tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post809541805333935590..comments2023-10-03T11:41:21.191+01:00Comments on The Truth About Lies: #455Jim Murdochhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-80079273033587884862015-04-06T23:59:49.992+01:002015-04-06T23:59:49.992+01:00I have, Kass, yes.I have, <b>Kass</b>, yes.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-25674986319491147512015-04-06T21:45:19.391+01:002015-04-06T21:45:19.391+01:00Really wonderful. Have you heard O Magnum Mysteriu...Really wonderful. Have you heard <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ch7uottHU" rel="nofollow">O Magnum Mysterium</a>?Kasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05233330248952156754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-85996654077752346292015-04-06T18:02:23.732+01:002015-04-06T18:02:23.732+01:00I’ve never seen, Mind Walk, Kass. I watch very few...I’ve never seen, <i>Mind Walk</i>, <b>Kass</b>. I watch very few documentaries and those that I do watch are invariably related to one of the arts (opera excepted). I won’t say I don’t find science fascinating when I do stumble across something but I’m a specialist, at least that’s how I like to think of myself. Life is a production line and here I am doing my bit which is why I don’t appreciate being chided for not taking more than a cursory interest in subjects like politics or science. I’m not best equipped to. Others are passionate.<br /><br />Opera I have tried to like. I’m a <i>huge</i> fan of classical music from Gregorian chants right though to serialism and minimalism. There really is very little I don’t listen to and can’t enjoy. Apart from opera. Which doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the odd aria but that’s it. And English-language opera is the worst of the worst. I thought opera was like Guinness, an acquired taste, but I’ve never developed a taste for Guinness either. Now choral music is another thing completely. I <i>love</i> a good choir. Recently rediscovered Morten Lauridsen’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZX5wXVY-Ks" rel="nofollow"><i>Lux Aeterna</i></a>. Wonderful stuff.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-46409514860905376022015-04-06T15:31:40.038+01:002015-04-06T15:31:40.038+01:00That's a good video, Jim. Feynman was an under...That's a good video, Jim. Feynman was an understandable physicist and had misgivings about his involvement in the Manhattan Project so I really respect him.<br /><br />I wonder if you or Gwil have seen <i>Mind Walk</i>. That's where I first became aware that we are 99.9% empty space. Fritjof Capra's theories are explored in a compelling way.<br /><br />Thanks for the hall pass on Opera, Jim. I strongly believe we get to enjoy, even to love, what pleases us, without explanation or challenge.Kasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05233330248952156754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-91268041617887916732015-04-06T09:08:42.310+01:002015-04-06T09:08:42.310+01:00I’m afraid it’s all Greek to me, Gwilliam. I took ...I’m afraid it’s all Greek to me, <b>Gwilliam</b>. I took General Science for the first two years at secondary school because it was compulsory but once I got to pick my subjects I dropped them all (it was the last year you could get away with not taking a science to O-Level) and I didn’t take a foreign language either. I really don’t regret either although when I have to introduce science-related bits in my books I’m always a bit uncomfortable. That said the technobabble I do incorporate is WAY above most people’s heads anyway so I’m not sure anyone would pick up on any mistakes. Not sure why I insist on doing it.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-70764493495057388052015-04-06T08:17:19.102+01:002015-04-06T08:17:19.102+01:00I like the jiggling atoms or whatever they are. No...I like the jiggling atoms or whatever they are. Now they say we are 99.9% empty space. Soon it will be 100% empty space or maybe 100% plus. What then? We'll have to face up to the fact that we are only dream stuff as Shakespeare and others have postulated. On the old TV sets you could literally see the photons bursting on the the screen if you tuned it off-channel. Gwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-10421626068817232292015-04-06T01:00:29.700+01:002015-04-06T01:00:29.700+01:00I had never heard of jiggling atoms before, Kass. ...I had never heard of jiggling atoms before, <b>Kass</b>. I thought you were just being poetic. Seems not. Seems such an unscientific word, doesn’t it? Bums jiggle, not atoms. This <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNPHv7T-2vY" rel="nofollow">video</a> was helpful-ish.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-30843281236700391402015-04-05T16:59:08.460+01:002015-04-05T16:59:08.460+01:00I struggle with the word ‘spiritual’, Gwilliam. Ev...I struggle with the word ‘spiritual’, <b>Gwilliam</b>. Even when we’re talking about a spirit realm I still think of it in physical terms, as a different dimension perhaps or an alternate reality (think <i>Adjustment Bureau</i>). When angels reportedly appeared on earth they looked like ordinary men (no wings) otherwise how could Lot have not known who he was entertaining? And post-resurrection it looks like Jesus slipped in and out of various guises and mostly didn’t look like the man who’d been executed a few days earlier otherwise he would’ve been recognised immediately. It’s all very science fictiony. Aliens are always appearing in human guise to keep production costs down. Of course if angels are not of this earth technically they <i>are</i> extraterrestrials who we would explain away as gods. Just think about the <i>Star Trek</i> episode ‘Who Mourns for Adonais?’ I really don’t care about any of it. I feel the same about ghosts. I’m perfectly happy to use any of the above as plot devices—just hang up your beliefs at the door and enjoy—but that’s it. <br /><br />When I wrote this poem I was, to use a clichéd term, struggling with my faith. I knew a lot—I’ve forgotten more about the Bible than most people ever know—but no matter how much ‘evidence’ I amassed (I use the term loosely) none of it triggered an appreciation for spiritual matters. I had an intellectual and an emotional appreciation of the scriptures (mostly the former) but that was it. People live without a sense of smell or taste. I live without a spiritual side. Do I feel like I’m missing out? If I’m honest then, yes. I don’t like not getting stuff. I don’t like not getting opera but I don’t. I <i>really</i> can’t stand the stuff. But let those who like it get on with it. I don’t deny opera’s existence or try to convince others not to listen to opera and the same goes for religion.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-85000162919663487482015-04-05T15:05:36.956+01:002015-04-05T15:05:36.956+01:00A lot going on in this poem. I like Gwil's res...A lot going on in this poem. I like Gwil's response. I'm forming a poem in my mind which references the Higgs (God - or as the physicist, Leon Lederman originally wrote before his publishers talked him out of it: The Goddamn) Particle. It goes<br />something like this:<br /><br />It's not just a theory<br />particles jiggle<br />people behind me<br />have verified thisKasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05233330248952156754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-37527283455132132942015-04-05T13:46:27.575+01:002015-04-05T13:46:27.575+01:00"frolicked with the daughters of men"
J..."frolicked with the daughters of men"<br /><br />Jesus often referred to himself as "the son of man". <br /><br />In my own mind I always come back to that description. I tend to think the spiritual and the physical are one and the same thing. Or more probably the one and the same no-thing. They are switching on the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) so maybe we will take a step beyond Higgs . . .Gwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.com