Serious Stuff

The other day I mentioned current uncertainties as to the fiction I intend to read in the next month or so. Those uncertainties partly relate to a sort of plan I have in mind with regard to what I regard as my serious reading. I've been thinking of rereading Iain McGilchrist's The Master and his Emissary for some time, and I've decided that now is that time, with the end of year break not far off. I'm talking about a very slow reading indeed to ensure I've picked up every nuance of McGilchrist's argument, such that I can defend or promote it in genuine fine detail. The first time round I bought into his ideas big time, and now he's become a bit of presence in terms of on-line talks it's been easy to re-visit those ideas in a broad iteration. I'm absolutely convinced now of their value - I'm certain he's got it right. And since I now think in the same terms I need to ensure those thoughts are clear at every level.

In a similar way, I need to seek similar clarification with regard to Ed Feser's highly persuasive arguments that Aquinas got it right with his proofs of the existence of God. Though a convinced theist myself, I've sort of taken it for granted that such philosophical arguments, whilst broadly persuasive, can't deliver a genuine certainty of proof. But the last time I was reading Feser's The Last Superstition I had one of those moments of thinking that he'd achieved (through Aristotle & Aquinas) precisely that and knew I had to get back to the metaphysics involved with more mental energy than I was prepared to put in at that point. I've since acquired Prof Feser's Five Proofs of the Existence of God, and that acquisition has made aware I need to rise to the occasion with some serious thought (and some urgency.)

I have enough self-knowledge to acknowledge a fundamental laziness of mind. I've done enough thinking to know how hard it is to think, even when someone has provided the thoughts to think about. But it feels like letting the side down if I fail to get my neurones moving. Actually, I know where these thoughts lead; I just need to get there in a genuinely rigorous fashion.