[MD] Boromir's Journey

[Ham Priday]

Matt, Ron, Arlo, Steve, Marsha, and All --


On 9/21/09 at 11:25 PM, Matt said:

> Hope is a call to action.  Faith seems something more passive.
> Faith seems to conceive an ideal, but hope resonates with the
> recognition of the disparity between the real and ideal, and
> the desire to reconcile the two.

Ron responded with a question about "desire'.

> Desire, much to do with desire.
> Faith, hope, belief, revolve around it.
> What is this desire?

In the parallel thread on 'Imaginings', Arlo quoted Pirsig adding a personal 
comment:

> "Since the One is the source of all things and includes all things in it, 
> it
> cannot be defined in terms of those things, since no matter what thing
> you use to define it, the thing will always describe something less than
> the One itself."
>
> All these statements refer to incompleteness. There is no other way
> to read "the Allah that can be named is not the real Allah"...

It seems to me you have the elements of a "quest for completeness" here.  I 
would suggest to Matt that Hope is as passive as Faith, and that Desire 
(i.e., wanting) is the active pursuit of mankind.  If this is true, then the 
highest value sought by man is to be 'One with Reality'.  Does anyone 
dispute this?

Now, since we are only 'existents', dependent on being for our survival, 
logically we cannot both exist and  be One with Reality.  In fact, the 
individual is a divided entity, just as being-aware is divided.  The very 
state of existing is a dichotomy.  You might say, it's a state of 
discontent.  Because of this discontent, we all want something that 
transcends ourselves.  The 'impossible dream' has immeasurable value for us 
for the precise reason that it is unattainable.  This is our existential 
paradox.  Reunification in the essence of Reality is what hope and faith 
aspire to, yet we can only replicate it experientially in this world as 
finite objects and events of value.  Life is about being estranged from an 
absolute source which has many names -- Allah, God, Divine One, Spirit, 
Quality -- but only one Essence.

So, you see, there is some fundamental agreement in these disparate 
worldviews, if we will pause a moment to consider them.  We have a common 
goal to build on here beyond mere word games, but we must be willing to 
reconcile differences instead of using them to score debating points.  That 
to me is what a philosophy forum is for.

Does this make sense to you all?  (Rebuttals welcome, of course.)

In the spirit of conciliation,
--Ham