re: irjones - ten major u.s. disasters on sig
Dlux,
Of course Theosophy is the antithesis of the whole Western Enlightenment/scientific tradition. I do not share your reverence for Theosophy which is regarded by Christians as an heretic cult and which has a long history through the ancient mystery religions. I have noticed from time to time that you (and I take it Theosophists in general) have a strong aversion to the textbook of Christianity.
Paul Davies, when asked why Europe was the matrix of the scientific age, had no hesitation in answering; the influence of Christianity. i.e. the cause and effect principles contained in the OT & NT. It is this that distinguishes Judaism and Christianity from the "mystery religions" and also from Buddhism and Hinduism both of which contribute to areas of Theosophical thought. Theosophy is a relatively recent version of that type of religion being founded by Helena P. Blavatsky in 1875. This quote from her no doubt gives your average Theosophist goose bumps but to the rest of us it is anti-intellectual and unadulterated BS. She says:
"We assert that the divine spark in man being one and identical in its essence with the Universal Spirit, our "spiritual Self" is practically omniscient, but that it cannot manifest its knowledge owing to the impediments of matter. Now the more these impediments are removed, in other words, the more the physical body is paralyzed, as to its own independent activity and consciousness, as in deep sleep or deep trance, or, again, in illness, the more fully can the inner Self manifest on this plane. This is our explanation of those truly wonderful phenomena of a higher order, in which undeniable intelligence and knowledge are exhibited. " [Madame Blavatsky]
That is sheer time wasting nonsense in light of the rich tradition of the Enlightenment to which we are all heirs. To embrace that sort of goobly dook is to sell ones birthright for a mess of pottage.
On a less controversial note, are you aware that Bertrand Russell attempted to reduce mathematics to pure logic but got tripped up on the paradoxes. Cantor’s “set of all sets” paradox springs to mind. The story is worth a read. Names like David Hilbert and Kurt Godel (who incidentally did much of Einstein’s maths for him when they were both at Princeton) put the brakes on poor old Bertie. Godel’s incompleteness theorem sounded the death knell for Russell’s great project.
