Surface Of Things Research Articles

When the Mountains Open

V i ? mim Gs^Q^5) V When the Mountains Open by Marion Hodge A couple of months ago I received notice from Jay Robert Reese that the members ofthe Appalachian Writers Association were to meet and that I was invited, as were the other members, to read a poem. I had something I wanted to say to the poets of Appalachia, so I wrote a poem that said it. I had been working on the poem for several weeks, but I was not spurred to complete it until I read two things in the Appalachian Journal. The first thing I read was a statement by Jim Wayne Miller: A weakness ofsome contemporary poetry is a tendency to turn the world into a metaphorfor the poet's mental or emotional state, or into a symbol of the collective unconscious, which has become the god ofsome contemporarypoets....The recognizable world is broken into bits; it floats about in the phlogiston-like ambience of the poems—disembodied hands, arms, bones, stones. Such poetry is weak because it lacks a real connection with the external world. ...It's solipsistic, self-centered, blind, finally trivial. It doesn't sufficiently engage the world around us; it withdraws into an interior world, dragging afew holy objects with it.1 What bothered me about this statement was what seemed to me to be Miller's utter denunciation ofthe symbolic, expressive way of writing and what seemed to me to be his utter support for the modern mimetic way, the modern list of drab and sentimental images.2 What bothered me was Miller's support for "a real connection with the external world" solely. What we need, in fact, is more, not less, of the expressive, the mythic, the symbolic, the prophetic. It seems to me that the very poems that Miller likes are the ones in which the "recognizable everyday world is broken into bits."The poet fastens onto a little piece ofthe world like a leech because it is the only world he knows, not having been given a faith and lacking the power to achieve one. The interior world that Miller condemns is, in fact, the only world there is. The deeper we go into the external world the more we realize that where we are there is where we are here, and the medium of that journey is the imagination, the interior world itself. Should we 46 choose to go into any physical object, the snout of a black bear, say, or a stone embedded in the blood-red bank ofa mountain stream, we find that eventually we wind up in outer space; when we go into an object, between its molecules and, deeper, between its very atoms, we find outselves in an empty universe where the molecules and atoms are as far apart as the planets and stars. We have made the great circle back to our present situation and our present identity. This kind of wondrous voyage and marvelous arrival at truth cannot be achieved by looking merely at the surface of things. The voyage and arrival results in a glorious, totally satisfying sense of unity, a knowledge that all things are one, that each individual object is a part of the whole. There is no death, Einstein taught us long ago (and poets taught us even longer ago), there is only metamorphosis. Certainly, the image by itself can help us see clearer, but the image itself should not be the be-all of poetry, for the image itself lures us into stasis, the stasis of imagination, and that stasis is slavery. The image by itself halts us at the supreme moment of the beginning. The image by itself binds us at the very point we should leap forth to begin the voyage to the exquisitely peaceful destination. We need poets who, like the Ancient Mariner, have gone out and have returned to tell us what it is like out there. We need poets who, like Sir Gawain, have gone out and have returned to tell us of the faith and peace they have found. The other thing 1 read was a poem by Bob Snyder called "A Prophet's Honor." It...

Bridging the Research Gap: CARA, Response to Vatican II

The Gap: Study Versus Application Contrary to a sometimes expressed opinion, considerable research on the religious and social mission of the church, including examinations of the pastoral horizons of the U.S. Catholic Church, has long been under way. Frequently, however, much of this research effort has suffered from subsequent failures to apply its findings. Too often, moreover, the conclusions have been lodged on the dusty shelves of academe. Researchers, as if in defense of their scientific objectivity and "neutrality," have felt that it would be demeaning to interpret the significance of their findings for decision-makers. In turn, the decision-makers--especially church social actionists-unable to see much sense in the technical jargon and tentative conclusions of the research specialists, have tended to deprecate the relevance of socio-religious research to the real world of the church. To the pastoral-minded, a great deal of research knowledge seems simply irrelevant, perhaps at times because from their viewpoint, as Harris Dienstrey has said in another context, "the picture of man that emerges from it is of a stunted, inept being, not fully capable of ordering his life in a meaningful way." It appears certain in any event that, consistent with a major strand of the American cultural ethos, those in responsible church positions have not always seemed to be holding research in high esteem whether for appropriate and sound reasons or not. For the most part, in fact, decision-makers in our society, whether in ecclesiastical or other areas of life, have traditionally appeared to feel that the socio-statistical researcher was pursuing "pie-in-the-sky" and that, in consequence, little insight into the human condition was to be gained from listening to his counsels. Whatever may be the blame or reasons for their mutual sins toward each other, the fact is that for too long the researchers and the organizational churchmen have, on the surface of things, been at loggerheads, living seemingly in splendid isolation from each other, unable to appreciate, according to observers, that a little "ecumenism" might be a good thing within particular church structures themselves.

Patterns of Thought and Action in an American Depression, 1882-1886

IN annals of American depressions, certain years have acquired both actual and symbolic significance as customary and convenient means of dating them. Years of panic like I837, I893, and most recently I929, have ushered in such cataclysmic runs on banks, breaks in stock exchange, dramatic business failures, and particularly that so abrupt transformation of public mood from optimism to pessimism as to obscure more prolonged scope and evolutionary nature of business cycle. In this respect, period of depression falling between I882 and i886 appears to be uniquely different and scarcely typical. It was a depression without an initial or introductory panic, although one of modest and limited proportions gave promise of developing during I884. The undramatic aspect of this period of depression became a matter for contemporary comment, as evidenced by observations of Horace White on State of Trade that here were all marks of a commercial crisis except one. It was not introduced by a money panic. Instead, since I88I the decline in stocks has been gradual, and there has been no collapse of credit, yet we are having all other effects of a crisis in full measure. Manufacturing industry is depressed to a degree hardly surpassed in our history.... It is a common remark amongst those who do not look below surface of things, that this is a 'rich man's panic.' Carroll D. Wright, who pioneered in new professional role of official economist, first as chief of Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, and then in a similar capacity in federal government after i885, made this depression subject of his first investigation and report. He also noted that it had developed without an accompanying financial panic and used it, indeed, as a basis for distinguishing between financial panics and industrial depressions. His conclusion was that the present industrial depression is first of its kind as an entirety....' David A. Wells, on other hand, interpreted depression of i88o's as only one stage in a sequence of Economic Disturbances since I873,

Pavlov and the Spirit of Science

A CORRESPONDENT has sent us the following translation of a note under the title “Bequest of Pavlov to the Academic Youth of his Country”, written a few days before his death by Prof. I. P. Pavlov for a student magazine entitled The Generation of the Victors: “What shall I wish for the young students of my country? First of all sequence, consequence and again consequence. In gaming knowledge you must accustom yourself to the strictest sequence. You must be familiar with the very groundwork of science before you try to climb the heights. Never start on the ‘next’ before you have mastered the ‘previous’. Do not try to conceal the shortcomings of your knowledge by guesses and hypotheses. Accustom yourself to the roughest and simplest scientific tools. Perfect as the wing of a bird may be, it will never enable the bird to fly if unsupported by the air. Facts are the air of science. Without them the man of science can never rise. Without them your theories are vain surmises. But while you are studying, observing, experimenting, do not remain content with the surface of things. Do not become a mere recorder of facts, but try to penetrate to the mystery of their origin. Seek obstinately for the laws that govern them. And then—modesty. Never think you know all. Though others may flatter you, retain the courage to say, ‘I am ignorant’. Never be proud. And lastly, science must be your passion. Remember that science claims a man's whole life. Had he two lives they would not suffice. Science demands an undivided allegiance from its followers. In your work and in your research there must always be passion.”

THE INDIAN SUGAR PROBLEM AND ITS SOLUTION An abstract of Sir Subrahmanya Aiyar's Lecture for 1930 delivered under the auspices of the Madras University

Looking at the surface of things one would wonder if at present there exists any problem associated with our sugar needs. On the other hand, the price of sugar has been going down sometime back and the world is faced with an over-production of this commodity, which recently caused a reference to the League of Nations. The real problem however presents itself when one realises the dependence of India on other countries for the bulk of the supply of this essential article of food. To-day India is dependent upon the outside world for more than 85 per cent. of her needs in sugar, costing sixteen crores of rupees.

Cyclical Fluctuations of the Volume of Manufacture

Q UANTITATIVE analysis is disclosing the I fundamental significance of fluctuations in the physical volume of production. Earlier explanations of overproduction and underproduction were of a general and abstract character. For the most part, they dealt with the surface of things. Without interpretation, they charged overproduction when production was at a minimum, and underproduction, when production was at a maximum. Such blanket charges meant little. A more intensive and objective examination of production was needed. With the recent rapid increase of available statistical data and notable improvement of statistical methods, such investigation has finally become practicable. Much about cyclical fluctuations is to be learned from the records of any important line of production agriculture, forestry, mining, manufacture and from data given altogether in annual terms. But a large part of the ground has already been covered. The yearly records for agriculture (I879-I920), mining (I879-I9I9), and manufacture (I899-I9I9), were analyzed at length in the issues of this REVIEW from September, I920, to January, I92I; and in the REVIEW for July, I922, this analysis of the annual data was broadened and extended through I92I for agriculture and mining.' The more recent yearly records for manufacture still remain to be studied. More important still, the monthly production data now available in quantity call for comprehensive analysis. The present study will concern itself primarily with these monthly data.2 The monthly records of manufacturing output show better than any other data the real nature of cyclical changes in the volume of production. In the first place, agricultural data are inadequate because agricultural production assumes a yearly form, and records available only at yearly intervals do not give a clear picture of the character of the business cycle.3 During a single year business may pass through at least two distinct phases of the cyde. The opening of the year may find industry proceeding at top speed, and the close of the same year find it staggering into depression. A total or average for the year will disclose neither of these conditions. True, a general notion of ups and downs in the physical volume of production may be gathered from annual data, but the details of the picture are lost. Returns for shorter periods are necessary. Quarterly data hardly go far enough in this direction; weekly go farther than is necessary. Monthly data effect a satisfactory compromise and serve to throw all features of the business cycle into bold relief. From the nature of the case, then, data on agricultural production will not suffice. To secure monthly data, resort must be had to the records of manufacture and mining. Records of manufacturing output have the further advantage an advantage which they hold over the data of mining as well as agriculture of affording a recapitulation of the results

Japan To-day and To-morrow

THIS book makes little attempt to give the history of Japan or to describe the country or its political or naval and military development. It is, we think, a successful attempt to understand the Japanese temper, character, spirit, and genius. In material things the Japanese have altered altogether in the last sixty years, but in spiritual things they have altered very little. The traveller describing faithfully what he sees is usually ignorant of the things described in this book, but these are the things which it is most important for the statesmen of other countries to know. Mr. Mabie is an American, and he is anxious that Americans particularly shall look below the surface of things. He shows that the genius of a people eludes the direct search for it, and he looks for its revelation not in universities and courts, but in shops and fields and homes. Japan To-day and To-morrow. By H. W. Mabie. Pp. ix + 291. (New York: The Macmillan Co.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1914.) Price 8s. 6d. net.

North America

THE geologist might well rest content with the usefulness of his science even if its only harvest were the revolution which it has wrought in man's conception of his mundane surroundings as expressed in the new geography. It may be that here and there the geographer still lingers who is satisfied to bound his ideas at the surface of things and to lose hold of reality in his dream of eternal seas and everlasting hills. It is true that the old geography still persists in children's school-books as ancestral customs still linger in children's games, and that the delineation of county boundaries and the names of obscure villages are still drilled painfully into the youthful mind as essentials of earthly knowledge. But the antique trammels have at least been loosened; and not in the Americas only is it that a new world has been discovered by the geographer. North America. (The Regions of the World Series.) By Prof. Israel C. Russell. Pp. viii + 435; 7 coloured maps and 39 other illustrations. (London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow: Henry Frowde, 1904.) Price 7s. 6d. net.

Music in Relation to Man and Animals

Ladies and Gentlemen,—The study of the phenomena of nature in all her multitudinous aspects is and has ever been a source of delight and lasting interest to the human mind; and the pleasure derived from this study is one which is not restricted to the professional and trained naturalist, but is one in which all can share. Instances are numerous of men of humble origin and but limited education who, possessing an innate love of nature and keen powers of observation, paid attention to what they saw around them, and so developed into students of nature, and did good and original work in the field of natural science; and one of the charms of this study is, that as soon as we look beneath the surface of things, that which at first and to a superficial observer seems commonplace, becomes at once an object and source of fascinating interest and admiring wonder.