View Article  Aphorism: Regarding 'nothingness'

 

Aphorism: Regarding nothingness

 

For man to both conceive of nothingness and to find a myriad uses for nothingness and then, through an adamant denial of nothingness’ very existence, to suggest God is incapable of using nothingness to create a universe is the ultimate anthropomorphic position.

 

View Article  How does symbiotic panentheism differ from general panentheism?

 

How does symbiotic panentheism differ from general panentheism?

 

Panentheism (general):

 

God’s knowledge includes all that there is to know; since the future is genuinely open, however, and is not in any sense real as yet, he knows it only as a set of possibilities of probabilities. In this alternative man is held to have significant freedom, participating as a co-creator with God in the continual creation of the world.

 

Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 13, 15th Edition.

 

 

Symbiotic panentheism:

 

 

Regarding: ‘God’s knowledge includes all that there is to know; since the future is genuinely open, …’

 

Sp agrees.

 

Rationale: Since God is the Whole, including the whole of knowing, God knows all that is, all that there is to know. God, however, does not include what is not yet known. To suggest God knows what is not yet known is to suggest ‘what is not yet known’ is known and thus not an unknown.

 

The argument that the future is a book and God can open the book where ever he pleases does not circumvent the argument that the last page of the book is a ‘known’ factor as opposed to being an ‘unknown factor’.

 

 

 

Regarding: ‘…however, and is not in any sense real as yet, ‘

 

Sp would agree

 

Rationale: What ‘is not yet’, is what ‘is not known’ and thus is not in any sense real as yet.

 

 

 

 

Regarding: ‘… he knows it only as a set of possibilities of probabilities.’

 

Sp would say: ‘… he knows the future only as a set of possibilities of probabilities as it pertains to physical events governed by the laws of physics found within the physical universe. He does not know the future as a set of possibilities nor as a set of probabilities as it pertains to events governed by the laws of free will as it pertains to actions generated by individual souls given the latitude to act within said laws (laws of free will).

 

Rationale: To suggest that what ‘is not yet known’ is known is to contradict the concept of free will. Free will only becomes free will if the individual actually has the capacity to ‘create’ freely’ as opposed to choosing from a pre-created set of choices established by a ‘higher’ power.

 

 

 

 

Regarding: ‘ … In this alternative man is held to have significant freedom, participating as a co-creator with God in the continual creation of the world.’

 

Sp would say: ‘ … In this alternative the soul (human or otherwise) of all entities governed by the laws of free will is held to have significant freedom and significant responsibility, participating as a co-creator with God in the continual creation of God within which the individual soul will eventual find itself directly immersed as opposed to finding itself indirectly immersed when it is located within the physical universe.’

 

Rationale: If God is a ‘creator’ and the individual is a ‘creator’ (co-creator), then it only follows that the individual has a divine power.

 

It is said: ‘ and God created man in his image and in the image of God created he man’. Being all knowing and all powerful, the creation of man would be composed of the same substance and essence as God. It is from this understanding that the concept of ‘co-creator’ (an equal team effort for having created, is creating, and will be creating).

 

 

View Article  Aphorism: Regarding the characteristics of existence - In terms of time

 

Aphorism: Regarding the characteristics of existence - in terms of time

 

There appears to be three and only three possibilities regarding the concept of time and/or lack of time:

 

That which is beginningless and is endless

That which has a beginning and is endless

That which has a beginning and has an end

View Article  The Journey into Nothingness: Chapter One - The Ludicrous Part V

 

The Journey into Nothingness

 

 

Chapter One: The Ludicrous (Part V)

 

 

[050409 cg] Sorry, there is no "outside" of Reality, for wherever you are, Reality is.


[050409 djs] The journey could be a lonely one. But the question is: Am I to go alone? Perhaps, but either way I shall go for I have made the decision to do so. I began the preparation for the journey with two companions but they hesitant. There hesitancy comes from the fact that they both tend toward Eastern thought. They both tend toward the concept of understanding reality through the process of going inward into the self. For them to go 'outward through' as opposed to going 'outward into' is illogical and they may not be capable of walking through this door.

 

 

[050409 cg] Friend, you are not alone, except if you choose to be.  In truth, it is you who have turned inward, into your imagination.  


 

[050409 djs] We all close doors and the door they have closed is the door into the physical for they perceive the physical to be merely a product of one's inner mind. For them to go 'outward into' the stars and then 'outward into' God verges on the impossible. For them to go 'outward through' the stars and then 'outward through' God does not 'verge on the impossible', it may, in fact, be impossible for the concept of leaving God, the concept of leaving The Singularity is a process of stepping into the ludicrous.

 

 

[050409 cg] You have fundamentally misunderstood what I have communicated regarding my understanding.

You write, regarding CCK and me, that "they perceive the physical to be merely a product of one's inner mind."

That is NOT what I understand.  The physical and the mental arise together, one is not the product of the other, but both are dependent on an ultimate ground of Being (yet another way of naming the ONE G-d).  It is not true that for me, "closed is the door into the physical"; rather, I embrace the physical as I understand it to be as real as the mental and the expression of the ONE G-d.

[050408 djs] Well enough of this procrastinating. It is time for me to turn my back to what was, pass over much of the country, position myself over the Grand Canyon, and wait.

Wait for what? I'm not sure but I have been told: 'Patience is a virtue'.


[050409 cg] Dear friend, no one can truly join you in your imagination.  The Grand Canyon you "see" is not in the physical, but exists only in your imagination and is not immediately accessible by another.  What you communicate, I can imagine, but only as you share and there will be your imagination and my imagination, not one physical Grand Canyon experienced by two persons.

Finally, I have experienced "guided visualizations", but found them of limited value and believe that e-mails are an inappropriate method of communication for that exercise.

 

 

 

 

The conversation is an interesting one. No words have been spoken and cg is not present. Cg remains at home, yet he knows my thoughts and the dialogue has proceeded as if we were next to each other.

 

But what of cck? He has been unusually quiet.

 

View Article  Aphorism: What is and is not lost

 

Aphorism: What is and is not lost

 

Two things can be said about what is and is not lost

 

Nothing is lost

Only nothing is lost

 

View Article  Aphorisms: About Aphorisms:

 

Aphorisms: About Aphorisms

 

About Aphorisms

The Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines an aphorism as:-

  1. a concise statement of a principle.
  2. a terse formulation of a truth or sentiment.


Karl Kraus (1874 – 1936) described aphorisms as follows:-

‘An aphorism never coincides with truth, they are either a half-truth or one-and-a-half truths’.


The reason aphorisms have difficulty dealing with the complete truth lies in their brevity. Aphorisms do not, ‘… tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.’ Aphorisms tell a piece of the truth.

If these aphorisms stood on their own, they would be no different than any other half-truth or one-and-a-half truths.

These aphorisms, however, do not stand on their own. These aphorisms stand immersed within the framework of a fully detailed holistic system. Each aphorism is validated by a host of articles and essays found within the philosophical project which includes this web site and the web site www.panentheism.com.

 

The Holistic System of Symbiotic Panentheism:-

  1. You are inside, and therefore are a part, a piece of the Divine Being, the Primal Force, the First Cause.
  2. Your actions occur inside, and therefore impact the Divine Being, the Primal Force, the First Cause.