To reset the scene: we’re on the subject of Necessary Being and how this relates to possibilities such as, oh, you and I and everything else.
Two posts back we made an offhand joke-of-a-title to the effect that I believe in God, it’s me I’m not sure about, but later that day received confirmation in the form of a statement by Schuon indicating that this is no joke, but rather, the most fundamental distinction of them all, and that from which "all other distinctions and valuations derive.”
Now, is it any wonder my audience becomes more selective every year?
Anyway, Necessary and Possible. Let’s think these through together. Some people say the first question of philosophy is Why is there something instead of nothing? I don’t know about that, because the real question is why there are twothings instead of One — in other words the old problem of the One and the Many.
This goes all the way back to the pre-Socratics, who were mainly concerned with cosmology, i.e., "the use of reason to explain the universe.” They "shared the intuition that there was a single explanation that could explain both the plurality and the singularity of the whole” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Socratic_philosophy#General_features).
Lng stry shrt, this single explanation ultimately reduced to two possibilities: that “all is one,” such that change is an illusion; or “all is flux,” such that any permanence is an illusion.
Because there was no way to adjudicate this question, the sophist nihilists came along and claimed reason can prove anything and therefore nothing, and then the hedonists who said, Fuck it, let’s go bowling.
And here we are, dealing with the same unresolvable question, ending in one form or another of monism — from material to scientistic to religious (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monism).
But this I did not know, that "The circled dot was used by the Pythagoreans and later Greeks to represent the first metaphysical being, the Monad or the Absolute.”
I use it too, but to symbolize a certain irreducible relationship between Intellect (dot) and Ultimate Reality (circle). Of course, there’s more to it than that, and let’s find out what.
These two aren’t one, but rather, not-two. And the reason they’re not-two is because of the Three that unifies them in various transcendentals including love, truth, beauty, virtue, etc. (Think of these as radii linking the periphery and center.)
This is the ultimate “structure” of reality, but please note that it is always dynamic, not static, thus accounting for flux, change, evolution, etc. It’s why we can never step in the same river of Being twice, even though the river is one, in particular, with respect to its source (Alpha) and destiny (Omega). “Progress” exists, and can only exist, between these two terms.
Let me follow up with something Schuon says about the Fundamental Distinction(s) under discussion:
The Absolute, in Its overflowing fullness, projects contingency and mirrors Itself therein, in a play of reciprocity from which It will emerge as victor, as That which alone is.
I’m loathe to correct people who are above my praygrade, but I prefer not to say That which alone is, but rather, something like They who all-one are, in other words, all-for-one and one-for-three.
Believe it or not, this metaphysical scheme clears up more divisions, dualities, conundrums, riddles, and annoyances than I have time to detail. Certainly it grounds the one and the many in an ultimate principle, not to mention creativity, change, possibility, meaning, and upside surprise.
I want to say that inside the Trinity is one surprise after another — not stasis but endless creativity. Brings to mind brother Eckhart:
Do you want to know what goes on in the core of the Trinity? I will tell you. In the core of the Trinity the Father laughs and gives birth to the Son. The Son laughs back at the Father and gives birth to the Spirit. The whole Trinity laughs and gives birth to us.
This is the ultimate guffah-HA! experience, and the very ground and possibility of divine comedy. Davila:
I believe more in God’s smile than His wrath.
So,
Let us live the militancy of Christianity with the good humor of the guerrilla fighter, not with the glumness of the entrenched garrison.
All I got.
17 comments:
Your many pop-athiests will typically tell people that since they don’t see any evidence of God they don’t believe, but whenever such evidence become apparent then they’ll believe.
I don’t subscribe to that idea since there are many explanations for why God doesn’t want to provide obvious evidence. I’m in the camp of people who want to see evidence of God in the attitudes and behaviors of the believers. In other words, it should be difficult to explain away faith as some kind of all-encompassing defense mechanism.
Christianity would scandalize the Christian if it stopped scandalizing the world.
Let us live the militancy of Christianity with the good humor of the guerrilla fighter, not with the glumness of the entrenched garrison.
Which is this, This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24, though in less colorful phrasing.
I believe more in God’s smile than His wrath.
I suspect that what people often think of as God's wrath is simply either terrible misfortune or a natural consequence for unwise behavior. He may not always get us out of our troubles, at least in the way we would like, but he is always with us through them, even if we don't or can't see it.
Love those last two quotes. You're still the best read on the Net, thanks.
You say: “I’m loathe [sic] to correct people who are above my praygrade, but I prefer not to say ‘That which alone is’ but rather, something like ‘They who all-one are’, in other words, ‘all-for-one and one-for-three’.” But isn’t there just one God (even in Christianity)? Surely that’s all Schuon is trying to say.
Schuon's controlling paradigm is the nondualism of Vedanta, whereas mine is orthodox trinitarian Christianity. My first principle is the divine Person(s), or substance-in-relation, whereas Schuon's first principle is the impersonal Absolute.
But are ‘the divine Person(s)’ one God or not?
One substance and three persons.
In other words, neither the substance nor the relations are reducible.
Christianity would scandalize the Christian if it stopped scandalizing the world.
Jesus spoke of sinning often, but I’m unaware that he ever recommended such behavior or quoted such as an inevitable consequence of following. I don’t think that anybody’s asking Christians to be better RINOs, but to at least try to beat their kids less often.
Because he does not understand the objection that refutes him, the fool thinks he has been corroborated.
But Nicolás, you just told me that Christians scandalize. Why do I take the scandalizer seriously again?
The truth does not require your consent in order to be certain.
It obviously doesn't require your consent either, so we have a stalemate.
As I've said, I can handle stalemates, where Christians scandalize the world or other Christians at about the same rate as non-Christians do (though I'd wish that followers of scripture might be better followers of scripture, even if just a little bit better).
But what if I see the scandalization as being much worse coming from the Christians, of late?
And no, you're not allowed to say I'm just scandalizing myself in perceiving scandalization. That would be gaslighting, which is a form of scandalizing.
Let us say frankly to our opponent that we do not share his ideas because we understand them and he does not share ours because he does not understand them.
" ....But this I did not know, that "The circled dot was used by the Pythagoreans and later Greeks to represent the first metaphysical being, the Monad or the Absolute.”
Another way of looking at the dot circle, is as a cone from above - the circumference and sides extend from the toppermost point at the top, and the is no part anywhere that does not extend from it. Point, Sides, Circumference - three separate distinctions, but are all One.
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