From the metaphysical assumptions of many religious conceptualizations, it is hard to imagine why anyone would want to incarnate as a mortal (for example, an embodied human being) - given all the intrinsic problems, as well as the possible risks?
Why wouldn't spirits want to stay as spirits?
Stay safe and sound?...
But if entropy is an inescapable reality in God's First Creation - then the alternative to incarnation is inevitable decay; the inexorable loss of whatever we gain in terms of memories, of learning from experiences.
It seems that spirit Beings change more slowly than incarnated mortals; but presumably they do change - and in Primary Creation there is no escape.
So spirits are not really "safe and sound" - at least not in terms of staying "who they are".
Spirit Beings are immortal, and divine creation will continually give life, vitality, healing, growth and so forth. But this cannot be cumulative, all created spirit Beings will continually be "losing themselves", even as they are being remade.
(Just as things are for us now, here on earth.)
I understand incarnation to be a concentration.
The spiritual is primary, and all the material/ physical world is spiritual - yet an embodied Being is like a concentrated-spirit, one in which things are more focused, change more rapid; and most importantly where the self is more bounded, hence more free.
Incarnated Beings are more themselves (for better and worse) than the same Beings as a spirit - we are more differentiated from other Beings than are spirits; hence we can (in principle) understand more clearly, make personal choices, and see the basis for personal responsibility.
So, if you are a pre-mortal spirit, you are faced with a prospect of inevitable change and loss of self; or else you can choose to take the risk and incarnate in hope that you will choose to move on to the Second Creation - to resurrected eternal life, or heaven; as described by Jesus Christ; a place and state where entropy is permanently escaped.
(This happens, I have argued, because entropy arises from incomplete love between Beings; in the Second creation we permanently commit to live by love.)
Tis mortal incarnated life is intrinsically an adventure, where we can succeed or fail, but where success or failure is a matter of free choice.
It seems that some people who have incarnated as mortal Men, most people perhaps; take a look at the Second Creation, think about it, and then reject it - preferring something else.
But whatever "something else" is preferred to Heaven, and whatever its advantages in the short term; it will entail continual loss-of-self.
The Being that inhabits somewhere-other-than-Heaven will, over the long term, lose memory, lose the effects of experiences, lose its distinctive identity - will fade.
Outwith Heaven; Beings do not die, because Beings are eternal; but they will always be tending to revert to that primal chaos of indifference - of simply "existing".
Yet to escape this fate; to have everlasting, cumulative personal life as our-selves, entails living wholly by love; and it seems that only some people want to live forever on those terms.
6 comments:
“I understand incarnation to be a concentration.“
Similar to an aphorism I wrote:
“Creation is a condensation, not a condescension.”
Incarnation is an expansion, not a reduction of being. I can see why many would choose this route, and why many would not. It’s a perilous quest.
Bruce, I enjoy your writings, and this post in particular has me thinking. I am not trying to instigate a debate with this question, just clarity, because I find it fascinating. Do you think that we as human beings are pre-existing spirits? Unless I misread what you wrote. I don't necessarily agree if that is the case, but I can see where this would come from and in a way it seeks to answer a question that many don't think about. It would add a layer of depth to Psalm 82:6-7 as it shows Yahweh speaking to the rebellious elohim.
Yes, I believe that we began as pre-mortal spirits, then became mortal incarnates. The choice is whether - after death - to proceed to immortal incarnates (resurrection) or something else.
The basic scheme is an insight I came across in Mormon theology.
I'm Catholic. Far as I know, I was created ex nihilo and bundled with a fertilized ovum.
Elsewhere you have pondered whether our times are characterized by the incarnation of many 'bad' pre-mortal souls. That's a frightening thought, the possibility that any one of us might be a 'bad' spirit and thus contending with limitations our life situation hasn't made us aware of.
a_p - Well either we all start identical, and diverge at first passively due to external factors; or else we started out different.
I believe we started-out different, indeed unique. That is the basic of why each individual person potentially has unique value for creation, and in Heaven.
Thanks for the response. It is interesting and something I remember discussing in a college theology class many years ago.
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