Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Mystical Magnetism

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sophia,

But God and the Universe are identical (pantheism) (panentheism???).

Sophia said...

Hi Don,

That's right. But the Universe is not just in one man.

I was just venting over the idea that someone basically wanted all of me, and that I wasn't a friend unless I gave all of myself to them. I don't think that is what a friend is!

Anonymous said...

Panentheism is a little different than Pantheism. Panentheism says that God exists beyond the universe.

Sophia said...

I'm a Panentheist. I sense that God is the Universe and beyond.

Anonymous said...

Sophia,

You're right, if someone wants "all of you" they're being 100% unreasonable. With as many contacts and friends and work commitments and clubs and.... each person is involved in, one can expect, what, like 0.00001% of you?

I still think that there's no difference between pantheism and panentheism, it's just wordplay and a matter of definition, if the Universe is defined to be "everything here is, both material and spiritual". Especially apropos now, since many people believe the spirit arises from matter via matter being finely divided (neurons) and the neurons signal each other, creating thought and spirit. My spirit is my body in operation. Although I will admit that spiritualists have a different take on all this. For instance, I believe that once the substrate is dead (the brain) the spirit is gone, just as you could not have a program running on a computer that's been smashed to pieces with a 12-pound sledgehammer. Maybe I've read too much Hofstadter.

donstockbauer *attt* hotmail.com

Sophia said...

Hi Don,

What if there is more than one universe? That, I think, is why I consider myself a Panentheist, so all my bases are covered. Because then, God would be this universe and the other universes and everything non-physical in between or beyond.

The material is, I think, only a small subset of the spiritual.

Thank you for providing your thoughts.

Anonymous said...

Sophia and NinRose:

Uncle! You win. It's no big deal to stick "en" into Pantheism. Just a couple of letters, after all.

What I'm waiting for is for someone to figure out what's beyond the causal horizon.

donstockbauer *attt* hotmail.com

Sophia said...

Hi Don,

I'm not a science person, so can you please tell me what "causal horizon" means? Does that mean the edge of the universe?

If so, why are you waiting on someone else to figure it out? Why don't you? :)

Anonymous said...

Sophia,

As we look farther and farther away from Earth the objects we see (galaxies) seem to be receding from us faster and faster, as discovered by Edwin Hubble. There is a distance at which objects seem to be receding at the speed of light, thus we can't see them. This is the causal horizon. Most cosmologists assume there is more space beyond the CH, perhaps even an infinite amount. But as of now we have no way to observe this space since light from objects there would not have had enough time since the Big Bang to get to us. They are in effect receding from us faster than the speed of light

No one has a way to figure out the nature of the space beyond the CH because no observations can be made of it. Me included. I just present the question out of silliness occasionally. But you know, science has this habit of solving mysteries once considered impossible.

donstockbauer *attt* hotmail.com