[MD] Not Really Objectivism and the MOQ

[Ham Priday]

Laramie --

> I am Interested in hearing more about Eckhart.
> Does anything like the notion of evolution fit
> into his view of things?
>
> BTW, the notion that man reclaims his lost essence
> and restores the integrity of absolute essence is, I
> believe, only half of the enlightened perspective.
> Increasing amounts of empirical research indicate
> the very structure of consciousness is evolving,
> seeking beyond while including anything previously
> determined.  Is Essentialism able to account for
> anything like this?

It's impossible to read the major works of philosophy, psychology and
religion without running into Eckhart's name.  You'll find him quoted by
Hegel, Engels, Sartre, Fromm, James, Evelyn Underhill, T.S. Eliot, Paul
Brunton, Pope Paul II -- even Oprah Winfrey.  I think the popularity of this
medieval gnostic is a tribute to the directness with which he was able to
express his own thoughts on religion and spirituality to the common man.
Most of my quotes come from "Meister Eckhart", a modern translation of his
sermons and 'The Defense' (against the heresy charge) by Raymond Blakney.

Eckhart was born the son of a knight's steward in the village of Hochheim,
Germany at about 1260 AD, entered the Dominican monastery at Erfurt at age
15, studied at the 'high school' at Cologne (where Albertus Magnus taught),
and received the title "Prior of Effurt, Vicar of Thuringia" by 1300.  He
wrote a book of common instruction at Effurt whose theme was "God never tied
man's salvation to any pattern of life...", but Eckhart's alleged departure
from piety began when he was sent to the renowned University of Paris.

At Paris Eckhart was quoted as delivering a sermon claiming that: "with all
their science, those people at Paris are not able to discern what God is in
the least of creatures -- not even a fly!"  He was also championing the
Domician order against the Franciscans.  Blakney reminds us that at the
beginning of the 14th century Theology was the political issue of the day,
and rivalry between the orders was considered sinful.  Men literally fought
over what we discount as generalizations and abstractions -- much like the
MD participants.

Eckhart's best-attested German work was "The Book of Divine Comfort", said
to be composed for the Duke of Hungary, a victim of much personal tragedy.
The heresy charges centered on Eckhart's idea of man's "blood relationship"
to God --an interpetation of Jesus' reference to "my father", his
elaboration of the "little spark" of God concealed within the shell of
selfhood, and his application of the dogma of 'God-man', all of which fueled
the Reformation to come.  According to Blakney, one sentence in The Defense
sums up Eckhart's position: "I may err but I may not be a heretic -- for the
first has to do with the mind and the second with the will!"  His accusers
refused to debate the errors with which Eckhart was charged, and the Papal
Bull of 1329 stated that he had retracted them.  The bull of John XXII dated
March 27, 1329 speaks of Eckhard as dead.

Concerning your question, I found this quote by researching Eckhart using
the key word "Evolution":

"St. Paul reminds us that we being planted in the likeness of God may attain
to higher and truer vision.  For this St. Dionysius says we require three
things.  The first is, possession of one's mind.  The second is, a mind that
is free.  The third is, a mind that can see.  How can we acquire this
speculative mind?  By a habit of mental concentration."
     - [Pfeiffer, Franz, Meister Eckhart, pages 196-197]

However, I don't believe Eckhard was an "evolutionist" in the biological
sense.  Although he taught that human creatures were essentially "pure
nothings", he understood man as a special creature representing the
intellectual core of the universe.  Eckhart is arguably the most important
theological thinker since Aquinas, and I've found much inspiration in these
modern translations.

As for your theory that "the very structure of consciousness is evolving",
I'm not acquainted with the evidence you say supports it.  Although I can
see why Prisig, as an anthropology buff, would find this enlightening and
use it develop an evolutionary ontology, evolution is not central to my
philosophy of Essentialism, nor do I see a need for comparing intellectual
capacities of the Neanderthals with contemporary man.

Thanks for mentioning Eckhart, whom I call the "world's first theological
essentialist", and for posing a question that's of interest to many on this
forum.

Essentially yours,
Ham