KARL JASPERS FORUM

TA63 (Leslie / Rees)

Commentary 17

( FOR OR AGAINST MIR ? )
by Rob Weedon
30 November 2003, posted 7 December 2003

With the greatest respect (it goes back to "The Spirit of Tragedy") I have to say I agree with Leslie.

Going into all this would oblige us to focus on ‘Cultural Scatter’ -- my term for the progressive/ retrogressive subjectivization of our individually constructed worlds.

It doesn’t trouble me that I see a Rob world where you see a Herbert one. On the contrary, I find it exhilarating, because it encourages both of us to evolve. Had I been God I’d have set it up that way, & should monitor progress.

I don’t know how much more clearly one could put this than Milton does:-

Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon;

The world was all before them, where to choose

Their place of rest, and Providence their guide:

They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,

Through Eden took their solitary way.

‘Providence’ means (to quote Harold Macmillan), "Events, dear boy !" It’s not a religion.

The to-do about MIR seems to come mainly from people who -- besides legitimately wanting to ‘tune their instruments’ -- tend to hanker after increasing their CONTROL over things (& people). It puts me in mind of Rabelais: "Science sans conscience n’est que ruine de l’ame". I don’t suppose Rabelais was any more befuddled by ‘the soul’ than Milton was by ‘Providence’.

This all isn’t worth getting burned for -- even pilloried -- even frowned at. That, I take it, is Leslie’s position, & it seems to me to make perfect sense. When it comes to therapy, to be sure ‘matching’ & ‘mismatching’ is of the essence; but what has that to do with MIR ?

------------------------------------------

Rob Weedon