My core view (right now) is more or less as follows.
1. There is something; not nothing (reality is real – unlike Hinduism etc.).
2. This something (world, etc.) includes me, a self-aware being.
3. As a self-aware being I have personhood and relate to other persons.
a. Personhood is that self-awareness that includes options of choice and the history of choices
4. Personhood has a source, and it would seem to be in greater personhood, not in non-personhood (personhood from matter/energy would seem to be necessarily deterministic and not personhood as we experience it. If we were just delusional in perceiving choice even though it doesn’t exist, then even my ponderings are determined and the discussion is moot).
5. The “I AM” of Israel is the most compelling candidate for this source of my personhood.
6. Jesus as the Messiah who is the “I AM” and serves the “I AM” resonates as the most complete explanation of the source (and at another level, the compelling question of unity AND diversity).
7. Therefore I follow Jesus the Messiah as my way of being loyal to my source of being and I try to become what I should become by exerting choice based on wisdom derived from humility based diligence.
1. There is something; not nothing (reality is real – unlike Hinduism etc.).
2. This something (world, etc.) includes me, a self-aware being.
3. As a self-aware being I have personhood and relate to other persons.
a. Personhood is that self-awareness that includes options of choice and the history of choices
4. Personhood has a source, and it would seem to be in greater personhood, not in non-personhood (personhood from matter/energy would seem to be necessarily deterministic and not personhood as we experience it. If we were just delusional in perceiving choice even though it doesn’t exist, then even my ponderings are determined and the discussion is moot).
5. The “I AM” of Israel is the most compelling candidate for this source of my personhood.
6. Jesus as the Messiah who is the “I AM” and serves the “I AM” resonates as the most complete explanation of the source (and at another level, the compelling question of unity AND diversity).
7. Therefore I follow Jesus the Messiah as my way of being loyal to my source of being and I try to become what I should become by exerting choice based on wisdom derived from humility based diligence.
2 comments:
Snap! I am stunned by the elegance and brevity of your "core view." Bravo.
(Your music post was solid as well, and although I really like mannheim steamroller, I agree that "frosty" is a pretty awful song.)
your comments are generous. My core view is unpolished. If you come across a concise and/or thorough argument of determinism for a material universe please share it!
No offence to Mannheim Steamroller; some things work, others don't. Believe it or not I think Coltrane's version of "a few of my favorite things" is brilliant!
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