Yes! These words "our humanity makes the universe complete" and how creation points us to look higher than itself to find God.
Humanity, dwelling in God's creation to discover Him and commune with Him and each other is the point of it all! Sometimes the joy comes so clear for a moment that I want to laugh out loud. Thank you!
Michael Polanyi's "Personal Knowledge" is important work in this line of thought. We know many things through personal experience, and only through personal experience. Not just via the mind, but the body also, mind and body as one.
For so many of us—humans that is—the mind is one of the pieces of evidence of the very existence of God. To separate intelligence from consciousness, from the mind itself, is to separate man from God. Only the Lord can do that and, no matter how much man tries to wrest that power from Him, he will always fail. To be sure, he may think he’s succeeded, but it wouldn’t be the first time someone’s “fact” ended up a fallacy. For a single example, I submit the Ptolemaic Theory of the Universe, also known as the Geocentric Model.
Great letter! I have a little saying hanging above my desk at work, “Don’t believe everything you think.” It seems like we’re living in a world where we need that saying more than ever.
Love this Harari/Laplace worldview take down. A pleasure to read and necessary.
Though, I suspect the true battlefront, will be against those who — like the lesser and greater Klavan, and presumably most of us — see mind as integral to the material world, but take the notion past the mark.
The critical constructivists proper, i.e. the formal Woke folks. Those who, in their own words (Joe Kincheloe) say, “that NOTHING exists BEFORE perception.” That means an objective, shared reality doesn't exist to constructivists. There’s NO reality except the perception of reality, and the perception of reality is constructed by Neo-Marxian power. And they certainly don’t hold that God’s mind or the binding agent because they’re mostly atheists. Gnostic-atheists if there can be such a thing.
There’s something to the soul-body/mind-material/ethos-symbol unity concept that has been well flushed out by Spencer and Andrew that can untangle the constructivist view.
We are made in the image of God- our mind and heart. This cannot be separated (detached) from science or reality. And we EXPERIENCE God. There is no other way to explain Him. Those French. They are good for wine, food, art, fashion, architecture…But they can be too rational about God and man.
One more thing. I truly felt the stones cry out when I was in Jerusalem. Crying for Christ. There is a saying: ten measures of joy gave God to the world. 9 to Jerusalem, 1 to the rest. Ten measures of sorrow gave God to the world. 9 to Jerusalem…
Using the rocks and the particles as a symbol of pointing us toward the divine is interesting. Perhaps the current science we have has convinced our intellects that we already know what is “big,” now that we have the capability to explore the cosmos. However, maybe it’s not what is “big” that’ll draw us back to God, but rather the things that are “small,” like the particles we cannot see and the abstract truths we experience everyday, yet cannot touch with our hands.
Great one, Spencer. Take a look at Vernon L. Smith’s The Evidence of Things Not Seen. Makes your point beautifully.
Yes! These words "our humanity makes the universe complete" and how creation points us to look higher than itself to find God.
Humanity, dwelling in God's creation to discover Him and commune with Him and each other is the point of it all! Sometimes the joy comes so clear for a moment that I want to laugh out loud. Thank you!
Michael Polanyi's "Personal Knowledge" is important work in this line of thought. We know many things through personal experience, and only through personal experience. Not just via the mind, but the body also, mind and body as one.
Good point. In fact, we can’t explain God so much as we can experience Him.
And here we are with…the French…once again. 🤔
For so many of us—humans that is—the mind is one of the pieces of evidence of the very existence of God. To separate intelligence from consciousness, from the mind itself, is to separate man from God. Only the Lord can do that and, no matter how much man tries to wrest that power from Him, he will always fail. To be sure, he may think he’s succeeded, but it wouldn’t be the first time someone’s “fact” ended up a fallacy. For a single example, I submit the Ptolemaic Theory of the Universe, also known as the Geocentric Model.
Excellent analysis yet again. That flavor/taste analogy is spot on. Thanks for these marvelous insights.
Great letter! I have a little saying hanging above my desk at work, “Don’t believe everything you think.” It seems like we’re living in a world where we need that saying more than ever.
Love this Harari/Laplace worldview take down. A pleasure to read and necessary.
Though, I suspect the true battlefront, will be against those who — like the lesser and greater Klavan, and presumably most of us — see mind as integral to the material world, but take the notion past the mark.
The critical constructivists proper, i.e. the formal Woke folks. Those who, in their own words (Joe Kincheloe) say, “that NOTHING exists BEFORE perception.” That means an objective, shared reality doesn't exist to constructivists. There’s NO reality except the perception of reality, and the perception of reality is constructed by Neo-Marxian power. And they certainly don’t hold that God’s mind or the binding agent because they’re mostly atheists. Gnostic-atheists if there can be such a thing.
There’s something to the soul-body/mind-material/ethos-symbol unity concept that has been well flushed out by Spencer and Andrew that can untangle the constructivist view.
We are made in the image of God- our mind and heart. This cannot be separated (detached) from science or reality. And we EXPERIENCE God. There is no other way to explain Him. Those French. They are good for wine, food, art, fashion, architecture…But they can be too rational about God and man.
One more thing. I truly felt the stones cry out when I was in Jerusalem. Crying for Christ. There is a saying: ten measures of joy gave God to the world. 9 to Jerusalem, 1 to the rest. Ten measures of sorrow gave God to the world. 9 to Jerusalem…
Using the rocks and the particles as a symbol of pointing us toward the divine is interesting. Perhaps the current science we have has convinced our intellects that we already know what is “big,” now that we have the capability to explore the cosmos. However, maybe it’s not what is “big” that’ll draw us back to God, but rather the things that are “small,” like the particles we cannot see and the abstract truths we experience everyday, yet cannot touch with our hands.
The human experience is essential, and necessary for "looking higher" as well. God bless it.
The profound, perpetually perplexing, and permeating prescience of Christ's utterances is eerie—perfect, but eerie.
I guess you could say, and quite accurately, Christ is timeless. ☺️🙏🏻✝️
An interesting thought, could an ai be the observer in the observer effect? How would Harari answer this?