Tuesday 11 May 2010

Scientia Causarum Sufficientium


Everything perceived in the physical and mental universes exist because there is, or was, an adequate cause for it. This cause may or may not be apparent to any particular observer. But it exists all the same.

Scientia means "knowing" from the Latin scio: I know.

The Science of Adequate Causes is a process which starts with the Effect which is perceptible and investigates it in order to know the adequate Cause which makes (or made) it possible. In this way one comes to understand things. One sees how things are. One may not approve of what one sees. One often doesn't. There is an adequate cause for that too.

Everything is understandable but it takes an honest and detached mind, a longer or shorter period of time and perseverance to realise it.

The mind is naturally curious unless it has been interfered with by others (parents, society, educationists, dictators etc.) who try to make it work in directions which they consider desirable. When its curiosity is aroused, it is not normally satisfied until it comes up with a satisfactory answer. In this sense it doesn't mean that the answer is one that one approves of; simply that it makes sense. Why is there a dead blackbird on the lawn? Investigation reveals that the cat killed it. The mind is satisfied that this an adequate explanation. It may also decide to put a bell round the animal's neck to make sure that another similar effect is not produced in the future.

NEW PROJECT: The Science of Adequate Results.


SCIENTIA CAUSARUM SUFFICIENTIUM

When we were very young
we dug up the ground
to find Australia.
Australia was out.
A few old toys were all we found.

Because we were here
we wanted to be there.
Because we were dark
we wanted to be fair.
Because we were thin
we wanted to be fat.
Because we were this
we wanted to be that.

We longed for the country
for we lived in the town.
We wished we could have fair skin
because our skin was brown.
We had black hair
but we prayed for gold.
Because we were very young
we wanted to be old.

When we were very young
we dug up the ground
to find Australia.


THE SCIENCE OF ADEQUATE CAUSES

Trace it all back as far as you can
from where it is now to where it began.
From knife to hand
from hand to eye;
from footprints on sand
to sun in the sky.

Trace it back further to where it begins
to the gateways and windows where all things get in.
The scent is not the rose
but the hairs that line the nose.
The seascape is the roving eye,
the tongue is the taste not the apple pie.
Mozart is what you hear
and his place is in the ear.

And all the subtle sensations that impinge upon the skin
flare their little on/off switches
in the mind that shines within.


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