Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Creatio Ex Omnia

We are created out of everything. Our actions, our thoughts, our lives – all of this is created in the continuous and Eternal Now (The idea of the Eternal Now mentioned here primarily emerges from Martin Buber’s I and Thou and John Robinson’s Thou Who Art.), created from everything. The Now is created from all-that-was-just-before-now-and-is-no-more-(except-as-memory). Our decisions, made in the freedom of Now, are also decided within the limitations of omnia, of all. All-that-is-no-more is preserved in the Now, which is the collective memory of omnia, of all. Our ability to decide is based upon the pre-existing conditions, as the context for our decision.
I cannot decide to be in Canada now (except by linguistically changing my categories – which doesn’t help me get closer to my girlfriend), because I am in Scotland – that is the context, and the context limits my ability to decide. My Now, sitting on a bed in Scotland (when I wrote this), is created out of everything-that-just-was. The molecules, electrons and photons are (somewhat) limited by their manifestations-just-before-this-Now. And yet, even they have freedom (and since freedom depends on some level of conscious awareness of the surroundnigs, even they are conscious).
If you wish to create something, then you must work towards creating the situation where its creation is a possible decision. To create guitar music, you must have a guitar (at least present, regardless of economic/social ownership). To play good guitar music, you must have a guitar and be a good guitarist, so set up that situation by practising. To create a new song that can be repeated, you need a guitar, the ability to remember what you played (recording it in human memory or e.g. magnetic tape memory), and you need to create the situation of being inspired (whether that means going into the woods, playing/singing about experiences you remember, or whatever). New guitar music that is good do not just emerge into reality – they are created by decisions made in ‘friendly’ situations.
We are created by everything. And so everything has had a part in creating us. If you’re a good person, you’re not a good person because you happen to be a good person. You’re a good person because you have repeatedly made good decisions, and yet those good decisions have only been made possible because the situations were created (by omnia, by everything) for you to make them in – the context deserves a lot of the credit or the blame for the decision (that’s why we have Acknowledgements). For the decider is just a small part of the all, the omnia that is creating.
That which has made me/is making me is not me – it is omnia, the one-that-is-all-(and-includes-me). This One is still creating.
I, the universe, create myself in the eternal Now. I, Stuart, am defining and creating myself in the Now through the decisions I make.

1 comment:

  1. Nope. I'm an abmitted agnostic. I'm putting it out there because I think it may be a healthier way, in many contexts, to think about creation than many people do (especially if they think creation occurs out of nothing).

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