“NO COUNT!”
“No count” was a synonym for ‘worthless’ used by elders in Mississippi & in Missouri.
They would say that “such & such was no count”, meaning they did not amount to much.
I was pleased to read today the artful way that no count was used by Robert T. Browne.
He was an early 20th century philosopher, African American, whose book, THE MYSTERY OF SPACE (1919), I received today.
Its “preface” states:
“Mathematics is the biometer of intellectual evolution. Hence, the determination of the ‘status quo’ of the intellect at any time can be accomplished most satisfactorily by applying to it the rigorous measure of mathematical method. The intellect has but one true divining rod and that is mathematics. By day and by night it points the way unerringly , so long as it leads through materiality; but, falteringly, blindly, fatally, when that way veers into the territory of vitality and spirituality....
“In chapter IX attention is invited to some of the extremities of mathematical laws wherein it is shown that, because mathematical goods are strictly of intellectual texture and fabric, vain is the hope of reaching any reliable certainty with respect to many vital questions , even regarding space itself, by means of the mathematical method. The intellect , and, therefore, mathematics encounter the most formidable stricture when effort is made to maneuver in the field of vitality and realism. In addition, it is shown that, when pushed to the utmost logical limits, metageometry proves not only futile, but emphasizes the need for a sharp turning of the path of search from the intellectual or material to the spiritual or intuitional. Indeed, it becomes painfully certain that the Golden Fleece of profounder knowledge will be discovered never by expedition whose bark has its sails set for the winds of mathematical seas. But contrarily , a new bark , moored at the furthermost shore of the sea of intellectuality with sails set for the winds which come from the realm of intuitional perception must be seized. Whereupon, by the straightest line, we shall, at the last, land upon the shore of realism, truth of all inclusive....
“And while we disclaim any intention acceptance of them as final, authoritative declarations, we shall be satisfied if the readers of this volume be incited to solve for themselves the problems which these queries naturally suggest . Happy indeed shall be the outcome if there be any who, following the path sketched herein, shall find the solution to the MYSTERY OF SPACE and apply its meanings to the enhancement of the values of the intuitive life.”
P. ix-xii.
Being no count is making no good account of one’s time, mind, energy, mathematically spiritually intuitively !
Saturday, May 30, 2020
"NO COUNT"
“NO COUNT!”
“No count” was a synonym for ‘worthless’ used by elders in Mississippi & in Missouri.
They would say that “such & such was no count”, meaning they did not amount to much.
I was pleased to read today the artful way that no count was used by Robert T. Browne.
He was an early 20th century philosopher, African American, whose book, THE MYSTERY OF SPACE (1919), I received today.
Its “preface” states:
“Mathematics is the biometer of intellectual evolution. Hence, the determination of the ‘status quo’ of the intellect at any time can be accomplished most satisfactorily by applying to it the rigorous measure of mathematical method. The intellect has but one true divining rod and that is mathematics. By day and by night it points the way unerringly , so long as it leads through materiality; but, falteringly, blindly, fatally, when that way veers into the territory of vitality and spirituality....
“In chapter IX attention is invited to some of the extremities of mathematical laws wherein it is shown that, because mathematical goods are strictly of intellectual texture and fabric, vain is the hope of reaching any reliable certainty with respect to many vital questions , even regarding space itself, by means of the mathematical method. The intellect , and, therefore, mathematics encounter the most formidable stricture when effort is made to maneuver in the field of vitality and realism. In addition, it is shown that, when pushed to the utmost logical limits, metageometry proves not only futile, but emphasizes the need for a sharp turning of the path of search from the intellectual or material to the spiritual or intuitional. Indeed, it becomes painfully certain that the Golden Fleece of profounder knowledge will be discovered never by expedition whose bark has its sails set for the winds of mathematical seas. But contrarily , a new bark , moored at the furthermost shore of the sea of intellectuality with sails set for the winds which come from the realm of intuitional perception must be seized. Whereupon, by the straightest line, we shall, at the last, land upon the shore of realism, truth of all inclusive....
“And while we disclaim any intention acceptance of them as final, authoritative declarations, we shall be satisfied if the readers of this volume be incited to solve for themselves the problems which these queries naturally suggest . Happy indeed shall be the outcome if there be any who, following the path sketched herein, shall find the solution to the MYSTERY OF SPACE and apply its meanings to the enhancement of the values of the intuitive life.”
P. ix-xii.
Being no count is making no good account of one’s time, mind, energy, mathematically spiritually intuitively !
