My latest project is coming along...slowly but surely....here is an excerpt: AND MAN MADE GOD: PHILOSOPHY FROM ARISTOTLE TO ZENO THE STOIC A Supplemental Compilation by Valerie Lynn Stephens “If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated.”-Voltaire Preface As we all struggle to survive the hustle & bustle of the modern day world, we each have our own ideas concerning the origin & ultimate nature of the Universe & that of its Creator & Sustainer. To date there are approximately thirteen major world religions & counting. For this estimate does not include the sub-sects or individuated denominations which have arisen from within these existing faiths. Then of course, there are those who profess a belief in no god &/or gods, so-named, the Atheists. And there are the Agnostics, who carry a kind of more generalized doctrinal neutrality of belief, in that they believe that there could or could not be a God, but that ultimately human beings cannot ever fully know one way or another until such a Being ultimately reveals itself to us. In a word, an agnostic believes, “Anything is possible.” In the absence of mysticism or a more orthodox religiosity, there seems to be much ado about something indeed, regarding not only the existence of what Plato named a “Demiurge”, or a sovereign & supranatural force behind all of creation, but also concerning the essence of said Deity and/or deities in not only physical composition & nature but concerning the more existential psychology or metaphysiology, if you will, of such an entity and/or entities as well. In this supplemental text, my focus will honor both the sacred & the secular as they relate to the philosophical & the theological. It is a work by no means meant to be a comprehensive tome, but rather, a brief summation of as many possible philosophical & theological figures that I could glean from my research. Furthermore, many throughout human history have declared Philosophy & Theology to not only be mutually exclusive in content & effect, but to bear no relevancy whatsoever to one another. However, as both concern themselves with the “Ultimates”, such as how to live the best possible life, what is the nature of Reality, Truth, etc., both Philosophy & Theology are, it seems, indeed very much connected at the heart of the human experience & condition. In this work, I have attempted to explore the infinite complexities of the profound in an easily accessible language & format. While this work is certainly meant to educate & inform, it is also hoped to enlighten, as well. It is hoped that all interested readers can gain an elementary appreciation of this wondrously vast, complex & diverse universe & its myriad inhabitants, especially as it relates to none other than, the “human animal” & his or her more individual, privatized “universe” of cognition & perception. Yet most of all, it is merely hoped that, through this work, each individual reader may gain a greater insight into & deeper understanding of themselves, in that they may then go forth into the larger outer world all the more enriched by what this world has to offer in the way of what Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychiatrist, once called each our own “psycho-spiritual” edification. For each one of us is indeed, an intrinsic element of this vast, complex world in which we live. And ultimately, the questions which Philosophy & Theology seek to answer will be revealed to have been known, all along. One merely had to seek them most uniquely, & most inwardly.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 14:58:33 +0000
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