Saturday, October 4, 2008

Why is God a fractal? The Aesthetic of God, Agency and a mishmash of many other things 1

"Only a Sith deals in absolutes."

Add to that list the gods and demons, in between all that there's a large spectrum of possibility. With this ample wiggle room to operate we can theortically touch on all aspects of the human experience. As I go about my business I sometimes wonder with all the variantions available why are certain options privelaged above others. I'm not advocating relativism just examining how and why the universe picks its favourites.


Ten fingers and ten toes help make up the mormon conception of the form of God. This is an astonishing doctrine. Because of this heritage we reverence our bodies out of respect for deity and treat them as temples. Why not twelve fingers and twelve toes? Why is God a fractal? The Mormons have a large healthy blogging community where (probably )this and many topics which I'm interested in have already been examined, I want to explore all these well tread "difficult issues" in the church. Well tread by others maybe, but I've never really explored the teritory myself, now is as good a time to start as any.


to be continued...next: evolution

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmm, as your sole reader and reformed chronic insomniac, it’s a question I’ve pondered myself on many a sleep deprived night - between trying to get my head around the highways of blood, vein and tissue and various neural pathways that manifest themselves as the human body; why are we, or God for that matter, shaped in this particular form?

I have my own theories and suppositions – one of many I’m currently pondering is based on Heavenly Father’s previous mortal experience (which lies at the heart of Mormon doctrine). I also have to wonder how much of our Spiritual/Physical manifestations are actually God ‘created’ as opposed to having already been in existence - because if we are eternal beings, having mortal experiences would it not then follow that our Spirits and our forms have always been – having no end or beginning?

I also make an assumption that His previous mortal existence would have taken place on a plane/world not too dissimilar from the one we currently inhabit and so created (arranged) a like plane/world similar to His own for our souls to be tested on accordingly (I make the supposition based on the idea his own like experience would best qualify Him to judge ours)

Bearing this in mind and given that if Earth has a soul that is eternal (as do all living things), we’re given specific tools to enable us to BEST fulfill the measure of our creation on THIS plane– opposable thumbs and all

Which leads me to think that if the earth were fashioned differently, whether we’d be so changed

At the risk of blasphemy (not at all my intention) and looking well beyond the mark (guilty as charged), it always appeared to me that God himself is subject to divine rules and principles – so by His own admission must operate accordingly – eg blessings and divine laws by which blessings are predicated as an example. Even agency but that’s a whole other story

At any rate, the human body is a feat of engineering genius

I think I want ice cream and toast after that…

Loren said...

Ah the enigmatic, elusive yet ever present anonymous. Welcome back, if I can say such a thing. As always your thoughts are appreciated. This topic is bound to become a convoluted mess, five or 6 paragraphs in I realised that I didn't know what I was talking about, so I deleted everything, than wrote this intro post, which said almost nothing. You've brought up many valid points, if I were to address them all here my brain may explode or I could be fired. So, I will take it all on board and blog it out over the next few weeks, hopefully when the journey’s done I'll have some answers or at least some interesting speculation. Strap in, it's going to be a long crazy ride, and save us some of that ice cream and toast, we're going to need it.

Anonymous said...

Why thank you for the welcome - 'tis indeed a pleasure as always

(though, can elusive and enigmatic be applied to persons you've already met? I prefer the assumed mantle of anonymity and self delusions of quasi omniscience personally - I'm a notorious bumbler in person)

Gosh, if that intro post is your idea of almost nothing, I can't wait to see what your Eureka moment of clarity brings - hopefully neither the apocalyptic explosion of your brain or the loss of said job of which you speak... I'm hoping for added value in the clarity department personally, or at least a glimpse into the inner workings of a kindred mind

In any case, you betcha I'll be here for the ride - strapped in, bells on - toast and chocolate mud ice cream at the ready

If worse comes to worse, we may have to bring the cake reinforcements... pray it never comes to that - I shudder to think what your mind would conceive with such a sugar induced adrenaline rush

Signed, Lady Zero

MissyGrrL said...

As a fellow LDS blogger, I came across your blog today, and after a quick read just wanted to tell you I enjoy reading your posts. On the one hand your posts inspire me, to want to go away to my own little blog kingdom and find a way to concatenate simple yet captivating words together to make something as irksome as brushing teeth sound like the next magnanimous adventure. Simultaneously my brain shatters trying to decipher and comprehend your vast use of ineffable and captivating vocabulary.

I needed a thesaurus to write this post.

nad lastly,.. I too, do not own an ipod.

Loren said...

Hi anonymous

re: enigmatic, elusive, etc.
I was riffing on the moniker which has become ubiquitous throughout comment zones on blogs everywhere, you know, the mysterious being apparently responsible for almost every quotable quote of all time. On further reflection, the statement didn't make much sense, it's a bad habit I'm developing :) Enjoy the ride my friend.

Hi missygrrl

welcome to Kolob and its orbiting satellite blogs. I'm glad you've enjoyed your stay so far, if there's anything we can do to make the experience more enjoyable, let us know. Thanks for the kind words and keep up that blogging.

P.S. Just quietly I'd like to own an iPod, but due to my penury circumstances I'm unable to do so. As a cover I pretend I'm a counter-culture revolutionary, using Apple's own slogan against them as a spiteful diatribe condemning their superlative R&D department (the products of which, regrettably, seem forever out of my reach). Fight the power.