[MD] Probability

[Ham Priday]

Hi Platt -- 

> We are very close to agreement in that I too believe
> we can't experience the "Source" directly and its "value"
> is what we seek in life. We do indeed "want its essence
> for ourself." As I've said before, it is esthetics (beauty)
> that for me reflects the transcendent Source to our poor
> fallen selves. In the words of Edgar Allen Poe:

> "This thirst belong to our immortality, a consequence and
> indication of our perennial existence. It is no mere appreciation
> of the beauty before us, but a wild effort to reach the beauty
> above, to attain a portion of that loveliness whose very elements
> appertain to eternity alone.

Very apropos, and brilliantly conceived.  (I wonder of he was on opium when
he composed this?)

> Whereas you see the value of the Source we seek as creating our world
> of "differentiated otherness," I see the value of the Source in our
> longing for and appreciation of beauty, as suggested by our intellect's
> demand for beauty in our theories, equations and philosophy of
> "Essentialism.". And since beauty plays such a starring role in my
> metaphysics, to name the Source "Quality" becomes a slam dunk.

Both of these perspectives are essentialistic, and I agree with your
analysis -- except for Quality as a slam dunk.  I don't particularly care
for the alliteration "the Quality of the Source".   It sounds too much like
the manufacturer's guarantee on a garment.

Also, from an epistemological standpoint, I don't see how the quality of the
source can be the source itself.  If you agree that we don't experience the
source directly, then Quality can't be it.   We only perceive its Value to
us, in the beauty of music, the color of the sunset, the smile of a young
child, etc.  This Value, as Poe expressed it, is "...a wild effort to reach
the beauty above, to attain a portion of that loveliness whose very elements
appertain to eternity alone."  In other words, the value of the conditional
represents our longing for the Absolute.

> But I have a feeling I'm repeating myself and that you know all this.
> If so, accept my apology for taking up your time.

I think your comments are right on, a rarity in this forum.  And I'm
delighted with this Poe quote.  By the way, I lost your 'Literature & Belle
Lettres' reference source when Mindspring dropped me as a customer, and I
can't seem to find it on Google Search.  I'd be much obliged if you would
provide the URL again, and possibly the title or source of the Poe quotation
as well.

I needn't tell you we see eye-to-eye on many things, perhaps more than we're
willing to admit.  Anyway, it's never a waste of my time to talk to you.
Incidentally, should you really want to discuss my "negation hypothesis", it
would be worthwhile for me to attempt a "simplification" for you, if only to
make it more palatable to others.

Essentially yours,
Ham