Sunday, May 13, 2007

On Doing Detention in the Divine Principle's Office

Why don't we begin with an outline of Schuon's metaphysics -- which he obviously believed to be universal -- and then show how the early fathers nailed it in every particular. In so doing, we can further understand the proper relationship between science and theology, and show how there can be no possible conflict between the two, that is, unless science begins pronouncing on things that are strictly outside its purview or if it transgresses certain bounds that violate the dignity of man -- in other words, if a method available to man, because he is man, undermines man as such.

In his Survey of Metaphysics and Esoterism, Schuon affirms the following principle:

"In metaphysics, it is necessary to start from the idea that the Supreme Reality is absolute, and that being absolute it is infinite. That is absolute which allows of no augmentation or diminution, or of no repetition or division; it is therefore that which is at once solely itself and totally itself. And that is infinite which is not determined by any limiting factor and therefore does not end at any boundary; it is in the first place Potentiality or Possibility as such, and ipso facto the Possibility of things, hence Virtuality. Without All-Possibility, there would be neither Creator nor creation, neither Maya nor Samsara."

The Absolute is infinite, and vice versa. Considered from the standpoint of space, the Absolute corresponds to the point, while the infinite corresponds to extension. Looked at temporally, the Absolute is the moment, while the infinite is duration, or time unending. Understood numerically, the Absolute is the One, or the principle of unicity, while "the infinite will be the unlimited series of numbers or possible quantities, or totality."

Immediately we understand the paradox of how we may feel in the presence of eternity with the very large or the very small. We can hold it in our hand in a grain of sand, or we can feel it inside a majestic cathedral or while peering into the grand canyon. We can sense it in the passing moment, or while contemplating the 14 billion year panorama of cosmic evolution. For

My heart is a centre of infinity,
My body a dot in the soul's vast expanse
A momentless immensity pure and bare,
I stretch to an eternal everywhere
. --Sri Aurobindo

It is also, as we shall see, the secret of how the Word may become flesh, because belief in the Incarnation requires one to ask how such a thing is possible -- in other words, in what kind of cosmos is such an "event" non-problematic? Understood this way, the one-time-only Incarnation goes from being a magical anomaly to a more or less inevitable event in the economy of the Absolute.

Earth was a cradle for the arriving god
And man but a half-dark half-luminous sign
Of the transition of the veiled Divine
--Sri Aurobindo

Schuon goes on to say that the Absolute and Infinite represent "the two fundamental aspects of the Real, that of essentiality and potentiality." In turn, this is "the highest principial prefiguration of the masculine and feminine poles," since man represents the Absolute while Woman represents the Infinite. This undoubtedly sounds overly abstract, but it explains why the task of a man is to love the universal in a particular woman, while the task of a woman is to love the particular in the universal. In other words, men have a tendency to love every woman, while woman have a tendency to love just any man. The purpose of marriage is to reverse this tendency, so that men love a woman instead of womankind, while women love universal manhood as embodied in a particular man.

I'm not sure if that made any sense. Let's just say that this explains why Richard Ramirez receives love letters from adoring females, while somewhere a man is bored to death of Jessica Alba. Let's move on.

Returning to Absolute and Infinite, the former corresponds with transcendence, the latter with immanence. As such, paradoxically, there is nothing so distant as God, and yet, nothing so close. There is a kind of transcendence in immanence, and a kind of immanence in transcendence, the archetypal case being the Christ event, which occurred (i.e., was immanent) at a particular point in space and time, and yet, utterly shattered and transcended its spacetime container in every conceivable way.

And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that could be written (John 21:25).

Now, as mentioned yesterday, the first distinction is that between Absolute and relative, or Infinite and finite. The first corresponds to Godhead, ground, or Beyond-Being, the second to the personal God who makes himself known to us and whom in turn we may know. In a certain sense, this is no different than a relationship with any human person. Obviously, you can never actually know or experience what it is like to be another person. As with God, you can know their energies but not their essence. True, the essence is revealed through the energies, but the two are not identical. The latter are simply sparks flying out of an essential center that we cannot even conceive.

And in fact, a moment's introspection will reveal that you too have the same relationship even with yourself. There is an "outward facing" aspect of ourselves that we may know in the form of thought, speech, and feelings. But where do these things come from? Psychoanalysis is one way to try to trace oneself back to the hidden center that organizes our being, but one never reaches the Dreamer Who Dreams the Dream. It is always one step beyond, i.e., transcendent. In the end, our Being is a total mystery, like the infinite Godhead itself. I could no more create one of my dreams than I could paint the Mona Lisa. But the materialism of the scientistic worldview is

Blind to the depths, the occult roots unshown.
The visible hides its base in the unseen;
The invisible guards the truth its symbols mean....
Mind's peering gaze meets only abysses still,
Infinite, wayless, mute, unknowable.
--Sri Aurobindo

This is what in the Coonifesto is meant by the formula O-->k, in that our essential Being is inexhaustible and shatters every container, even though we require certain containers to serve as rungs in the ascension of Being back to its source -- which is not just the "human journey" but the cosmic pilgrimage, or Adventure of Consciousness as such. This, as we shall see, is the purpose of revelation, which represents the quintessence of a type of communication in which the transcendent is immanent. Scripture is a kind of "infinite speech" with which we may think productively about eternity -- a limit that vaults us into the limitless. And

I passed into a lucent still abode
And saw as in a mirror crystalline
An ancient force ascending surpentine
The unhasting spirals of the aeonic road.
--Sri Aurobindo

Now, if the first distinction is that between Infinite and finite, the second distinction is that between God and world, or Principle and Manifestation -- the Absolute as reflected in relativity. This is why existence is not absurd, and why meaning is everywhere. Or, if we do encounter meaninglessness, we experience it as a lack, or an absence -- something derivative, or parasitic, not something that flows from the Sovereign Good.

This is why even a nihilist nevertheless defines himself in terms of meaning, or the atheist in terms of God. After all, the a-theist is specifically lacking God. If he weren't, he wouldn't define himself as an atheist. As such, doctrinaire atheism is just an inverted way to be preoccupied with the eternal and the Absolute. For the most part, their atheism constrains them and keeps them out of trouble, whereas a true a-theist is always a monster -- Hitler, or Stalin, or Arafat, or Castro. Each of these men were truly "black holes" of satanic meaninglessness.

Conversely, referring back to Christ, he would have to represent the "meaning of meaning," or perhaps meaning-beyond-meaning (if you are Jewish, you may think of Torah in this way). The meaning of Christ or Torah is inexhaustible, just as the meaninglessness of a Hitler or Stalin is inconceivable.

Running out of time here. Let us put in a word for Mothers, for the Divine Mother whose bountiful love is infinite and inexhaustible, who is indeed the feminine aspect of God made flesh. God's love rains down vertically, but we could not know it without the infinite grace first bestowed upon us by those horizontal emissaries of Divine love known as mothers. For

There is nothing which is more necessary and more precious in the experience of human childhood than parental love.... nothing more precious, because the parental love experienced in childhood is moral capital for the whole of life.... It is so precious, this experience, that it renders us capable of elevating ourselves to more sublime things--even divine things. It is thanks to the experience of parental love that our soul is capable of raising itself to the love of God. --Meditations on the Tarot


Songs about mamas -- grandmamas, absent mamas, loving mamas, wise mamas, late mamas, sad mamas, hot mamas, and TV mamas with a big wide screen:

43 comments:

walt said...

Happy Mother's Day, Mrs G!

Joan of Argghh! said...

The Dixie Hummingbirds never, ever needed Paul Fargin' Simon.

Just... daaa-yumm! That's suhweet music.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there!

Excellent post, B'ob!
Thanks for answering my questions.

Anonymous said...

What can I say? Wow, with any punctuation, couldn't begin. The fire hose is definitely on full today. I have tears in my eyes from several spots, but especially the last two paragraphs. I'm thinking of my own mother, who passed on a couple of weeks ago. I was just wondering, what would Mom want me to do? (about anything), and realized that she would say, in words, what her actions said all her life: Live the way I do. And about my oldest daughter, who gave birth to a son, Simon, on May 2. Hallmark cards don't have anything on the Bob. Happy Mother's Day, to all. Now I get to go back and do it again.

I am a computer, shall we say, neophyte, and am just wondering how I can go about e-mailing this or another post to someone.

Anonymous said...

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Sawdust, To email a post there is a little thing that looks like a letter that you push and the rest explains itself.

Anonymous said...

There's a Hindu fable that basically suggests that atheists get time off in Purgatory, because even though they don't believe in God they can't ever stop thinking about Him for so much as a minute.

The atheist can't define himself without the concept of God. "Yeah, you know that almighty all-seeing Presence that's supposed to shape our lives? Right, well, I'm not convinced it actually exists."

Anonymous said...

>> . . . there can be no possible conflict between the two, that is, unless science begins pronouncing on things that are strictly outside its purview or if it transgresses certain bounds that violate the dignity of man . . . <<

Re: science and metaphysics - I think it was up until the 19th century or so that the concept of *ether* was a scientific given. Ether was generally defined as the "elemental element", a massless substance which essentially composed everything and was the medium through which light traveled. Since time immemorial, genuine mystics and metaphysicians knew and know this concept to be true - ether, for example, has been known in Eastern mysticism as "prana" or "Kundalini". It is essentially the most palpable aspect of God as He appears in the manifest universe. And up until relatively recently, the Absolute-centered, holistic concept of ether was accepted by those of Western scientific bent.

Then the etheric concept was dropped and for no reason I can discern other than few could intuit its existence any more. The concept of ether didn't violate any known scientific law, it wasn't obviated by any scientific discovery. As best I can understand, it was dropped because apprehension/knowing by way of gnosis, "innerstanding", simply didn't obtain any longer. If ether couldn't be materially measured, it didn't exist, period.

Recent astrophysics discoveries such as the existence of Dark Matter, and the fact that the universe seems to be continually expanding at an ever-faster rate seem to confirm the existence of ether, but in a way, that's beside the point. When scientific gnosis and intuitive knowing were lost, also lost was a divine sense of what in scientific pursuit did actually transgress the dignity of man - the dignity of Creation, in fact. How could this not be lost, given that the holistic, Absolute-centered perspective of Creation had atrophied to nothing? Consequently, we now have scientific researchers hell-bent (literally) on violating the elemental fabric of biological life by creating hybrids, clones, etc., something which I think is probably as dangerous, if not more so, than splitting atoms.

And speaking of the potentially forbidden violation - in November of this year, the Large Hadron Collider goes online near Geneva. This sucker has been designed to produce the Higgs boson particle - the so-called "God particle". Among other things, they also hope to prove the existence of other dimensions as theorized by string theory - by essentially punching a hole right through to them. Now, the existence of "other dimensions" has also been intuited by mystics and metaphysicians for millennia, known under such names as "astral" plane and "etheric plane", etc. And there have always been methods of broaching these other dimensions by way of a type of "science", some of them far more safe than others. Now they're going to try to do it by means of conventional science. One might ask - do they really have a clue as to what they're in for if they do succeed? Or what they could allow to come though?

Oh yeah - Happy Mom's day to all mothers, including those who are mothers in spirit if not actual biological fact.

Anonymous said...

Wish I could listen to your playlist, but DH is deep in grading right now and has his own playlist going.

I'll listen later tonight. :)

Guess I'd better go call my mom (who is a GREAT mom, by the way--I rise and call her blessed).

Joan of Argghh! said...

Will, it's always a wonder when you check into to B'ob-o-sphere and light the place up with something new to think about!

The God Particle has been a fascination for me for years, (got the book on my bookshelf) but I've never heard another person refer to it under that name until now.

I'd lost track of physics for a few years and now it all comes rushing back in like a westerly from the plains. Thanks.

Now to go get that book again...

Anonymous said...

gheckofeeder;

Thanks, I guess I wasn't very clear. Will that send all of the posts on th page (7 or so I think) or just today's. I don't want to overwhelm anyone but sometimes would just like to save or send just one day's post. Same question about printing out just one day's post, without the comments. Although I guess the comments are just as important as the posts. Sometimes.

Anyhow, any advice, even bad is welcome. Good exercise figuring out which is which.

Anonymous said...

THE GOD PARTICLE DIALOGUES

Joan: Thanks.

Me: Hey, you're welcome. Any ole time, really.

Anonymous said...

Sawdust-
It will only send that one post that the letter symbol is under.

Anonymous said...

"The concept of ether didn't violate any known scientific law, it wasn't obviated by any scientific discovery. As best I can understand, it was dropped because apprehension/knowing by way of gnosis, "innerstanding", simply didn't obtain any longer. If ether couldn't be materially measured, it didn't exist, period.

One might ask - do they really have a clue as to what they're in for if they do succeed? Or what they could allow to come though?"

Even if they did have a clue, they wouldn't believe it, because they can't measure it.
Thanks for that comment, Will.
It adds new revelation to Bob's post.
It also helps to explain the present quickening, I believe.
It's certainly an aspect I want to gno more about.

Anonymous said...

DIALOGUES continued

Me: And thanks for the compliment, Joan.

Joan: Hey, you're welcome. Any ole time really.

Anonymous said...

"But the materialism of the scientistic worldview is

Blind to the depths, the occult roots unshown.
The visible hides its base in the unseen;
The invisible guards the truth its symbols mean....
Mind's peering gaze meets only abysses still,
Infinite, wayless, mute, unknowable. --Sri Aurobindo"

The new tower of Babel. Except that material science doesn't seek to reach God, material science seeks to surpass God, that it has declared dead.

Anonymous said...

Ben,

>>Even if they did have a clue, they wouldn't believe it, because they can't measure it<<

I have the feeling they'd know the effects of it. Not sure if that constitutes "believing in it" or not.

Anonymous said...

Will said-
"Consequently, we now have scientific researchers hell-bent (literally) on violating the elemental fabric of biological life by creating hybrids, clones, etc., something which I think is probably as dangerous, if not more so, than splitting atoms."

The apocalyptic follies.
This and the "God partical" string theory experiments is a perverse insanity driven by evil.

Joan of Argghh! said...

Will, I just love our in-depth conversations!

:o)

wv: hideikny

Anonymous said...

DIALOGUES continued

Joan: Will, I just love our in-depth conversations.

Me: Well, so do I. When you get down to it, what's not to love? Although . . I have this odd feeling that we're characters in a play or something . . .

Joan of Argghh! said...

Line, please!

Magnus Itland said...

The days of fun reading continue, and the argue-people stay away. How beautiful. If only we could maintain a critical mass of seriously interested people, perhaps this could be recurring, if not permanent.

I remember C.G.Jung writing that men tended to strive for perfection but seek completion in a woman, while with women it was the other way around. At the time I did not consider that this might be instanced from the Divine, though. You learn something new every day... although some times it is more like being reminded of something you knew without knowing it.

Anonymous said...

DIALOGUES continued -

Joan: Line please!

Will: Heh . . .but seriously, it's like I knew you were going to say that. I dunno . . . you ever get this feeling? Like everything is scripted somehow, like what you're doing and saying has already been written down and you're just reading the lines, fulfilling your role . . .

Joan: Well, I -

(ENTER Ben to wild applause and cheers)

Ben: Hiho everybody!

Joan: Ben!

Will: Ben!

Ben: Hey, Will, that thing you were talking about a while ago . . this and the "God partical" string theory experiments is a perverse insanity driven by evil.

(Joan and Will look at each other)

Will: See what I mean?

Joan: . . . yes . . I think I do . . .

Joan of Argghh! said...

Will: See what I mean?

Joan: there's gotta be a dead cat in here somewhere... wait! Did I already say that?

shoprat said...

I once heard it suggested that the Greek gods were inadequate because they were personal gods but they weren't transcendent gods. The Hindu gods are inadequate because they are transcendent but they are not personal. Gaea is neither personal nor transcendent so she is totally useless. To be of spiritual value God must possess the seeming paradox of being both personal and transcendent.

julie said...

Okay, maybe it's time to shake up the script a bit.

Will, I admit to being the laymest of laymen on this topic, but while I don't necessarily share Ben's alarm at the potential discoveries to be made, in my imperfect understanding of string theory it seems to me to be, well, questionable.

As I understand it, string theory is an idea (or rather many ideas - there is no one basic theory) unprovable (certainly with current technologies), based on no evidence, from which many extrapolations can be made, but which ultimately have all the validity of a brilliant formula with a hidden division by zero.

Many scientists like to jump on that bandwagon, in spite of the lack of scientific methodology. Perhaps, for some, this is because it gives them a "scientific" excuse to believe in or daydream about things they might otherwise not give themselves permission to believe (i.e. a universe in which scientists are like rock stars, or where World of Warcraft is real). After all, if there are multiple dimensions then anything is possible, right?

Is there something I'm missing? It's an interesting concept, but I'm just not convinced by what I've seen.

Anonymous said...

Joan: there's gotta be a dead cat in here somewhere... wait! Did I already say that?

Me: Ah ha! See? . . . hey . . . was that a sly reference to the Schrodinger's Cat thing? Quantum mechanics and all that?

Joan: Well, I'd be thick to say it wasn't.

Me: Ah.

(sound of clock ticking loudly)

Joan and Me simulataneously: Time is so -

Both: What?

Me: Only one thing I know - Van is eventually going to come in here and say, "Knockwurst be damned, I'll go for the banana bread!"

Joan: . . . I agree . . . but why, why?

Me: Why is Van going for the banana bread?

Joan: No, why do we suddenly know these things? What we're going to say . . . things?

Me: I have a theory.

Joan of Argghh! said...

Will has a theory.
Julie has a doubt.
Van has banana bread.
Joan has a drink.

The Cosmos has all the fun.

Anonymous said...

juliec -

As far as I know, string theory or theories are just that, theories. One of the implications of string theory is that multiple dimensions exist, "folded into" our material dimension. This is a little different from what you suggested, ie., the "alternate reality dimension", which I have trouble buying myself, although some reputable theorists seem to, to a degree.

I have no prob believing in the existence of other dimensions, however. In a way, that's no different from believing in a heaven or hell and all their gradations. After all, heaven and hell, if they exist, must exist somewhere and in some kind of substance, albeit not a material substance.

It seems that the Large Hadron Collider experiment seeks to prove, if not the existence of heaven and hell, then the existence of other dimensions, which mystics have always intuited do in fact exist.

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

Oddly, the idea that the world is 'tied up in string' is rather elegant and seems to me to just be a more materialistic way to say 'Ether'. They dropped ether only to 'reinvent' it in strings.

Either that or there is some conspiracy involving cats...

Happy Moms day, moms!

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

... ether that or?

I see another coontraction!

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

Almost like ether is so self-evident that we can't forget it no matter how hard we try.

Now, I don't have banana bread, but I do have a recipe for Banana Butterscotch muffins...!

(From my mom!)

julie said...

"I have no prob believing in the existence of other dimensions, however. In a way, that's no different from believing in a heaven or hell and all their gradations. After all, heaven and hell, if they exist, must exist somewhere and in some kind of substance, albeit not a material substance."

Actually, I agree with you on that point, and I thought you had some great observations about metaphysics and ether. It's just the popularity and prevalence of string theories (as you noted, there are several) that I wonder about. Perhaps there is something to it, but then again perhaps what they find will be either much simpler or vastly stranger than they can imagine.

Joan of Argghh! said...

I suspect that string theory will discover what Paul of Tarsus knew:

The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

Curiously, Paul also quotes other texts which speak of folding up the heavens like a garment:

In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll (KJV, fold)them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed.

Question: Is time just stringing us along?

Anonymous said...

Since it seems to be that sort of a night-
Will. The Folding Vortex. Coincidence?

This God particle thing sounds exactly like the Bore, in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. I think it was Van who also has been following the series. I just hope this experiment doesn't have the same consequences as the one in the book. On the other hand, maybe they really will get to another dimension, and we can have giant robots, and space monsters, and all kinds of cool stuff. Maybe we'll finally get to have flying cars like in the Jetsons.
The God particle. The Quickening, The Alignment of Sides. No doubt the apocalypse is unfolding as it should. Strive to be happy.
It's just been that kind of day.

JWM

NoMo said...

Among other things, today's post reminded me of how COMFORTED I am that God is closer to me than I have the capacity to be close to Him. In fact, the closer I become to Him, the closer I become to myself.

wv: petos (with guacamole?)

Hey! Busy weekend - the first of my three sons graduated from college (finally). Sweet.

NoMo said...

Joan - Actually, I think its space that's stringing us along. Time is just standing on the sidelines chuckling.

Anonymous said...

Well, today is mother's day and i didn't hear from my children. I haven't had sex in months. I feel forgotten. I, like Stalin, am a black hole. I need so much that my stomach aches.

I read Bob's post and everyone's comments and they seem so far away and thinly-stretched. I want to dive into the words with my spirit but I AM SO FREAKING HUNGRY for SOMETHING to HAPPEN TO ME that I can't concentrate. Please, Lord! Some attention! Some love! Some warmth! Just a hug would do. What I'd really like is a lover.

I'm just a broken-down old filly, I guess. I'm ready for Jesus, I tell you, ready, but first I'd like to have a fling.

Van Harvey said...

Great post today, I snuck in reading during spots of Mom's day morning confusion, Ryan wanted knockwurst, the other two kids wanted banana bread, but there's only so much time to get Mom's day breakfast cooked and on the breakfast-in-bed tray, so I say Knockwurst be damned, I'll go for the banana bread!

Will said "Then the etheric concept was dropped and for no reason I can discern other than few could intuit its existence any more. "

As you say, because they couldn't measure it. So, like free will, if it can't be tagged and measured, must not exist.

I actually speculate that something such as an ether must exist, the idea of actual vacuum, true nothingness through which other things somehow pass, and exist side by noside with, rings too much as a 'our theories don't show it so it can't be'.

Joan of Argghh! said "The God Particle has been a fascination for me for years, (got the book on my bookshelf) " Got it here too, "The God Particle" by Leon Lederman.

USS Ben said "Even if they did have a clue, they wouldn't believe it, because they can't measure it."
Yep. And "Thanks for that comment, Will. It adds new revelation to Bob's post." Double Yep.

JulieC said "Is there something I'm missing? It's an interesting concept, but I'm just not convinced by what I've seen. "
I won't pretend to more than article depth knowledge about it, but my inkling is that you're right on that. And in another way, it seems like a way of pretending to be able to describe the ether they couldn't find to begin with.

JWM said "No doubt the apocalypse is unfolding as it should. " Once again, the wheel goes around...(Moraine's coming back too). Hesiod said that in the time when children are born old, and no longer show respect their parents,and all gets worse until finally Shame and Retribution flee the earth, and society breaks down entirely. Sometimes I wonder if he foresaw Brittany Spears & 'Married with Children'.

Will said "Me: Well, so do I. When you get down to it, what's not to love? Although . . I have this odd feeling that we're characters in a play or something . . . Only one thing I know - Van is eventually going to come in here and say, "Knockwurst be damned, I'll go for the banana bread!"
"

Me: Oh my God! How did he know I was going to say that?
[Curtain drops, Cue music, raise lights, cast prepares for curtain call]

Anonymous said...

Well, Happy Mother's Day, Pancakes.

Seriously, if you want some genuine relief, try and get your mind off yourself. And whatever situation you find yourself in - if you can't do nothin' bout it, then accept it as part of your necessary earthly trial. You know, like a mature adult.

Anonymous said...

Juliec and Joan - >>It's just the popularity and prevalence of string theories (as you noted, there are several) that I wonder about<<

>>I suspect that string theory will discover what Paul of Tarsus knew<<


Yeah, well, keep in mind that these aren't mystics we're talking about, they're physicists, linear-thinking physicists. They may be number-crunching wizards, but as far as spirit-lifting, consciousness-raising insight goes, fuggetaboutit.

I was watching a cable show about recent astrophysics theory and how 3 physicists came up with the latest prevailing, all-encompassing "breakthrough" theory while they were traveling to London on a train to see a play. I sort of came away with the impression that they wanted the train episode to be immortalized in folklore, but anyway . . .

The 3 physicists were stymied by the fact that the most advanced mathematics could not account for non-linear time, the "time" before the Big Bang, the time before linear time, in effect. Now - anybody with the slightest mystical intuition would tell you that prior to the Big Bang the Absolute contained the possibility of all time simultaneously - infinite time, in other words. And from out of the Absolute's self-sacrifice, infinite time was actualized into linear time. Point being: there does exist such a thing as infinite time, as the developed spiritual intuition knows.

These 3 physicists, however, are quite innocent of developed spiritual intuition, so they had to come up with another explanation, namely - there *was" linear time before the Big Bang, only it was the linear time of parallel dimensions, parallel cosmos's. These parallel dimensions somehow collided, thereby giving birth to our linear time cosmos. Of course, even if this theory is correct, linear time still had to start somewhere/somewhen - linear time cannot be traced back in time infinitely, whether in our cosmos or other dimensions pre-existent to ours, even if there have been trillions upon trillions of pre-existent universes. Linear time had to start at a somewhen point.

This, however, simply did not occur to the 3 physicists, and I came away thinking, you know, for all their math pyrotechnics and air-guitar theorizing, these guys just aren't all that bright.

Anonymous said...

Will said
"This, however, simply did not occur to the 3 physicists, and I came away thinking, you know, for all their math pyrotechnics and air-guitar theorizing, these guys just aren't all that bright."

Heh!
Even drunken sailors have thoughts and discussions about whence it all began.
Not that I'm braggin' or nothin', 'cause this ain't an original thought by any strretch of the word.

I wouldn't even let these bozo's play with silly string.
Okay, maybe silly string, but why do I keep thinkin' it's not so bright to allow guys like this to play with a plethera of pandora's boxes?
I mean, who is the guy that almost always creates the problems in the sci-fi movies?
It's either the mad scientist or the not-so-bright scientist.
Or Algore.
It would be funny if it wasn't so serious.
Well, actually it's funny and serious, but still...

Susannah said...

Van--I'm still laughing.

Pancakes--actually, maybe I'll make those tonight, that sounds good--

I can only sypmathize. I didn't hear from my kids either. I have six of them and they all still live here with me. :) No. six seemed particularly unaware that it was Mother's Day. What a pip that one is.

Of course, they don't remember Father's Day, either, unless I make them sit down and make a card. Kids are total ingrates, aren't they? The little blessings.

Truly sorry you are lonely, though. I think Will's advice is best, though I know the self-pity trap all too well, and how hard it is to climb out. Sometimes the only thing to do is climb into Abba's lap and sob.

I didn't end up calling my mom, either. I sent her an e-card, she e-mailed me one in return, and then we chatted electronically about our Mother's Days. So goes the 21st century relationship. :)

"Among other things, today's post reminded me of how COMFORTED I am that God is closer to me than I have the capacity to be close to Him. In fact, the closer I become to Him, the closer I become to myself."

So nicely said.

Very nice playlist, Bob. :) DH is off administering another final for an hour or two, so I got to sneak it in.

Finally, space/time is one of those concepts about which I have to say with the Psalmist, "My heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me."

Susannah said...

"Mama tol' me not to come."

Great song!

Theme Song

Theme Song