[050609 djs] Actually I do not have this aversion to ‘eternal recurrence’, nor do I see this as a ‘problem’ for G-d, nor do I understand G-d to be less perfect if ‘this or that’ were or were not the case.

What I see instead is ‘man’ sitting around and pining for an understanding as to the meaning of his existence.

Now this pining is not a ‘negative’ aspect of humankind, rather the obsessing with meaning emerges from the natural curiosity of our specie and the natural desire of our specie to answer any questions which confront it.

The inability of our specie to answer the question regarding ‘meaning’ has led our specie down the relatively long historical path of intolerance, despair, and violence as well as down the relatively long historical path of brotherhood, hope, and peace.

In addition, the inability of our specie to answer the question regarding ‘meaning’ has also caused our specie to define philosophical, scientific, and religious paradoxes which have gone unanswered for centuries, which in turn have led us to several states of stagnation.

The first state of stagnation involves our intellectually understanding reality. This state of stagnation in turn has created a logjam of seemingly irresolvable intellectual philosophical, religious, and scientific paradoxes which impede our advancing not only these three arenas of study but impede the evolutionary development of our higher conscious.

The second state of stagnation involves the evolutionary development of our moral and ethical principles. This state of stagnation manifests itself in the phenomenal expanse being generated between our religious, social, legal, philosophical, moral and ethical issues and the technological advancements of our day.  We are presently doubling our knowledge base every seven years while our moral and ethical advancement remains virtually stagnant and this, in turn, is impeding the evolutionary development of our social structures.

I believe humanity is capable of reaching a metaphysical understanding of reality which would propel our moral and ethical abilities far ahead of our technological vector which in turn would resolve the problems generated by the first and second states of stagnation.

This advance in understanding reality would, in my opinion, harm no one and harm no religious institutions that are based upon centuries of human intellectual thought. It is my opinion that human intuitive thought has not been for naught nor has human intuitive thought been simply an anthropomorphic obsession. Although much of the ancient wisdom has been verbalizes in terms of ‘man’, the ancient wisdom is very enlightening when the term ‘man’ is replaced with the term ‘being’. Thus the ancient wisdom of mankind may appear anthropomorphic but is in fact very universal in nature.

As a side note: I believe the two states of stagnation previously identified, manifest themselves in the state of our present day music, art,  literature, politics, religious interactions, … The means of reinvigorating all aspects of society would thus appear to lie in advancing our understanding of reality.

In short, I see the key to reducing violence, intolerance, despair, social moral stagnation, social ethical stagnation, philosophical paradoxes, and scientific dilemmas, to lie in our advancing humanity’s understanding regarding the whole of reality and advancing humanity’s understanding regarding the role we as individuals and as a specie play within this advanced perception of reality.

‘But why now?’ then becomes the question.  The answer is: It has only been in the last half of the twentieth century that humanity has begun to grasp the full significance of our galaxy, other galaxies, the possible existence of other universes, our universe being possible limited in size, our universe expanding into ‘something’, the potential for our universe to collapse, the ‘primal atom’ from which the universe emerged, … It is because we have now begun to understand such concepts that we can begin to expand the perception we have regarding the whole of reality and the role we play within this expanded view of reality.

[050608 cg continues] … I have no particular feeling regarding 'eternal recurrence'.  It is not much in my thoughts.  As best I remember from my college reading, Nietzsche was the first Western philosopher to write about 'eternal recurrence'.  What I also remember is that, as I understood it, the point of 'eternal recurrence' is that one should live each moment to the fullest, as one will relive each moment eternally.  Whether 'eternal recurrence' is true or not, the point is well taken.

For me, G-d's omniscience means that all that is known is known within G-d, that there is no 'knowing' that is outside of G-d.