My take on it is that we humans, and as far as I can tell all our currently recognized fellow sentient beings (e.g. my dog), have evolved so that we create organization out of the universe. We are the gods and goddesses who animate all this chaos with exquisite meaning. I would further contend that what we collectively refer to as god, who/whatever you picture this to be, is a label for our shared wonder at the commonality with which we organize it. How amazing that such beauty could emerge that way.<br>
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<div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 8:41 AM, douglas germann <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:76066.515@compuserve.com">76066.515@compuserve.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">Ralph--<br><br>All of our human creation stories, or at least all of the 6 or 10 of<br>them which I have read, start with something pre-existing: a god, a ball<br>
of mud, a turtle's back.<br><br>The Biblical story in my view is not antithetical to the Big Bang: Let<br>there be light and there was light. What you hold in your mind when you<br>read it affects directly what you get out of it—or put into it.<br>
<br>Stuart Kauffman has recently written a book which posits that God is not<br>a being who creates but creativity itself. If he is correct, then that<br>means that there is no difference between the Biblical notion of<br>
creation and self-organization.<br><br>(I think the concept of ex nihilo is not necessarily in Genesis.)<br><br>Ralph, thanks for this tickle.<br><br> :- Doug.<br>
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<div class="Wj3C7c"><br>On Mon, 2009-02-16 at 09:54 -0500, Ralph Copleman wrote:<br>> If we say we live in a self-organizing universe, and if we also say<br>> there is no such thing as a non-self-organizing system, then where<br>
> does that leave us with regard to the biblical creation story of the<br>> original seven days -- which seems to lay down holy word that it is<br>> possible create a comprehensive order out of nothing?<br>><br>
> It's irrelevant that the biblical story may or may not be literally<br>> true. We must recognize the impact this version of creation has had<br>> on our collective consciousness in the West, if not all over the<br>
> world. This model of order-out-of-chaos dominates most, if not all<br>> our modern institutions. It lays the framework for how we see the<br>> world and how we seek to relate to it, its systems, and itc<br>> challenges. It's the pattern for government, business, education,<br>
> community development, religion, etc. It even dictates how we shall<br>> relate to Earth itself.<br>><br>> When we ask people to accept the belief that there is no such thing as<br>> a non-self-organizing system, aren't we saying, "The story we have all<br>
> lived by, whether we consciously realize it or not, is wrong,<br>> profoundly inaccurate, and dangerous"?<br>><br>> Ralph<br>><br>> *<br>> *<br>> ==========================================================<br>
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