I remain confident of this:
I will [study and] see the goodness of the Lord
[Psalm 27,13]
You don’t need to have a scholar on hand – and if you do, take me* – to know that all the intellectual effort that takes places at universities – and in my bed** – is of no practical significance. Or to be precise: whatever practical*** significance there may be in it, it’s not worth the paper it's published in.
We know – and if you don’t, ask a scholar (yes, what follows is true) – that entropy doesn't show mercy or enters into negotiations. Even if its plan were to be somehow foiled, something philosophically conclusive is bound to happen to the Universe: it could blow up, vapour away or – to put it colloquially, and without getting into boring sub metaphysical detail - something. What we have in front is flat, static, dark, dead and – it may seem to those that got stuck in the sub-metaphysical – non-existent. And what is in front is what we should focus on. All wise men, including scholars, focus on the future (that's right); and come back to the present only if the future redirects them there.
We know – and if you don’t, ask a scholar (yes, what follows is true) – that entropy doesn't show mercy or enters into negotiations. Even if its plan were to be somehow foiled, something philosophically conclusive is bound to happen to the Universe: it could blow up, vapour away or – to put it colloquially, and without getting into boring sub metaphysical detail - something. What we have in front is flat, static, dark, dead and – it may seem to those that got stuck in the sub-metaphysical – non-existent. And what is in front is what we should focus on. All wise men, including scholars, focus on the future (that's right); and come back to the present only if the future redirects them there.
The only sensible – and a scholar could argue (and I do) the only practical, in the ultimate sense of the word – prupose of the university, and of any other human intellectual effort for that matter, is to become amazed at what, or who – if you’re a post-graduate student, spiritually – made the Universe that your local university studies happen, and will make it re-happen, as announced in that crucial line, that keeps being supplied by many a paper published by the local Faculty of Theology.
Because, at the end of the volume you'll finally grasp it, the University is merely discursive, on-going, collective (and in some cases collegiate) psalm singing.
Because, at the end of the volume you'll finally grasp it, the University is merely discursive, on-going, collective (and in some cases collegiate) psalm singing.
The local Catholic Chaplancy (Windows)
* ;)
**more on the hard, conscientious work I do in my bed - soon
***yes, I see the issue you could take with 'practical' in the context of the university. And I sypmathise. I'll take the uchallenging path though, and instead of blunt past-editing, I'll try to give 'practical' a new meaning - soon.
PS The highlight of my trip, the result of a generous invitation by some friends, to Oxford
**more on the hard, conscientious work I do in my bed - soon
***yes, I see the issue you could take with 'practical' in the context of the university. And I sypmathise. I'll take the uchallenging path though, and instead of blunt past-editing, I'll try to give 'practical' a new meaning - soon.
