[Serious] The love of a God

[Ferrocyanide]

Do these triangles "exist?"

The fact that you asked about triangles and not, say circles or butterflies, suggests there is something immaterially present in those figures with the power of efficient cause. In this case, they caused the subject of your question to be "triangles". How can something that doesn't exist prompt you make comment about it?*

*I think this is an interesting question in its own wright. It has a question-begging kind of quality and yet I believe it still has value for teasing out notions about categories of being and various questions about realism. I would also say that this has interest to me as an oil painter because depictive painting relies entirely on illusion for both effect and affect. Can a practice, like representational art, based entirely on deception still "capture" truth? What is the nature of such hidden truths revealed only by illusion?

I don’t know what a “power of efficient cause” is. Can you explain?

“How can something that doesn't exist prompt you make comment about it?”

==He has a human brain and knows that you have a human brain. Human brains have more or less the same algorithms for recognizing patterns.
His brain is able to trace lines and those lines intersect and form a few equilateral triangles.
The triangles don’t exist in the sense that the lines aren’t traced in black. There are some missing black lines. The human brain is able to do the trace in its own memory and make the triangles appear.

---

This may sound odd so bear with me. Any atheist will tell you there is no evidence for any god so let's take that as given for the sake of this discussion. Now some theists, like me, accept the idea of Divine Hiddeness, which amounts to the same thing. Personally, I follow the negative path recommended by many saints and mystics going way back. That means I look into the contours of the corruption, folly, and evil of this world to know God by seeing where He isn't. It turns the problem of evil back on itself. If all I can sense is an absurd accident then how can we know what is true or good? As an artist I call this the negative space...where the figure and ground reverse and I see the absence as a thing all its own.

What is the negative path? Why do you follow it?

Are you saying that the god is not in the locations with corruption, folly, and evil? Why is he not there?

“If all I can sense is an absurd accident then how can we know what is true or good?”

==Use observation, use logic, collect statements made by reliable sources.
As for good vs evil, you use your emotions to figure out what is what.
That's what I do. Isn't that what you do?

[Angrboda]

Do these triangles "exist?"

The fact that you asked about triangles and not, say circles or butterflies, suggests there is something immaterially present in those figures with the power of efficient cause. In this case, they caused the subject of your question to be "triangles". How can something that doesn't exist prompt you make comment about it?*

*I think this is an interesting question in its own wright. It has a question-begging kind of quality and yet I believe it still has value for teasing out notions about categories of being and various questions about realism. I would also say that this has interest to me as an oil painter because depictive painting relies entirely on illusion for both effect and affect. Can a practice, like representational art, based entirely on deception still "capture" truth? What is the nature of such hidden truths revealed only by illusion?

Well, I have an issue with referring to something as both immaterially present and existing. It's probably worthy of its own thread, but I'm not really up to it atm.

Beauty, and in this case triangles, may be in the eye of the beholder, and no place else.