The easiest thing is frequently what we end up with, which is why there is a feeling of discontent within our lives. It is logical to expect that the easiest path be taken, rather than the optimal path, which is the hardest by our reckoning.
The event which changes the accumulated history of events of a life up to now is Information of the most dynamic kind: it literally puts a new "form" "on" or "in" the individual person, a new being, different, changed.
The probabilities of our ensuing history becomes more random to an observer until it settles down into the new form.
When Paul said "We shall not all die, yet we shall all be changed." , he pointed to a state where Change has a greater probability of occurring than does Death. What kind of universe is that where Death takes the back seat to a certain "change" or "in-forming" and all the Appointments in Samarra are cancelled, possibly forever?
That universe is the Moral Universe.
The Moral Universe is centered around Change and our response to it, not around the Ptolemaic antiquity of
Absolute Truth.
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4 comments:
So the Moral Universe is one of constant problem solving...
Well, it all starts inside. The strength of will has to emerge from inside. It's a big task, this Moral Universe to sustain...and the journey is like Frodo's quest with the Ring to Mount Doom.
Ben
I do not think it is problem solving, so much as it is living like Captain Nemo: "Mobilis in Mobile" or "Changing in Change"
It seems deep change is the hardest thing to do, and those who merely grow and do not transform are like dead wood.
Paul describes a dynamic system: we shall not all die (and increase entropy); we shall all change!
I do not believe it, nor not believe it. The logic of the statement is tight and leads me to an understanding I never had until this morning. I believe the logic of what is said.
What a murky response I have. Sorry.
What I am not entirely sure of is this paragraph:
"The event which changes the accumulated history of events of a life up to now is Information of the most dynamic kind: it literally puts a new "form" "on" or "in" the individual person, a new being, different, changed.
The probabilities of our ensuing history becomes more random to an observer until it settles down into the new form."
Does that mean that life is never predictable in a way? That the Ptolemaic Absolute Truths can never be pinned down because everything is like quantum mechanics and ultimately random?
But what is the new form? And if everything is random...can there be a new form?
Like in the words of Forrest Gump: "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get."
Ben
Where do we start? Let's start with "absolute truth", some moral statement that is always true.
A good many people think the word of God is absolute truth.
Unfortunately, God is not on the debating team like the rest of us. We like to pretend that "statements" by God are capable of being assigned a truth-value, and that truth-value is always "true", not "false".
Well, once we do that, God is not longer on the debating team; everyone just sits around and waits for Him to speak, and then nod their heads yes.
Absolute Truth is as phoney as a three dollar bill. There is no problem pinning them down, they are illusory.
Have to agree with Mr. Gump; one never knows what one is going to get.
Except in the moral sphere: you always know when you reach the point when it doesn't matter anymore.
After the hardest thing in the world, you see the heroic trail you have climbed. There will be new trials awaiting, but you've defeated the great fear and you see it is no longer the Absolutely Hardest Thing, the worst evil, the dark night of death... you've turned the corner into the sunlight again.
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