tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post2388932623857548303..comments2024-03-29T12:03:37.344+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: Letter from your Heavenly Father (Part Two)Bruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-22445157846110900422015-04-16T21:22:36.766+01:002015-04-16T21:22:36.766+01:00@Vader - The addition of self-awareness is a guess...@Vader - The addition of self-awareness is a guess at what it means to become a child of God. At present I can't think of anything more plausible or comprehensible. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-41262189511787019902015-04-16T19:34:55.288+01:002015-04-16T19:34:55.288+01:00The only disagreement I have with any of this is t...The only disagreement I have with any of this is that I think the "essence" of which we were fashioned must have had self-awareness; "I am, therefore I think." <br /><br />But I'm sure not sure of that, since the Pythagorean Theorem is also eternal, yet is not self-aware. (I assume.)Vaderhttp://jrganymede.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-47073644083749713252015-04-13T18:45:29.402+01:002015-04-13T18:45:29.402+01:00@WmJas - I suspect that the Greeks did not have a ...@WmJas - I suspect that the Greeks did not have a truly personal concept of God as creator, so probably could not have meant the same as the Hebrews. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-41284910983653852592015-04-13T17:45:37.833+01:002015-04-13T17:45:37.833+01:00The beautiful simplicity of this is a struggle for...The beautiful simplicity of this is a struggle for me. Despite being an "outsider," the modern world has definitely influenced my viewpoint. The idea that nothing makes sense has, I think, influenced my attempt at understanding ultimate reality as something that can't make sense (to me, or to my limited intelligence). Yet that provides nothing for one to live by. That uncertainness is then just filled in by the world with distractions or demands. Here though is something though - where the purest joys of life are confirmed as what's most important. Andrewnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-33725975121010827982015-04-13T17:43:07.104+01:002015-04-13T17:43:07.104+01:00Well, I haven't finished the Timaeus yet, but ...Well, I haven't finished the <i>Timaeus</i> yet, but so far I think the meaning of the quoted passage is that the Creator wanted his creation to have the same excellent qualities that he himself had, not that it should be identical with him. Continuing the quote:<br /><br />"God desired that all things should be good and nothing bad, so far as this was attainable. Wherefore, also finding the whole visible sphere . . . moving in an irregular and disorderly fashion, out of disorder he brought order, considering that this was in every way better than the other. . . . and the creator, reflecting on the things which are by nature visible, found that no unintelligent creature taken as a whole could ever be fairer than the intelligent taken as a whole, and again that intelligence could not be present in anything which was devoid of a soul. For which reason, when he was framing the universe, he put intelligence in soul, and soul in body, that he might be the creator of a work which was by nature fairest and best."Wm Jas Tychonievichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07446790072877463982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-86700059319848345062015-04-13T10:37:47.010+01:002015-04-13T10:37:47.010+01:00@WmJas - Ha! But I'm not sure if it means the ...@WmJas - Ha! But I'm not sure if it means the same as I do. "he desired that all things should be as like himself as they could be" <br /><br />My understanding is that God wants us to be at the same 'level' as he is; but each a distinct individual. The quoted Plato passage may (?) be implying that the creator wants us to be identical with him, and to lose individuality and self-hood...?Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-89510109955574419012015-04-13T09:43:58.227+01:002015-04-13T09:43:58.227+01:00Just after reading this, I turned to the Plato boo...Just after reading this, I turned to the Plato book I have been reading and (as the synchronicity fairies would have it) read this passage:<br /><br />"Let me tell you then why the creator made this world of generation. He was good, and the good can never have any jealousy of anything. And being free from jealousy, he desired that all things should be as like himself as they could be. This is in the truest sense the origin of creation and of the world, and we shall do well in believing on the testimony of wise men" (<i>Timaeus</i>).Wm Jas Tychonievichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07446790072877463982noreply@blogger.com