Protozoa To Cosmos
Perfectionism
which would transform the whole of thought
and the entire society,
is a program of destruction,
ending up at best
in a world of pretense.
The Tacit Dimension by Michael Polanyi, 1891-1976
Today is unseasonably warm nearly sixty degrees, mid-February. Are the gods are playing with us? Or is it just another step up of global warming? It is highly unusual for February. The weather reporter maintains her chipper grin. She appears happy, she gestures toward the arrows squiggling about the map on the green screen behind her. Side note: a few days ago the EPA removed all environmental restriction on the manufacture of automobiles.
I slept in a bit before going to Starbucks for a session of meditative reading, and my attempt of putting thoughts to written words. I revisited a slim volume, The Tacit Dimension, by which I was introduced to the thought of this European intellectual when I was a college student. The 92 pages of the book are heavily highlighted with yellow and there are notes in the margin. All of which was generated by much younger version of myself. At present I am retired, and some forty years older. Yes, I added more notes…
The initial enchantment of Polanyi’s vision/understanding of the evolution of humankind, of the progress of science, and of a stratified society which mirrors a layered relationship operative between the inanimate to the vegetative, to a more complex, mobile, mammalian life — remains as vivid, and as convincing at this late stage in life, as in my early adulthood.
Progress is achieved by means of openness of higher levels of sophistication to the constraints, the limits inherent in the lower and supporting levels, of the organism/society. Progress is incremental, measured, a step by step process.
Any bid for a wholesale renovation, a revolutionary leap forward is a disguised form of totalitarian catastrophe. Labeled as you will: Maoism, Fascism, Soviet Communism, Dominionism Christianity.
Call it what you will, crimes committed in the name of progress are still crimes.
2 thoughts on “Protozoa To Cosmos”
As a note. I believe that Trump ordered the EPA to remove all restrictions on coal, gas, and oil PERIOD. Not just for autos. Maybe clean water is still a part of the EPA’s job but the use of all fossil fuels for any reason has been given free rein. The fact that we are either close to or over a tipping point of no return on the planet’s climate is something beyond frightening. We can ill afford the final three years of this moron’s tenancy as president. Hopefully the flood of lawsuits that will be filed in the next few weeks will have some impact.
Many know that this and other measures amount to a planetary suicide. I prefer the term ecocide. Since we have no institutions that are intact, strong enough to restrain this sequestration of power, relief will come from other means, or even not at all.