Too Cold & WetBehind Corner of Minnesota & Lincoln
Brain can not only ponder the very stars that gave it birth but can also think about its own ability to think and wonder about its own ability to wonder.
Mind is seen as inhering in the structure of myth, institutions & cultures. Culture consists of the sharing of mythic patterns. Culture is then mind writ large which shapes us unawares unless we develop the understanding to shape culture.
Is it worth while in any individual case to look for the meaning of a dream, supposing that dreams have any meaning at all and that this meaning can be proved?
The psyche is the most baffling phenomenon with which the scientific mind has ever had to deal. Although we must assume that all psychic phenomena are somehow, in the broadest sense, causally dependent, remember that causality is no more than a statistical truth.
Heaven hovers over. It has lofty qualities, a divine atmosphere. It’s a spiritual shelter of continual security, a state above humanity’s most exalted hopes & desires. But the celestial firmament is not a place of rest. Even the angels work. They have their God given assignments.
THE WORD (1958) by Edna Sarah Beardsley (re: heaven)
The three pillars stood out clearly now, three pillars topped with two cross pieces in a way which looked stupefyingly familiar to Arthur’s addled brain.
“The three pillars,” thundered the man. “The Steel Pillarwhich represented the Strength and Power of the Galaxy!”
Searchlights seared out and danced crazy dances up and down the pillar on the left which was, clearly, made of steel or something very like it. The music thumped and bellowed.
“The Perspex Pillar,” announced the man, “representing the forces of Science and Reason in the Galaxy!”
Other searchlights played exotically up and down the righthand, transparent pillar creating dazzling patterns within it and a sudden inexplicable craving for ice-cream in the stomach of Arthur Dent.
“And,” the thunderous voice continued, “the Wooden Pillar, representing…” and here his voice became just very slightly hoarse with wonderful sentiments, “the forces of Nature and Spirituality.”
The lights picked out the central pillar. The music moved bravely up into the realms of complete unspeakability.
“Between them supporting,” the voice rolled on, approaching its climax, “the Golden Bail of Prosperity and the Silver Bail of Peace!“
The whole structure was now flooded with dazzling lights, and the music had now, fortunately, gone far beyond the limits of the discernible. At the top of the three pillars the two brilliantly gleaming bails sat and dazzled. There seemed to be girls sitting on top of them, or maybe they were meant to be angels. Angels are usually represented as wearing more than that, though.
LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING, Chapter 8, by Douglas Adams
