Thinking Spurred by Reading Freud's CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS
(though the germs of some of the thoughts were present previously)
In the beginning ... was God ... [and] ALL things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
I John 1: 1-3
I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me. ... I form the light, AND CREATE DARKNESS: I make peace, AND CREATE EVIL: I the LORD do all these things.
Isaiah 45:5-7
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Revelation 1:8
[emphasis added]
In other words, God is EVERYTHING--IN all and THROUGHOUT all: God is everything, AND EVERYTHING IS GOD. God is good, God is evil; God is light, God is darkness; God is man, woman, AND child, no less than that God is all sentient intelligence and insensate matter, and the glowing stars of the very heavens. God is ALL. God creates every-thing, and since everything is God, everything thus CREATES ITSELF--is its own self-directing agent or force.
We, as semi-sentient agents are not always conscious--in fact, rarely are--of the 'God' within us constantly directing and prodding us. Like the ancient Gnostics said of us, we seem to be asleep to our divine reality. The 'God' within us, if it is not simply the sum total of our entire beings, could just be a matter of our genetic programming, and thus our 'will to live', and our desires for furtherance, growth, happiness, achievement and fulfillment.
Is it not therefore possible, then, that 'evil' and 'good' do not exist at all except as CONCEPTS in the minds of men? Surely the rest of the universe (though still part and parcel of the omnipresence of 'God') is wholly and supremely indifferent to such infantile and purely human classifications.
Humans seem to be inclined to name as 'evil' only that which produces either pain or unhappiness, whether for one person or for many. But is not the larger universe (for all we can tell) indifferent to the occurrences of pain and unhappiness here on this planet? Does not 'evil', then, seem to have as much a place and legitimacy in the realms of real existence and experience as that which human beings call 'good'?
Every thing, then, simply IS--it exists. It is also eternally BECOMING--changing its forms from this one to that one over endless time. Chaos, inconstancy, and flux--ever-repeated within certain patterns sometimes, to be sure--seem to be the supreme laws of the universe (and thus of 'God').
But can it also perhaps be that, in contrast to the apparent chaos and randomness of the universe at large, life as we know it (on this planet) may simply be an example of the universe (and thus 'God') attempting to attain order and law out of chaos, to grow beyond its present confines or state, to become MORE or BETTER than before, to accrete ever-increasing knowledge and experience unto itself, and thus become ever greater than it was before?
This seems (in passing) to be especially true of humankind, but also of all other animal life, and indeed, even of the simplest single-cell organism, which seems somehow compelled to increase, to divide and grow, to REPRODUCE, and, by reproduction, make itself, through taking in nourishment from elsewhere in its universe, greater than it was before.
This, to my mind at least, seems to be what defines 'life' on this planet: a conscious--though conscious at varying levels in different forms of life--attempt at growth and experience, to become more or greater than what one was originally endowed with by the larger universe or 'God'. This would also seem to me to be the best explanation of classic 'evolution': the conscious attempt of all matter and life to expand itself, to grow, to attain power, intelligence, order and knowledge, out of what was previously random chaos.
And it occurs to me that this is what Nietzsche refers to as the "Will to Power" or the "Will to Grow" or the "Will to Be", which he says is THE major motivating force of all life: that paramount desire to grow or accrete, which means that we--and by extension all life--must consume other life forms--other "wills to grow" in order to grow or expand ourselves.
T.J.White, 25 December, 1993--8 February, 1994
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The Apollo Belvedere, Youthful Horsemen from the Parthenon Frieze.
Youthful Male Beauty at its Finest
The Apollo Belvedere, Youthful Horsemen from the Parthenon Frieze.
The Non-Conformist's Bible
A collection of writings by T. J. White (who is the sole author and proprietor of this website), together with excerpts of writings by other authors and thinkers who have most profoundly shaped the course of his life and thinking.
Nothing in this site is intended to encourge the breaking of any laws. The author and proprietor also does not condone the intentional harming of any human being, and insists that the rights of all people must be respected. All those who violate those rights, and the laws of society, should be properly punished. Laws, however, can be changed, and there should be nothing wrong with advocating reasonable changes in society's laws.
The excerpts from other writers (and some photographs) included in this site may perhaps be under copyright. Their inclusion here is not for purposes of profit or gain, but rather are solely for the education and inspiration of others (and to make others more aware of their existence).
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information, for research and education purposes. Neither "The Non-Conformist's Bible" nor its author has any affiliation whatsoever with the originators of these articles, nor is "The Non-Conformist's Bible" or its author in any way endorsed or sponsored by the said originators.
The author of this site has diligently tried, where possible, to direct his readers to the actual other sites he has occasionally drawn from; indeed, he is indebted to their authors, and expresses his profoundest admiration and gratitude for them and their work.
A collection of writings by T. J. White (who is the sole author and proprietor of this website), together with excerpts of writings by other authors and thinkers who have most profoundly shaped the course of his life and thinking.
Nothing in this site is intended to encourge the breaking of any laws. The author and proprietor also does not condone the intentional harming of any human being, and insists that the rights of all people must be respected. All those who violate those rights, and the laws of society, should be properly punished. Laws, however, can be changed, and there should be nothing wrong with advocating reasonable changes in society's laws.
The excerpts from other writers (and some photographs) included in this site may perhaps be under copyright. Their inclusion here is not for purposes of profit or gain, but rather are solely for the education and inspiration of others (and to make others more aware of their existence).
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information, for research and education purposes. Neither "The Non-Conformist's Bible" nor its author has any affiliation whatsoever with the originators of these articles, nor is "The Non-Conformist's Bible" or its author in any way endorsed or sponsored by the said originators.
The author of this site has diligently tried, where possible, to direct his readers to the actual other sites he has occasionally drawn from; indeed, he is indebted to their authors, and expresses his profoundest admiration and gratitude for them and their work.