#cardinaldulles

REPOST: Symbols, The Essay © 2017 Frederick J. Cowie, Ph.D. I once took a class on symbolism from John Foster Dulles’ kid, Avery Dulles, with an S.J. Of course the story goes that the Dulles family (you can fly into Dulles at D.C.) was not particularly happy with Avery when he became not only a Catholic but a Jesuit. Maybe they loosened up a bit (highly unlikely when you’re a Dulles) when he became Cardinal Dulles. We said “The ‘t’ is silent!” so you can tell how exciting Avery was as a teacher, but he was a fine man. I was in his office in D.C. (at the most Catholic U.) when we listened to the radio announcing Reagan had been shot. Anyway, back to symbols. Well, Avery being an S.J. at Catholic U. taught the reverse of reality, and by reality I mean the way the brain, the evolved human memory system, and the prefrotnal cortex works. He taught (and wrote a book, our class text) that God (capital G, his version of God) imbued a given symbol (say the cross) with special meaning that was picked up by humans. I wrote a paper (long since tossed) on his book (tossed earlier) that showed that his theory only made sense under one first premise (his and the Pope’s, hence the Cardinal thing), while starting with Descartes’ cogito ergo sum and science, symbols worked a little differently, and were the basis of all cults (he called them religions), dictatorships, and football team advertising. He was not amused, I got a B+, we were friends (I was an old Ph.D. in a class of youthful wannabees), and I wish he were around to discuss flags (USA and Confederate) and symbols. #fredcowie #professionalartist #averydulles #cardinaldulles #fredcowie #lastchancelifecoach #stressmanagement #helenamontana #symbols #flags #dulles #reaganshooting

Symbols, The Essay © 2017 Frederick J. Cowie, Ph.D. I once took a class on symbolism from John Foster Dulles’ kid, Avery Dulles, with an S.J. Of course the story goes that the Dulles family (you can fly into Dulles at D.C.) was not particularly happy with Avery when he became not only a Catholic but a Jesuit. Maybe they loosened up a bit (highly unlikely when you’re a Dulles) when he became Cardinal Dulles. We said “The ‘t’ is silent!” so you can tell how exciting Avery was as a teacher, but he was a fine man. I was in his office in D.C. (at the most Catholic U.) when we listened to the radio announcing Reagan had been shot. Anyway, back to symbols. Well, Avery being an S.J. at Catholic U. taught the reverse of reality, and by reality I mean the way the brain, the evolved human memory system, and the prefrotnal cortex works. He taught (and wrote a book, our class text) that God (capital G, his version of God) imbued a given symbol (say the cross) with special meaning that was picked up by humans. I wrote a paper (long since tossed) on his book (tossed earlier) that showed that his theory only made sense under one first premise (his and the Pope’s, hence the Cardinal thing), while starting with Descartes’ cogito ergo sum and science, symbols worked a little differently, and were the basis of all cults (he called them religions), dictatorships, and football team advertising. He was not amused, I got a B+, we were friends (I was an old Ph.D. in a class of youthful wannabees), and I wish he were around to discuss flags (USA and Confederate) and symbols. #fredcowie #professionalartist #averydulles #cardinaldulles #fredcowie #lastchancelifecoach #stressmanagement #helenamontana