to understand deity...

[Guest guest]

>Krael

>webhawks (AT) bellsouth (DOT) net >friends (AT) bellsouth (DOT) net >to

understand deity... >Fri, 06 Apr 2001 11:01:49 -0400 >

>http://dhushara.tripod.com/book/consum/consum.htm#anchor3050785 >excerpted

from: Consummating Eden 1: >Archetypal Myth and Human Destiny > >To understand

the true meaning of deity, it is essential to understand >the true meaning of

nature, for it is in nature and in its crucible of >the conscious mind that

deity finds its most eloquent and enduring >realization of the transcendent in

the manifest. While it is essential >that we 'see Eden on the future horizon

rather than in the rear-view >mirror,' we should no conclude that the

evolutionary view is one in >which 'the evil in nature lies at its very roots.'

(Wright 1996). > >Science and the Numinous > >In another sense, the analytic

knowledge of 'good and evil,' Occam's >razor, in the very form of the objective

scientific model of reality has >cut its way through the visionary unity and

purpose of human existence, >reducing us to the image of chemical machines or

cybernetic automata and >the universe to Bertrand Russell's nightmare vision of

oblivion > >'Such in outline, but even more purposeless, more devoid of meaning

is >the world which science presents for our belief. Amid such a world, if

>anywhere, our ideals henceforward must find a home. That man is the >product

of causes that had no pre-vision of the end they were achieving; >that his

origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his >beliefs, are but

the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that >no fire, no heroism, no

intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve >an individual life beyond the

grave, that all the labours of the ages, >all the devotion, all the

inspirations, all the noon-day brightness of >human genius, are destined to

extinction in the vast death of the solar >system, and that the whole temple of

man's achievement must inevitably >be buried beneath the debris of a universe in

ruins - all these things, >if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly

certain, that no >philosophy that rejects them can hope to stand! Only within

the >scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding

>despair, can the soul's habitation henceforth be safely built. ... Brief >and

powerless is man's life, on him and all his race the slow, sure doom >falls

pitiless and dark ... ' (Russel 45) > >This pessimism sums up the schizophrenia

that science presents to us. By >describing us reductionistically as a chemical

machine, science reduces >us to players in a mechanistic nightmare. The second

law of >thermodynamics is similarly pessimistic. All order will eventually

>disintegrate in increasing entropy. However the logic is missing the

>essential ingredients, life and consciousness. Life exists as an island >of

negative entropy in an increasing entropy universe. This is the way >things

have to be for life to exist. It is not a tragic error that >entropy is

increasing, it is a trade-off in which the existence of life >becomes possible.

Sex is another tradeoff in which parthenogenic >immortality is traded away.

Individual mortality results but the >evolutionary scheme becomes grander in

scope and is shared between the >genders. > >Our life consists of a stream of

consciousness from birth to death. This >subjective level of experience is our

only contact with reality. The >physical world is a description of reality

tying together our conscious >experiences. Once consciousness enters into the

description the picture >changes enormously! The ghost of free-will renters the

machine in the >form of uncertainty. The nature of subjective consciousness

confounds >the objective domain of conventional science - the so called 'hard

>problem' in consciousness research, because the subjective state is

>existentially distinct from any objective description of itself. The

>objective is a stability aspect of the subjective but not vice versa. >

>Throughout the overwhelming time-span of human culture, probably the >entire

phase of our 'primitive' origins, and still today over much of >the planet,

people believe in a transcendent meaning and reality to >human conscious

existence. Even with the advent of modern scientific >discovery and analytic

thought, a very substantial portion of the world >population remain firm

believers in this view, some believing in creator >gods such as Yahweh and

Allah, or diverse deities from Papa and Rangi >the Maori Sky Father and Earth

Mother through to more abstract >representations of the cosmic mind through

Buddha and the Tao and great >abyss of shamanism. > >How is it possible to

accommodate this visionary perspective with the >scientific description of

reality? The likely solution is as follows: In >relation to the conscious

realm, these descriptions are correctly >capturing some real level of conscious

experience which has something >direct to do with human free-will, meaning,

purpose and destiny, which >is not inconsistent with the physical model, but is

not recognised >within the confines of its objective, reductionist framework. >

>The central fundamental enigma remaining in science is the apparently

>unfathomable mystery of subjective consciousness, which by its very >nature

stands outside the very frame of reference of objective enquiry, >yet is the

foundation of all our experience of existence. This is the >so-called hard

problem in consciousness research. Despite ever more >elaborate studies of the

parallels between brain scan images of the >thinking brain and subjective

mental states, no explanation is >forthcoming. Moreover any explanation

consistent with free-will must >provide for indeterminacies in brain function,

consistent with a >description based on dynamical chaos and quantum

uncertainty, suggesting >the problem involves fundamental physics of a

potentially cosmological >sort. > >Conscious experience may in turn have a

subtle and far-reaching effect >on the affairs of the world and the

unpredictability of circumstance, >and which, when many people become aligned

with a like intent, may >effect the course of human history in unforeseen ways.

Jung would have >called this the 'relation between the collective subconscious

and >synchronicity,' or as I would call it 'quantum non-locality.' Although >it

is the stuff of 'miracles,' it does not contradict known physical >laws. Because

it works unpredictably on all scales of time and space, >its effects, although

never to be depended on for a demonstration, can >nevertheless be devastating.

> >It is in this sense of alignment of intent, that the great myths and the

>varied gods and goddesses of history have been effective guardians of >human

cultures, regardless of their beneficent or hideous forms and >their bizarre

practices or destructive sacrifices. Whatever moves the >subterranean roots of

human intent, can in some subtle way 'move >mountains.' In this sense, many and

possibly all entities which have >been empowered with human alignment and intent

throughout history have >become a manifestation of the supernatural. > > > > Get

your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com