Divine Origin Research Articles

Scotus on the Divine Origin of Possibility

Scotus on the Divine Origin of Possibility

Genetic concepts in Greek literature from the eighth to the fourth century B.C.

A review of the concepts of genetics found in epic, historical and dramatic ancient Greek writings from the eighth to the fourth centuries B.C., is presented. The derived data suggest that the development of genetical concepts and ideas started with the praise of the heroes' divine or noble origin in Homer's epic poems (eighth century B.C.). It continued in the tracing of the descent and vicissitudes of the families of the Greek gods and the common ancestry of the Greek tribes as described in Hesiod's genealogical poems (around 700 B.C.), in the statement of descent and dual parenthood of leaders and kings in the books of Herodotus and Xenophon (fifth and fourth centuries B.C.), and in the concern about the lineage of the tragic figures in Greek drama (fifth century B.C.). The genetical concepts expressed in these writings most probably reflected popular notions of that time. They must, therefore, have been the basis of the perceptions and theories on heredity and procreation expressed by the ancient physicians and philosophers in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C., which in turn influenced the development of genetics for many centuries.

Selecting and perfecting mantras in Hindu tantrism

The exposition of different deity mantras forms an essential part of Tantric compendia. A mantra, a combination of letters thought to be of divine origin, is transmitted by a preceptor to a disciple in an initiation ritual whereby the disciple is authorized to practise its ritual repetition and strive for its perfection in order to attain supernatural powers. The different stages of the process from the selection of the mantra by the preceptor to its employment in desire–oriented rites by the practitioner shall be described in this paper mainly on the basis of chapters 15 and 16 of the Kulārṇavatantra (= KT), one of the most important texts of the Kaula School of Tantrism, written between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries A.D. These chapters were written at a stage when the technicalities of mantraśāstra had been fully developed and were widely accepted. Among other texts consulted were the Śāradātilakatantra (= ŚT) by Lakṣmaṇa Deśikendra with Rāghavabhaṭṭa's commentary entitled Padārthādarśa (= PĀ) (A.D. 1494), the Mantramahodadhi (= MM) by Mahīdhara (A.D. 1588/89) and the Tantrarāja(tantra) (= TR) with the commentary Manoramā (A.D. 1603/04).

Visions et apparitions. Approche psychologique

Visions occur in many religions. In contrast to the former spontaneous trust in visions, many in modern times question their divine origin. Their contents are indeed strikingly dependent on the religion, and in Christianity , on the cultural and religious context. Both phenomenologically and psychologically , the recent «apparitions», which are curiously multiplying, are visions. Psychiatry has especially caused distrust of them by stressing the similarities between pathological hallucinations, visions, and «apparitions». The author proposes to interpret these visions as non-pathological hallucinatory psychological products, conditioned by an intense emotional cathexis of religious representations and by a belief conviction. The believer can view the visions as having a special charismatic meaning, when they are theologically authentic and when the visionaries are not mentally disturbed. The biblical prophetic vision and the «apparitions» of Jesus after the resurrection are of a different kind, however. Being the foundation of a new belief content, they are revelations.

An Islamic model of revelation

Many Arabists have believed that the traditional Islamic dogmas about the nature and status of divine inspiration and revelation are mistaken, unaccountably rigid and intellectually crude. I examine Kenneth Cragg's critique of the ancient Muslim confidence about the Qur'an as the literal Word of God undiluted by human linguistic and mental variables external to its divine origin. I argue that Cragg's worries are idle and that his proposed model is based on a confusion between the genesis of scripture and the interpretation of its claims. His views about qur'anic exegesis are shown to be erroneous and guided by considerations other than those professed. The paper concludes with an assessment of the strengths of the traditional dogmatic position.

The "theology" of the Hippocratic treatise on the sacred disease.

Introduction The author of the Hippocratic treatise On the Sacred Disease is renowned for his criticism of magical and superstitious conceptions and modes of treatment of epilepsy. He has been credited with attempting a ‘natural’ or ‘rational’ explanation of a disease which was generally believed to be of divine origin and to be curable only by means of apotropaeic ritual and other magical instruments. One interesting point is that he does not reject the divine character of the disease, but modifies the sense in which this disease (and, as a consequence of this conception, all diseases) may be regarded as divine: not in the sense that it is sent by a god, for example as a punishment, and is to be cured by this same god, but that it shares in the divine character of nature in showing a fixed pattern of cause and effect and in being subordinated to what may perhaps be called, somewhat anachronistically, a natural ‘law’ or regularity. On the basis of these positive statements on the divine character of the disease various interpreters have tried to deduce the writer's ‘theology’ or religious beliefs, and to relate this to the development of Greek religious thought in the fifth century.

On Human Origins

The question of human origins has been one of the major points of conflict between scientific and religious views. The scientific account of human evolution poses difficulties for those who demand a literal interpretation of scripture and believe in a special, divine origin for humanity. These difficulties are resolved by the Bahá’í writings, which view human evolution, spiritual development in the individual, the advancement of civilization, and the progress of religion as all representing a single fundamental developmental process and spiritual principle underlying all of creation. Rather than being in conflict with the theory of evolution, the Bahá’í Faith itself incorporates an evolutionary worldview.

Psychological aspects of artificial procreation.

Research on infertile couples applying for treatment is scanty. Their education and socioeconomic status are above average and their marriages extraordinarily stable. Allowing for the stress of infertility and its treatment, they appear in psychological tests and psychiatric interviews very similar to controls. As prognosis on the quality of later parenthood for persons in the grey zone between complete psychological normalcy and definable psychiatric disorder is impossible, self selection for artificial procreation rather than selection by a team of psychologists and social workers should take place. A decision not to treat because of the presence of evident psychiatric disorder should be taken on the investigating physicians' own responsibility and explained to the couple. Very little as well is known about the development of children conceived by AID or IVF. There is no rationale for the belief that extraordinary expectations by their parents will impair their psychosocial development. The literature on adopted children puts the importance of so-called genealogic bewilderment in true perspective. Still the access to non-identifying information on donors could be useful for children and parents. As proof of genetic risk factors for major and minor psychiatric disorder is rapidly accumulating, a careful psychiatric screening of donors is recommended. By artificial procreation parenthood can be extended to widows, to single women and to homosexual couples. Epidemiologic studies in child and adult psychiatry make it evident that the quality of emotional relationship within a family is more important for psychosocial development of children than family structure. Today the rate of single parents is rapidly increasing. Nonetheless artificial procreation should not be used to promote social change and to create new structures. While fully acknowledging that the conventional family is neither of divine origin nor an anthropological necessity, a cautious attitude would be to wait until new structures are so well established and generally accepted that they attract the average person and make up an average environment for a child. Though a pluralistic society tends in the field of artificial procreation to shift from ethical to psychological arguments, the latter cannot be validly used against these techniques.

Het verheerlijkte gezicht van Mozes*Aan het einde van het artikel bevindt zieh een overzicht van literatuur over Ex. 34:29-35. Het werk van auteurs, wier naam in de tekst of in de aantekeningen zonder nadere aanduiding wordt genoemd, wordt daar vermeld.

With regard to Ex. 34:29-35 two problems are discussed: 1. The meaning of qāran ‘ŵr pānâw/pe nê mōšeh in 34:29, 30, 35. 2. The question of the relation of 34:29-33 to 34:34,35. Ad 1.: The traditional interpretation: qrn = ‘to shine’, is considered to be the least debatable among the various interpretations. In the context of Exodus it presents the most adequate sense. By the radiance on his face Moses is legitimated as YHWH’s in-timate and representative. Ad 2.: To 34:34, 35 the following tendency is attributed: YHWH’s precepts, given to Moses inside the sanctuary, have the same divine authority as the ordinances revealed on Mount Sinai (cf. 34:29-33). By the transfiguration of Moses’ face the divine origin of his words is guaranteed.

“No Word without Mystery”: Allegories of Sacred Truth in the Autos Sacramentales of Calderón de la Barca

This essay closely examines several mythological autos sacramentales by the seventeenth-century Spanish dramatist Pedro Calderón de la Barca. These eucharistic dramas, allegorizations of famous tales from antiquity, raise provocative questions about the relation of myth to allegory and about the hermeneutical problems inherent in both. By explicitly thematizing the Word as source and guarantor of pagan myth and of language and illuminated interpretation themselves, the plays embody a powerful allegory of the assumed divine origin and sacral significance not only of myth but also of an essential and radical logocentrism. For Calderón divine ordination and revealed truth implicitly sacramentalize the auto and sanction the human author's hermeneutical and creative endeavors. This study shows that Calderón's metaphysics and allegorical theory constitute a timeless witness to Christian truth and a timely challenge to some widely accepted tenets of modern literary theory.

Religion, Science, and Worldview. Essays in Honor of Richard S. Westfall (review)

BOOK REVIEWS ~69 belief that "the time for petty politics is over. The next century will bring the struggle for the mastery of the earth: the compulsionto great politics." DANIEL BREAZEALE University of Kentucky Margaret J. Osler and Paul Lawrence Farber, editors. Religion, Science,and Worldview. Essays in Honor of Richard S. WestfaU.Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985. Pp. xv + 35o. $49.5o. The editors of this welcome Festschrift note that the contributors are either former doctoral students of Sam Westfall, have worked closely with him, or "have been deeply influenced by his work" (xii). In the case of the latter category, at least, the editors must have had a tough time deciding on their final list of invitees, since there cannot be many historians of seventeenth-century science who have not enriched their understanding of the field through a study of the extensive writings of Professor Westfall, the 1985 recipient of the History of Science Society's prestigious Sarton Medal. By the same token, there cannot be many who are not a mite jealous not to be among the thirteen participants in this excellent initiative. In keeping with Westfall's interests and influence, the (surprisingly small) collection divides into three parts: 1. Newtonian Studies, z. Science and Religion, 3- Historiography and the Social Context of Science. This division reflects the expected range of thematic interest, but the location of certain contributions within it is more procrustean than natural, suggesting an editorial taxonomic quandary. Thus Ron Millen's iconoclastic essay on "The manifestation of occult qualities in the scientific revolution" has been classified as "Science and Religion," where it does not belong. One of the best contributions in the volume, Millen follows Keith Hutchinson's pioneering 198~ Isis article ("What happened to occult qualities in the scientific revolution?") with a generally persuasive argument that contrary to received interpretations of the mechanical philosophy , "the program for manifesting occult qualities.., flourished in the writings of the mechanical philosophers;.., occult qualities took their place at the foundations of modern science" (216). This is fine stuff, but it has nothing to do with religion. Also inappropriately consigned to Part ~ is Edward Grant's "Celestial perfection from the Middle Ages to the late seventeenth century," an exposure of the myth of reactionary Scholasticism in the face of Copernicanism. In Part 1, BettyJ. T. Dobb's modestly sub-titled "preliminary study" of"Conceptual problems in Newton's early chemistry" underscores the importance of distinguishing between what Newton called common or "mechanical chemistry" (e.g., metallurgy, tanning) and "vegetable chemistry" (alchemy, transmutation). Also, the misclassification of his chemical papers as indiscriminately "alchemical" has obscured his development as a chemist before he immersed himself in alchemy. Ernan McMullin argues that "The significance of Newton's Principia for empiricism " lies in the relation between its formalized network of concepts, definitions, and laws, and the experience in which Newton claimed they were grounded. Meaning and 17o JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 26:1 JANUARY 1988 assessment referred to the system as a whole: "the older empiricist notions of abstraction and induction (which related to single terms and single generalizations) no longer would suffice" (58). This is an interesting thesis, but some of the supporting arguments seem unexpectedly shaky, and it presents the Principia as a retrospectively constructed source of actual historical influence for post-Newtonian moves away from classical empiricism. Bruce Brackenridge shows the value of "The defective diagram as an analytical device in [checking the accuracy of successive editions of] Newton's Principia," the chosen diagram in question being that for the "Kepler ellipse," Prop. XI of Bk. I. The article carries a cash bonus: a postscript on the "Newton design" British pound note, which first appeared in 1978 with an inaccurate Kepler ellipse diagram, to be replaced in 1981 with the inaccuracy corrected. Rod Home steers a difficult path through the twists and turns of"Force, electricity, and the powers of living matter in Newton's mature philosophy of nature" to conclude (rightly, I suspect) that for Newton universal natural powers, whether inanimate or vital, were instances of inexplicable immaterial forces of divine origin, particular powers and forces being (in principle) explicable mechanically and...

Psychological and mystical interpretations of early Quakerism: William James and Rufus Jones

William James' discussion of early Quakerism profoundly affected subsequent interpretations of the group by the prominent scholar and Quaker writer, Rufus Jones. Jones utilized James as a major exponent of the divine origins of George Fox's doctrinal beliefs and social protests. The major claims of James and Jones, however, are not sustained by more recent critical scholarship on Quakerism's early days. By examining and refuting these claims, this article argues that interpretations of Quakerism (and by extension, of other religious collectivities) should be based primarily upon historically grounded, social-psychological frameworks.

Hindu philosophy on pain: an outline.

The four holy books termed the vedas form the fountainhead of Hindu philosophy. Their origins are lost in the mists of antiquity. Legend claims for them a divine origin. Brahma, the creator carried the vedas within himself. Once, exhausted, as he drifted off to sleep, the vedas slipped out of his mouth. Hayagriva, the horse-faced demon, seeing his chance, made off with them. Fortunately Vishnu, the preserver, caught Hayagriva in the act and assuming the form of a fish (matsya avatar) followed Hayagriva into his oceanic home and rescued the vedas for mankind (Fig. 1).KeywordsIndian National Science AcademyBuddhist PhilosophyMental SufferingNeurophysiological AspectDivine OriginThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Ne pas « cléricaliser les laïcs »

It is impossible to study the problems concerning the relationships «laity-clerics» without reminding oneself of the fact that dogmatic theology presents to us this duality as : «laity as believers - clerics as believers». The weight of this common element is considerable because ofits excellence as a spiritual value, Us importance as ecclesial activities, its deep significance because of its divine origin.

History, Genre and "Ursprung" in Benjamin's Early Aesthetics

All serious explorations of the early aesthetics of Walter Benjamin have attempted to come to grips with his complex critical telos of redeeming the origin (Ursprung) of the creative word of God by liberating language from its post-Adamite role of defining objects. Only by treating literary texts with a view to recovering language in its divine primordial condition, prior to the Fall and the division of subject and object, can such a redemption be approximated. As Richard Wolin constantly emphasizes in his book on Benjamin, Origin is the goal,' and Benjamin feels this goal can only be approached by abandoning the treatment of literary texts as external constructs to be analyzed and demystified. Only an immanent approach can transcend the work's historical imprisonment and glean its truth content. This truth content always points towards an understanding anchored in the divine origin of the logos. What prior criticism has treated only peripherally, and what this paper will address, is the central relationship between Benjamin's position on genre theory and his Ursprung concept. This lacuna is surprising in light of the fact that his well-known explication of the term arises in the context of his efforts to arrive at a means by which von (Benedetto Croce) als 'genetische Klassifikation' bezeichnete Betrachtung mit einer Ideenlehre von den Kunstarten im Problem des Ursprungs tibereinkommt.:1 This paper will explore Benjamin's attempt to resolve this dichotomy while remaining faithful to the principle of literary immanence. The theological underpinnings of Benjamin's early aesthetics are evident in the 1916 essay Uber Sprache tiberhaupt und fiber die Sprache des Menschen. Benjamin distinguishes between the limited, analytical nature of human language and the infinite, creative nature of the divine word. Human language is the language of knowledge, but knowledge is perfect prior to

Islamization of Linguistics

I. NON-ISLAMIC LINGUISTICS UNDER RELIGIOUSINFLUENCESLinguistics has been struggling under the stranglehold of religious beliefs,superstitions, and ethnocentrism for centuries. The role and nature of humanlanguages was perceived through the worldview preached by various religions.There have been claims for the divine origin of certain languages, conferringa special status on their speakers. Greeks, for example, believed that theirlanguage was superior to all other languages. It was the language spoken bythe Olympian gods. Theirs was the only language with regularity, rules, andmeaning; all other languages were arbitrary and meaningless, burburoi, whencethe modern English word “barbarian.”In India, where Panini (sixth century B.C.E.) wrote the first comprehensivegrammar of a human language, Sanskrit was believed to be the languageof gods and worthy to be studied and used by the high caste of Brahmansonly. The low-caste Hindus could not listen to the Sanskrit verses from theholy scriptures, and severe punishments were prescribed for such sacrilegiousacts. As late as 1912, the Muslim linguist, Mohammad Shahidullah, was deniedadmission to the master’s course in Sanskrit at the University of Calcutta.The Hindu professors of Sanskrit were shqcked at the possibility that a Muslimcould be allowed to read and hence defile the Vedas, the holy scriptures ofHindus. They bitterly opposed his admission.In the Judaeo-Christian world, too, similar unscientific views persisteduntil recently. Hebrew was God‘s own language, the language spoken in theheavens, the first language spoken on the earth and therefore the mother of ...

The cross‐cultural dimensions of English in religion, politics and literature

Abstract: The traditional Indian view of ‘power’ is that it is temporal, and therefore, it must seek its source in ‘authority’ which is spiritual. This approach provides a wholeness and annihilates the ego. Similarly, language, ceaselessly abused in daily intercourse and spheres of influence, should be frequently purified by invoking its divine origins. Both Christianity and Hinduism have recognized it as suggested by the Biblical Word and the primeval Vedic Aum, widely cherished by the Indian peasantry in its still living proverbial wisdom: Those who know how to speak have no quarrels like those who know how to eat have no illnesses! The cross‐cultural dimensions of English in religion, politics and literature have been studied in their representative manifestations where language is seen as having the potential for enrichment of life no less than for debasement. Illustrations are included from Shakespeare, Milton, T. S. Eliot, Aurobindo and Arun Kolatkar as well as Gandhi and Nehru, with passing references to Western statesmen like Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan to exemplify the dual possibilities of language. While celebrating language, the essay salutes Silence from which all language emanates and to which it ultimately returns.

Cibber and Vanbrugh: Language, Place, and Social Order in Loves Last Shift

1 COMPAKATIVE •rama Volume 20Winter 1986-87Number 4 Cibber and Vanbrugh: Language, Place, and Social Order in Loves Last Shift Derek Hughes "Wheresoever, manners, and fashions are corrupted," wrote Ben Jonson, "Language is. It imitates the publicke riot."l The belief that men's language is a reflex of their moral and social conduct has a long and very varied history, and has been sanctioned by radically different views of the nature and origin of language (and indeed of society). It may (as in Jonson's case) proceed from the belief that human speech is an image of the archetypal language of heaven, having been created by God in order to further a divinely ordained moral order, or it may be quite independent of that belief. To list some well known seventeenth-century examples, the dangers of semantic corruption were urged, in support of profoundly different causes, by Milton, Hobbes, Robert South and Samuel Parker, and John Locke: for Milton, language originated as a divinely instituted system of natural signs; for Parker and Locke it originated in arbitrary social compact, though both (in very differing ways) believed in a naturally validated moral law; South shifted between the two views of language; and Hobbes regarded not only DEREK. HUGHES is a Senior Lecturer in English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick. He is the author of Dryden's Heroic Plays and of many articles on Restoration drama. 287 288Comparative Drama language but (to a large extent) morality as an arbitrary construct, and denied that human speech had any capacity to reflect the divine nature.2 The difference, of course, is that belief in the divine origins of human speech and morality necessitates belief in moral function of language, whereas belief in their purely conventional nature may lead to denial of the power of language to represent and assert binding values; in dismissing moral categories as mere "names" created by convention, the libertines treated language merely as an intangible flatus vocis. I have argued elsewhere that Hobbes' linguistics in part influenced a brief period of extreme linguistic scepticism in Carolean drama, when several leading dramatists denied or greatly limited the capacity of language to correlate individual thought and sensation with any larger, analogical, social, and cosmic orders.3 The period of extreme scepticism was quickly over. Dryden returned to a more traditional view of language in Troilus and Cressida (1679), and of course the conclusion of Absalom and Achitophel (1681) provided one of the period's greatest affirmations of language as an instrument of social and divine order: Thus from his Royal Throne by Heav'n inspir'd, The God-like David spoke: with awfull fear His Train their Maker in their Master hear.4 But, although language quickly recovered its status as an agreed index of social and moral health, writers were more ready than in Jonson's time to see linguistic order as a matter of secular convention^ and I propose in this and a succeeding article6 to examine one area of a large, complex, but by no means complete shift of intellectual emphasis by discussing the contrasting ways in which two obviously linked plays of the 1690's interpret the symbolic and moral capacities of language. Divergences of linguistic theory are, of course, quite apparent in pre-Restoration drama. A radically secular view of language dominates Tamburlaine, in which the protagonist's "working words"7 impose a system of signs and values that is validated only by his will and power. Troilus and Cressida abounds in deceptive signs, such as the "Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart" of Cressida's letter,8 and the signs are arguably deceptive not because they have been perverted but because they are intrinsically arbitrary and discrepant from their objects.9 Nevertheless, the predominant tendency in Shakespeare , and in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama generally, is Derek Hughes289 to treat the corruption of language as the corruption of signs of intrinsic moral function, and belief in the intrinsic moral function of language is frequently allied to belief in its divine origin: language fulfils its natural end only insofar as it preserves the purposes of its creator and furthers the...

The Peach Flower Font and the Grotto Passage

THE TAOIST CANON CONTAINS THE story of journey into grotto paradise which is the direct source of inspiration for T'ao Ch'ien's WMif (365-427) well-known Record of the Peach Flower Font Yt#;tffg'E . This tale, which I call the Grotto Passage, is superior to T'ao Ch'ien's story in plot, characterization, and descriptive detail, everything, in fact, which goes into making what Mark Twain would call a ripping good yarn. The Grotto Passage is to be found in the late third or early fourth century Ling-pao wu-fu ching-hsii 3Wdd J 8:E~q (Scripture of the Five Talismans of the Numinous Treasure, with Preface; hereafter Five Talismans) as part of prefatory account relating the divine origins of this scripture.' The following synopsis will, I hope, clarify how the Grotto Passage fits into this longer tale: In the days of dark antiquity, when the world was new and perfect, men lived to the age of 90,000 years before even beginning the study of the Tao whereby they were able to ascend to heaven as Transcendents fi without dying. This ideal world began to deteriorate during the time of the Three Luminaries who were thus obliged to institute laws and otherwise function as rulers.2 As things became worse, certain Celestial Officials, out of compassion for suffering mankind, granted Thearch K'u P V three books in celestial script. K'u valued these powerful texts but was unable to make out the script in which they were written, so he sealed them in casket which he secreted in Mount Chung ALi to await the arrival of future sage.3 That later Work on this article was completed under grant from the Japan Foundation. ' HY 388. The preface portion of the Five Talismans extends from 1:1a.1-1:11b.4. A number of divergent views have been expressed concerning this important scripture. For representative sampling, consult: Max Kaltenmark, LingPao; Note sur un terme du taoisme religieux, Melanges publiis par l'Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises, II (Paris, 1960), 559-88; Isabelle Robinet, La revelation du Shangqing dans l'histoire du Taoisme (Paris, These de Doctorat d'Etat, 198 1), Vol. 1; Yamada Toshiaki jj E] fiJ P gofu no seiritsu to sono fuzuiteki seikaku EW.iA* C') e 0)411n, t14, in Shin-i shiso no sogoteki kenkyi2 51t ,(Tokyo, 1984), 167-96; and Ishii Masako E* ^ +, Tai~j Reih5 gofujo no ikkosatsu XIFIWTLI 4D--X t , in Makio hakase kinen ronsh2 !ftWh?pE# -4-jkS (Tokyo, 1984), 13-31. The only point of consensus reached so far among Taoist specialists is that the Five Talismans is an ancient text with later interpolations and deletions. Since the nature of these later changes is still matter of controversy, it is important to establish the authenticity of the portion of the text treated here. Rather than add what would amount to separate essay on the dating of the text, I will simply state the results of my own research into the problem: the preface portion of the Five Talismans predates both Ko Hung's A& (283-343) Pao-p'u tzu tt*-7and the revelations of Yang Hsi 4%,* (330-?) collected in the Chen-kao P.> (HY 1010). Their citations of the preface do differ at times from the text as we have it today, but this fact, considered in light of the uses to which they put the scripture as whole, only serves to prove that the text they used was identical to that now found in HY 388. My evidence for this assertion is found below. See particularly the discussion of Ko Hung and footnote 51. 2 The portion of the narrative recounting the reigns of the Five Thearchs By* is built around lengthy extracts from Ssu-ma Ch'ien's W].%X Shih-chi a42 . The section from l:lb.6 to 1:3b.1 is taken from the opening passages of the Wu-ti .iE**E, and that from I:4b.4 to I:6a.2 from the opening passages of the Hsia pen-chi K*AZ . For all of the good things that I have to say of him, it is worth noting that the author of the preface has failed miserably in his attempt to match his own prose to that of the great historian. 3 A chung I (Archaic Chinese: *flung) was wine vessel shaped something like an amphora, but lacking the two handles. Mount Chung, then, is another name for the legendary Mount K'un-lun AX, particularly in its aspect as calabash-shaped residence. The name dates back at least to the Han. (See Huai-nan tzu H j, Ch'u-chen hsiin *x V1I and Hsu Shen's ePIK note, HY 1176, 3:6a.8-10.)

The primordial light: Electricity to paraelectricity

Historically speaking, ideas about the nature of electricity have been imbedded in, and have developed out of, mystical notions of an all-pervading cosmic energy. Traditionally, this cosmic energy, a paraelectricity if you will, was not seen as a neutral, abstract force, but as a light of divine origin, which informed all substances and directed the transformation of the world to higher and higher states of evolution. These paraelectrical ideas can be found in Gnostic and alchemical formulations, in Newton and other electrical theorizing, in modern biological ideas, in parapsychology and the modern pseudosciences.