Wednesday, June 1, 2011

I posted this somewhere eles

I don't usually post the same thing in others places that I post here; but, I like my answer. Someone asked how their could be free will if God was all knowing, omniscient. I like the question.

MY ANSWER TO HIS QUESTION

I am answering your question with my understanding. I am limited same as everyone else, I don't have all knowledge. We understand that we exist, that we have sentience, that means that sentience in the universe exists. That is a good definition of God, the sentience of the universe. I mean it must start with knowing something. I make decisions, choices between right and wrong, that is free will I think.

If I have a child, I can usually figure out what choices they will make, if I know my child will eat all the cookies if I leave them out and I put them where the child cannot get to them, I have denied them certain choices; but, not free will. Free will does not mean getting your way, it means getting to chose amongst the options available. Getting to decide which you prefer even if you cannot necessarily obtain what you desire. Isn't that why we have created a virtual world, so we can be or get whatever we want?

What I have said is that we know two things. We have free will (the right to decide our own preferences) and there is sentience in the universe. As we grow, we learn more and our preferences can change. We know that we can grow. Some, not I, claim that we can become God and know all (gnostics and other new age groups).

You asked a lot so I am chewing on the pieces slowly and hopefully fully. Have to place the building blocks first.

The only question left is whether or not God is all knowing. I want to approach this in two ways. One it requires that we assume there is a God, if there is no God in your assumption than I can answer if he is all knowing. It is like asking someone who has never touched their wife, "Do you still beat your wife?". I am assuming that you are not going to use the question to have me prove there is a God, that would be a different question. Apparently many the assumption that your question is if there is a God, they don't read well or don't to see true discussions on any spiritual issue or question, they are all knowing, the all knowing sentience of the world, I would call them little gods, the limited sentience of the universe. For if they are like me then they know that they don't have all the answers.

Now, there are two ways to answer you, the gnostic and non-gnostic (be it Christian, Muslim or Jew). The gnostic will tell you that you can create your own universe and achieve all knowledge, to them (genarlization) we are God, our combined knowledge is all knowledge that can be known and eventually we become one. There answer does work as a possibility in answering you. The combined sentience of the universe is God and you are part of it. There answer would not deny free will. I don't agree with it; but, it does answer your question.

My answer is different. It is a Christian perspective and not far from parts of how the gnostics believe. In the bible it says in the beginning was the word and the word was God and the word was with God. What was the word, what did he call himself, he called himself the great I AM. What do you figure that means? If you define sentience it gets interesting. Sentience is the awareness of emotions and sensations. That is how we all begin. That leads to a conclusion, I AM, I exist. In the beginning God discovered that he existed. That is why it is the beginning, he had a thought rather than just experience. At that moment he knew all knowledge that was or had ever been in the universe. He was omniscient. At that moment, knowing less of the universe was possible for anything he created.

I don't presume a God that is also not capable of growth. I believe he made us so he could grow as we grew. As each part of us grows, so does society, constantly grappling with more and more difficult choices.As we make different choices he gets to see new things also, he knows as we know so he always knows all that we can know. If we could hear him, it might get in the way of our free will and then he learns less.

You see, the area we disagree over is the definition of all knowing. Perfection is not a result, it is a process, same thing with knowledge. He may know that can be known at any given second while still learning more. Free will is necessary for greater knowledge for him and us. Eternity is a very long time and continual growth would be needed to make it tolerable and worthwhile.

A Book, a Burger a Compliment

Dear readers, I bought a book today, it is called "The Jane Austen Handbook (Proper Life Skills from Regency England)". The book sort of discusses what was expected of young ladies and gentlemen, the first chapter is "How to Become an Accomplished Lady" ans suggests that they study several languages, acquire a basic grasp of geography and history, become a proficient musician, draw or paint the picturesque, master the art of needlework and learn to dance gracefully. I should explain a little more, the author wrote the book so that people reading the lovely Jane would understand what the people that she wrote about lived like.

What would you recommend young ladies to learn today, not saying that the skills Jane recommended would not be useful today; but, certainly we would expect ladies today to have a different set of skills. Clearly a good understanding of language and math, an ability to cook and basic mechanical skills (should be able to take care of oneself). An ability with some art (music, painting, sculpture...) because we should all know the joy of art, it frees us to be more expressive. When I was younger I wrote music (just lyrics had to keep the rhythm in my head), drew quite extensively and of course I liked to write. Knowledge of basic geography and history is essential to understanding the world, it is even more useful now because the internet links us with people in other countries in real time and we should have some understanding of them and their history.

I was on a chat site and most of the people I interacted with were in foreign countries. It was nice to already have a basic understanding of their countries, it helped me to get a sense of them. Americans know too little about other countries and that is not going to help them as we interact more and more internationally.

I guess the question is why I bought the book. I bought it because of the burger. Really, the burger led to the book. I was driving home and decided to get a Umami Burger, they are exclusive to Southern California. I had read that they were supposed to be the best burger in Southern California, I decided to try one. Now, I do not promote any products and I paid for mine, I even had a friend come meet me and have one also. Two burgers, one beer, one wine and one Bubble up, fries and mushed potatoes later (between the two of us), including tip I spent about $60. Okay I didn't say it was cheap and I tip well.

I had the burger with truffle sauce, I like truffles. It was an excellent burger, top notch, the service was fantastic (had a very sweet waitress) and the atmosphere was young but calm. I would recommend it to others. Heck after eating half mine, that is when I decided to call my friend to come and try it. Just taking a little time to stop and smell the roses so to speak. Most days I just grab something easy.

Well, after having my burger I decided to stop in this little store that was nearby and had replicas of old stuff like games and jewelry and nick knacks. I saw the book, it was about Jane and I bought it.

Unrelated to all of this was something that happened today, a compliment. A very nice lady that works in my building told me that she loved one of my recent posts. She told me that when she read my stuff she could hear my voice in her head and that my writing was sort of addictive to her. That was of the kindest compliments I have ever heard and really made me feel good. I believe I write fairly clearly; but, when I read Jane, I know I can never write like she could.