Pondering Perfection: The discussion continues

I had posted my "Pondering Perfection" post on my MySpace blog, and the one friend I have whom I knew would not be able to resist it began a discussion. I met Josh in my precalc class two years ago, and he's not exactly a normal person. He finished his associates degree before graduating college, he wears black eyeliner and a pentagram necklace, and he's one of the most openly curious and honest people I know. This was his reply to the blog:

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Josh:

Do what Thou Wilt shall be the whole of the Law

*gasps* a take on Christianity I agree with! Or perhaps it could be said to be deism. The portion about Christ was minimal and could well be overlooked. Regardless, in response I would disagree, in a very slight way. You talk of creative potential and action; ever-striving for perfection. I would argue that the very act of self-improvement and creativity is perfection itself. As far as human knowledge can reach in either direction, the universe has always existed, but it has always been changing.

People and animals move, do new and different things. Even the planet we live on is moving, as is our solar system, our galaxy, and thousands of other galaxies. Matter and energy move, and convert from one form to another, but always exist. In all the chaos of the universe, stability (and I would argue perfection) is maintained by perpetual motion. There are yogis who've trained there bodies to slow metabolism and cell death so that they can live off of a cup a milk a month, but were they to break their meditation, and milk the cow themselves, their metabolism would jump and they would require more sustenance.

The stillness of the yogi is analogous to what would happen if our universe stopped moving. One half of the earth would be scorched, the other half freezing cold. Similar fates would befall other planets, and living creatures would die by the millions, unless some outside force (by its motion defying the stillness) were to assist those living things.

We cannot find perfection in inactivity, though disciplining ourselves to tolerate inactivity is helpful so that we may more efficiently be active. It is the activity of our lives that provide us sustenance: work pays for food and shelter; creative actions help to keep us sane. Our body and minds were made for (or evolved to) this function. To deny them that is to desecrate them. To fulfill that creative potential is the greatest thing a human can do, and I would argue that creative act, that motion, is like that of the universe, that the soul of that person is eternal, like the universe, and that only by constant motion can it fulfill its proper path.

You see, God or no God, the reality of what we must do is the same. One must live well, creatively. Not self-destructively, but not with the sole goal of self-preservation either. There must be balance. One must take on the poisons of life if they may enhance one's creative potential, even if they may also lead to death. Opium stimulates the mind but numbs the body. Absinthe, through its dual poisons, frees the mind with alcohol and stimulates it with wormwood. Freedom of thought, and the creativity it lends itself to, is worth the imagined death so many people fear. Why should a Christian fear death? Why should any religious person? The soul is eternal. The molecules of our body cannot be destroyed, but will ultimately go on to be part of plants, animals, and one day a future generation of humans. Our genes are carried on by children. Our immortality is most assured.

So I say, live freely, set yourself to the greatest goal, and fulfill it. Live well, do not forsake what you know to be right, for by violating your own conscience you are sinning against yourself. Those who claim to have no conscience are merely too far gone to know what their Will is anymore.

Ah, alas, I could continue, but I shall end my discourse here.


Love is the Law; Love under Will

And my own reply to this:

So you say that creativity is perfection unto itself, and that exploration is the result of our evolution on this planet, and yet you refer to the soul. More than that, you state that the soul is eternal and that "only by constant motion can it fulfill is proper path." In one thing however, you are wrong. The universe is not eternal. Scientists have discovered that, at the rate the universe is expanding, at one point it will snap (like a rubber band stretched too thin) and collapse in on itself.

As I'm feeling particularly--I don't want to use the word "religious," but can't think of a better one--today, I'm going to quote the Bible for a moment. "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." Ecclesiastes 3:11

What this means is that our universe is s-l-o-w-l-y degenerating, but that in the process, it is still beautiful and full of things to explore. Also that every man on earth, regardless of his religion, has a concept of the eternal soul that he simply cannot get rid of. Does not the very existence of this soul preclude the possibility that our pursuit of perfection has developed by random chance?

I do agree with your concept of balance, which was one of the main reasons behind my statement that "The Fall was God's gift to humanity." Without pain, we cannot know peace; without sadness, we cannot know joy; without hatred, we cannot know love. Following this reasoning, we could not have truly known God if we didn't know the world around us.

I also agree that we should have a healthy dose of inactivity in our lives, because if we're constantly doing and discovering new things, we have no time to reflect on what we've already done in order to better understand them. Again, balance, like you said. Because knowledge is useless without understanding.

If the soul does exist, and I doubt you'll disagree that it does, than it is there for the singular purpose of understanding. It exists as part of us, and is the means of our discovery and pursuit of perfection. It is what raises us above the level of breathing meat-sacks and gives us the ability to even discuss its own existence.

So how could the soul be formed through anything other than another, self-aware, super-powerful creator? And why would this creator give us a soul if they didn't wish for us to explore ourselves and our world?

Looking forward to your reply.

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I'll post more as this conversation develops.