2010-03-31

The eighth day

In the Old Testament’s Book of Wisdom (1:13-15) it is written: “For God made not death, neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living. For he created all things that they might be: and he made the nations of the earth for health: and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor kingdom of hell upon the earth. For justice is perpetual and immortal”. This is the reason why, according to Bible scholars, the passion for life and immortality is deeply rooted in our souls.

Who can deny, however, that we live in a world penetrated by death, which comes in sharp contrast with our passion for life? What then can this world possibly be? It is the world of the eighth day, the day after the seven days in which Creation was completed; the day in which deviation from the originally intended, lack of love and death are allowed. It is also the day of hope for beating death; the day we learn how to love from the beginning; the day that the Spirit touches the Earth bringing enlightenment to all of us.

6 comments:

ersi said...

"...the day in which deviation from the originally intended, lack of love and death are allowed."

It is the day when people's illusion of free will is inflated by an extra injection of divine mercy and forgiveness in this world. Those who want to use the free will and divine mercy to seek the truth and find salvation can do it. At the same time, those who want to spread lies and destruction can do it equally well.

2. Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

Matthew 24:22 "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."

Go figure. But there seems to be balance there.

Christina Linardaki said...

Go figure, really... Most of the times I can think of the Bible as nothing more than a piece of art - not something that contains the Word of God. Even if it is allegedly written by way of revelation, the human factor is so intertwinned, that in the end the issue of how much God is in it is really a matter of faith.

Can you expand on the "illusion of free will"? I would be mostly interested.

ersi said...

Separation from Self is an illusion. The differences between me and you are an illusion. The same way, when you think that you're on the way to unite your will with God's will, the end result is that human will is just an illusion. Free will is a useful idea from the human point of view, to be able to do what we set our mind to, but from the other point of view there is no striving, no discord, no ignorance, no evil. These things are an illusion.

"Do the clouds take anything away from the blueness of the sky?" I'm not sure this can be conveyed properly.

ersi said...

Ah, and there's an essential feature in the illusion that it's completely convincing. We can have the life we *choose*, so potentially there are as if at least two lives, even though in the end it's still only one, so it was actually one all along. This way, the choice element is completely convincing and makes us think, analyse, etc. Completely convincing and bewildering :)

opit said...

It gets worse. One doesn't even need to go so far as the Multiverse to embrace the constraints against false analogy. In a world where you are free to choose and HAVE CHOSEN...there is no contradiction. Surely that can't be an an unfair use of Schrodinger's Cat.
You do recall the idea that time and causality are effects and not causes, I trust. Certainly worse contradictions infest Quantum Mechanics.

Christina Linardaki said...

There is something with this Shrodinger's cat I fail to understand. In the experiment, the observer seems to decide whether the cat has lived or died upon opening the box. But what about the cat? Doesn't it have a will to live? Doesn't this will affect the outcome in any way?

As to time and causality being effects, I do recall the idea. But you see modern physics has challenged it, merging time with space to create the spacetime continuum, the net on which everything manifests. Time has taken up flesh nowadays.

As to choices, what about you? Have you chosen, John?