Sunday, January 30, 2005

Points to Remember from Miracles

Page 115, Miracles by C.S. Lewis - "Horrid Red Things" 1. "Thought is distinct from the imagination that accompanies it." - This means when we think about something, like the United States, our imagination might dream up an American flag, or a many colored map, but that isn't what we really believe the U.S. is. 2. "That thought may be in the main sound even when the false images that accompany it are mistaken by the thinker for true ones." - A child might say that the blue state is close to the red state, when looking at the map of the U.S., and that child would be right, if the blue state is meant to be Michigan, and the red state is Ohio. But of course, Michigan is no more blue than Ohio. 3. "That anyone who talks about things that cannot be seen, or touched, or heard, ot the like, must inevitably talk as if they could be seen or touched or heard." - We can't talk about "supersensible" things without using metaphors of some kind. Information doesn't really spread, but how else can we talk of rumors? Networks aren't actually being impeded in their motion when we say they are "bogged down". We use metaphors because they help us make sense of concepts that we cannot sense with our 5 senses.

C.S. Lewis

I am reading a book by C.S. Lewis, and in my Xanga, I have made a previous entry, but it is down now, so I have moved here. The book I am reading is called Miracles. I am loving it. It shows from a metaphysical point of view why the Supernatural is necessary to allow for real reason. If we believe in Nature as being all there is, then we must also be a part of Nature. If we are only a part of Nature, and we seem to be noticing that all of Nature is governed by regular laws with Causes and Effects, then our thinking is also governed by Cause and Effect. If so, then we can explain why we think certain ways. We are thinking because some molecules have been set in motion, and our experience is simply a side effect of Nature's machine. This invalidates our logical thought. Basically then every thought is because of a Cause, instead of a Ground. Grounds are logical basis for Consequents in metaphysics. If an action has an external cause, then it is not because of Grounds A,A', and A'' that we conclude the consequent B, but rather because of some external event C (or events). In order for our reason to be real, there must be something outside of the machine called Nature that causes thoughts, and allows us to conclude B given A, despite some external influence C.