RE: In the beginning...
April 9, 2013 at 12:38 pm
(This post was last modified: April 9, 2013 at 12:42 pm by Neo-Scholastic.)
Here's an up-dated version of my interpretation of Panentheism:
The Totality is all that is, was, and ever will be. The Totality is complete since by definition it cannot lack anything. It already contains everything that could possibly be. As such, only the Totality could be the “Supreme Being”. This does not mean that the Supreme Being, the Totality, is the same thing as physical reality. The Totality is also called the One. The Totality has at least three essential aspects: form, substance, and potential. The Totality as to its substance is Primal Matter. The Totality as to its form is Ideal Form. The Totality as to its potential is called Emanation. None of these divisions within the Totality has priority over any other nor can any one aspect be contingent upon the other. They exist as a perfect unity.
Particular entities come into being when substance actualizes form through emanation. Nothing can be only substance. Nothing can be only form, though you can imagine. Nothing could come into being without emanation. Creation simply means causing something to exist. Within the Totality entities have their identity within a larger context. As such you experience each entity as a unit, a one, even though physically no definitive demarcation separates any one thing from another. Intellection singles out a specific portion of physical reality and call that portion one thing, a whole unit. Parts come into being and persist for as long as they partake of the Totality's inherent unity, or oneness as perceived by a consciousness entity. Parts are contingent upon the One. Each person is one consciousness. The One is the fullest expression of consciousness that extends completely throughout reality and is fundamental to it. Each personal existent would dissolve into nothing if its oneness was not maintained through unity with the One.
The Totality is all that is, was, and ever will be. The Totality is complete since by definition it cannot lack anything. It already contains everything that could possibly be. As such, only the Totality could be the “Supreme Being”. This does not mean that the Supreme Being, the Totality, is the same thing as physical reality. The Totality is also called the One. The Totality has at least three essential aspects: form, substance, and potential. The Totality as to its substance is Primal Matter. The Totality as to its form is Ideal Form. The Totality as to its potential is called Emanation. None of these divisions within the Totality has priority over any other nor can any one aspect be contingent upon the other. They exist as a perfect unity.
Particular entities come into being when substance actualizes form through emanation. Nothing can be only substance. Nothing can be only form, though you can imagine. Nothing could come into being without emanation. Creation simply means causing something to exist. Within the Totality entities have their identity within a larger context. As such you experience each entity as a unit, a one, even though physically no definitive demarcation separates any one thing from another. Intellection singles out a specific portion of physical reality and call that portion one thing, a whole unit. Parts come into being and persist for as long as they partake of the Totality's inherent unity, or oneness as perceived by a consciousness entity. Parts are contingent upon the One. Each person is one consciousness. The One is the fullest expression of consciousness that extends completely throughout reality and is fundamental to it. Each personal existent would dissolve into nothing if its oneness was not maintained through unity with the One.
