More Thoughts on Angel and Demons

The Tao of heaven is to take from those who have too much and give to those who do not have enough. Man’s way is different. He takes from those who do not have enough to give to those who already have too much. (verse 77. Tr. Gia Fu Feng)

 

I tend to disagree that dualism is a false construct. No doubt a struggle to identify this process even within our own situation that we are locked on this wheel of life and one wonders how can one rise above it? Sure and most certainly, philosophical thoughts about life.

Sir Francis Bacon-Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban KC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), son of Nicholas Bacon by his second wife Anne (Cooke) Bacon, was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, and author. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Although his political career ended in disgrace, he remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific revolution. Indeed, his dedication may have brought him into a rare historical group of scientists who were killed by their own experiments. His most celebrated works include The New Atlantis.

Whether it's true or not some politicians become unhappy with the current state of things and dream of a better state. Dream about an ideal society. So they may adopt this new persona to drive home all those things that are not acceptable and write artistically about the new vison in poetic merit. A shakespearean perhaps? So it as a double life.

Bacon's Utopia: The New Atlantis

In 1623 Bacon expressed his aspirations and ideals in The New Atlantis. Released in 1627, this was his creation of an ideal land where "generosity and enlightenment, dignity and splendor, piety and public spirit" were the commonly held qualities of the inhabitants of Bensalem. In this work, he portrayed a vision of the future of human discovery and knowledge. The plan and organization of his ideal college, "Solomon's House", envisioned the modern research university in both applied and pure science.

Bacon's dream here is very familiar to most researchers as one looks to Plato's dialogues. Like Shakespeare, the dialogues were scenes set by Plato himself, and in such a state,  the Atlantis "was a vision" he himself had. Some might dispute my charcterization of Plato, but I am sure that Bacon realized the way he might work, dealing with his unhappiness and charges against him,  while then following the logic of what I am saying about Plato.

Tommaso Campanella- See also:The City of the Sun

In Angel and Demons,  while it is The Roman catholic church, there is this other culture that rides along side of it,  that was to become the bankers of the world placed in positions of trust, to lead society along it's agenda.  Instead of,  the one lead by the Roman Catholic church. So this leads one to think "about presentation and the technologies we currently have" and what happened in the "frescoes of the Vatican in Rome" that we might garner from it,  a medium of expression. These then were  to  become thoughts about the measure of artistic impressionism. Let's say by Raphael? My pick.

This was used in the film while thinking about Raphael first, it was the sculpture and works of Gian Lorenzo Bernini that tantalized langdons work to point the way for this counter culture to reveal its destiny in face of that same Roman Catholic tradition.

Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)-----Rhetoricalthough not a rhetorician, contributed to the field in his writings. One of the concerns of the age was to find a suitable style for the discussion of scientific topics, which needed above all a clear exposition of facts and arguments, rather than the ornate style favored at the time. Bacon in his The Advancement of Learning criticized those who are preoccupied with style rather than "the weight of matter, worth of subject, soundness of argument, life of invention, or depth of judgment." On matters of style, he proposed that the style conform to the subject matter and to the audience, that simple words be employed whenever possible, and that the style should be agreeable.

So why would Bacon, if he knew to present the thoughts of the day by scientific measure, thought himself to expose, only the other side of this thinking with artistic merit? Of course I am making the connection between William Shakespeare and Sir Francis Bacon. This could all be for naught while one digests the thinking here, about the way one lives, and the world that could exist, if only....?

Word play is a literary technique in which the nature of the words used themselves become part of the subject of the work. Puns, obscure words and meanings, clever rhetorical excursions, oddly formed sentences, and telling character names are common examples of word play.

All writers engage in word play to some extent, but certain writers are particularly adept or committed to word play. Shakespeare was a noted punster. James Joyce, whose Ulysses, and even more so, his Finnegans Wake, are filled with brilliant writing and brilliant word play is another noted word-player. For example, Joyce's phrase "they were yung and easily freudened" clearly conveys the meaning "young and easily frightened", but it also makes puns on the names of two famous psychoanalysts, Jung and Freud.