Potentially off subject discussion that started at last Friday's Meeting

Hi y'all!! Cory and I decided that it would be good to share what we talked about last friday with the group. Discussions eventually resulted in emails and here is Cory's email and my response.

Enjoy!!

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Hi Cory,


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Thanks for hosting Friday night. While I was driving home I realized that if I understand what you were saying right in regard to how the universe is put together, etc, what you were talking about is some type of monism.


That's the idea that there is really just one type of substance in the universe. For instance, everything in the universe, is made of of physical, material stuff, and the spiritual or other immaterial things are really just different aspects of that same stuff. Other monists think that everything is really immaterial, and the physical stuff is just ideas in the mind of God. Some Christians have been on different sides of that over the years. For me, I'm a dualist on that issue and think there are both material and immaterial substances.

Just a thought. Does that kind of fit your position?

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I suppose I do tend to blur the separation between the world of spirit (heaven) and the physical world in my personal cosmology. Please keep in mind that my personal philosophy is precisely that, its personal. Over the years I have enjoyed hearing ideas from many sources on cosmology, but none of them have been authorities over me. I've had to make my own judgments. (and continue to make them as I go)

Generally, I'm sort of a dualist but not in a classical sense. Clearly there is the physical world with its causes and effects. I frequently comment that time and space are God's way of keeping everything that must happen from interfering with everything else that also must happen. The physical events where A causes B which causes C and so on are real. I argue however that we have events A, B, C, ... because that form was injected into the universe by divine will. (from Heaven) Whether the A to B to C and so on gets to Z and back to A is another subject I find fascinating. ..."I am the alpha and the omega"... Pure subjectiveness gives me the impression that this kind of causal loop may be how we end up with somthingness rather than nothingness.

When one talks of the trinity, (father, son, & holy ghost) you are actually talking about the same thing from 3 different perspective. God the father is up in heaven (outside the physical world we know - that’s why we can't see him) The Holy Spirit is God at work in the universe, speaking his Word into the world that we live in. The Spirit is present at the events where his will is injected into the universe. The Son is God (or his Word) already present in the universe. So there is a progression. (From God the father, through the Spirit, to the Son) (From the Speaker, through his Voice, gives us his Words) So Basicly there is the universe, and then there is God. The fact that I perceive separate worlds (Heaven & Earth) might suggest that I am a dualist but only until heaven comes to the earth. When I ask the question (where does truth reside?) I'd have to argue that it exists in heaven, to be imposed upon the world. Ultimately God's will will be fully imposed on the world and there will be no distinction between heaven and earth (earth meaning the universe as we know it, not the blue-green ball we live on)

As for the world of ideas that philosophers think about, I guess I regard it as merely a modeling tool and of no "true" existence. (sorry about the pun) Perhaps, being sons of God ourselves we have the tendency to create universes for ourselves in our minds. We give them form that mimics the "real" world so we can run simulations and predict what will happen when we do things. However skilled we may become in making our artificial realities (scientific paradigms and such), there is no guarantee that what goes on in the real world can be modeled in all instances. It is foolish to not make models and use them. It is also foolish to take our models so seriously that we become blind to the real world.

I suppose there are three worlds to me, the physical universe, heaven, and our model(s). I suppose many philosophers would put the realm of models into heaven but I so far haven't chosen to take that leap of faith.

Am I a monist, a dualist, a tri-ist? :-) I’m not sure yet.

I hope this cleared things up a bit, but I do fear I've simply muddled it further.

Shouldn't we have posted this on the blog? I'd love to hear opinions from the rest of the group.

Shall I do that?


Stay warm.

Rustin