David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


05 February 2017

Wisdom in the Age of Rage

  
At the centre of Tibetan Buddhism's Wheel of Life diagram, a snake a pig and a rooster hold to each other. They represent ignorance, anger and desire attachment as the causes at the core of our unsettled suffering.

    
click image to see full Wheel of Life diagram    

1. Anger is of most concern among the afflictive emotions. In all the writing and discussion read and heard by this correspondent, in the analysis the diagnosis and the seeking for a way beyond these Trump-focussed troubles, there has been no questioning of the appropriateness of anger in the mix. We regard this as blinkered and unwise.
Righteous anger is typically a reactive emotion of anger over mistreatment, insult, or malice. It is akin to what is called the sense of injustice. 
Righteous indignation - Wikipedia

book by Panjak Mishra, first published 25 January 2017  

 Jan 15
For many years our country has been divided, angry and untrusting. Many say it will never change, the hatred is too deep. IT WILL CHANGE!!!!

It /we will not change if not attended to at the root.

2. Ignorance in this schema is further described as ignorance of the true nature of reality. Without here going into a presentation of that view, how is the present climate of our knowledge of the true nature of reality? ...in this so-called "post-truth" (Oxford Dictionaries' Word of the Year) age? 
Gnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge (γνῶσις, gnôsis, f.). It is often used for personal knowledge compared with intellectual knowledge (εἶδειν eídein), as with the French connaitre compared with savoir, or the German kennen rather than wissen.    Latin dropped the initial g (which was preserved in Greek) so gno- becomes no- as in noscō meaning "I know", noscentia meaning "knowledge" and notus meaning "known". The g remains in the Latin co-gni-tio meaning "knowledge" and i-gno-tus and i-gna-rus meaning "unknown" and from which comes the word i-gno-rant, and a-gno-stic which means "not knowing" and once again this reflects the Sanskrit jna which means "to know", "to perceive" or "to understand". 
Gnosis - Wikipedia
Post-truth politics (also called post-factual politics) is a political culture in which debate is framed largely by appeals to emotion disconnected from the details of policy, and by the repeated assertion of talking points to which factual rebuttals are ignored. 
Post-truth politics - Wikipedia
Agnotology (formerly agnatology) is the study of culturally induced ignorance or doubt, particularly the publication of inaccurate or misleading scientific data.
       The neologism was coined by Robert N. Proctor and Linguist Iain Boal, a Stanford University professor specializing in the history of science and technology. Its name derives from the Neoclassical Greek word ἄγνωσις, agnōsis, "not knowing" (cf. Attic Greek ἄγνωτος "unknown"), and -λογία, -logia. 
More generally, the term also highlights the increasingly common condition where more knowledge of a subject leaves one more uncertain than before. David Dunning is another academic who studies the spread of ignorance. "Dunning warns that the internet is helping propagate ignorance – it is a place where everyone has a chance to be their own expert, he says, which makes them prey for powerful interests wishing to deliberately spread ignorance". 
Agnotology - Wikipedia
 Jan 13
Totally made up facts by sleazebag political operatives, both Democrats and Republicans - FAKE NEWS! Russia says nothing exists. Probably..
released by "Intelligence" even knowing there is no proof, and never will be. My people will have a full report on hacking within 90 days!

Jesus : "The truth shall set you free" 

Pilate : "What is truth?"

 Trump : "I am your voice"

3. Desire attachment fuels the American Dream and all such dream machines. Every generation of snake oil salesmen sells anew Fear of Loss and the Prospect of Redemption : Paradise Lost and Make America Great Again. We the people : angry, ignorant and would-be/dispossessed project to reflect to elect to follow to reject again the next available suitably framed mirror...

 from 2014 exhibition 'Debris of the Future' by Pavel Pepperstein

 detail
 A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
 someone looks at something...

 LOGOS/HA HA 
    
   
Postscript : 9 February 2017, in today's New York Review of Books, The Age of Total Lies by Vesna Pešić and Charles Simic. And, via that, the March 2012 article Age of Ignorance by Charles Simic.