Science, Philo

The Two Most Obvious Facts of Life

Here’s my ex-temp ramble in response to the line “momentum succumbs to entropy” seen elsewhere …
“On the one hand … but then on the other hand …”

+ and you can say entropy succumbs to momentum.
– but you have to have an energy source for momentum.
+ well, the plants and animals find energy to bloom and bear seeds and run and climb; so can we
– but they all die
+ and more come
– but the energy-supply machine (the sun) is running down

+ but it has produced unimaginably excessive energy for 1.3 kazillion years and will continue to do so – so far beyond my lifespan that I can go with what I’ve got without trying to manage that little problem with my even littler mind
– but it sets the context of entropy and ultimate cessation of all light, motion, heat, energy. If that’s the ultimate context . . .
+ to assume that this is the ultimate context goes way beyond human mental or psychic ability, way beyond
– but it is observable in the short run
+ so is the production and supply of energy, creativity, life, beauty, exuberance, action . . .
– still, it all runs down
+ that’s at least somewhat of a faith-based extrapolation from a portion of the available evidence. What if the crucial evidence is that the universe exists, that it generates unimaginable energy and change, that the sun began and energizes us, that life exists and is so incredibly complex (from sub-DNA on up)?
– still, from what we can see, it runs down
+ still, from what we can see it regenerates and creates
– still, it all dies
+ then it comes back to the two most obvious facts about life from a human perspective

1) it’s all awesome amazing incredible indescribable tear-jerkingly wonderful etc etc and

2) it’s all screwed up somehow. Takes me back to the ancient complaint: “The enemy has damaged everything in the Sanctuary.”

A. W. Tozer wrote an editorial decades ago to the effect that we are living in an emergency situation – we have our faces to the wind. . .

ramble ramble ramble ramble . . .

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3 Comments

  • There has to be a massive influx of creative energy into this world full of people. Even the massive energy required to complain about the lack of energy shows that there is creative energy creating… so that even while it is all slowing down and getting cold, it is also speeding up and warming up.

  • Which raises the question:
    Is there in the experience of real people an external source of psychic energy, not just self-generated or self-concentrated, truly (& thus healthily) available to assist with our psychic energy needs, and if so how is it accessed?

  • And, I have to add:
    If there was enough energy to start this whole shebang . . .
    Well, we’re out of the bounds now of science and of formal reason . . .
    But if there was enough energy and ‘plan’ to start the whole shebang, then the choice to assume
    a) that the energy-source or plan-structure will be unavailable going forward
    is an act of faith as surely as the assumption
    b) that both (energy inputs and plan) are currently available and will be so in the future.
    We are in the realm of faith either way.
    Which illuminates why faith is – when sensibly understood – so inextricably tied up with morals (ethics, values) and general psychological approaches to life.
    Eh?

 
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