Where I am at (Coronatide Special)
School:
So, due to the pandemic, I'm stuck at home for the immediate future. They haven't announced any online classes, and I don't want them to anyway, it'd be a waste of time. The best I think they can do is to send reading material and the course outlines for when we finally resume. I've been introduced to a bit of the rigors of the academic life and God knows it is testing my patience. These days I've been hit by impostor syndrome due to my lack of knowledge, but I'm told things will get better with time. It's gotten so bad that I'm more interested in reading theology and philosophy than actual physics papers. It will take some time to get used to the terminology and the format. That is the main reason I haven't really posted anything related to physics lately. I'm not sure I have a firm grasp of the course at the moment. But I really hope I can get things done in that area before the year runs out.
Youtube:
I remember saying something about starting a YouTube channel this year. I haven't forgotten. I'm just a little sidetracked with school and stuff. I plan to use that channel to cover stuff relating to fandom, since I really having been posting anything about it, even though in I am not lacking ideas. Those ideas will be better explained in the form of a video essay. Perhaps this extended homestay gives me the best opportunity, we'll see.
Theology:
I think this is where I have seen the most change, to say the least. This has been mainly due to two people: John Milbank and the late James Cutsinger.
Milbank's use of the term "Non-identical repetition" has helped my understanding of analogy greatly. His engagement with postmodern philosophy has also helped me articulate my understanding of several moral and epistemological issues.
A great example of the former (with the help of the exceptional Graham Ward and Gerard Loughlin) is the beginnings of a Trinitarian foundation for what I can call a truly "Same-sex theology" that undercuts moral objections to the sexuality of queer people on the ontological level. By showing (using "Non-identical repetition") how same-sex or "queer" relationships can be analogies for the Trinitarian life of the Godhead , and even describe the life of the Eucharist consuming church, they call into question the assertion that same-sex relationships go against the natural order and the life of God.
An example of the latter is how Milbank uses the sheer contingency of our knowledge to show how faith is the prerequisite to gaining any knowledge at all. Where Milbank shows this, James Cutsinger gave me the metaphysical understanding of that truth.
Cutsinger was a pretty hard core traditionalist (although not in the sense of the Social Media "Trad") . However, his thought dovetails pretty nicely with Milbank's. Cutsinger was a perennialist, and the way he dealt with the very discordant views of many denominations and religions is to "go inward and upward". He went into the metaphysics, into what the various dividing doctrines mean. What he found, following Frithjof Schuon, Seyyed Nasr, among other perennialists, was that at their "esoteric" core, the various authentic traditions reach the same meaning, and are from the same Divine Source. I can't go into all the details, I will probably comment on this a lot more in the future, but he made sense of the conflicting doctrines and knowledge that post modernity sees as evidence of no transcendent truth as the very "proof" of transcendent truth. One of the interesting implications of this is that a perennialist of this type opposes all syncretism that seeks to dilute doctrinal purity, yet doesn't support every religion, as some are clearly false or corrupted. It is a delicate balance, but for an African like me looking for a his soul, it is a great way to engage with my tribe's traditional religion on it's own terms and in relation to my Christian faith. It's safe to say that he has made a perennialist out of me, even though I may disagree with him on some things (like his support of an only male priesthood in the church and his apparent opposition to same-sex relationships, which I think even his understanding of the symbolism finally opposes).
Overall:
This is just a sketch of things that I can quantify right now. It feels hypocritical to focus on this stuff while the world spins out of control. Sometimes I wonder whether there aren't "more important things" to worry about than how I can be a better self taught amateur theologian that studies physics. But then what else can I do? Perhaps my posts will help someone, even if it is just one person. I just want to do my part.
So, although the economy looks like it's heading into a recession, and I have a feeling we are just in the beginning of a long confrontation with this virus, and I stay in the last country that should have social unrest, I'm praying all this is worth it. I'm also praying to survive this without losing everything. Stay safe everyone.