[MD] Flying Spagetti Monsters

[Platt Holden]

> Platt,
> 
>      [Platt]
> > Run if you wish, but believing that all matter is
> > aware is not animism. Atoms
> > can be aware of other inorganic entities without
> > being aware of elephants. It's
> > animism when you start believing that pieces of
> > driftwood talk to people
> 
>      Platt, what does it mean that 'pieces of
> driftwood talk to people'?  What does talk mean?  Talk
> is a form of communication, don't you think?  When we
> communicate we are in some kind of relationship, A? 
> Without the wood relating to a carver the character
> the wood offers, as opposed to say a leaf, a carver
> wouldn't carve a leaf like a carver can carve a piece
> of wood, right?  So, the wood is relating to the
> carver a value, a value that the carver finds to be
> valuable.  The carver and wood dance in this
> relationship, exchanging with each other
> characteristics to each other that makes a most
> excellent relationship, a relationship of art, a
> relationship that allows for creativity.  This dance
> between carver and wood is a creative event, oh, and
> that leads this form of discussion right into the lap
> of creative event=dynamic quality.  Oh, what will be
> when the wood and carver end this creative event. 
> What next event will arise?  One of beauty, hopefully.
>  An event that inspires others when they peer at this
> magnificent artwork, that not only began with wood and
> carver coming together, but the birds are involved
> too.  Yes, those birds that sat on that branch and the
> sun light that touched the carver and wood, so much
> before that wood became driftwood, before that carver
> became a carver, long ago, the story of this earth
> with sky, is a very long, old story, and then this
> beautifully carved piece of driftwood goes onward,
> even presently if one still exists, in a relationship
> with this universe.  This story may never end.

If you are saying everything is related to something else, I agree. But to 
take the step that everything "communicates" with something else is a step 
beyond what I mean by "communicate" which to me requires signals between
higher orders of living beings. So when I sit down to paint, I don't 
communicate with the paper or the paints. I communicate with myself, 
asking such questions as, "What color shall I use to express the 
reflection in the water?" or "What stroke will bring out the beauty of 
that blade of grass?" or "What can I do to imbue this painting with 
life?" So I'm not "dancing" with the objects of paper and paint; I'm 
seeking to entice out of hiding the elusive beauty that exists somewhere 
within me and the subject of the painting.  That I fail more often than 
not is beside the point.

Perhaps we are expressing the same ideas in different words. I tend
to think so. But I don't think there is an exchange of meaningful signals 
between humans and inanimate objects, like pieces of driftwood. But, I 
could be wrong.

Best,
Platt