A Commonplace Entry

Natural Man

  
   Man, bone by bone, flint by flint, has been traced backward into the night of time more successfully than even Darwin dreamed. He has been traced to a creature with an almost gorilloid head on the light, fast body of a still completely upright, plains-dwelling creature. In the end he partakes both of Darwinian toughness, resilience, and something else, a humanity---if this story is true---that runs well nigh as deep as time itself.

   Man has, in scientific terms, become natural, but the nature of his "naturalness" escapes him. Perhaps his human freedom has left him the difficult choice of determining what it is in his nature to be. Perhaps the two sides of the dark question Darwin speculated upon were only an evolutionary version of man's ancient warfare with himself---a drama as great in its hidden fashion as the story of the Garden and the Fall. (pp 113-114, The Firmament of Time)

The Firmament of Time by Loren Eiseley. Atheneum, 1969 (1960)

Quote for Today

What a Chimera is man! What a novelty, a monster, a chaos, a contradiction, a prodigy! Judge of all things, and imbecile norm of the earth; depository of truth, and sewer of error and doubt; the glory and refuse of the universe. Who shall unravel this confusion?

—from the Pensées of Blaise Pascal, born on this day in 1623  

A Humanist Perspective

A Preface to Morals
by Walter Lippmann

"The radical novelty of modern science lies precisely in the rejection of the belief, which is at the heart of all popular religion, that the forces which move the stars and atoms are contingent upon the preferences of the human heart." - Walter Lippmann, A Preface to Morals

Walter Lippmann was an influential journalist and political theorist of the twentieth century. A Preface to Morals, his most well-known and influential book, was first published in 1929. I was introduced to Lippmann in the late sixties when the Time Reading Program included this book in its offerings. In it Lippmann argues that in modern society traditional religious faith has lost its power to function as a source of moral authority. He asserts that ancient religious doctrine is no longer relevant to the conditions of modern life: governments have become increasingly democratized, populations have moved from rural to urban environments, and tradition in general is not suited to the dictates of modernity. Further, the democratic policy of the separation of church and state has created an atmosphere of religious tolerance, which suggests that religious faith is a matter of preference. In addition, the development of scientific method has created an atmosphere of doubt as to the claims made by religious doctrine. That doubt has grown larger over the last fifty years.
Lippmann offers humanism as the philosophy best suited to replace the role of religion in modern life. He notes that the teachers of humanism are the wise men or sages, such as Aristotle, Buddha, Confucius, Plato, Socrates, and Spinoza, and that it is up to the individual to determine the value of their wisdom. He goes on to observe that one of the primary functions of religion is to teach the value of asceticism, or voluntary self-denial, as essential to human happiness. Lippmann describes an attitude of ‘‘disinterestedness’’ as essential to the development of a humanistic morality. Disinterestedness, for Lippmann, is an approach to reality that puts objective thought before personal desire. He claims that the role of the moralist in modern society is not, as in traditional religions, to chastise and punish but to teach others a humanistic morality that can fulfill the human needs traditionally filled by religion.

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Creativity and Genius

Notes on the Piano

by Ernst Bacon

Commonplaces entries 'On the piano' . . .

"The realest playing is often pure illusion.  This is shown by the player who, when contending with a defective or untuned instrument. succeeds nevertheless in imagining ideal sounds and transporting his hearers out of all awareness of the piano's blemishes.  He compels them to hear imaginarily along with himself.  This beautiful art is, of course, lost in the recording." (p 151)

"As in climbing high mountains, the progress one makes toward the final summits of mastery are often so slow as to be imperceptible.  The difference between being there and being almost there is something only the Alpinist fully understands." (p 153)

"Why shall we not say "great," and speak of "genius"?  We know what is meant, though we fail in definition.  The tribute we deny our living Olympians, we lavish then on plastic and synthetic gods, rich in things, not to emulate, but only to envy.  It takes courage today to salute greatness." (p 155)

Entitled simply Notes on the Piano, Ernst Bacon has written a book that ranges widely about all aspects of creative life.  As Paul Horgan said, "What he says about aspects of music can apply as strongly to other arts, even to the art of living and feeling as a truly civilized man."  An accomplished composer, pianist, writer, and teacher, he presents an easy and entertaining guide for players at all levels of expertise. The book offers valuable tips on working, listening, and playing habits in five sections that cover "The Performer," "The Learner," "The Player and Writer," "The Observer," and "Technically Speaking."

This is as much an essay on the nature of humanism as it is about the piano.

Notes on the Piano by Ernst Bacon. University of Washington Press,  1973 (1963)