Does Size Matter? Lesson 51

...Continued

Basically, we are asking ourselves is the essence of self, the mind, separate from, and using, the body. There are many arguments, which we shall explore in more detail, which support the hypothesis that this is in fact the case.

Interesting question number two.

There are, at a minimum, four propositions for the creation of the world, and life as we know it.

1. The universe always existed, and always will exist. It is eternal.

2. The universe was created in six days by the Creator, who rested on the seventh. This is a literal interpretation. The day is a 24-hour period.

3. The universe was created as in example 2 above. In addition, it all occurred several thousand years ago, as we measure time. All the fossil records, and other scientific data, which indicate that the earth and the universe are much older our human misinterpretations of the data. Fossils for example, were put there intentionally by the Creator, for some purpose we do not yet understand.

4. The universe, containing all its dimensions, including the four the we know, as well as the beginning of space and time as we perceive them, was created by the Big Bang, a massive explosion of highly compressed plasma. At the genesis of the universe, the explosion of this matter created space and time as well as all of the atoms and molecules of matter that we know today.

As you can see, there are multiple versions of the creation of the universe. Versions two and three, indeed, may be possible. However, given present human knowledge, they must be accepted on faith, and are unprovable.

Like versions two and three, version 1 and 4 are not mutually exclusive. The universe could have always existed, and at the same time gone through this cycle of explosion, matter formation, expansion, contraction, compression. In this case, the contraction is caused by gravitational attraction. Basically, the giant explosion runs out of steam and quits throwing matter outward. Like a rubber band, stretched to its limit, it starts to pull in again. Ultimately, all matter is compressed into this plasma soup, the specter of creation.

We must ask ourselves one important question at this point. Do we believe that the Creator intentionally leaves on answerable questions, mysteries. Are there supposed to be those things that we humans never understand?

Given the rate in growth of human knowledge, that proposition would seem to be rather unlikely. Many things, that we today understand, were once considered to be unknowable mysteries. The rate of growth of human knowledge has been, and will most likely continue to be, exponential.

Let’s assume for now, the versions one and/or four are accurate. This means that the universe as we know it is billions of years old. It may be the first time, or it may be that 12,000 time that the universe has gone through this process of expansion and contraction.

So this essentially leaves us with a series of questions:

1. Is the body a mechanical vessel used by the mind is a vehicle in which the mind can navigate in these four dimensions, or, is the mind an emergent property of those constantly renewing cells that we call the body?

2. Is the body and intentionally formed artifact by the mind, or, in accident of a natural process that we call evolution.

3. How did the universe, which contains our physical bodies, evolve? Was it accidental, or intentional?

4. Is the physical universe, as we know it, accidental or intentional?

https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AZ1nweotz-8MZGNiNHB6YzhfNDFkNXE3emhmZw&hl=en