Comments on: Aphorisms about life’s uncertainties http://www.dismountingourtiger.com/uncategorized/aphorisms-about-life%e2%80%99s-uncertainties/ He who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:32:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Isaac K. http://www.dismountingourtiger.com/uncategorized/aphorisms-about-life%e2%80%99s-uncertainties/comment-page-1/#comment-44 Isaac K. Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:39:41 +0000 http://www.dismountingourtiger.com/?p=177#comment-44 Interesting - found you on econlog. Point of interested: in considering God as transcendent (above time as well), creation at the point of the Big-Bang IS equivalent to recreation/guiding at all points after: since he sees to the end from the beginning, he essentially "chose" the end and all intermediate steps. Kind of like knowing and seeing where to hit a break on a pool table to get all the balls in on the first shot. Also; Maimonides discusses the concept of a miracle as a natural occurance rare only for it's placement, extent, and timing. The astrological possiblity (infinitesmally small) of the Splitting of the Sea actually occurring isn't a contradiction of God, it's a validation of it being setup from the start to work out correctly when needed. Isaac: Thanks for the comments. We probably see uncertainty in different ways. I see it as intrinsic to being non-trivial and real; which means that there is no way to know the future with certainty, even for a being (or creator) with an infinite capacity to know. Of course, I'm not certain of that and have no wish to convert anyone else to my viewpoint. I am happy with these thoughts at this stage of my life, and run them up the flagpole from time to time to stimulate discussion. (By the way: had four years of Catholic theology in high school and studied Thomas Aquinas's "Summa Theologica" on my own while studying engineering in college. For more than 20 years of my early adulthood I was comforted by my belief that a transcendent, infinite God knew everything; that God was the ultimate engineer. Now I suspect that things are actually far more awesome than that.) Hope you'll visit again. Interesting – found you on econlog.
Point of interested: in considering God as transcendent (above time as well), creation at the point of the Big-Bang IS equivalent to recreation/guiding at all points after: since he sees to the end from the beginning, he essentially “chose” the end and all intermediate steps.

Kind of like knowing and seeing where to hit a break on a pool table to get all the balls in on the first shot.

Also; Maimonides discusses the concept of a miracle as a natural occurance rare only for it’s placement, extent, and timing. The astrological possiblity (infinitesmally small) of the Splitting of the Sea actually occurring isn’t a contradiction of God, it’s a validation of it being setup from the start to work out correctly when needed.

Isaac: Thanks for the comments. We probably see uncertainty in different ways. I see it as intrinsic to being non-trivial and real; which means that there is no way to know the future with certainty, even for a being (or creator) with an infinite capacity to know. Of course, I’m not certain of that and have no wish to convert anyone else to my viewpoint. I am happy with these thoughts at this stage of my life, and run them up the flagpole from time to time to stimulate discussion. (By the way: had four years of Catholic theology in high school and studied Thomas Aquinas’s “Summa Theologica” on my own while studying engineering in college. For more than 20 years of my early adulthood I was comforted by my belief that a transcendent, infinite God knew everything; that God was the ultimate engineer. Now I suspect that things are actually far more awesome than that.)

Hope you’ll visit again.

]]>