Phism of the Day, Phi takes the credit but Wygart writes the words
                                                                                                        [©Atani Studios 2011]

There was some crosstalk between the Phism of the Day feature of this blog and my FaceBook page, where I typically repost them for some added exposure.

Crosstalk [electronics]

In electronics crosstalk is any phenomenon by which a signal transmitted on one circuit or channel creates an undesireable effect in another circuit or channel.†

In our case crosstalk is always good!  Today’s Phism of the Day was:

ILLUMINATION

To attain enlightenment is to consciously banish profane space and time permanently by sacralizing your world.

φ

In response, a FaceBook friend asked the following two questions.  “Please define ‘profane’ and ‘sacred’ in one sentence for each,” and “Oh, and heck, define ‘your world’ as opposed to ‘others’ world.’ Where does your space stop and theirs begin? (Isn’t that fun?)”

My reply [again too good to waste on FaceBook alone]:

Philosophically the reference is, fairly specifically, to Mircea Eliade.

Eliade’s usual argument is that religious thought rests on a sharp distinction between the ‘sacred’ and the ‘profane’. The sacred is the “mythical time of origins” and contains all possible realities and values. The profane on the other hand is the historically conditioned view of reality, a more limited reality than that of the ‘sacred’. Thus for Eliade, to “sacralize” the profane world is a process of broadening and expanding its boundaries beyond the normal work-a-day historically conditioned world, but without dumping History. The process is, properly, transcend and include.

Let it never be said that Wygart is not a Witty Wight and posts on FaceBook with his rhetorical pants down.

W^3

†  Wikipedia, crosstalk [electronics]