the final unification of being

7/18/2019 The Final Unification of Being

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The Final Unification of AllBeing

by Jazzmin Enfectana



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IV. How can we affirmPositive Attributes of God

I. Affirmation of similitude between everycreature and God.

- There is a bond of causal participationbetween creature and God.

-The bond of efficient causality is theindispensible bridge by which our mindscan pass over the abyss between finitecreatures and their Infinite Source.



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II. urification of the resulting concept! thenegative moment

- "ow do we aptly e#press this similitude$

- %e cannot apply creaturely good &ualitiesto God.

- 'eed! purify its meaning

- ure erfections! no imperfection orfinitude in meaning( can be affirmed as

literally true( contains no limitations inmeanings.

- God would be inferior to us.



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III. *eaffirmation and application to God + inde# ofinfinity.

- urified perfections! affirmed as necessarilypresent in God with added inde# of infinity

- ,se of Analogy! -ode of activity is the bond ofunity

- redication of God according to the analogy ofparticipation

- %e can put a more direct( &uasie#perimentalcontent into our /nowledge of the 0ivine throughour intellect and wills radical unrestricted drives

toward the infinite fullness of truth and goodness- God is the 'umber ne in e#cellence in all these

domains.

- .



V. The !istinction of Attributes

Are these actually distinct or are they merelysynonyms e#pressing the one simple identicalperfection of the fullness of e#istence of God$

- Some hilosophers maintain the latter4 thereis only one positive attribute that can beaffirmed of God.

- roblem! negates e#tending perfections toGod.

- "uman concepts of God are abstract conceptsthat do not e#haust the fullness of God4

hence( we use many to e#press fully( and eachdoes not e#press the same as the other.

They all refer to the same identical reality ofGod.



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"istorical 'ote!

'eolatonic! negative theology( only oneattribute.

*esponse! Argument is from the idea that Godis one and simple.

Ideas are really real. Ideacontent is adistinct real being of God.

T"IS 6A''T 78.

ur human concepts are not real beingsbut abstract mental beings.




"istorical 'ote!

7uddhist Tradition! 'o positive attribute about,ltimate *eality because they are allanthropomorphic metaphors.

*esponse!

1. Such refuses to engage in anytheoretical metaphysical &uestions aboutcreation or participation.

2. ,nderstanding signfies finite(determinate essence or thing.:7eyond;negative terms li/e emptiness<

A&uinas! act of e#istence


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"#ecial !ivine Attributes

1. God as 6reator 6reation! production of some real being out ofnothing( which is not out of any pree#isting material.

- God is the cause of his being4 hence "es

a creature in some sense.- 6ausal activity of creatures! presupposes

something pree#isting to wor/ on.

- God is ultimately the 6reator of the whole

,niverse of finite being.

- SA>S 'T"I'G! about a beginnng in timeonly dependence of e#istence.


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Theological 'otion of 6reation! :@ewish(6hristian( Islamic< Genesis

St Thomas! we cannot prove from reasonalone that the universe must have had abeginning in time.

ther thin/ers disagree.




2. The -otive of 6reation!Intelligent agent has an end in view for anaction.

Gods free action of the world; motive$

1. "e cannot ac&uire any finite good.

2. The only motive for divine action is love ofhis own infinite goodness.

3. 2 ways of loving ones own goodnessa. 8nBoy

b. Share :communicate<

*eason! pure love that wants to share his ownriches to ma/e us happy.




3. God as ersonal

God of metaphysics or hilosophy to be toocold( abstract( and impersonal.

God of Abraham and @acob is strictlypersonal.

God of historical religion!

- "as richer set of attributes of more

personal( free( historical relations with usthan God arrived at by philosophicalreason.



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7,TC- God! intelligent :wise<( loving :benevolent

love for us<( wishes to share his goodnessand happiness.

- 8*S'! center of intelligent( free(

responsible( loving action.

- Therefore( the God of Abraham and theGod of hilosophers are pointing to the

identical ,ltimate Source of all 7eing.- former! richer set of data to wor/ from.



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). mnipotence

- ❎ God holds all power for himself.

- ☑ God is the ultimate source of power(which he shares freely with creatures.

- DGod has the power to bring into beinganything that is intelligible as aparticipation in his own being.

- 'T A EI-ITATI'

-God cannot perform directly any actionthat any being can do.

- 7ut "e e#periences the delight and enBoyto an infinite degree.



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. mniscience

- ☑ God /nows perfectly and e#haustively allthat is and can be /nown.

- ❎ by passively receiving actions of other

beings on him.- God does not /now the world because it is

there.

- The world is there because God creatively/nows and wills it.

- God sustains all beings in their e#istenceand actions( but allows creatures to use andchannel it according to their own natures.



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. mniscience

- Therefore( heTherefore( he allows free creatures toallows free creatures tochannel and direct the power offered tochannel and direct the power offered tothemthem toward this or that goaltoward this or that goal through ourthrough our

free choice.free choice.- "e /nows by /nowing how we allow his

superabundant power to flow through(how we allow him to wor/ with us.

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%e channel his powers through ournatures and free decisions.



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Special roblem! 0oes God /now our future actions(all that will happen( and if so( how( withoutdestroying our freedom$

- All true /nowledge must be founded onsomething real.

- The future as future does not yet have any reale#istence in itself.

- Thomas! not even the divine can /now withcertainty the future as future.

- 'onfree cause! flowing necessarily from its ownnature

- Free agents! the action is not yet certainlythe action is not yet certainlydetermined until it is actually decided on by adetermined until it is actually decided on by areal agent.real agent.



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nce the agent decides( it is not anymorefuture but present.

- %e who are loc/ed into the passage oftime cannot /now free future actions withany certainty.

-God is timeless( entirely outside the flowof our time and all times.

- "e e#ists in an eternal now.

- God sees it as it is actually ta/ing place.

-God is always and the only resent ne.God is always and the only resent ne.



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- God could not /now something not yete#istent.

- 'othing can be or become real unless Godactually wor/s with it.

- Gods real action can only be in the

present. :not in none#istent future<- %hat if! God /new the future as future to

him$

- Then it would be impossible to e#ercise

providence at all.- It would be that God is wor/ing in the

future when he is not actually doing it.



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- God does not need time to wor/ out hisprovidence over our lives. "e wor/s withus toward our future right now in ourpresent.

- God can and does plan out on his own

inititative ahead of time for us( but theindividual details of our response are notdetermined e#cept by his cooperation withus in the present.

- The complete script of our livescomplete script of our lives is not

written anywhere ahead of time( before ithappens( but only as it happens( by Godonly as it happens( by Godand ourselves wor/ing it out together inand ourselves wor/ing it out together inour ongoing nows.our ongoing nows.



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- If God foresaw me going to "ell( then whyIf God foresaw me going to "ell( then whydid he create me$did he create me$

- *esponse! If God actually foresaw thishappening( it would be too late not tocreate you4 then his fore/nowledge would

be false.- God can /now what will happen to you only

if he first ta/es the ris/ of creating you andwor/ing with you all the way through to theend( trying to steer you in the right

direction( but with the final outcomedetermined only by your last free choicesat the end.

- God is the ,ltimate 6osmic Gambler.God is the ,ltimate 6osmic Gambler.



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Flawed Solution! -iddle nowledge ofFlawed Solution! -iddle nowledge ofFuturibles. :Euis -olina and co.<Futuribles. :Euis -olina and co.<

- Futuribles conditionally future freeactions! what we would have done if wehad been put in such and such concrete

circumstance.- %e would have acted freely with no

predetermination with God since it isobBectively true that given thiscircumstance we would have acted this

way and not that.



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- God! sees all possible scenarios andchooses freely which scenario he wishesto ma/e actual by creation.

- *etained!a. Fulfillment of Gods providence Bust as how he

wishes the world to be.b. Freedom of creatures.



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*8S'S8! Eogical but not metaphysicallysound.

- resupposes! a none#istent will canactually ma/e free decisions

- Free decision is an e#istential act( can only

be done by a real e#isting free will.- 'one#istents! no choice at all.

- God cant possibly /now with certainty whattheir free decisions would be unless heactually ma/es them.

--ista/e! consider these obBectively trueindependently of their actual e#istence andprior to Gods /nowing them by actuallywor/ing them.



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- nly truth! given this situation( they wouldhave chosen either A or 7 or 6H 'T%"I6".

- Truth floats somewhere on its own prior toany actual e#istent being( and so if true(

God must /now it.- A&uinas! nothing is determinately true

unless grounded in some real e#istent orsome real mind creatively thin/ing of it.

- ❎ This is true4 therefore God /nows it.

- ✔ This is true because it is grounded onsomething real andor God /nows it.

the final unification of being

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