Instead of the "Bible in one hand and the New York Times in the other" (Niebuhr by way of Barth, I believe) this morning, 10/19/2024, it was this essay and the New York Times in the other. There's a depressing investigative piece about Pharmacy Benefit Managers. Then there are the usual top comments preaching "all religion should be abolished" at a Douthat piece that tries to offer some new pathways towards faith.
I know that Whitehead provides us with the philosophic concepts for looking at the massive collective entities we humans have created with the intention of our collective flourishing. Fortunately I'm too old to ever have to develop some kind of dissertation topic that injects human-created collective systems like PBMs into a sentence like this (from Segall here): "Expression is a function of conceptual prehension, a protest against total unity on behalf of the unique qualities of the tiniest unit. Stars and galaxies, crystals, vegetables, reptiles, birds and bees and other bugs, whales and bats and human beings are all examples of the journeywork of the expressive impulses of actual occasions through evolutionary time and space..."
Whitehead's ideas inspire my increasingly panentheistic soul. Nevertheless, my own theological training forbids me from excluding Genesis 1 and 2 in any theological and philosophical pondering. How do "pharmacy benefit managers" perceive their possibilities and continue to create? PBMs have themselves emerged out of the miraculous medical creations which make our lives longer and better. They are also evolved as elements of humanities equally miraculous global market.
The topic of my own pre-Whitehead master's thesis years ago looked at whether corporations as systems can possess moral agency. There are probably already books and dissertations out there that look at this from a Whiteheadian perspective.
The religions of the 22nd century, which might actually save our progeny and many of our fellow species, are emerging now (those NYT commenters are missing out big time.) Our new faiths will have to encounter the dark side of creation, which seems to be the exclusive domain of humanity. Get to work, kids!
Fair and important question. What are we to do with these corporate beasts, which have brought such tremendous change to our planet in so short a time? Must they be defeated, or can the dragon be tamed?
In Whiteheads cosmos, fields ('energy is eternal delight') convey vibrating feelings across the universe and into and out our living bodies. Combine this with Whitehead's assertion that expression is the one fundamental sacrament that is the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace and you have the beginnings for a conceptual basis for the potential power and reality of Healing Touch and synchronicities.
I couldn’t be more delighted to see this come to life in audio. I have issues reading txt for any length, and was just this past week was looking for this on Audible… to no avail. And, like that, synchronistically, it arrived. Matthew, thank you so so much. Just a thought …I wonder if those at Audible and the Whitehead estate/publishers would be open to placing your readings on Audible? . God’s work Matt, God’s work.
I am glad you posted it here. I only got about 25 minutes in on YT and the whole thing focuses on what I took to be the best thing you shared on "New Thinking Allowed:" the ecological function of Beauty. Thanks for sharing, Matt.
I was not prepared for that voice and jumped out of my seat.
😂
Instead of the "Bible in one hand and the New York Times in the other" (Niebuhr by way of Barth, I believe) this morning, 10/19/2024, it was this essay and the New York Times in the other. There's a depressing investigative piece about Pharmacy Benefit Managers. Then there are the usual top comments preaching "all religion should be abolished" at a Douthat piece that tries to offer some new pathways towards faith.
I know that Whitehead provides us with the philosophic concepts for looking at the massive collective entities we humans have created with the intention of our collective flourishing. Fortunately I'm too old to ever have to develop some kind of dissertation topic that injects human-created collective systems like PBMs into a sentence like this (from Segall here): "Expression is a function of conceptual prehension, a protest against total unity on behalf of the unique qualities of the tiniest unit. Stars and galaxies, crystals, vegetables, reptiles, birds and bees and other bugs, whales and bats and human beings are all examples of the journeywork of the expressive impulses of actual occasions through evolutionary time and space..."
Whitehead's ideas inspire my increasingly panentheistic soul. Nevertheless, my own theological training forbids me from excluding Genesis 1 and 2 in any theological and philosophical pondering. How do "pharmacy benefit managers" perceive their possibilities and continue to create? PBMs have themselves emerged out of the miraculous medical creations which make our lives longer and better. They are also evolved as elements of humanities equally miraculous global market.
The topic of my own pre-Whitehead master's thesis years ago looked at whether corporations as systems can possess moral agency. There are probably already books and dissertations out there that look at this from a Whiteheadian perspective.
The religions of the 22nd century, which might actually save our progeny and many of our fellow species, are emerging now (those NYT commenters are missing out big time.) Our new faiths will have to encounter the dark side of creation, which seems to be the exclusive domain of humanity. Get to work, kids!
Fair and important question. What are we to do with these corporate beasts, which have brought such tremendous change to our planet in so short a time? Must they be defeated, or can the dragon be tamed?
Got it. Your interpretations are as valuable to me.
In Whiteheads cosmos, fields ('energy is eternal delight') convey vibrating feelings across the universe and into and out our living bodies. Combine this with Whitehead's assertion that expression is the one fundamental sacrament that is the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace and you have the beginnings for a conceptual basis for the potential power and reality of Healing Touch and synchronicities.
I couldn’t be more delighted to see this come to life in audio. I have issues reading txt for any length, and was just this past week was looking for this on Audible… to no avail. And, like that, synchronistically, it arrived. Matthew, thank you so so much. Just a thought …I wonder if those at Audible and the Whitehead estate/publishers would be open to placing your readings on Audible? . God’s work Matt, God’s work.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL29llNJMc6MFgVRFBs83lA83DGLvfuqGF&si=hCUsgIe5fYs3q_3u
Just to be clear, this is not a reading of Modes of Thought, but my commentary on it.
I am glad you posted it here. I only got about 25 minutes in on YT and the whole thing focuses on what I took to be the best thing you shared on "New Thinking Allowed:" the ecological function of Beauty. Thanks for sharing, Matt.