Soul Envy: My Soul is Bigger/Loopier Than Yours

The most tremendously deep Christian still has a terrifying capacity for self-deception, I have often said.

Len's helpful post(Hohstadt on “our Greek soul” ) hijaked me into me to rethinking/feeling/tooling how subtly dualism, gnosticm and hellenism are temptations; ironically/especially when we are attempting to intentionally dismantle them! We sometimes (re)create new dualisms, gnosticisms , and hellenisms in the process.

I got a kick out of St. Steve cleverly/winkingly commenting that he is the biggest Hellenistic thinker in the world."...which of course is a Hellenistic statement...

Len quotes Thomas: "Our ancient Greek legacy is totally incompatible with the ancient Hebrews." A Greek-phrased thesis to advocate non-Greek thinking!

..Oh, no a loop!

Hofstadter offers brilliant work on how consciousness/"soul" emerges: through a series of self-referential feedback loops (kinda like the Edge on guitar!!!); a fascinating phenomenon that great music, art and math ("Godel, Escher , Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid.") can is some sense exhibit (thus, Hofstadter's delightful phrase for such manifestations : they are "big-souled."


I need more soul. I am desperate to be fully conscious. If Hofsadter is correct, I am myself am inevitably "a strange loop"..

You knew that, eh?



In a recent Scientific American two leading neuroscientists debate "How Does Consciousness Happen? I am sorry they didn't ask theological epistemologists like PubProphet Rharbert, so we'll have to settle for Christof Koch and Susan Greenfield, who preface the article with:

How brain processes translate to consciousness is one of the greatest un­­-­solved questions in science. Although the scientific method can delineate events immediately after the big bang and uncover the biochemical nuts and bolts of the brain, it has utterly failed to satisfactorily explain how subjective experience is created.

As neuroscientists, both of us have made it our life’s goal to try to solve this puzzle (and we disagree).

You technical geniuses can interpret the opposing answers the good docs give....But could it be that one arrived at a Greek answer from a Hebrew perspective, and the other reached a Hebrew answer from their Hebraic assumptions?

Either way (both ways), soul happens.

Greenfield suggests that any strong sensory stimulus (such as an alarm clock or bright light) will induce consciousness. The more extensive and organic the person's network of neurons, the more likely they will be awakened.
How God (The ultimate strong external stimulus) must delight in "waking/shaking us up," summoning our soul to arise. I only hope my nueron/ekklesia-basileis network is extensive,organic, and receptive. Only then does the net work.
Bach, through his prophetic Godawareness realized something super/supernatural was transpiring through some of his canons:

"As the modulation rises, so may the praises of the King!"

I can't let a Bach Cantata as beautiful as it is) have a bigger soul than me. It's inanimate(or is ts?)! I long for a holy, jealous, zealous "soul envy."

I crave spiritual, soulical mentors:the creations/emergences/soul-happenings Godel, Escher, Bach..

and of course Celtic artists who can move in liminal/sacred/thin places,

...King Crimson (ask genius mssionary Rev Wesjeff)

...and Loopy Bono: "The goal is soul!"....see the escatic glossolalic, bigsouled outburst at the end of this classic clip where he quotes this, from 1:00 to the end":

These are all

an alarm clock to the soul..

After all, What does it profit me to gain the whole world and lose my loop?"

cartoon (C) Atu2.com