auntblabby wrote:
AspE wrote:
auntblabby wrote:
AspE wrote:
auntblabby wrote:
but what created nature? how could it have possibly created itself?
Maybe it never had a beginning.
it takes one helluva mind to be able to even contemplate that which always has existed. eternity is one big thought.
Is that any more difficult than imagining a creator?
for me it is harder because the thought is bigger than I am. most human minds are not set up to entertain considerations of things that exist outside of mundane reality. I understand the concept of a creator from the limited view that all things must have a beginning and an end. but that is far from the whole picture.
But if the Universe had to have been created (according to some ways of thought), then who created the Creator? For me, saying that everything has to have a beginning and saying "God did it" does not really address the issue. And if God did not need a beginning, then why should the universe?
And why can't nature create itself? The Chinese word for nature translates roughly as "that which is of itself so." It seems the eastern philosophies have some insight into the nature of reality considering how many of their ancient teachings are in accordance with findings of modern physics and cosmology.
The western mind is conditioned to think of the world as created, as an artifact, something made. But that is just one way of looking at reality. The Hindus see the universe as a play, of divine consciousness acting the parts of every person and every thing. And the Chinese have an organic model of the universe. They see it as alive, as something that grows, not as something that is made. The 20th century philosopher Alan Watts described these as the ceramic, dramatic and organic models of the universe respectively.
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"When you ride over sharps, you get flats!"--The Bicycling Guitarist, May 13, 2008