Pattern and habit of thought

[E.]

Yes, Pasha, you are absolutely right.
I just suddenly realized what is behind all those things I am saying about multicultural psychology, Immigration and etc.
Apparently when I was 4 years old my dad broke the chair over my head.
Ever since then my development got arrested and as you can see I am helplessly trying to deal with that old fixation in infantile ways.

I believe very same moment when chair got crushed into several pieces over my head, there was a newsprogram on TV and someone said "multicultural immigration".
It stuck in my head since then! ;-)
And that all I can remember now.

I am very grateful to you for giving me such an insightful hint ;-)

As my posting goes:
"Two men part, never able to continue a conversation".

Good luck fella,
whoever you are ;-)

[Pasha Patel]

Lol...

Again off topic ....all right.... Now so u have given time to board members to answer ur question ... let us know ur answer on question asked by u E

Question to the forum members:
How familiar does that story sound to you?

[Still Learning]

4 can be such a traumatic age.

[4now]

Was the chair able to be repaired so that it could assimilate back into the world of multichairal environment. Im sure it must have been difficult for the chair too. how old was the chair? In a world of so many differnt Grintchairs, The Italian leather, the Wingbacks,(oh hope that is not pergarative term) the wrought iron chair, the folding chair, the Adriondack and chaise lounge clan. And so many more chair ethnics.. you know who you are. It is sad to know that these chairs were imported here thru immigration.. only to be busticated into peices. All their dreams shattered. so sad

[Still Learning]

4now,
Really, I had to literally LOL for several minutes after that one!


I had intended to say something meaningful but I think I can forget that tonight

[Still Learning]

I'm sure 4wownow will handle things.

[E.]

This thread is about Pattern and Habit of thought.
So, actually, anything you do/say reflects exactly what this topic is intended to reveal.

I am not an exception, of course.

And for my part I have decided to educate myself about those various patterns rather than use my mental energy on devising ways to change your/others opinions about yourselves.

SL, if I ever wrote a Doctrine/Philosophical book its first part would be dedicated to introducing and defending your world vision/philosophical outlooks, with reference to the names of very famous philosophers,writers, social scientists and modern psychologists.
Those would be mostly German and English(some French) philosophers/writers/scientist, mostly but NOT LIMITED to near and post-revolutionary Age (Dutch Revolution).

The second part would be dedicated to revealing the concepts, ideas and thoughts you may understandably be unaware of.
Some Ancient Far Asian/Chinese history of thought/philosophy would be helpful.

Finally I would leave it for the reader to make the conclusions and find the truth.

I also have to state that my objective in writing such book would not be to prove fallasy of one or another school, but rather my goal would be to use/integrate the best/strongest parts of each for a new, unprecedented leap forward in the Modern School of thought and scienses.
Leap in a GLOBAL not a local scale.

I don't know if I or any other single human being could ever handle such an immence task, and given the realities of my life I don't think I will ever have time/chance to work/complete such project, but it would be very interesting thing to contemplate nevertheless.

[Pasha Patel]

E

I can write lot of stuff here regarding ur reply ...but wont unless I get my answer directly from you ...or may be i got to wait for that full moon night... once again question is right here ....

Question to the forum members:
How familiar does that story sound to you?

[Still Learning]

E. has anything reallllly similar to that already been written? I think you should go for it. You could use us all as case studies. It sounds as though you can see it in your mind so that is a large part of it. Once you get the outline, how hard could it be? Unless you're one of those people who thinks that no matter how good it is it is NOT good enough and has to continually reinvent. Then you would probably never get it done. Sounds like it might make a great textbook? Had you thought of writing it for that purpose? I have a friend that does reviews on those, she could handle the social science/psychology portions. Imagine what an impact you could make on the world. Years and years from now everyone would be quoting "E.". OK, it's decided. Text book <stamp>

4wownow, what do you think?

[E.]

Victor Mansfield at Physics and Astronomy Department, Colgate University Hamilton, NY 13346, writes books about analytical psychology/philosophy and physivs.
He is currently teaching at above mentioned University.
C.G.Jung, Wolfgang Pauli(Physicist) and Buddism in general seem to influence his writings.
So, I am not really a LONELY PIONEER in contemplating such thoughts.

But I am not too fond of C. Jung, especially since latter had too strong a tendency towards interpreting things in too mysterious, personified way (Just as Freud was too much of a dry,"Earthly" guy).

And also, in terms of Eastern thought, I am more like into Daoism than Buddhism.

And, by the way, research or project of this kind is not what makes into a text-book, but it is more like an Idea that could give a momentum to an Institution, a School of Thought that would have to grow and develop on its own over a period of few centuries.

"Text-books" come much later, when the ideas make their way and get accepted by established academia.


I also have to tell you that if you want to see future try to find out where our leading schools are today.
See for yourself what Ideas, thoughts, philosophical views are being debated at Harward, Colgate and some other Universities today.
Have you heard of latest biological findings at Harward?
How about the influence of Far Eastern thought in works of Modern Physicists?

Seeing what is going on inside of those Intitutions fills me with immense joy: for I see what great things are there to come in the future!

Unfortunately, by the time those ideas make it into mainstream, you and I will be back to the Nothingness where I won't have an internet/computer/means to communicate with you

In case if you are curious about Mansfield and his ideas, check these out:

Bohr, N. (1934). Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press.

Bohr, N. (1958). Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge. New York, NY, John Wiley & Sons.

Hall, Alan (1997). ˜Beam Me Up', Scientific American, December 29.

Jung, C.G. (1978). ˜Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle." CW 8: 419-531. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Mansfield, V. (2002). Head and Heart: A Personal Exploration of Science and the Sacred. Chicago, IL: Quest Books.

Mansfield, V., Rhine-Feather, Sally, and Hall, James (1998). ˜The Rhine-Jung Letters: Distinguishing Parapsychological from Synchronistic Events.' Journal of Parapsychology, 62:1.

Meier, C.A., editor (2001). Atom and Archetype. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press.

Stegner Wallace (1991). Crossing to Safety. New York: Penguin.

von Franz, Marie-Louise (1992). Psyche and Matter. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

Weinberg, Steven (2001). ˜Can Science Explain Everything? Anything?' New York Review of Books, Volume 48, Number 9. Reprinted in The Best American Science Writing 2002. edit. Ridley, M. New York, NY, HarperCollins Publishers.

[Still Learning]

E.
I appreciate you posting the references. I love to get into discussions about a lot of different topics but I feel very dull right now It's been a while since I've been around really intellectual people who enjoy talking about all of these things... and I haven't kept up my own personal education at times. I probably am a typical text book education person, but more open to different ideas, etc. than a lot are. I'm also a Christian, but open to ideas that some Christians would not even consider. I look at it as I don't limit God. As far as nothingness goes? I don't believe in it. I don't really think that internet, etc. will be necessary to communicate at some point.

[Pasha Patel]

waiting

[Aguila]

E.:

I have been reading your posts for quite a while now and I found them very interesting, being a foreign national who in my native language always tried to express myself very well it is very helpful to read your posts because it helps me to improve my writing skills and general English communication skills so I am closer to communicate better. I must state that you are one of the native USC that come to this board whose writing styles and thinking I admire the most.

I; however, disagree with you in many points but I have avoided getting into intellectual confrontations with you in the past but now since you mentioned religion I feel that I must point something out to you.

You stated: 'Finally you bring in religion. You say you are a Christian.
I would love to believe you cause then I would LOVE you.' YOU SHOULD LOVER HER OR ANYBODY WHETHER THEY ARE CHRISTIANS OR NOT, don't you know that one of the most important messages that Jesus Christ predicated was LOVE, and that he stated as the major law in this universe 'LOVE GOD' and 'LOVE EACH OTHER', if then you are also a Christian you should think hard about this.

Now I do agree with you that we all are part of GOD, and I found that in the bible itself on Gen: 17, it states [I am doing the translation from a version of the Bible on my native language here] ' form the tree of the knowledge of the good and bad you shall not eat' now when the snake misleads Eva, the snake states: 'the day you know the good and the bad you'll be equal to GOD' after that all the stability of the paradise is gone and Adam and Eva are thrown away from the paradise, but what it is interesting is a very enigmatic statement from GOD that supports the snake previous statement: 'They that are homens have now been transformed just like one of us, knowleadgble of the Good and the Bad' anyways the Bible does not explain with whom GOD is talking to, if it is talking to himself because as the statements says 'just like one of us'

Once again, I am translating this from a version of the bible in my native language for anyone interested they should check GEN: 17.

[Still Learning]

Well, E. you have surprised me with this post. You have seemed to make judgements that I wouldn't expect you to make with the information that you have available to base them on. That is your perogative, of course.

You said:
"Only thing about you is that you have limited yourself to ONE particular stream and you don't want to hear about anything else.
And I know very well about your sources"

Anyone can have an opinion but why you came to this one in regards to me isn't clear to me. How can you know about my sources when you know nothing about my background or my personal situation? You can make some generalizations by reading my posts on this board but these posts are hardly even a cross sample of my life experiences.


"And I can not conceive that someone who GRASPED great, deep teachings of Jeesus could come up and mock me here with "charity foundation" and less than sinsere offers to donate to it.
I also doubt that Jeesus would approve one of your recent statements where you claimed that man is an ANIMAL and must be TAMED or else he will cross all the boundaries of insanity."

First of all, the conversation/posts concerning charity foundation, etc. was said in jest on my part. I certainly did not mean it to be personally offensive. I did not take the remarks made by 4now to be offensive either. I believe that I must have misunderstood statements made by you in the posts leading up to the "charity foundation" posts. I apologize if my remarks came across to you offensively. The remark attributed to me about man being an animal, etc. was certainly not said by me. If you are referring to the comment that I made about laws, the enforcement of laws, people's reactions to laws being enforced or not enforced, then you have taken it much further than I stated or than I intended for it to be taken.

I am not perfect, do not claim to be perfect, but I do take my spiritual life/growth seriously and I'm afraid that I have given you reason to doubt what I say and for that I am very sorry. If you knew me you would know how sincerely I mean that. I have adopted a habit of joking with you and I should be more careful. I take the things that you say now seriously and give them a great deal of thought. I'll continue to do that. I will do my best to be more clear whenever I do post anything. I don't normally have a problem with communication but this medium is ripe for it.

[E.]

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Borges used to say that he was less proud of his writings than of his readings.

____________________________________________


Welcome to the Borges Center's web page! The Jorge Luis Borges Center for Studies & Documentation is an academic organization based at The University of Aarhus in Denmark, dedicated to the research of works by J. L. Borges, and the study of themes and the style of thinking found in his work (a style that we call "transversal epistemologies".). Our area of activities concerns philosophy, semiotics and literature. The official languages of the Center are Spanish, English, and French.


You are cordially invited to visit the other pages of the Center, devoted to our trilingual journal Variaciones Borges, the services "on line", the latest news, the collection of articles Borges Studies on Line and the database of Borges Center's Archive.



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Why Borges


The international aura of Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) often hides what his work can offer as an object of interdisciplinary research.


Borges bequeaths a prolific body of literature, paradoxically distinguished by its internationalism and the nostalgic love for some mythical or minimal places: Buenos Aires, the "South", Iceland, England, the Far East, some courts, some street-corners. Passionately interested in Nordic mythology and languages, he systematically undertook the study of the old Scandinavian tongue. European intellectuals discovered and proclaimed his originality, even before he was recognized at home.


A deep philosopher of poetry and poet of philosophy, Borges presents each of his writings as an ontological enigma. And reciprocally, a borgesian story or poem often assumes the patterns of a treatise.


Although Borges could justifiably be considered the most erudite writer of this century, his works frequently provide the reader with moments of intact emotion or simple entertainment. Fantastic ontologies, transversal etymologies, synchronic genealogies, utopian grammars, fictional geographies, multiple universal histories, logical bestiaries, ornithological syllogisms, narrative ethics, imaginary mathematics, theological thrillers, nostalgic geometries and invented remembrances, are part of the huge landscape Borges' works offer both to the academic scholar and the casual reader. And over all things, the philosophy, conceived as perplexity, the thought as conjecture, and the poetry as the deepest form of rationality.


Being a pure "literature man", but paradoxically preferred by semioticians, mathematicians, philologists, philosophers and mythologists, Borges offers -through the perfection of his language, the extent of his knowledge, the universalism of his ideas, the originality of his fictions, and the beauty of his poetry- a real summa that does honour to the Spanish language and the universal mind.



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Beyond Borges: the "Transverse Epistemologies"

Borges used to say that he was less proud of his writings than of his readings. And it is true that, very often, his imitators prove to be quite mediocre writers, while the very borgesian distinguish themselves on the quality of their reading. Hence, the Borges Center is not exclusively devoted to the exegesis of Borges' writings, but principally to his way of reading: the way he reads the book, as a universe, the way he reads the universe, as book...


This determines some kind of "borgesian style", which goes beyond the person of Borges. This Borges style combines, and sometimes wisely jams, usually incompatible genres. A deep philosopher of poetry and poet of philosophy, Borges presents each of his writings as an ontological riddle. And reciprocally, a borgesian story or poem often assumes the patterns of a treatise. This Borges' style of intellectual behaviour which, although marginally, has been present throughout the history of thinking can be defined as a development of "transverse epistemologies". It is not to be taken for a pure interdisciplinarity, because what is here is less a confluence of methodologies than the epistemological displacement from one area of relevance to another (something as an "hypalagical" scientific attitude...).

This is horizon of the adventure the Center aims...



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Background of the Center

Why create a Borges Center in a so faraway country? And why the University of Aarhus?

Well, it is known that Jorge Luis Borges was "mythically" attracted by the Nordic countries and to "the words with which the rugged Nord sang its seas and its swords." But that is just an emblematic argument...


There is also a topological argument. Aarhus is not Argentine, and keeping far away from the "eye of the hurricane" brings all the leisure to spend the time in reading and studying...


Then, there is the historical reason. Two scholars at the University of Aarhus, one specialised in philosophy, the other in literature, sharing the same passion for this inexhaustible adventure, considered that the growing number of scholars across the world studying Borges' work calls for an international project dedicated to assembling their efforts. And the Borges Center was founded in response to that need. Borges' writings have always inspired, and still inspire, the most varied array of approaches. Among those subjects that touch upon borgesian scholarship can be included -to name only a few- literature, narratology, semiotics, linguistics and other language sciences; historiography, philosophy, theology and comparative mythology; folklore, bestiary, alchemy, and cabala; and even mathematics, cinema and tango. Such a wide horizon of intellectual involvements offers many unique opportunities for interdisciplinary research. This forecast soon proved to be right, and many of the best specialists in the world immediately brought their enthusiastic support.



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Areas of Activities

The Center was created in September 1994 with the following two purposes:


a) To offer a documentation service about the subjects defined by the scope of the Center, principally the study of "transverse epistemologies"


b) To organize and promote, wherever required, the study of those subjects: it is not a matter of concentrating efforts on the exegesis of a sole author, but rather of exploring a shared intellectual field.


This double goal crystallised in the development of the following areas of activities:

Bibliographic service. Constitution of a library and archives containing published writings by or about Jorge Luis Borges. The copious amount of written material sent by their authors is being systematically catalogued in order to enlarge the existing bibliographic database. Part of the received manuscripts will be published in "Variaciones Borges." (See the list in the page devoted to services)

Research Structure. Academic and institutional support to scholars from different countries in the elaboration of thesis or publications. Encounter point for bibliographic exchanges.

Internet network. Documentation service and a future newsgroup through the Internet. Increasing awareness of subjects concerning the Center through the World Wide Web. This service is having a rapid expansion. Each day the staff of the Center is happy to answer questions and requests coming from all over the world

Meetings. Planning of lectures, seminars, meetings, and congresses on subjects concerning the Center.

Publications. Variaciones Borges: half-yearly publication containing a section devoted to thematic contributions, (mainly Borges and the transversal epistemologies) and another to bibliographic information and service exchanges. Variaciones Borges is published in Spanish, English and French and can be defined as a journal of philosophy, semiotics and literature (see the special page).This item includes also publication of books.

Teaching. Permanent Seminar in the headquarters of the Center, in connection with the Spanish Department of the University of Aarhus. Creation at the University of Aarhus of a "Borges Chair," reserved to invited professors. This teaching activity was open in 1995 by the professor Michel Lafon, from the University of Grenoble. Academic exchange.

Translation. Promotion of translation projects and discussion about the implications of the translation task.



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Structure of the Center

Borges Center is an academic organisation, without any lucrative concern. Its academic standards are guaranteed by the Chancellorship of the University of Aarhus.


Advisory tasks are entrusted to an International Scientific Committee, which is presently composed of the following individuals: Jaime Alazraki (New York), Daniel Balderston (Iowa), Lisa Block de Behar (Montevideo), Umberto Eco (Bologna), Evelyn Fishburn (London), Noé Jitrik (Buenos Aires), Djelal Kadir (Pennsylvania), Wladimir Krysinski (Montreal), Michel Lafon (Grenoble), Sylvia Molloy (New York), Pino Paioni (Urbino), Piero Ricci (Sienna), Hans-George Ruprecht (Ottawa), Beatriz Sarlo (Buenos Aires), Saúl Sosnowski (Maryland), Peter Standish (East Carolina) and Saúl Yurkievich (Paris).


The Executive Board is constituted by Ivan Almeida and Cristina Parodi, professors at the University of Aarhus, and may be reached by mailing Ivan Almeida at the University of Aarhus.


The Center offers two ways of joining its activities:

a) The Permanent Seminar. Maintained at the University of Aarhus.

b) The associate researchers. Individual or collective researchers, even if working out of Aarhus, can propose activities (mainly thesis and seminars) to be integrated in the main project of the Center.Please, read the conditions under the item "membership".



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Permanent Seminar & Borges Chair

The Permanent Seminar is the principal element of the research project. It adopts the classic form of a workshop. what implies a true research stricto sensu, in which once a problem is circumscribed, no particular result is presumed. This procedure excludes the lecturing in the presentation of subjects and requires a large involvement of the participants. Those are generally researchers and advanced students coming from different disciplines. The seminar is held in Spanish but contributions in other languages are welcome and eventually translated.


Concerning the themes, each semester a predetermined main theme gradually develops wider variations. The research project begun in 1994, having as subject "Borges and the Rhetoric of Forms." The matter was, on the one hand, to explore how some rhetorical forms go beyond the boundaries of one sentence to become authentic "textual forms," i.e. by structuring a whole text (there are, for instance, hypalagical texts, oximorical texts, etc.). On the other hand, to explore how some "morphologies," be it prototypical, mathematical, logical (the circle, the spiral, the infinite, the mirror, the quotation, the paradox) frequently attain a structural value within the rhetoric of the text.


From September 1995 on, the seminar considered the "Histories of Eternity, or the Forms of Fantastic Theology." As a way to clarifying the question on the internal forms of textuality, the analysis considers Borges' formal devices to deal with theological subjects. Instead of tracing the references to some systematic theology, the purpose is to follow the steps of a particular theology which expressly defines itself as fictional and narrative. Theology is for Borges "a branch of fantastic literature," maybe the one which supposes all the others. In a way, because every faith is an act of narrative imagination but also because theology deals with what it itself defines as essentially unattainable. Many declared or implicit characters in Borges' stories are the infinite, time, identity, personal responsibility, and in all of them arises, narratively, the theological hypothesis.


In 1997, the seminar concerns the "Indirect Knowledge". Taking as starting point the detective stories of "Six problems for Don Isidro Parodi," the procedures of irony and of conjecture will be studied, as they characterize the "non immediate" knowledge and presentation of reality. (see updated information in the page devoted to "chronicles")


The Borges Chair, reserved to invited full-professors, was inaugurated by Michel Lafon, who hold the Permanent Seminar in October 1995. In 1996, the Borges Chair was assumed by Prof. Mercedes Blanco, from University of Lille III, about the short story "Los Teólogos".(see updated information in the page devoted to "chronicles")


ASSOCIATED PROJECTS: Some individual and collective research projects have already been proposed to be acknowledged as activities associated with the Center. The following research projects, connected with other Institutions, are currently in progress: "Borges and Shakespeare" (University of Cuyo, Argentina), "The Dantesian essays of Borges" (University of Rosario, Argentina), "Borges and Aesthetics" (University of Rosario, Argentina), a translation into Romanian of Borges' 'Milongas' (Bucuresti), a commented introduction of Borges' letters in Mallorca (Palma), "Borges and the Nordic Sagas" (Iceland), A glossary of proper names in Borges (in Polish, Warsaw), "Borges and Nominalism" (BahÃa Blanca), "Borges, fiction and Inconsistency" (Buenos Aires).



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NEWS

Important Note: Since this item should be updated more frequently, we invite you to read a special page of "chronicle" constantly updated. Thanks.



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Useful Information

Address:



Borges Center
Aarhus Universitet
Jens Chr. Skousvej 5/ 463
8000 Aarhus C /Denmark.


Phne: 45/89426454
Fax: 45/89426454.


E-mail: borges@hum.au.dk

Internet:

http://www.hum.au.dk/romansk/borges


Account:

nr 3632 3632457162
Den Danske Bank
2-12 Holmens Kanal
1092 Copenhagen K
Denmark.