Mass, Friction, and Gravity

Beware the leaven of the Pharisees. Beware of those who are rigid. They are classic manipulators who distort the faith.

In dry-stoning you have three principles to work with: mass, friction, and gravity. The key to why dry-stoning is upheld as such a long-lasting method of construction is that it allows for movement, while absorbing it, because it is not fixed with cement. It is not rigid. Ground swell movement will not bring the construction down if the three principles are followed well.

Foundation stones, both large and small, follow the same principles. They are proven in how they bear the brunt of antagonistic elements by the living interaction of the three phenomena: it is not actually the supposed rigidity of any rock, that makes strong foundations, but rather its singular mass, combined with gravity and friction.

Friction would imply a number of these masses. And the very mass of the biggest piece of bedrock you can think of would imply great friction with the next largest. Think of tectonic plates; the same principles apply to the sure foundation of building into solid bedrock: mass, friction, and gravity, just on larger scale. The real reason why sand (which is just many very tiny stones, each one having the same supposed "rigidity" as the huge piece of bedrock) is bad as a foundation is because, not having any great singular mass, or numbers of great masses, and too much regularity between particles, it produces no friction by means of gravity (hence hourglasses).

In fact, there is an argument to be made that each "grain" of sand, which again is just a very little stone, is even 'harder', or more 'rigid', than the huge mound of bedrock, for you can strike a chunk off the meat of the bedrock, but good luck breaking a piece off the little stone of sand.

Friction implies opposing irregular forces, not rigidity. Think of the arch: it is two weaknesses making a strength. That was Leonardo of Vinci's definition of the arch, which is absolutely true. And the principle of the arch is so seminal that it provides the root for the word 'architecture'.

None of this has anything to do with rigidity. Mass, friction, and gravity - these are true phenomena; but rigidity is merely the opposite of pliancy. It is mere frozenness - rigor mortis. While a certain level of rigidity is a feature and by-product of all construction, it is not the heart or foundation. It is a mere result of fixing four or more posts together with horizontal beams, and the relativity of that rigidity to other prevailing forces is - how does one say - lameduck: the rigidity of four posts tacked together by horizontal beams is merely four posts that instead of falling down individually, can now fall down all together. That is not foundational at all. Indeed, any degree of soundness and solidity comes with the mass of the roof bearing down via gravity onto the structure.

That is because rigidity is weakness; it is brittle. It has no dynamic. Rigidity and brittleness are always synonymous; it is dead wood as opposed to pliant, living wood. Dead branches snap. That is why in modern-day construction, where concrete is the main building material, they have to put in rebar. Otherwise the rigid concrete just breaks - it snaps.

Proving this point even further is the fact that concrete is stronger, not to the degree of its 'hardness' or 'rigidity' from lime, but to the degree that irregular aggregate sand is used - as opposed to a fine sand. This is why the ancient Romans built their roads with several layers of differing aggregate masses. This is why they would build reverse arches in the foundations under the arches of bridges. And even the particular hardness of their concrete, owing to the addition of volcanic ash, has the paradox of literal living rock with dynamics, of densifying with time, and not fixed rigidity.

So foundations, such as the foundation of the rock of the church, has nothing to do with rigidity, let alone the members who build on the rock. It is not the sign that one has built their home on the rock. Anyone can assume a rigid stance.

Or look at power lines - the big ones that go across empty fields. They require those little X's at intervals of the cables so that wind movement will not carry on down the lines (think of the tin can telephone), gathering momentum and force as it travels, and bring the whole construction down. The rigidity of the metal towers those lines run across will not do a damn thing to prevent such an occurrence.

Speaking of snapping, it reminds me of some statistic that was cited a number of years ago on the neo-schismatic site Rorate Caeli that said more people who attend the Roman Rite in the Ordinary Form had mental problems than people who attend the Roman Rite in the Extraordinary Form. On reading that, I immediately thought, "All what that statistic proves is that of all the people to be found with mental afflictions across all walks of life, those who attend the Ordinary Form are more likely to seek help, while those who attend the Extraordinary Form - yeah, they'll let that pressure cooker go until freaking doomsday and-- snap, you name it, all kinds of shit comes out: the terrorism of gossip, accusation, divisiveness, anti-Papism, instrumentalizing of the Mass, anti-Semitism, etc.

It is part of the territory too - that the absolutist fundamentalist regards mental science, and its consequent diagnoses and methods for healing, as an anti-religious, secularized delusion of the devil. They will be quickest to diagnose their mental affliction or mental disorder as a direct spiritual attack, which is simultaneously a form of self-flattery as they then double down on their rigidity.

This has popularity in the pro-life movement too, where some pro-life warriors (bless their hearts) have a penchant for bragging about how much the devil hates them and their work, and consequently how much they get attacked.

You cannot carry the cross, which implies walking with the cross, when you are rigid. Rigidity is a kind of neo-gnosticism - or promethean neo-pelagianism.

The mass of the cross comes down onto the reception of your shoulder and plants your feet solid onto earth as you step forward in tenderness.