.

Our very own migrant success story Minister Ron Vatskalis spoke of his personal issue with the citizenship test on ABC radio this week and specifically the issue with access to English language training.

It is the great public contribution of people such as Mr Vatskalis and former Lord Mayor Alec Fong Lim that have made Darwin the amazing place it is today.

It would be sad if an ill-considered citizenship test were to rob us of such characters in the future.

SCOTT Stirling is the Darwin general manager for CPR Communications, a national corporate communications and public relations firm.
Comments can be directed to s.stirling@cprcomm.com.au
The CPR Communications website is www.cprcomm.com.au

Comment by Nonymous
on Civic virtue vs laws

January 4th 2008 19:52

Dear Damo,

Personally, I don't believe in "perfection" of civic virtues for all sorts of reasons.

One reason is that what values it's desirable for a citizenry to have presumably varies depending on circumstance -- there's no static ideal.

Another is that diversity of values might itself be desirable.

Dear Fog,

The far right never learns, they always revert to type by using draconian laws and punishment

You're probably correct, but just to complicate things slightly...

If you view National socialism as far right and Soviet Russia as far left, both forms of government can clearly be "draconian".

If you consider the American "right", it consists of a variety of interests -- including some in favour of freedom -- such as libertarians and anarchists, gun nuts, and laissez-faire capitalists.

If you consider the Australian "left", maybe it doesn't ask for draconian laws and harsh penalties, but greater regulation is often called for -- for instance, in terms of environmental management.

Feminism (which doesn't cleanly fit on the left or right) has often called for greater intrusion of the law into families -- to protect people against domestic violence.

Dear DA,

Leading by example rather than by force and establishing fair standards of civic law always seemed so glaringly obvious to me as the best way to oversee a society; but I guess it's not that obvious after all...

In the real world, one must always plan for the smattering of jerks present in any and every group of people, always and forever.

If I'm reading rightly, your second paragraph qualifies your first -- you favour example over regulation, but you want there to be regulation just in case.

I find this sort of balancing question very difficult to talk about in the abstract, without a specific issue... But two thoughts that come to mind are:

-- when you make some sort of coercive law to safeguard people, often you're balancing, among other things, actual harm to freedom against hypothetical danger -- a tricky matter (I've sort of written on this issue in relation to anti-terrorism laws);

-- one takes a risk every time one crosses the road. How much risk is too much? -- I'm not sure that people who are gamblers and risk prone are necessarily less rational than people who are paranoid and risk averse...

Comment by Nonymous
on Mahatma Gandhi was Correct: Non-cooperation with Evil

December 22nd 2007 03:45

I've always wondered whether, in the context of civil disobedience and law reform, non-violence is always an effective tactic. It worked for Gandhi and Martin Luther King, but would it have worked for the Jews?

Comment by Nonymous
on Polarization (Cass R Sunstein)

December 21st 2007 18:42