727
ecosystem of these chasms turned contemplation, whose group mind unknowable,
can be, at least, intimated, whether we are of a position to posit or reject the trappings of such hereafters and possibility, even during these worst of times.
80.2 The Elusive Realms of Infinite Possibility
Wherever we stand in our moment of mentation, universally there can be no doubting the transitional ramifications. And thus, by transition we enlist vagueness and
obscurity to better condition our proximate poetics and sciences toward some generous orientation given to triple negatives, irrational numbers, and multiples of infinity that all court either the integer one or the substance of zero plus one. From those
two domains, every ecological investiture of mind is balanced one way or other. To
put it in the simplest context, one can awaken, be liberated with a single brushstroke
of the mind, a gesture of the heart (Fig. 80.3).
That realm of infinite possibilities finds its sanity in the satisfactions attendant
upon an equation, or an emotion, or some act involving legal consecration of just
causes and consequences, whether at conceptual inception or in the reality of
Somethingness. Take Thoreau’s posthumously published May 1862 essay on
“Walking” in The Atlantic magazine;
19
Teddy Roosevelt’s protection of Pelican
Island in Florida, March 14, 1903;
20
Henry III’s creation of the Forest Charter of
Epping Forest in London;
21
the 1964 Wilderness Act;
22
or the momentous uncovering beneath melting glacial ice of 41,000-year-old living nematodes and 1,500-yearold moss species. Such events—all, ultimately, of an instant—translate very real
“infinities,” as assayed by Rudolf Carnap’s (1891–1970) syntactic “axiom of
Infinity” and “parallel metamorphosis”
23
into ethics, infinities of virtue in the here
and now, as apotheosized in the whole realm of the perceived human conscience and
its actual probabilities in space, and in human logic.
We’re saying that ecological restoration can and does happen; that the conscience
is not merely semantic: it has scope, dimensions, and extent, though cannot be measured as such. An Oscar Schindler or Chiune Sugihara leaves a quantitative
19 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1862/06/walking/304674/. Accessed January 19,
2020.
20 See Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge Archived March 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
at National Historic Landmarks Program, Accessed January 19, 2020.
21 City of London, “Epping Forest,” https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/green-spaces/
epping-forest/Pages/default.aspx, Accessed January 19, 2020.
22 (Public Law 88–577 (16 U.S.C. 1131–1136), 88th Congress, Second Session, September 3,
1964, See “Wilderness Connect,” https://wilderness.net/learn-about-wilderness/key-laws/wilderness-act/default.php, Accessed January 19, 2020.
23 See “Carnap’s surprising views on the axiom of infinity,” by Gregory Lavers, Metascience 25,
37–41(2016), European Journal for Philosophy of Science, Springer Link, https://link.springer.
com/article/10.1007/s11016-015-0023-z, Accessed January 19, 2020.
80.2 The Elusive Realms of Infinite Possibility
ecosystem of these chasms turned contemplation, whose group mind unknowable,
can be, at least, intimated, whether we are of a position to posit or reject the trappings of such hereafters and possibility, even during these worst of times.
80.2 The Elusive Realms of Infinite Possibility
Wherever we stand in our moment of mentation, universally there can be no doubting the transitional ramifications. And thus, by transition we enlist vagueness and
obscurity to better condition our proximate poetics and sciences toward some generous orientation given to triple negatives, irrational numbers, and multiples of infinity that all court either the integer one or the substance of zero plus one. From those
two domains, every ecological investiture of mind is balanced one way or other. To
put it in the simplest context, one can awaken, be liberated with a single brushstroke
of the mind, a gesture of the heart (Fig. 80.3).
That realm of infinite possibilities finds its sanity in the satisfactions attendant
upon an equation, or an emotion, or some act involving legal consecration of just
causes and consequences, whether at conceptual inception or in the reality of
Somethingness. Take Thoreau’s posthumously published May 1862 essay on
“Walking” in The Atlantic magazine;
19
Teddy Roosevelt’s protection of Pelican
Island in Florida, March 14, 1903;
20
Henry III’s creation of the Forest Charter of
Epping Forest in London;
21
the 1964 Wilderness Act;
22
or the momentous uncovering beneath melting glacial ice of 41,000-year-old living nematodes and 1,500-yearold moss species. Such events—all, ultimately, of an instant—translate very real
“infinities,” as assayed by Rudolf Carnap’s (1891–1970) syntactic “axiom of
Infinity” and “parallel metamorphosis”
23
into ethics, infinities of virtue in the here
and now, as apotheosized in the whole realm of the perceived human conscience and
its actual probabilities in space, and in human logic.
We’re saying that ecological restoration can and does happen; that the conscience
is not merely semantic: it has scope, dimensions, and extent, though cannot be measured as such. An Oscar Schindler or Chiune Sugihara leaves a quantitative
19 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1862/06/walking/304674/. Accessed January 19,
2020.
20 See Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge Archived March 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
at National Historic Landmarks Program, Accessed January 19, 2020.
21 City of London, “Epping Forest,” https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/green-spaces/
epping-forest/Pages/default.aspx, Accessed January 19, 2020.
22 (Public Law 88–577 (16 U.S.C. 1131–1136), 88th Congress, Second Session, September 3,
1964, See “Wilderness Connect,” https://wilderness.net/learn-about-wilderness/key-laws/wilderness-act/default.php, Accessed January 19, 2020.
23 See “Carnap’s surprising views on the axiom of infinity,” by Gregory Lavers, Metascience 25,
37–41(2016), European Journal for Philosophy of Science, Springer Link, https://link.springer.
com/article/10.1007/s11016-015-0023-z, Accessed January 19, 2020.
80.2 The Elusive Realms of Infinite Possibility