...that come from sleep deprivation and philosophy class.
I left God and Persons (PHL320) with my mind blown today, as some tweeps may have seen. It. Was. Nuts. And confusing. There's a decent chance I'm just extra tired. I didn't read the material, but the class discussion today developed many thoughts in my simple, yet complicated brain. My "argument" will likely be quite flawed. Here goes:
Anselm. Cool guy, right? He's from a hell of a long time ago...like 1400 years or something, but he did think a lot about the existence of a supreme essence, its importance outside of religions, its function in our lives, and details and other cool junk about it. We're reading Monologion, and today focused a lot on how the supreme essence came to be, and thus, thought about the existence of his creation.
Aside from the Catholic/Christian background I've grown up with, I'm not such a theological thinker. This philosophy stuff makes my mind go crazy, though. I'd like to think that my ideas of social justice, values, and morals stem from the philosophy of ethics, rather than from my religion, but I'm not ignoring the fact that a Christian background bring out my type of thought in people. I'm not actually a religious person. I had my time, but this college thing is making me think and doubt and discover a lot more than I had to in high school. Wow, glad I figured that out 2.5 years into it.
Here it is: The supreme essence (either "God" or "SE" for simplicity's sake) came from one of three things: 1) nothing, 2) something, or 3) itself. So we had to decide which. It turns out that SE came from itself. Why? Because nothing is nothing and something cannot come from nothing. We as humans have to understand that our ideas all come from things we've already experienced in some way. For instance: the Snuggie. I'll try to explain that one another time. SE didn't come from something because Anselm and I decided that nothing can exist without a SE to create it. Therefore, there was not something that could create a SE because that something would then become the SE. Cool. That means that the SE came from itself. Good. I like that. EXCEPT! If we say that the SE is eternal or timeless or infinite or whatever else, why must it come from anything? Couldn't the SE just have always been? That's what I think...at least today. Ha.
So we started talking about how creatures come into existence. The question started out under and understanding that all things come from the SE, but for that to be true, part of the SE would have to part to go into the new creation. That's not ok with the logic of the SE being incorruptible because an almighty supreme being cannot become less. I found this quote, and I like its idea:
“Thus, the Word of the supreme truth, who himself is also the supreme truth, experiences no gain or loss depending on whether he is more or less like creatures; instead, it must be the case that every created thing is so much greater and more excellent the more it is like him who supremely exists and is supremely great.” (Anselm, Ch 31, Monologion)
To me, that means that the SE can lose or gain nothing, but things become greater when they are like the SE. That sounds just about right to me. So here's the deal. Where did the human being come from? Don't get me wrong, here, I'm an evolution believer, but I also believe it's being driven by something greater. I like to think that although species tend to derive from those before it, there's a God who is controlling the end results of the evolution. My thought: so the big guy was like, "OK. I need something brilliant. Literally brilliant." So he came up with the idea of humans. We're smart (though some, especially college freshmen, may not show it), and so hopefully this will make sense. If we came from the SE but none of the SE came into us, then what are we?
My thought: When you look at a Snuggie, you see a blanket with sleeves. We call this an invention. So this extremely popular--and kind of useful--thing comes into being. It is not something original in the sense that we are SE's original idea. There was some person who thought of a few things that, if molded together, could leave one's arms free to move about without killing the integrity of the blanket. Brilliant invention. So humans are kind of like Snuggies...made from the parts of a few other things, BUT we are completely original, unlike the Snuggie, which is a combination of other things.
This line of thought led me to believe I've got a little Rene Descartes in me. If we came from a SE, but none of the SE was lost in the process, and we were not made as a collection of other properties, then maybe we are just an idea. We don't have to be physical things. We could just be an idea. Right? We can imagine our senses. We can imagine space and space travel. We can imagine animals. We can imagine pain. As long as the thought is shared with another, it can become reality to us. Well, to me on this given day it seems right. I don't think the guy was necessarily wrong when he said we are only because we think. I certainly think that's a possibility. One of the things that make humans humans is our ability to reason. When we use reason and we share our thoughts and idea with others, they can spread like wildfire. We could just be the SE's idea, and we could just be coming up with new, amazing ideas of what we experience every day.
What I haven't thought about enough, and don't have the theological background as the basis for, is the idea that humans may have created the idea of God. What if that one is true?
Be positive and believe that philosophy means we get to pave our own paths and create our own lives. Sometimes we've just got to change the way we look at events and people and get a new perspective (preferably a more optimistic one) about our lives. We don't need things--the happiness we get from materials is invented just as the materials themselves. Happiness is created by sharing our thoughts and ourselves with those we interact with.
The truest happiness is possessed by those who own the least.
Sincerely,
Steph
Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
"Seize the Day, putting as little trust as possible in the future."
-Horace
Good Lord, I write too much.
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