Devil’s Trill Sonata
Devil’s Trill Sonata
Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770):
“One night, in the year 1713 I dreamed I had made a pact with the devil for my soul. Everything went as I wished: my new servant anticipated my every desire. Among other things, I gave him my violin to see if he could play. How great was my astonishment on hearing a sonata so wonderful and so beautiful, played with such great art and intelligence, as I had never even conceived in my boldest flights of fantasy. I felt enraptured, transported, enchanted: my breath failed me, and – I awoke. I immediately grasped my violin in order to retain, in part at least, the impression of my dream. In vain! The music which I at this time composed is indeed the best that I ever wrote, and I still call it the “Devil’s Trill”, but the difference between it and that which so moved me is so great that I would have destroyed my instrument and have said farewell to music forever if it had been possible for me to live without the enjoyment it affords me.”
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Trill_Sonata>
Listen to Tartini Violin Sonata in G minor ”Devil’s Trill Sonata” :
Terence McKenna on Drugs:
Terence McKenna on Drugs:[More from Terence Mckenna. We’ve said he was credulous, he says we’re hearing him wrong.]Terence McKenna — Tree of Knowledge:
“…I feel like I should say this. Its more for my ease rather than yours. I’ve reached the conclusions I now espouse through skepticism, reason, rationalism and tough argument. So it may sound bitsy, flakey and soft-headed, but that just because you’re hearing it wrong. The guiding input was experience, and in a way what we’re gathered here to talk about tonight is an experience. Which is not only rare, transformative, challenging, but, also, for reasons which we’re probably get around to, illegal.So it’s a very peculiar situation. Very few experiences are illegal, and our models of the world are built up based on our experience. So if you make an experience illegal, you’re essentially saying it is off-limits for model building. You can’t include that in your model because it isn’t really there in some sense. And this is the situation in western society vis-à-vis the psychedelic experience. To my mind the psychedelic experience is as much a part of being human as sexuality, personal independence, child rearing. These are the things which are scripted into us as opportunities for exercising our peculiar situation vis-à-vis the phenomenon of being, and a society which would deny that is a society whose secret, or maybe not so secret, agenda is the infantilization of its citizens. I mean if we’re not capable of dealing with these things, then, who is? And are the people who made the rules; did they carefully, conscientiously and at depth explore these dimensions and decide they were unfit for human consumption? Or was it done more hastily, more mindlessly and with more fear? I would submit to you that it’s the later.”–snip–“Well, my notion to legitimate the importance of psychedelics is by showing, and I think one can show in fairly short order, that these things are not alien to the human experience, or ancillary, or the province of uneducated little brown people down in the rain forest, or anything like that. I submit to you that the psychedelic experience and the impact of psychedelic plants on human beings is central to understanding who we are and how we got this way. And if we can explore this issue and convince ourselves that there’s some merit in this point of view, then it will simply, it will do more than rewrite the annals of a staid science like anthropology. It will actually change how we relate to each other and to the planet that we’re in the process of grinding into pollution.”
Pasted from <http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×9321820> @ ~ 4:40 in Terence K. McKenna (1992) Search For The Original Tree Of Knowledge.Recorded live in Boulder, Colorado May 29-31, 1992.Pasted from <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09354zHyLRg>
“There’s light at the end of the tunnel. The problem is that tunnel is in the back of your mind, and if you don’t go to the backside of your mind, you will never see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
@ ~ 59:00 in Terence K. McKenna (1992) Search For The Original Tree Of Knowledge.Recorded live in Boulder, Colorado May 29-31, 1992.Pasted from <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09354zHyLRg>
Hermeticism & Alchemy (Terence McKenna)
Hermeticism & Alchemy (Terence McKenna)[Good old Terence McKenna, psychonaut. He had some good insights and died too soon. He wrote a lot and there’s stuff on Youtube. He believed in entheogens. He believed the drugs had something to say to him, and he gave them every chance he could. Maybe he was a little too enthusiastic and credulous, but he was open-minded. If a mushroom speaks to you, listen.]Pasted from <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YNdBpYh1eA&feature=BFa&list=PLADD34F9C30BDFAA2>
“There is a problem that we are manipulated and we are not empowered – and those who are empowered – it wouldn’t be so bad if they had a plan, but their plan is another house, another Mercedes, a deeper swimming pool. This is no plan. And so it’s up to the creativity of ordinary people and the strongest weapon to support and augment the creativity of ordinary people is the psychedelic experience because it allows you to put information together in new and exciting ways, and this is to be then the basis of a new political order – it has to be – and if we don’t react then um… the mushroom said to me once, it said to me: ” If you don’t have a plan, you become part of somebody else’s plan. Because there are only planners and plan-ees. You know? So what do you wanna do?” Do you want to be part of somebody else’s plan or get your own agenda together?”
[…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YNdBpYh1eA&feature=BFa&list=PLADD34F9C30BDFAA2 4:20]
McKenna at Wikipedia.
Hermetica Part 1:
Hermetica Part 1: The Ancient Greek and Latin Writings Which Contain … By Walter Scott
Pasted from <http://books.google.ca/books?id=dk38iSa-hvQC&pg=PA159&lpg=PA159&dq=%22thought+alone+can+see+that+which+is+hidden%22&source=bl&ots=PDF3V8TnEq&sig=1ETPLUmQR6TzaE0FjHC4u8RToKc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8KLBT9r4NObXiQLO4PCJCA&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22thought%20alone%20can%20see%20that%20which%20is%20hidden%22&f=false> …Also…:3. But if thou wouldst “see” Him, bethink thee of the sun, bethink thee of moon’s course, bethink thee of the order of the stars. Who is the One who watcheth o’er that order? For every order hath its boundaries marked out by place and number.The sun’s the greatest god of gods in heaven; to whom all of the heavenly gods give place as unto king and master. And he, this so-great one, he greater than the earth and sea, endures to have above him circling smaller stars than him. Out of respect to Whom, or out of fear of Whom, my son, [doth he do this]?Nor like nor equal is the course each of these stars describes in heaven. Who [then] is He who marketh out the manner of their course and its extent?4. The Bear up there that turneth round itself, and carries round the whole cosmos with it—Who is the owner of this instrument? Who He who hath set round the sea its bounds? Who He who hath set on its seat the earth?Pasted from <http://www.gnosis.org/library/grs-mead/TGH-v2/th211.html>
Selections from the Catholic Encyclopedia on Astrology
Selections from the Catholic Encyclopedia on Astrology:
“Up to the time of the Crusades, Christian countries in general were spared any trouble from a degenerate astrology. Only natural astrology, the correctness of which the peasant thought he had recognized by experience secured a firm footing in spite of the prohibition of Church and State. But the gradually increasing influence of Arabic learning upon the civilization of the West, which reached its highest point at the time of the Crusades was unavoidably followed by the spread of the false theories of astrology. This was a natural result of the amalgamation of the teachings of pure astronomy with astrology at the Mohammedan seats of learning. The spread of astrology was also furthered by the Jewish scholars living in Christian lands, for they considered astrology as a necessary part of their cabalistic and Talmudic studies.”Pasted from <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02018e.htm>
“The public importance of astrology grew as the internal disorders of the Church increased and the papal and imperial power declined. Towards the close of the Middle Ages nearly every petty prince, as well as every ruler of importance, had his court astrologer upon whose ambiguous utterances the weal and the woe of the whole country often depended.”
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02018e.htm>
“The revival of classical learning brought with it a second period of prosperity for astrology. Among the civilized peoples of the Renaissance period, so profoundly stirred by the all-prevailing religious, social and political ferment, the astrological teaching which had come to light with other treasures of ancient Hellenic learning found many ardent disciples. The romantic trend of the age and its highly cultivated sensuality were conditions which contributed to place this art in a position far higher than any it had attained in its former period of prosperity. The forerunners of Humanism busied themselves with astrology, and but few of them perceived the dangerous psychical effect of its teachings upon the masses.”Pasted from <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02018e.htm>
“Emperors and popes became votaries of astrology– the Emperors Charles IV and V, and Popes Sixtus IV, Julius II, Leo X, and Paul III. When these rulers lived astrology was, so to say, the regulator of official life; it is a fact characteristic of the age, that at the papal and imperial courts ambassadors were not received in audience until the court astrologer had been consulted.”Pasted from <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02018e.htm>
“The influence of the Copernican theory, the war of enlightened minds against pseudo-prophetic wisdom and the increasing perception of the moral and psychical damage wrought by astrological humbug at last brought about a decline in the fortunes of astrology, and that precisely in Wallenstein’s time. At the same period astrological tracts were stil being written by the most celebrated of English astrologers, William Lilly of Diseworth, Leicestershire, who received a pension of 100 pounds from Cromwell’s council of state, and who, in spite of some awkward incidents, had no little political influence with Charles II. Among his works was a frequently republished “Christian Astrology”. Shakespeare (in King Lear) and Milton were acquainted with and advocated astrological theories, and Robert Fludd was a representative of the art at the royal court. Francis Bacon, it is true, sought to win adherents for a purified and reformed astrology in order to destroy the existing form of the art. It was Jonathan Swift who in his clever satire, “Prediction for the Year 1708 by Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq”, which deserves to be read even at the present day, gave the deathblow to the belief of English society in astrology. The last astrologer of importance on the Continent was Jean-Baptiste Marin, who issued “Astrologia Gallica” (1661). The greatly misunderstood Swiss naturalist Theophrastus Paracelsus was an opponent of astrology, and not its advocate, as was formerly inferred from writings erroneously attributed to him. The rapid growth of experimental investigation in the natural sciences in those countries which had been almost ruined, socially and politically; by the Thirty Years War completely banished the astrological parasites from society. Once more astrology fell to the level of a vulgar superstition, cutting a sorry figure among the classes that still had faith in the occult arts. The peasant held fast to his belief in natural astrologist and to this belief the progress of the art of printing and the spread of popular education contributed largely. For not only were there disseminated among the rural poor “farmer’s almanacs”, which contained information substantiated by the peasant’s own experience, but the printing-presses also supplied the peasant with a great mass of cheap and easily understood books containing much fantastic astrological nonsense.”Pasted from <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02018e.htm>
“The remarkable physical discoveries of recent decades, in combination with the growing desire for an elevated philosophico-religious conception of the world and the intensified sensitiveness of the modern cultured man — all these together have caused astrology to emerge from its hiding place among paltry superstitions. The growth of occultistic ideas, which should, perhaps, not be entirely rejected, is reintroducing astrology into society. This is especially true of judicial astrology, which, however, by its constant encouragement of fatalistic views unsettles the belief in a Divine Providence. At present Judicial astrology is not justified by any scientific facts.”Pasted from <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02018e.htm>
“Co-incident with the spread of old astrology in old Israel and the decline of the nation was the diffusion of demonology. The Jewish prayers to the planets, in the form in which they are preserved with others in Codex Paris, 2419 (folio 277r), came into existence at the time when Hellenism first flourished in the East, namely, the third and second centuries B.C. In these prayers special angels and demons are assigned to the different planets; the greatest and most powerful planet Saturn having only one angel, Ktetoel, and one demon, Beelzebub. These planetary demons regulated the destiny of men.”Pasted from <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02018e.htm>
“The lower the Jewish nation sank in the scale of religion and civilization the greater was the power gained by the erratic doctrines of astrology and the accompanying belief in demonology. The earthly labours of the Saviour purified this noxious atmosphere. The New Testament is the opponent of astrology, which, by encouraging an apathetic fatalism, prevents the development of and elevating and strengthening trust in a Divine Providence.”Pasted from <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02018e.htm>
Jacobi, M. (1907). Astrology. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved April 17, 2012 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02018e.htmPasted from <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02018e.htm>
Church & Despots
Church & Despots
“Though Guizot’s [François Guizot (1787–1874)] affirmation that the Church has always sided with despotism is only too true, it must be remembered that in the policy she follows there is much of political necessity. She is urged on by the pressure of nineteen centuries. But, if the irresistible indicates itself in her action, the inevitable manifests itself in her life. For it is with the papacy as with a man. It has passed through the struggles of infancy, it has displayed the energies of maturity, and, its work completed, it must sink into the feebleness and querulousness of old age. Its youth can never be renewed. The influence of its souvenirs alone will remain. As pagan Rome threw her departing shadow over the empire and tinctured all its thoughts, so Christian Rome casts her parting shadow over Europe.”
History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science. By John William Draper. Published 1875 by D. Appleton and company, New York.. Ch. XI.
Protestant Response to Newton
Protestant Response to Newton
“In the century preceding the epoch of Newton, a great religious and political revolution had taken place—the Reformation. Though its effect had not been the securing of complete liberty for thought, it had weakened many of the old ecclesiastical bonds. In the reformed countries there was no power to express a condemnation of Newton’s works, and among the clergy there was no disposition to give themselves any concern about the matter.
At first the attention of the Protestant was engrossed by the movements of his great enemy the Catholic, and when that source of disquietude ceased, and the inevitable partitions of the Reformation arose, that attention was fastened upon the rival and antagonistic Churches. The Lutheran, the Calvinist, the Episcopalian, the Presbyterian, had something more urgent on hand than Newton’s mathematical demonstrations.
So, uncondemned, and indeed unobserved, in this clamor of fighting sects, Newton’s grand theory solidly established itself. Its philosophical significance was infinitely more momentous than the dogmas that these persons were quarreling about. It not only accepted the heliocentric theory and the laws discovered by Kepler, but it proved that, no matter what might be the weight of opposing ecclesiastical authority, the sun MUST be the centre of our system, and that Kepler’s laws are the result of a mathematical necessity. It is impossible that they should be other than they are.”
History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science. By John William Draper. Published 1875 by D. Appleton and company, New York.. Ch. IX.
Kepler Confounds Clergy, Clergy Condemn Kepler.
Kepler Confounds Clergy
“When Kepler announced his three laws, they were received with condemnation by the spiritual authorities, not because of any error they were supposed to present or to contain, but partly because they gave support to the Copernican system, and partly because it was judged inexpedient to admit the prevalence of law of any kind as opposed to providential intervention. The world was regarded as the theatre in which the divine will was daily displayed; it was considered derogatory to the majesty of God that that will should be fettered in any way.
The power of the clergy was chiefly manifested in the influence they were alleged to possess in changing his arbitrary determinations. It was thus that they could abate the baleful action of comets, secure fine weather or rain, prevent eclipses, and, arresting the course of Nature, work all manner of miracles; it was thus that the shadow had been made to go back on the dial, and the sun and the moon stopped in mid-career.”
History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science. By John William Draper. Published 1875 by D. Appleton and company, New York.. Ch. IX.
Truth as told
Truth
“While thus the Protestant churches have insisted on the acknowledgment of the Scriptures as the criterion of truth, the Catholic has, in our own times, declared the infallibility of the pope.”
History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science. By John William Draper. Published 1875 by D. Appleton and company, New York.. Ch. VIII.