Epistemics of Divine Reality (Synopsis)

8/4/2019 Epistemics of Divine Reality (Synopsis)

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EPISTEMICS OF DIVINE REALITY

The Dynamics Behind Claims to Knowing God

BY DOMENIC MARBANIANG


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Questionsregarding what

the universeultimately is haveoften puzzledhumans.


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The Greek philosopherArchytas once asked thequestion: Suppose I stood at

the edge of the universe andhurled a spear outwards of it,

where would it go?

Of course, it couldnt go

outwards because if it did,that would not be the edge of

the universe. On the otherhand, if it did bounce back,the question still remained,what lay beyond. In otherwords, the edge wasconceptually impossible; at

the same time, an infiniteextension of space or theuniverse was alsoconceptually impossible. Thatconstituted the ultimateparadox of reality.


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ETERNITY

TRANSCENDENTAL

IMMUTABLE

ABSOLUTEGOD THE DIVINE REALITY

Throughout the ages ofhistory, philosophershave battled over suchultimate paradoxes, andmany felt these were

functional conceptsbridging the now toeternity, to thetranscendental, to theimmutable, to the

absolute, to God theDivine Reality.


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However, the resulting conclusions differed; someconsummating in Monism, while others in

pantheism, polytheism, or one of the many variants

of religious philosophies.


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Many also rebelled against these transcendental concepts andchose the way of either skepticism or just pragmatism, somesaying that reality cannot be known as it is

while others contending that all knowledge is only pragmatical innature, ie. It is merely a matter of workability if something worksfor us, we believe it is true. In other words, we do not know whatultimate reality really is.


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This in other way, was also anattempt to expel the transcendentalcategories from human vocabulary.

ETERNITY

TRANSCENDENTAL

IMMUTABLE

ABSOLUTE

GOD THE DIVINE REALITY


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If we take in our hand any

volume of divinity or schoolmetaphysics, for instance, let usask, Does it contain any abstractreasoning concerning quantity ornumber? No. Does it containany experimental reasoning

concerning matter of fact andexistence? No. Commit it then tothe flames, for it can containnothing but sophistry and illusion

David Hume

David Hume the Scottishcritic who rebuffed almostevery traditional argumentfor the existence of Godlaid the anti-metaphysicalrule that rules modernscientism. He said:


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God is Dead!Bible Will Be Extinct Science=Truth

In modern times, Voltaire had predicted the extermination of theBible and Nietzsche had announced the death of God among

humans. Science was filling the gaps and absorbing into its foldboth the philosopher and the theologian.


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However, the twoWorld Warsbrought thequestion of

absolute ethics tothe forefront.


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Wasnt there something intrinsically

evil about the Concentrationcamps? Wasnt there a difference

between the perpetuators of crimeand the exterminators of crime?

Wasnt there a difference betweenthe traditional hero and the villain?Somewhere, the issue of absoluteshad to be addressed.


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But, the rational and the empirical are in perpetualconflict; and the conflict still remains.


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THE RATIONAL

CATEGORIES ARE

UNITYNECESSITY

IMMUTABILITY

INFINITY (UNIVERSALITY)

TRANSCENDENCE


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THE EMPIRICAL

CATEGORIES ARE

PLURALITYCONTINGENCY

MUTABILITY

FINITUDE

IMMANENCE


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This results in a clash of categories as can be

seen in the famous Zenos Paradoxes


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Gaudapada, the teacher ofthe advaitin Sankaracharyawrote a Karika, a rational

treatise that demonstratedthe impossibility ofexperience being the sourceof truth and the rationality ofreality as being truly non-dualistic in nature where

the subject and object ceaseto exist along with theperception. However, thereneeded to be something toaccount for why there is any

experience of plurality at all,and the theory of Mayawaspostulated to solve thiscomplexity.


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GAUDAPADA KARIKA UNQUALIFIED

CONSCIOUSNESS

UNCAUSED ABSOLUTE

MAYA HYPOTHESIS


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It seemed that the see-saw of the sources onlythrew off each other. When reason went to the

edge, experience was thrown off


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when experience went to the edge,reason was thrown off.


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The only salvation now rested insomething that came and restored the

balance between the two.


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Philosophers such as Anselm, Pascal, andKierkegaard asserted that the balance could only

be struck by FAITH.


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Blaise PascalReason is Based on

Faith

St. AnselmFaith PrecedesUnderstanding

Soren KierkegaardFaith=Meaning


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SABDAPRAMANA

The 3-Fold CriteriaALAUKIKA (TRANSCENDENCE)

ABADHITA (CONSISTENCE)

APEKSHITA (ANTICIPATION)

In India


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Faith does play some role in either of the approaches; so, one mustfind a criteria by which faith can be able to both harmonize reasonand experience, without the undermining of any, while at the sametime be able to provide the answer to the question, What is Truth?


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Mind, Matter, MeaningIntellect, Emotions, Will

Substance, Eternity, Relation

REVELATION


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Epistemics of DivineReality addresses

these questions andlooks in detail at thevarious dynamicsinvolved in the

processes that driveconclusions about theuniverse, about man,about meaning, andabout God.


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Faith

Reason

KNOWLEDGE

TRUTH

Experience

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Epistemics of Divine Reality (Synopsis)