Tuesday 9 September 2014

Cosmenosis

Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2010).

I agree with Cosmenosis or at least with the following propositions:

reality grows and transcends its earlier stages - inorganic matter, organisms, consciousness, self-consciousness, contemplative consciousness;

the highest have a duty to help the development of the lower;

the Ancients were so widespread that it is unlikely that they became extinct;

it is at least possible that they advanced to a higher plane and will return;

rumors of a forerunner should be investigated but with critical skepticism, not with uncritical credulity.

However, I would add that the focus of spiritual practice should be present meditation, not a future hope. It is all too easy to go from "it is at least possible that they advanced to a higher level and will return" to "(it is at least possible that) they advanced...and will return" to "they advanced...and will return."

In terms of a political program, I would advocate enfranchisement of the entire population and an end to the hereditary principle both in parliament and in education. However, the Aeneans are traditionalists and, if consulted, for example in a referendum, might vote to preserve hereditary rights and distinctions. Desai thinks that Tatiana looks shocked when he raises the possibility of disempowering the gentry in favor of "...manhood suffrage..." (p. 125), not universal suffrage, but he himself wants to make minimal changes, maybe only strengthening trade links with the inner Empire.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

I am a conservative, which means I'm skeptical of the likelihood that radical reform of any kind will succeed, ABSENT a real and true need for it (see Chunderban Desai's comments to Flandry about the need for Sector Spica to undergo a thorough reorganization). If a socio/political system is working reasonably well and most of its people are satisfied with it, leave it alone even if it contains features you don't like. So, I side with Commissioner Desai's minimalist approach for reintegrating Aeneas into the Empire.

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
I am gaining a better understanding of conservative politics from these exchanges.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

Thanks! Glad I've sometimes given you food for thought. And what I said above can be traced back to what Edmund Burke wrote in his REFLECTIONS ON THE REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. Or to plain old caution--if something is working, don't try to fix it!

Sean