Friday, July 27, 2012

Driven hard

This is my first ever blog posting, so be gentle.

The Sojourner invited me into this world that I encouraged him to create.  I would be remiss not to take the opportunity to put my two cents in.

For a number of years, I have been toying with the idea of what caused the Creator to create the world we live in.  If a being is perfect, why the need to add to itself?  Does that need imply the being is imperfect since perfect doesn't have "needs"?

I could talk about the definition of perfect and all that it entails, but definitions are boring and stringent.  I prefer to talk about why something is or isn't, rather than what it is or isn't.  "What" doesn't lead us to deeper understanding.  "Why" does!

I started out talking to other people about the idea to get feedback and work to refine my understanding.  The question would be something as simple as "Why do you believe God made Creation?"  Usually the question was a non-starter.  I would get blank stares, nebulous answers, or recitations of what someone else had told them.  I would throw out the suggestion that Love is what drove Him to create and there would be a little bit of talk about it, but it usually fell to the floor and we moved on.  I so wanted others to feel how I felt.

As I have moved on to contemplating the question within rather than asking other people, I came to a different conclusion.  It wasn't Love that caused the Creator to create, but passion!  Passion is the driving force behind so many actions and, in my mind, the cause of everything created.  Think about it.  What caused Edison to continue the search for the best combination of materials for an incandescent lamp?  What caused the Pharaohs to build pyramids?  What causes a person to paint works of art?  What causes a person to rise up and destroy millions of other humans?  What causes two people to join together and create another life?  While the last may be attributed to love, they can all be attributed to passion.  Passion drives us to do so many things, even things we might regret.  I guess passion could be divided into two camps:  love (spiritual) or hate (flesh).  That may not sit well with some, but I can live with that for now.  Understanding takes time and I continue to work on this question that resides within me.

I say this, Sojourner.  Since the Creator wants us to mirror Himself, let your passion flow on these pages and create the thing you are dying to let out!

John

2 comments:

  1. As Kierkegaard once wrote, "The established order continues, but our reflection and passionlessness finds its satisfaction in ambiguity. No person wishes to destroy the power of the king, but if little by little it can be reduced to nothing but a fiction, then everyone would cheer the king. No person wishes to pull down the pre-eminent, but if at the same time pre-eminence could be demonstrated to be a fiction, then everyone would be happy. No person wishes to abandon Christian terminology, but they can secretly change it so that it doesn't require decision or action. And so they are unrepentant, since they have not pulled down anything. People do not desire any more to have a strong king than they do a hero-liberator than they do religious authority, for they innocently wish the established order to continue, but in a reflective way they more or less know that the established order no longer continues"

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    1. Interesting view by Soren. By design, I believe we know we are to be "led" somewhere by someone. I think that ignorance of the "who" and "where" can lead to fear and paralysis. One interpretation of your post is that people would prefer to not have to face the hard decisions. Allowing the "construct" to exist, at least the appearance of the construct as opposed to the effectiveness of the construct, places the onus on the leaders of the construct to make the decisions - which is a fallacy given that the reality is the leaders have no power to effect the decisions they make. Interestingly, this equates nicely with the exercise of our free will. Ultimately, the only true authority exists in submission of one to another coupled with the power of the submittor to act on behalf of the submittee. The only place this can happen is between God and man. All other constructs are illusory in reality. Papa God designed us to "hear and know the voice of Christ the Word Son." When we hear (posture of submission to receive instruction) and obey (unquestioning adherence to instruction) we are functioning as designed. All other scenarios are pale imitations.

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