Developing context, Malcolm, always seems to me to be a critical element
of understanding. In Griffith's translation of the Art of War, he does an
excellent job of defining that context...and he includes commentaries from
a number of thinkers through the centuries, so that what we get is not
just the knowledge imparted by Sun Tzu, but the thoughts and context of
his students over the next 2 millenia.
One of the most interesting incidents leading up to the European
Renaisscance was the discover of ancient knowledge by scholars in the
former Moorish library at, I believe, Alhambra. It was knowledge lost to
European scholars (among them, Aristotle, Plato, Euclid, Archimedes--works
of philosophy, science, mathematics, literature) during the dark ages
following the collapse of the Roman Empire.
These scholars surreptiously moved this wealth of knowledge and wisdom to
monasteries in Italy where they translated texts from Arabic into Latin
and Greek, and while they revelled in this new knowledge they attempted to
keep it hidden from the masses. They realized that the context had
changed (the great poet Virgil, for instance, had changed to a great
sorcerer during the Dark Ages--this was the context in which this
knowledge was found).
As this knowledge seeped into the awareness of the literati, genius and
discovery awakened almost simultaneously. A window had been opened up in
the dark cellar that had been Europe.
I agree with your sense of context, then. For how we connect with the
potential of knowledge and the context in which we connect with this same
knowledge makes all the difference.
To be very frank about my feelings, I started collecting electronic texts
several years ago (the Iliad, Oddyssey, the Inferno, and more modern texts
on which the copyright has expired). I stopped collecting when I realized
that the Magellan Project (transferring thousands of public domain
literary, philosophic and scientific texts into electronic format) was so
successful that I would be able to access these texts for a long time
through the internet. On the other hand, though, I collect rare books,
1st editions, of my favorite authors. It seems I cannot separate my love
of the written word from the feel of a fine book. This is my context.
The next 3 or 4 generations will see a transition from the "need" for a
book such as I have to the nearly universal acceptance of electronic text
media. And that will be the context...and the connection...by which our
children's children absorb the knowledge and wisdom of the ages.
warm regards,
Doc
Malcolm Burson wrote:
> Doc, this is an important point, but leads me to wonder whether /
> how it's possible to separate "knowledge" from its "storage and
> retrieval." In what sense does knowledge exist in a way distinct
> from knowers? It seems to me that knowing (and thus, learning
> and sharing knowledge) is so intimately enfolded in whatever
> means is used for storage and retrieval (whether in a particular
> mind, on a written page, or in a series of electronic impulses), that
> any lapse, interruption or flaw in the latter immediately changes or
> extinguishes the former.
-- "If a living system is suffering from ill health, the remedy is to connect it with more of itself." -Francisco VarelaThresholds <http://www.thresholds.com> Meeting Masters <http://www.thresholds.com/masters.html> Richard Charles Holloway - P.O. Box 641, Long Beach, WA 98631 Voice 360.642.8487 ICQ# 10849650
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