I must admit after struggling a month to finish the 252 pages of James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and falling behind schedule to hit my self-appointed target of 50 books this year I chose Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbot because of it's small size. I found the book in a 25 cent pile and read the jacket without knowing what it was and it seemed worth a read and it was surprisingly interesting. It tells the story of a two-dimensional being that has the opportunity to see a world with three-dimensions, one-dimension and no dimensions at all. Given my recent drive to create something concerning space and time travel, I thought and was affirmed that it might give me some ideas. Besides that, it was pretty good in spite of my lack of interest in geometry or mathematics in general.
The narrator is a square and is attempting to tell his readers in the three-dimensional world about his world and his trips to the others. He talks about his world and the light in it and because there is no sun the question arises then, where does the light come from. He explains that though it has been pondered and sometimes answered it doesn't quite turn out right. "What is the origin of light? and the solution of it has been repeatedly attempted, with no other result than to crown our lunatic asylums with the would-be solvers" (Abbot, 5). It's an interesting notion that to ponder the great mysteries of the universe could and in fact, should render the would be answers worthy of the asylum.
In the flatland of the two dimensional world the highly pointed triangles are either criminals or soldiers, but the deadliest of all the inhabitants are the woman who are merely lines. "If our highly pointed Triangles of the soldier class are formidable, it may be readily inferred that far more formidable are our Women. For if a soldier is a wedge, a Woman is a needle: being, so to speak all point" (Abbot, 10). That's just funny.
Future Modern Ancient Greeks - The square in enquiring of his teacher the sphere (of a third dimension) what of the fourth dimension world, finds himself wondering that if a square (2-D) has four end points and a cube (3-D) has eight points then the next shape up like a square must have sixteen end points. "And consequently does it not of necessity follow that the more divine offspring of the divine Cube in the Land of Four Dimensions, must have 8 bounding Cubes: and is not this also, as my Lord has taught me to believe, 'strictly according to analogy'" (Abbot, 73). In the story when the protagonist of Future Modern Ancient Greeks goes to other dimensions he should travel in a space ship surrounded by 8 bounding cubes. Play with the word bounding and it'll be a nod to this book in mine.
"Yet mark his perfect self-contentment, and hence learn this lesson, that to be self-contented is to be vile and ignorant, and that to aspire is better than to be blindly and impotently happy" (Abbot, 75). Again, I seem to have latched on to something that describes my restlessness in something I've read. This time though I don't find anything profound in it. I find it sad to say. Self-contentment is vile and ignorant. To be happy, even impotently so, ought to be better than to be aspirational. Aspiring and not reaching that aspiration cannot, surely, be preferable to happiness of any kind.
Future Modern Ancient Greeks - I find the whole passage of the non-dimensional being fascinating. He has no conception outside of himself. Everything that exists exists in him. He is his own world. I think that could be used somewhere in Future Modern Ancient Greeks.
Showing posts with label Time Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Time Travel. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Friday, April 17, 2015
New Chronology Time Travel
I stumbled across the New Chronology in looking at models of history. It's a hoot. I'll get more into it later, but I thought I'd write it down now to put it in something. Maybe in A Cornish Mess, maybe in the Future Modern Ancient Greeks or maybe something else. But, topics to study: New Chronology, Nikolai Morozov, Jean Hardouin and Anatoly Fomenko. The idea would be these three guys are stuck in the "middle" where the timetravelers of the story go in between their destinations.
Actually, I don't think this would fit with a Cornish Mess so, it's going to be in the Future Modern Ancient Greeks storyline.
Actually, I don't think this would fit with a Cornish Mess so, it's going to be in the Future Modern Ancient Greeks storyline.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
The reincarnation model of the Future Modern Ancient Greeks
Plato describes the reincarnation futures for the types of people in this world and what their destiny is to be. For the impure souls they are destined to wander or be reincarnated in a humiliating way. What if an impure soul had been reincarnated as a closet light switch with a load of frustrations that he sits and thinks about in darkness and when the mechanic comes in and switches on the light switch he espouses his theories on why he is suffering this injustice but all of his words are heard only as annoying buzz that the mechanic will someday investigate when he has less work to do. The law-abiding souls are reincarnated as either social animals or humans. The philosopher however escapes the reincarnation and enters into a new realm of wisdom and the next life. It is for this reason that the mechanics of the Planet of the Future Modern Ancient Greeks has been suffering eons of brain drain and has been left to the slightly better than the impure but incredibly inept. "This could explain why I've been marooned on this odd planet four weeks when I only needed an oil change and a tune up. What is that incessant buzzing noise?"
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
The Travels of the Future Modern Ancient Greeks
I think it would be great to do a "Travel Chronicler" of a poor lost space/time traveler that happens upon a bunch of worlds that have interesting and comic outcomes. He could at one point find himself in a world, looking for a tune-up for his spaceship when he happens upon a planet full of used spaceship salesmen, astrophysics-mechanics and snake-oil salesmen that are eternally reincarnated Greeks.
It's there that he finds a new fuel to make his travels easier and essentially a lot less expensive - the apieron, "it's boundless after all, plus it will transform into anything and everything you like (and its opposite all at once). While mulling over switching to this latest and greatest theory on travel fuel he could stumble upon the workshop of Zeno and check out his latest models of starcrafts:
1. The Bisection (where you get halfway by going halfway and halfway by going halfway of the halfway until you don't get anywhere and are so frustrated by the situation that you buy the upgrade that gets you halfway there halfway faster but never quite gets you home)
2. The Achilles and The Tortoise Models A & T (twin engined spacecraft that has one engine that gets a head start and the other one never quite catches up. It'll get you where you're going, but you'll do it in circles. Very comfortable, but persistent dizziness is a noted side effect)
3. The Arrow (Such smooth space flight it'll feel like you never move. Given that movement is illusionary only anyway you won't feel the motion because there is none).
4. The Place Paradox concept craft (Tagline: since any particular place would imply an infinite number of places, which is absurd, there is no place so you're already where you were trying to go.)
It's there that he finds a new fuel to make his travels easier and essentially a lot less expensive - the apieron, "it's boundless after all, plus it will transform into anything and everything you like (and its opposite all at once). While mulling over switching to this latest and greatest theory on travel fuel he could stumble upon the workshop of Zeno and check out his latest models of starcrafts:
1. The Bisection (where you get halfway by going halfway and halfway by going halfway of the halfway until you don't get anywhere and are so frustrated by the situation that you buy the upgrade that gets you halfway there halfway faster but never quite gets you home)
2. The Achilles and The Tortoise Models A & T (twin engined spacecraft that has one engine that gets a head start and the other one never quite catches up. It'll get you where you're going, but you'll do it in circles. Very comfortable, but persistent dizziness is a noted side effect)
3. The Arrow (Such smooth space flight it'll feel like you never move. Given that movement is illusionary only anyway you won't feel the motion because there is none).
4. The Place Paradox concept craft (Tagline: since any particular place would imply an infinite number of places, which is absurd, there is no place so you're already where you were trying to go.)
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
The Apeiron As Travel Fuel
The Apeiron is, in Ancient Greek cosmology, an original substance from whence all other substances emanate from. The Apeiron is an infinite and boundless and indeterminate substance. In Anaximander, the apeiron or "the boundless" is not subject to decay and constantly brings about fresh materials that brings about what we perceive through our senses. It is also what generates the opposites in nature, i.e. hot-cold, wet-dry, etc., etc.
In a Douglas Adams-esque way what if I used in a story the apeiron as a fuel for interspace travel or time traveling? That might be funny. The world of the story could incorporate a lot of Pre-Socratic Greek understandings of reality to humorous conclusions.
In a Douglas Adams-esque way what if I used in a story the apeiron as a fuel for interspace travel or time traveling? That might be funny. The world of the story could incorporate a lot of Pre-Socratic Greek understandings of reality to humorous conclusions.
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Theories of the Universe
A silly little post caught my eye and while fighting off the incessant advertisements that came with the little nonsensical philosophical deepness of some facebooker, I did get some short little synopsis (probably horribly oversimplified) of some interesting takes on reality. I thought I might be able to use some. So, here are some facebook theories of the universe to explore in Time Travel stories and specifically A Cornish Mess.
Idealism - Reality is merely a construction of the perceptions held within the mind. A divine mind is able to hold all of the construction of all the perceptions and create an entire universe in the mind.
Presentism - The only true existence is that of the current moment. The past exists only in the mind as a construction of memories. The future only exists of fallible predictions based on the past.
Great Glaciation - The universe will simply become a cold wasteland after all energy has ceased to exist. Matter will become motionless and frozen.
Solipsism - The only thing that can be known to exist is you. All other things outside of one's own mind can be doubted to be real.
Phenomenalism - Existence of things is illusionary. Only the effects of those things are real.
Multiverse - Modal logic and parallel universes. Pretty self-explanatory on numerous levels.
Fictional Realism - If you think of something in this universe it becomes real in another universe. Demands the acceptance of multiverse as reality.
Eternalism - Time exists all at once. Everything is happening concurrently, creation, your birth, your death. But how you observe the universe is basically your vantage point. We can only see from one vantage point at time. But causality is therefore illusionary.
Idealism - Reality is merely a construction of the perceptions held within the mind. A divine mind is able to hold all of the construction of all the perceptions and create an entire universe in the mind.
Presentism - The only true existence is that of the current moment. The past exists only in the mind as a construction of memories. The future only exists of fallible predictions based on the past.
Great Glaciation - The universe will simply become a cold wasteland after all energy has ceased to exist. Matter will become motionless and frozen.
Solipsism - The only thing that can be known to exist is you. All other things outside of one's own mind can be doubted to be real.
Phenomenalism - Existence of things is illusionary. Only the effects of those things are real.
Multiverse - Modal logic and parallel universes. Pretty self-explanatory on numerous levels.
Fictional Realism - If you think of something in this universe it becomes real in another universe. Demands the acceptance of multiverse as reality.
Eternalism - Time exists all at once. Everything is happening concurrently, creation, your birth, your death. But how you observe the universe is basically your vantage point. We can only see from one vantage point at time. But causality is therefore illusionary.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
7 Days Off In the Land of Douglas Adams
Well, it's been seven days since I last posted. I've been traveling, moving my sister-in-law from Texas to Georgia. So, I do have a bit of an excuse. But, while I haven't been writing, I did do a little reading. Now that I once again have a computer right in front of me I'll jot down the little notes that I had over the week. It wasn't much, but just a few things.
While gone I immersed myself in some Douglas Adams. I had read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy a long time ago, but I think the version I had read before was the transcript from the old BBC Broadcast. Anyway, the time between my readings was very very big. On this occasion I've been reading The More than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I finished The Hitchhiker's Guide on the plane and then read The Restaurant At the End of the Universe, which if I ever do open up a restaurant I think I will call it Milliways - if I don't get sued. Since I didn't have any paper I jotted a few quotes down on my phone that I liked, with references, but this was a hassle so I don't have as much as I'd like. Suffice it to say that some of my writing style is influenced by Adams and I'm probably going to be reading a bit more of him in the near future. Without further ado though here are three quotes that I found particularly entertaining.
Ford to Arthur "History is never altered you see, it just fits together like a jigsaw" (303). I like this idea of time being thoroughly deterministic, not actually like it, but find it an interesting thing to explore in A Cornish Mess. Is time unable to be altered? Does the Grandfather Paradox hold true?
Zaphod, upon leaving Milliways right before the end of the universe [It is] "nothing but a gnab gib... opposite of a big bang" (233). I laughed aloud to myself at this one.
In the introduction I found another interesting concept to explore when writing on time traveling (which is the goal of my first novella I'm attempting, called A Cornish Mess. "There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is a nother which states that this has already happened" (148). It's funny, clever and a bit depressing all at once.
In addition to reading these two books I also listened to Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. It was very funny. Interestingly enough though, unlike Ford's assertion that history cannot be altered the ghost in this broadcast very nearly alters history by going back and nearly stopping life from being created on earth in the first place. Luckily it's stopped by Professor Chronotis altering time, after the ghost is trying to change time but before the present where the story mostly takes place.
I find Douglas Adams' stories to be pleasantly jarring to the brain in syntax and style. It's fantastic fun and smart. While I loved the movie, I find the book more riveting, though the ending of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is a bit depressing. Plus, Douglas Adams wrote for Doctor Who and that's about all you'd need for me to be hooked.
While gone I immersed myself in some Douglas Adams. I had read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy a long time ago, but I think the version I had read before was the transcript from the old BBC Broadcast. Anyway, the time between my readings was very very big. On this occasion I've been reading The More than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I finished The Hitchhiker's Guide on the plane and then read The Restaurant At the End of the Universe, which if I ever do open up a restaurant I think I will call it Milliways - if I don't get sued. Since I didn't have any paper I jotted a few quotes down on my phone that I liked, with references, but this was a hassle so I don't have as much as I'd like. Suffice it to say that some of my writing style is influenced by Adams and I'm probably going to be reading a bit more of him in the near future. Without further ado though here are three quotes that I found particularly entertaining.
Ford to Arthur "History is never altered you see, it just fits together like a jigsaw" (303). I like this idea of time being thoroughly deterministic, not actually like it, but find it an interesting thing to explore in A Cornish Mess. Is time unable to be altered? Does the Grandfather Paradox hold true?
Zaphod, upon leaving Milliways right before the end of the universe [It is] "nothing but a gnab gib... opposite of a big bang" (233). I laughed aloud to myself at this one.
In the introduction I found another interesting concept to explore when writing on time traveling (which is the goal of my first novella I'm attempting, called A Cornish Mess. "There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is a nother which states that this has already happened" (148). It's funny, clever and a bit depressing all at once.
In addition to reading these two books I also listened to Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. It was very funny. Interestingly enough though, unlike Ford's assertion that history cannot be altered the ghost in this broadcast very nearly alters history by going back and nearly stopping life from being created on earth in the first place. Luckily it's stopped by Professor Chronotis altering time, after the ghost is trying to change time but before the present where the story mostly takes place.
I find Douglas Adams' stories to be pleasantly jarring to the brain in syntax and style. It's fantastic fun and smart. While I loved the movie, I find the book more riveting, though the ending of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is a bit depressing. Plus, Douglas Adams wrote for Doctor Who and that's about all you'd need for me to be hooked.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Submit Yourself & Mind Blown
(Originally Written July 5, 2008)
James 4:7-8 "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts you double-minded".
If the universe is ever expanding then the light we see of a star that is 1 million light years away what we are actually seeing is the light of the start was when it was shining closer to earth a million years ago. We never see a star, just a star's past. We will never see a star's future and we won't ever see the star's present unless we get close enough to it and by that point we'd be so close we would burn up and not see at all. Mind blown.
James 4:7-8 "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts you double-minded".
If the universe is ever expanding then the light we see of a star that is 1 million light years away what we are actually seeing is the light of the start was when it was shining closer to earth a million years ago. We never see a star, just a star's past. We will never see a star's future and we won't ever see the star's present unless we get close enough to it and by that point we'd be so close we would burn up and not see at all. Mind blown.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Boethius - Russell
(Originally written November 14, 2006 in Book 7)
Poor Book VII! How unfortunate to be the course of History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell. You both have been neglected of so long. For months have you been sitting idly.
The History will further sit, waiting for its pages to be read. But alas, Book VII will once again feel the touch of ink upon its pages. Rejoice! Rejoice! The time has come!
Classics of Philosophy 2nd Edition
Louis Pojman
Boethius
-480 - 524 AD
-Roman patrician, consul of Rome and minister to the Ostrogoth King Theodoric
-Last of the Roman philosophers
-1st of the scholastic theologians
Boethius was falsely accused of treason, imprisoned and then bludgeoned to death
Wow! I'm excited to read him now! Thanks Louis!
The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius' greatest work was written while he was in prison.
Philosophy is articulated as a beautiful woman by Boethius. The woman heals his ailing soul. She leads him from lonely despair to an understanding and resignation of Providence.
Philosophy, to Boethius, was an explanation of how chance and free will can be reconciled with divine foreknowledge.
The Consolation of Philosophy
1. Philosophy discusses the nature of chance
The question of Providence is bound up in many questions.
Chance, as the outcome of random action produced by no sequence of causes, does not exist.
God keeps everything in order, so random chance is impossible.
Chance, is true as defined by Aristotle. Whenever an intentional act causes an unintentional result, chance or accident has occurred.
"Chance therefore may be defined as an unexpected result from the coincidence of certain causes is matter done for some other purpose" (Pojman, 448).
2. Philosophy asserts the Existence of Free Will
Free will is necessary for reasoning nature. Since there is reasoning nature, there is free will.
Reason brings desire and refuse. Reason allows judgments. If there are judgments then objects must be desirable and refuse-able
Freedom is not equal in all beings. Heavenly will is uncorrupted and thus have the power to effect their desire.
Human wills are corrupted. The more they are in contemplation of the divine will, the more they are free to effect their desires.
Men become slaves to their vices and the more entrapped in their vices the more of a slave they become to their own freedom.
3. Boethius cannot reconcile God's foreknowledge with Human Free Will
There is an incompatibility between God's foreknowledge and man's free will. If God knows man's actions and his desires then they are necessary and thus, there is no free will.
Is God's foreknowledge the cause of necessary future events or is necessary future events the cause of God's foreknowledge?
Knowledge is unmixed with falsity.
How does God know future things if they are uncertain? If he has only opinion he is not God, which is impious and absurd.
If there is no free will, punishments and rewards are in vain.
Prayer is rendered useless in the loss of free will.
4. Philosophy tries to show how foreknowledge and free will may be reconciled
Step-by-step reasoning will never illuminate what foreknowledge is. It has failed over and over again and will continue to fail.
Knowledge of things presently occurring does not cause those things known to be necessary. Foreknowledge works this way too.
5. Philosophy discusses the various grades of cognition
Knowledge occurs by the comprehender's comprehension, not by the force of what the knowledge is of. I know 'A' because I comprehend 'A', not because 'A' exists.
The senses consider a thing as it appears.
The imagination considers a thing without relation to that thing's body.
The reason contemplates the universal aspects of a thing as it investigates the particular thing.
Insight goes further than reason and contemplates the idea of that certain thing.
Hierarchy of faculties:
Insight (highest)
Reason
Imagination
Senses (lowest)
The higher faculty always uses the lower faculties, but lower faculties can never use higher ones.
6. Philosophy discusses the difference between human reason and divine insight
The more faculties a being has the higher its cognitive ability.
Sense - non-moving animals
Imagination - Moving animals
Reason - man alone
Insight - God alone
The senses must yield to imagination. Both of these must yield to reason. And reason must yield to insight.
Reason cannot grasp foreknowledge; only insight can. Thus, since only God has insight, man cannot grasp foreknowledge.
7. Philosophy explains that God's insight views all things in their eternal design, while human reason can see them only from a temporal view point
God is eternal. "Eternity is the complete possession of an endless life enjoyed as one simultaneous whole" (Pojman, 452).
Temporal existence is grasping shifting moments.
Even if time were infinite it would not be eternal because it is an infinite succession of moments.
An eternal being could behold infinity all at once because infinitude does not encompass eternity. Eternity encompasses infinitude.
God is eternal while the universe is perpetual.
God's foreknowledge then exists in eternity, which is non-temporal. Foreknowledge occurs to him as present so really it is merely a present knowledge of a temporal thing. It appears as foreknowledge to us because we are temporal beings.
God's foreknowledge does not make things necessary to happen, but when any action of man's is examined in its own nature it is free and unrestrained.
There are two kinds of necessity:
1) Simple
2) Conditional
Simple necessity is things happen because they are necessary
Conditional necessity is things, if they are happening, are necessarily happening.
God's foreknowledge makes things conditionally necessary. He sees things happening, thus they are necessarily happening.
Thus, because the necessity that God's foreknowledge puts on man's actions is a conditional one. Man's free will is true and responsibility remains in tact.
Poor Book VII! How unfortunate to be the course of History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell. You both have been neglected of so long. For months have you been sitting idly.
The History will further sit, waiting for its pages to be read. But alas, Book VII will once again feel the touch of ink upon its pages. Rejoice! Rejoice! The time has come!
Classics of Philosophy 2nd Edition
Louis Pojman
Boethius
-480 - 524 AD
-Roman patrician, consul of Rome and minister to the Ostrogoth King Theodoric
-Last of the Roman philosophers
-1st of the scholastic theologians
Boethius was falsely accused of treason, imprisoned and then bludgeoned to death
Wow! I'm excited to read him now! Thanks Louis!
The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius' greatest work was written while he was in prison.
Philosophy is articulated as a beautiful woman by Boethius. The woman heals his ailing soul. She leads him from lonely despair to an understanding and resignation of Providence.
Philosophy, to Boethius, was an explanation of how chance and free will can be reconciled with divine foreknowledge.
The Consolation of Philosophy
1. Philosophy discusses the nature of chance
The question of Providence is bound up in many questions.
Chance, as the outcome of random action produced by no sequence of causes, does not exist.
God keeps everything in order, so random chance is impossible.
Chance, is true as defined by Aristotle. Whenever an intentional act causes an unintentional result, chance or accident has occurred.
"Chance therefore may be defined as an unexpected result from the coincidence of certain causes is matter done for some other purpose" (Pojman, 448).
2. Philosophy asserts the Existence of Free Will
Free will is necessary for reasoning nature. Since there is reasoning nature, there is free will.
Reason brings desire and refuse. Reason allows judgments. If there are judgments then objects must be desirable and refuse-able
Freedom is not equal in all beings. Heavenly will is uncorrupted and thus have the power to effect their desire.
Human wills are corrupted. The more they are in contemplation of the divine will, the more they are free to effect their desires.
Men become slaves to their vices and the more entrapped in their vices the more of a slave they become to their own freedom.
3. Boethius cannot reconcile God's foreknowledge with Human Free Will
There is an incompatibility between God's foreknowledge and man's free will. If God knows man's actions and his desires then they are necessary and thus, there is no free will.
Is God's foreknowledge the cause of necessary future events or is necessary future events the cause of God's foreknowledge?
Knowledge is unmixed with falsity.
How does God know future things if they are uncertain? If he has only opinion he is not God, which is impious and absurd.
If there is no free will, punishments and rewards are in vain.
Prayer is rendered useless in the loss of free will.
4. Philosophy tries to show how foreknowledge and free will may be reconciled
Step-by-step reasoning will never illuminate what foreknowledge is. It has failed over and over again and will continue to fail.
Knowledge of things presently occurring does not cause those things known to be necessary. Foreknowledge works this way too.
5. Philosophy discusses the various grades of cognition
Knowledge occurs by the comprehender's comprehension, not by the force of what the knowledge is of. I know 'A' because I comprehend 'A', not because 'A' exists.
The senses consider a thing as it appears.
The imagination considers a thing without relation to that thing's body.
The reason contemplates the universal aspects of a thing as it investigates the particular thing.
Insight goes further than reason and contemplates the idea of that certain thing.
Hierarchy of faculties:
Insight (highest)
Reason
Imagination
Senses (lowest)
The higher faculty always uses the lower faculties, but lower faculties can never use higher ones.
6. Philosophy discusses the difference between human reason and divine insight
The more faculties a being has the higher its cognitive ability.
Sense - non-moving animals
Imagination - Moving animals
Reason - man alone
Insight - God alone
The senses must yield to imagination. Both of these must yield to reason. And reason must yield to insight.
Reason cannot grasp foreknowledge; only insight can. Thus, since only God has insight, man cannot grasp foreknowledge.
7. Philosophy explains that God's insight views all things in their eternal design, while human reason can see them only from a temporal view point
God is eternal. "Eternity is the complete possession of an endless life enjoyed as one simultaneous whole" (Pojman, 452).
Temporal existence is grasping shifting moments.
Even if time were infinite it would not be eternal because it is an infinite succession of moments.
An eternal being could behold infinity all at once because infinitude does not encompass eternity. Eternity encompasses infinitude.
God is eternal while the universe is perpetual.
God's foreknowledge then exists in eternity, which is non-temporal. Foreknowledge occurs to him as present so really it is merely a present knowledge of a temporal thing. It appears as foreknowledge to us because we are temporal beings.
God's foreknowledge does not make things necessary to happen, but when any action of man's is examined in its own nature it is free and unrestrained.
There are two kinds of necessity:
1) Simple
2) Conditional
Simple necessity is things happen because they are necessary
Conditional necessity is things, if they are happening, are necessarily happening.
God's foreknowledge makes things conditionally necessary. He sees things happening, thus they are necessarily happening.
Thus, because the necessity that God's foreknowledge puts on man's actions is a conditional one. Man's free will is true and responsibility remains in tact.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Time and The Knowledge of Good and Evil
(Originally written July 29, 2006 in Book 7)
Time
Time is a creation of God as a boundary for finite creatures. Infinity is not a ceaseless amount of time it is an existence apart from time.
Time is finite as an hour is finite. An hour is merely sixty minutes. A minute is merely 60 seconds. A second is a combination of smaller units. This pointless process can continue ceaselessly. But, that is not infinitude.
God exists as infinitude. He is infinite. Thus, rules that apply to anything finite do not pertain to infinite beings.
The knowledge of Good and Evil
Prior to the Fall of man his possibilities were endless in a certain manner as he was not subject to death. Thus, man was not hampered by a horizontal way. But man did not have access to the full knowledge of good and evil. Thus, he was limited in a vertical way. (Horizontal and vertical only stand for ways, the choice to label which as which was merely personal preference).
After the Fall man acquired the full knowledge of good and evil, thus remaining the limit of knowledge of good and evil. But it created a limit of death.
Unfortunately man has only the faculty to comprehend so much of good and evil. This is the disease all humans now suffer: humanity possess an unlimited knowledge both good and evil, but only possess a small amount of time to comprehend it. If man could live long enough he could theoretically comprehend it all and become the equal, yet opposite of God (undoing them both). Death imposed on mankind was punishment for his sin and the same time an act of mercy.
Time
Time is a creation of God as a boundary for finite creatures. Infinity is not a ceaseless amount of time it is an existence apart from time.
Time is finite as an hour is finite. An hour is merely sixty minutes. A minute is merely 60 seconds. A second is a combination of smaller units. This pointless process can continue ceaselessly. But, that is not infinitude.
God exists as infinitude. He is infinite. Thus, rules that apply to anything finite do not pertain to infinite beings.
The knowledge of Good and Evil
Prior to the Fall of man his possibilities were endless in a certain manner as he was not subject to death. Thus, man was not hampered by a horizontal way. But man did not have access to the full knowledge of good and evil. Thus, he was limited in a vertical way. (Horizontal and vertical only stand for ways, the choice to label which as which was merely personal preference).
After the Fall man acquired the full knowledge of good and evil, thus remaining the limit of knowledge of good and evil. But it created a limit of death.
Unfortunately man has only the faculty to comprehend so much of good and evil. This is the disease all humans now suffer: humanity possess an unlimited knowledge both good and evil, but only possess a small amount of time to comprehend it. If man could live long enough he could theoretically comprehend it all and become the equal, yet opposite of God (undoing them both). Death imposed on mankind was punishment for his sin and the same time an act of mercy.
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Thoughts on Time
(Originally written May 27, 2006 in Book 1)
There is no such thing as time...
Time is the all important factor in most of our lives. However, time is merely an illusion. It is a construct of man. Without time, there would be existence, but without existence time would not be. Time is broken down into units like decades, years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds, etc., etc. These units of time definitely exist, but time as a universal does not. Time only exists as we experience it.
Currently, it is 12:03 am on May 28, 2006. This is a unit of time that is only because I (and presumably you) exist in this moment. It has significance because it is part of our lives.
There is no such thing as time...
Time is the all important factor in most of our lives. However, time is merely an illusion. It is a construct of man. Without time, there would be existence, but without existence time would not be. Time is broken down into units like decades, years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds, etc., etc. These units of time definitely exist, but time as a universal does not. Time only exists as we experience it.
Currently, it is 12:03 am on May 28, 2006. This is a unit of time that is only because I (and presumably you) exist in this moment. It has significance because it is part of our lives.
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