Letters to the Editor
On the Jewish/Hebrew designation for God, you are correct.� If you recall the YHWH, which is translated Yahweh, it was done because of the lack of vowels and the holiness of the Name.�
Denis Berrocal
Dominican Republic
Dear Frank, an excellent number 69 with many interesting reading materials. Concerning my own article on Mittleuropa, I saw no need for your doubts about a new Cold War since I actually speak only of the U.S. creating similar conditions for a Cold War by its familiar old policy of encirclement of Russia.
I enjoyed William Astore's analysis of U.S. imitation of German military strategy, rather ironic, as he notes, since though Germany has fought quite a few wars - but not to be compared in number to those of the good old USA - the United States and others have long imitated Germany even though Germany eventually lost its most recent wars. Now the USA is outdistancing its German masters also in losing wars. American imitation of and use of ex-Nazi experts like General Gehlen continued in post-WWII in policies aimed at crushing "evil Socialism" in the East, resulting in the Cold War. Then today, I as others have compared Homeland Security to the infamous East German Intelligence service, STASI, once called the world's most feared and efficient intelligence secret service which allegedly monitored five million East German citizens and millions abroad.
I appreciated your article about the negative effects of deregulation of world airlines and how we all suffer from it. The chief reason I won't be returning to Buenos Aires this year is that my wife refuses to board the overcrowded, tight fit into planes flying from Europe to Argentina and besides I refuse to pay five dollars for a glass of wine, though I recently discovered one can bargain with the stewards and even get three of those tiny bottles for the price of one. Of course the deregulation story does not end with airlines. We have, for example, Wall Street and the banks of the world to consider too.
Un abrazo,
Gaither Stewart,
Rome, Italy
RE: The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences
Frank,
A very interesting article.�Answers to his questions exist in basically forgotten Anthroposophical literature, most notably E. Lehrs book "Man or Matter", and also G. Adams "Space in the Light of Creation" (also Adams "Universal Forces In Mechanics").� The article remarks that Relativity and Quantum Mechanics rely on two different kinds of mathematics (Reinmann and Hilbert geometries), both of which are recognized to be special cases of the more general Synthetic or Projective Geometry.� Fully aware of this both Lehrs and Adams recognized that while the Queen of the Sciences (mathematics) played a special role in Natural Science, it was the King of the Sciences (Philosophy as set out in Steiner's early texts) that enabled the thinker to seek and find the necessary concepts (mathematical and philosophical) in which unification (what is now sometimes called the Theory of Everything) could be discovered.
The whole matter pivots on the recognition (through direct experience) of the thought-world (the world of pure concepts) as the spiritual partner to matter.� As such a process (unification through recognition) might unfold in the future, both natural science and religion will have to sacrifice large parts of their belief systems, which inhibit their ability to see past their own pre-thought thoughts (dogmas), and make a place in their consciousness for the truth to appear spontaneously in co-creative form (by "learning to think on our knees" - Tomberg, we come to the experience of "it thinks in me" - Steiner).�To put it another way: the biggest stumbling block is the conviction that we already know something to be true (of which the common and understandable quite human arrogance of many scientists, a number of the sentences in the article give evidence).� Unfortunately the same attachment to dogmas exists in a certain spiritual society (which will remain nameless for obvious reasons).
Keep up the good work, I continue to love the e-zine.
Warm regards,
joel a. wendt
Hello Frank,
I have enjoyed your Southern Cross Review for quite some time.� You are doing very fine work. You are welcome to use any of our material you can find on my web site, www.onlinehumanities.com.� Just let me know if and what you want to use.
Warmly,
Andrew Flaxman, Director
Educate Yourself for Tomorrow