Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to nice stuff, Gary

Thanks... Starting points for this sort of analysis
Gary — (archived)

Daniel said:

>however the question is still begged, 'how did the "chaos" get
>there in the first place', or more fundamentally: why existence, why
>anything at all?

If you try to define "existence" or "being" at the starting point then you'll find yourself doing an imitation of a cat chasing his own tail. Chaos on the other hand is relatively straight forward. Chaos is simply no causation, no order, no dimensionality, no nothing. It's streaming "information" that has no order or value like the digits of Pi.

>Not just 'how', but 'why' - the 'why' is the part which, when you
>stare it in the face, can result in a psychological acceptance of the
>prima faci existence of an infinite creative Consciousness - and
>BTW the 'infinite' aspect can include transcendence of the problem
>of First Cause.

"How" and "why" are causation driven. You have to get more primitive than causation to understand this stuff (Remember I'm arm waving and make no claim that I understand anything). The psychological stuff is a killer. My dear mother tried to program me to be a good Methodist but she screwed it up and I became an agnostic. Unlearning her programming was difficult because it was burned in at an early age.

>If one reaches this psychological point of 'awed appreciation',
>then IMO one has a religious understanding of life and the
>universe, even if s/he accepts no further theology or dogma.

I'm deeply awed by the Laws of Physics and the physical beauty of nature. I also believe that life is sacred and the highest form of life is consciousness. That's sufficient "awed appreciation" for me (I don't need to drag in some old guy on a golden throne with a glowing triangle floating over his head).

Gary

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