Istijlál, 07 Qudrat (Power), 179 B.E

Seen

Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera truncata) in bloom a little early…

Done

This afternoon, Tony Budak, Gwen Fischer, and I participated in our weekly “Raising the Value of Learning” Zoom call. Our discussion covered the waterfront. Below are some of the topics we explored along with the people behind them.

Noted

Astral Prospecting on Instagram | Astral Prospecting on YouTube | Astral Prospecting on Facebook

Marc Bosserman on Instagram | Marc Bosserman on Facebook | Marc Bosserman Music and Musings on YouTube

Tab’s Galaxy on YouTube

Listened

The Manhattan Transfer - The Manhattan Transfer

Notes by Discogs.com

Read

Huffington, Arianna Stassinopoulos. Picasso : Creator and Destroyer. New York : Avon Books, 1989. http://archive.org/details/picassocreatorde00huffrich.

Bookmarked

Johnson, Sophie Lucido. “What You Want To Do.” Substack newsletter. You Are Doing A Good Enough Job (blog), November 9, 2022. https://goodenoughjob.substack.com/p/what-you-want-to-do.

Johnstone, Caitlin. “I don’t want innovations which improve my shopping experience or make smartphones a tiny bit better.” ThreadReader, November 8, 2022. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1590123122770206720.html.

Mollick, Ethan. “Blue Checks aside, You Can’t Buy Status in Online Communities, but Once You Earn It, Shitposting Helps Grow It.” Tweet. Twitter, November 10, 2022. https://twitter.com/emollick/status/1590542726893748224.

Pirkowski, Matthew. “Either you back your branch of adaptive experimentation, or you’ve essentially relegated it to the waste bin of evolutionary history.” ThreadReader, November 9, 2022. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1590537511021187078.html.

Simon, Matt. “Scientists Are Uncovering Ominous Waters Under Antarctic Ice.” Wired, November 8, 2022. https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-are-uncovering-ominous-waters-under-antarctic-ice/.

Smirnova, Inna, Markus Reitzig, and Olav Sorenson. “Building Status in an Online Community.” Organization Science, February 11, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2021.1559.

Smith, Yves. “Knowledge Overconfidence: ‘Why Do the Heathen Rage, and the People Imagine a Vain Thing?’” Naked Capitalism (blog), November 10, 2022. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/11/knowledge-overconfidence-why-do-the-heathen-rage-and-the-people-imagine-a-vain-thing.html.

Veduta, Elena. “Some Lessons on Planning for the Twenty-First Century.” Monthly Review (blog), October 1, 2022. https://monthlyreview.org/2022/10/01/some-lessons-on-planning-for-the-twenty-first-century-from-the-worlds-first-socialist-economy/.

Prepped

Cleaned out the gutters for the last time this year — YAY!

Transplanted the geraniums from two planters into the ground outdoors. I covered them with a layer of leaves in anticipation of tomorrow’s rain. Then, I’ll set a “mini drop over greenhouse” over them on Saturday before the cold temps arrive that night. It’s an experiment…

Quoted

What is the reality of Divinity, or what do we understand by God?

When we consider the world of existence, we find that the essential reality underlying any given phenomenon is unknown. Phenomenal, or created, things are known to us only by their attributes. Man discerns only manifestations, or attributes, of objects, while the identity, or reality, of them remains hidden. For example, we call this object a flower. What do we understand by this name and title? We understand that the qualities appertaining to this organism are perceptible to us, but the intrinsic elemental reality, or identity, of it remains unknown. Its external appearance and manifest attributes are knowable; but the inner being, the underlying reality or intrinsic identity, is still beyond the ken and perception of our human powers. Inasmuch as the realities of material phenomena are impenetrable and unknowable and are only apprehended through their properties or qualities, how much more this is true concerning the reality of Divinity, that holy essential reality which transcends the plane and grasp of mind and man? That which comes within human grasp is finite, and in relation to it we are infinite because we can grasp it. Assuredly, the finite is lesser than the infinite; the infinite is ever greater. If the reality of Divinity could be contained within the grasp of human mind, it would after all be possessed of an intellectual existence only—a mere intellectual concept without extraneous existence, an image or likeness which had come within the comprehension of finite intellect. The mind of man would be transcendental thereto. How could it be possible that an image which has only intellectual existence is the reality of Divinity, which is infinite? Therefore, the reality of Divinity in its identity is beyond the range of human intellection because the human mind, the human intellect, the human thought are limited, whereas the reality of Divinity is unlimited. How can the limited grasp the unlimited and transcend it? Impossible. The unlimited always comprehends the limited. The limited can never comprehend, surround nor take in the unlimited. Therefore, every concept of Divinity which has come within the intellection of a human being is finite, or limited, and is a pure product of imagination, whereas the reality of Divinity is holy and sacred above and beyond all such concepts. 1

  1. ʻAbduʼl-Bahá. The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ʻAbduʼl-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912. Edited by Howard MacNutt. 2nd ed. Wilmette, Ill: Baháʼí Publishing Trust, 1982, 421-422. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/promulgation-universal-peace/31#099625472 [return]