Conceptual Continuities
Outer Narrators
The Arrow Of Time In Wells And Anderson I
The Arrow Of Time In Wells And Anderson II
These connections emerged in the process of writing about them. Earlier discussion of The Time Machine, Anderson's Time Patrol and the Time Traveller's successor, Doctor Who, can be found here, including a suggested synthesis of these three works of fiction. I started to imagine this synthesis in Norwich Cathedral shortly after visiting Walsingham, the site of an Apparition of the Virgin Mary (see In Norwich) who also appears in SM Stirling's Emberverse series. See Emberverse Theology, also here. Connections everywhere.
12 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And we still have apparitions of the BVM. Most recently at the church of St. Mark in the Zeitun region of Cairo in Egypt. I looked it up and it certainly seems very remarkable!
Yes, I know, you are skeptical such incidents are genuine.
Sean
Sean,
I accept that visions occur in different traditions: "I see Lord Krishna and I weep."
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And, here, you surprised me! Considering how often you have expressed doubt that God is real, I would have thought you'd think the same way about apparitions of the saints and the BVM.
Sean
Sean,
Visions occur but how are they to be explained? A Catholic sees Mary. A Hindu sees Kali or Krishna. Etc.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
As a Catholic I do believe it is possible some will be granted visions of the saints or even of God. But your comment still puzzles me. You only seem to say that you acknowledge some believe they had visions, but you don't say whether you believe those visions to be real or not.
Sean
Sean,
I think that Catholics project Mary, Hindus project Krishna etc.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And here I have to disagree with you. For example, were the THOUSANDS who saw the "wheeling"of the sun at Fatima in 1917 ALL deluded or lying? Or the equally large numbers of witnesses who saw the BVM at Zeitun? Some witnesses in such cases, of course, will be wrong for one reason or another, but not all.
Sean
Sean,
Neither deluded nor lying. There are other possibilities in group psychology and perceptual processes. Presumably the sun did not physically move around in a space in a way that would been detected by astronomers or would have disrupted the Solar System? So there was a collective optical illusion of some sort?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, as you indicate, I know me critics think such apparitions can be explained as mass hysteria, with no intent to decieve by the persons concerned. While I do accept that mass hysteria can occur, I don't believe that to be always the case: iow, some apparitions are real the witnesses were as accurate as possible.
As for the Fatima apparition and the "wheeling" of the Sun, I think it was most likely done by God in such a way that the Solar System was not disrupted. Assuming the omnipotence of God that should not be logically impossible for Him to do. See as well Poul Anderson's "A Chapter Of Revelation," where God temporarily stopped the rotation of the Earth in such a way that no harm was done to it.
And a collective optical illusion shared by thousands of persons at Fatima would seem rather a strain to accept!
Sean
Sean,
So is God moving the Sun without disrupting the Solar System! There are many phenomena that are not understood or explained as yet.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I still argue, assuming God's omnipotence, that what was reported as happening at Fatima is not logically impossible. Yes, there are many things we do not yet understand.
Sean
Sean,
It is logically possible.
Paul.
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