Quotessence
Home / Authors / Dejan Stojanovic
Dejan Stojanovic

Dejan Stojanovic Quotes

Poet

Filter quotes by topic

Famous Dejan Stojanovic Quotes

“Regardless of whether the world is predetermined, there can be no Devil. The Devil is not only the antithesis of God but is also impossible. The idea of the Devil as the result of chance, free will, rebellion, or sin is also impossible. The only possibility, philosophically, is that God is the Devil. The Devil, as understood in religions, was invented to cover up all unjustifiable evils, all misunderstandings, all sufferings, and all “sins” of human beings. The Devil is a scapegoat of religions. All that is bad we can attribute to the Devil, and all that is good to God. The invention of the Devil is the biggest fraud of all.”

“Why would God create the Devil in the first place? If free will is the excuse, why would the omnipotent God allow the Devil to rebel, and why “he” would not predict this rebellion? Why would God allow Eve to sin? Are animals capable of sinning? What is sinning? Is suffering possible only within the realm of human beings? Although animals do not possess or understand the morality of humans, they can suffer. Even if they cannot suffer all human suffering, they can still suffer pain. Does God predict the pain and suffering throughout the animal kingdom? If not, why not? Why would this suffering or distress of animals be less sympathetic to God than human suffering? Who determined that humans are not animals, and is this definition, or generally accepted view, only arbitrary?”

“No main monotheistic religion offers satisfying answers to many important questions. No religion is concerned with the well-being of the animal kingdom, and no religion proposes or establishes sin in the animal kingdom. Religious books strictly reserve sin for human beings. No religion offers or predicts either hell or paradise for the animal kingdom, only for human beings. No religion even tries to explain, in a reasonable manner, the absurdity of eternal punishment and its “ethics.” What horror can equal the monstrosity of eternal punishment, eternal hell? There is no bigger pain, no bigger monstrosity, no bigger immorality, and no bigger cruelty than the eternal punishment, eternal hell. And only an imperfect, mortal human deserves this eternal measure, eternal punishment. How monstrous is this?”

“Where is the logic behind the idea that something mortal, fickle, imperfect, weak, could deserve such eternal measure, eternal punishment in its absolute force, which would be too harsh even for the Devil if it existed? Only absolute crime deserves absolute punishment, and Hell, being eternal, is the absolute punishment for its inhabitants. But what possible crime deserves absolute punishment except if a man was capable of killing God, which would be the absolute crime, deserving absolute punishment and Hell? In that case, there would be no God to execute the punishment. Therefore, absolute crime is impossible. Even if God survived, this omnipotent and benevolent God would still have mercy over such a weak and wicked creature as a human being, to exercise his grace and absolute power instead of revenge and save the soul of a lost human being from eternal pain.”

“Where can we find anything so cruel invented by the Devil in any religious book that would equal the evil majesty of the last judgment, eternal hell, and eternal punishment? It is hard to imagine or invent anything more powerful, more painful, and cruel than hell. It is also hard to imagine that the evil Devil would be able and capable of creating anything as monstrous as the Hell “invented by God,” not the Devil, according to the scriptures. Where is the difference, then, between God and the Devil? And if there is any difference, by what criteria is the evil Devil more “malevolent” than the “benevolent” God, based on what we read? If we correctly read and make common sense conclusions, there is no more immense evil than the Hell invented by the benevolent God.”

“Is it possible that a benevolent God would punish eternally weak and wicked creatures as human beings are, and probably must be, based on their limited powers? We answer that it is impossible. A benevolent God would not do all this in this world or the afterlife. It is inconceivable that the omnipotent being, characterized by mercy and grace, among other things, would be so cruel. The all-powerful, benevolent, and all-knowing God would, at least to a certain extent, save human beings from their sins and his “future son” from suffering if all this was a matter of free will and the original sin. All this sinning and suffering could have been easily prevented by the omnipotent and benevolent God without the infringement on free will, without the possibility for sin and eternal hell for the millions of people in the “afterlife life.”

“The main problem is not God or the Devil but a human being incapable of resolving affairs without “sinning.” The biggest source of continuous sinning and misunderstanding is not God’s word but a word uttered by a human being who sold it as God’s word. These and similar deceits throughout history are the highest forms of the enslavement of human beings, the highest forms of insincerity, and the highest forms of disrespect to a benevolent human being. Skillful and often evil human beings act (enjoy acting), using a benevolent God as the means for malevolent human causes. Even if the reasons were benevolent and often based on ethics, the ends did not justify the means. To trade the souls of millions of people in this life, not in an afterlife, to accomplish either political goals or to provide grounds for easier rule, “ethics” and “legislature” are the best examples of evil will that can be best described as inspired by the “Devil” itself.”

“The omnipotent God, regardless of free will, would predict the Devil himself and save not the human race but himself from this possibility, which undermines his omnipotence. No Devil can exist as a creation of God unless intended by God. If God did not intend the Devil, then it either does not exist or is God himself. Nothing in the universe, even evil, can be ascribed to anything else except God. No Devil can accept the world’s sins, which are God’s sins. No Devil can sacrifice himself for the sins of the world or human beings, which are ultimately God’s sins. If the Devil would be offered, or serve as an excuse and scapegoat, for the world’s sins or human sins, which are, ultimately, God’s, then the Devil’s sacrifice would exceed in nobleness God’s benevolence and again prove that the Devil is a higher Being who must pay a higher price than God for the existence of all.”

“God is even what we hate in him. There is more goodness in the Devil than there could be evil in God. God and the Devil are the same. Both are words that describe the same thing. The act of creating is more devilish than anything else. Maybe the creation itself is the primordial sin for which we all pay the price. Maybe Eve did not commit the original sin but the Devil-God himself. Maybe God-Devil himself wanted the fruit of knowledge, the fruit of creation. Perhaps he challenged the absolute peace of the Absolute, the absolute peace of nothingness. Maybe the original sin stems from this provocation of the Absolute Being. Perhaps the absolute emptiness, the ultimate Garden of Eden, was disturbed by this interference, and God threw a challenge into the face of nothingness and the face of the Absolute. And maybe for this sin (God’s rebellion), the Absolute Father, the Absolute Being, had to expel God from the absolute garden of peace and Paradise into the Hell of Existence, the Hell of Life.”

“Who is the first rebel, the first warrior, the first sinner? Who disturbed the first and universal peace of the Absolute? God himself. Who pays the price of the original sin of God himself, not Adam’s sin? The world itself. The Devil is all we don’t recognize in ourselves. God is all we don’t understand. But what we don’t understand, we ascribe to the Devil. Evil is what we don’t recognize, and what we don’t recognize, we don’t understand. If God is the Creator, his only legitimate son is the World (Christ can only be a grandson, among myriad others in the Universe). But God and the World are the same. Since God is the World, through the World, God creates and recreates himself—the God-World.”

“Existence is the noblest task for the noblest being. There is no real existence without real life. Real life is impossible in absolute comfort and perfection. Absolute perfection and comfort in real life, or of real life, would undermine its value. The value of life is manifested, among other things, through the efforts of every single being in a universal scheme of things. Without effort and action, there would be no real beauty, and even if there were real beauty, this beauty would be less beautiful because we would take it for granted; it would be too easy and, therefore, less enjoyable.”

“The highest beauty is life itself. The measure of life is not suffering but existing. The purpose of existence is life. The measure of existing is not absolute comfort but absolute strife for absolute beauty, absolute perfection. The hardship of life, even innumerable suffering, is proof of life as it is and not as it should be, according to us. We can only dream of producing a more perfect existence, a more perfect life, a more perfect eye or jaw, but we are incapable of making life. In this sense, we are incapable of judging, in absolute terms, what good or bad design is, and we are incapable of escaping a given reality, which we may improve and approve of but in no way disprove.”

“Even if we create a better human eye (biologically), a better leg, a better heart, and a better jaw, this will prove nothing except our drive to continue and improve ourselves and live within the given frame. An idea of creation in terms of fundamental creation of what we see as the Universe (or anything in it) will always be beyond human reach. Whatever we create can only be the modification or mutation of whatever exists. We can explore our potential for novelty within scientific discoveries and arts and not in the realm of primordial original creation beyond human comprehension and reach.”

“The logical question would follow: Is the purpose of reality an illusion? Or: What would it be if it were not an illusion? Before answering these questions, we would have to define reality and illusion in the best possible way. What is reality? What is illusion? Why can reality not be an illusion to be reality? Would the world be better if everything was literal in an obvious sense? We have to understand that the significant part of reality is its mystery. When reality becomes too real or evident on every level, without mystery, reality loses its purpose and becomes, perhaps, worse than an illusion in our usual sense of the word.”

“We gradually arrive at the ethical question of better or worse, which must imply which reality is better or worse. Since this automatically becomes an ethical dilemma, it creates an aesthetic dilemma: Which reality is more beautiful? Or, must all reality, irrespective of all its potential and possible variations, unavoidably comply with or conform to some principle of beauty—the Law of Beauty—which must be the basis of harmony if reality inclines toward a comprehensible and intelligible form, order, and purpose.”

“Everything that exists is not aware of its existence. Still, everything that exists is a product of some kind of idea (information, thought). Thinking does not equate to the whole existence but only to the existence of the thinking beings. Nonetheless, non-thinking beings still exist. Lack of thinking does not equate to non-existence. All beings—thinking and non-thinking—exist.”

“The whole purpose of the Absolute is contained much more in the meaning of existence than in the existence itself, regardless of meaning. The meaning and purpose of existence is the experience of life. Therefore, we cannot apodictically state, as Schopenhauer, that the driving force of the whole Universe is the will (or energy) per any cost but rather the meaning. Not everything is aware of its existence and life, but it serves life as a whole.”

“Existence, devoid of meaning, is meaningless. Meaning is the ultimate goal of both Absolute and existence. However, meaning, although priceless, is not without a price. If the world had no “price,” it would have no meaning. We need some hardship to find meaning in anything. Even when we talk about beauty, we must “earn” it. Only nonexistence is unconditional. Life and existence are conditional and contingent.”

“Nonexistence equates with death in a way. But, for death, something must be born to be able to die. Non-existence excludes both birth and death. On the other hand, everything that does exist is programmed or destined to motion. Without some movement or growth through space and time, there is no actual existence, but rather the non-existence camouflaged in the robe of “non-existing” existence, which was only a dead existence at the same spot forever, without motion, without time, without birth or real death, which equates non-existence.”

“Existence is in constant motion and growth (regardless of progress or regress), moving through time and space (including entropy) with all its other attributes. Only something alive can contain and reflect these attributes. Existence, in and of itself, is life itself. The ability and capacity to think do not equate to the wholeness of life. Still, life itself equates to existence as a whole, including the existence of inorganic matter or something we are used to calling “dead matter.” Everything that exists, regardless of our conception of it and how it appears to us, is alive. Existence is life.”

“Beyond existence, there is no death, only non-existence or Non-Being. But without non-existence or Non-Being, the existence of the “material” world would not be possible, and consequently, life would not be possible. Non-existence, or Non-Being, is characterized by an equally important “power” in the existence of existence, or life, itself. (Nonbeing provides or secures the possibility of birth and death or the illusion of transformation.)”

“Does the word life reflect life itself as a whole or only an idea of what we think life is and not necessarily what it is? Our traditional thinking limited life to organic matter. Our idea about life is different in that we think everything that exists is alive and is life. Once the word life becomes rich enough to demonstrate and represent the wholeness of the Universe and not our original and narrow idea of organic matter, our idea of existence equating to life becomes more apparent. Thanks to this enrichment of the word life, we realize that our usual and traditional usage of the word life, in the strict and narrow sense, must have been partially wrong and limited. But, if the whole reality of existence, including inorganic matter, becomes life when we use the word life not only in the way we used it traditionally, then even something we call “dead” matter becomes alive. However, we did not treat or consider it as alive before.”

“Even if we proclaim that life equates to existence, the word life, irrespective of its correct and applicable meanings on various levels, is still insufficient to describe or relate to the totality of life. In the terminological sense, we must enrich the word life to mean or include the whole existence, irrespective of our inherited way of thinking. In this way, the new term of the same word, with an enriched meaning, would be rightly established.”

“The life of non-thinking beings does not equate to the existence of all. The sheer existence of anything is proof of its life; otherwise, it would not exist. Only non-existent is not alive. Life would not be possible if existence did not contain life in its totality. What is manifested as life, appearing to us as real life, is only the evolution or transformation of existence, which is already having a life. Our understanding and description of life do not equate with life itself but only with our definition and understanding.”

“The truth will always be what it is; the facts will always be what they are. Since we cannot change the truth or the facts, we can only change (improve) our minds, descriptions, and understanding. As long as we fight to preserve our truths and facts, provided they are not representations of the “absolute truth” and facts, we fight against the facts and the truth under the disguise of our definitions and proclamations sold as “real truths and facts.”

“Living by the highest possible standards means opening the doors of the highest truths through the possible means. To live by the sheer desire or “will to power” means to open the labyrinths of personal truths and thoughts that we camouflage as facts and truths themselves. Only the desire and will to goodness can be the model for obtaining the highest truths possible. In that way, the highest obtainable power comes not from the will to power but from the will to truth itself, representing the will to goodness and wisdom obtained in such a manner.”

“The power of real power would lead to the representation of goodness, obtained by deserved truth (ultimate wisdom). A deserved truth is the source of happiness (through wisdom) and the power without the representation of power in the way we are used to. Real power, as the representation of the truth, is “shy” because its purpose is not to impress, oppress, or enslave but to enliven, enrich, and empower life itself (which is the life of all and not only those who hold power).”

“Not all questions and problems are real and legitimate philosophical problems, and such sterile pursuits are not genuine and cannot be treated or accepted as genuine philosophical problems except to promote their proponents. We can equate extreme skepticism to parasitism because it questions and undermines that from which it gets its energy and life. Its own life is clear proof of this falsity and paradox.”

“Every serious endeavor and attempt to understand the world and reality better is philosophy, in a way, and any person pursuing such goals is a philosopher in his or her own right. On the other hand, not all who call themselves philosophers are real philosophers unless they seriously and genuinely resolve outstanding philosophical issues. To doubt for the sake of doubting is not only extreme skepticism but is also sterile.”

“Different conclusions to which Pierre Simon Laplace (Philosophical Essays on Probabilities [1814 ]) arrived stem from almost the same subject (the world) analyzed by Dennett. We must credit Laplace (which Dennett did) for thinking about the same problem two centuries ago without possibly being affected by the discoveries to which Dennett and other philosophers and scientists were exposed. However, we must emphasize that some other philosophers and scientists before Laplace treated the same subject, including Baron d’Holbach and Roger Boscovich (Ruđer Josip Bošković) in his Theory of Natural Philosophy . “Laplace’s Damon” (argument): “An intellect that at any given moment knew all the forces that animate Nature and the mutual positions of the beings that comprise it, if this intellect were vast enough to submit its data to analysis, would condense into a single formula the movement of the greatest bodies of the universe and that of the lightest atom; for such an intellect nothing could be uncertain; and the future, just like the past, would be present before its eyes.” — Pierre Simon Laplace, A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities There is nothing wrong with this argument since it is only hypothetical in terms of “An intellect which at any given moment knew all the forces that animate Nature …” This is not a positive or negative statement about determinism but only an intellectual proposition or question of what the case would be if there were such a “vast enough” intellect. Another question is if Laplace’s own belief or faith would lead him or not to such a conclusion. He only states that “an intellect which at any given moment knew all the forces that animate nature …” which is not proof that such an intellect exists or that he unconditionally believes in such an intellect. The mere intellectual proposition about an imagined intellect (not necessarily a real one) under the proposed conditions (not necessarily the real ones), we shall treat only as a hypothetical question or proposition or statement and not as an apparent belief (though there may be a clear belief behind it). Furthermore, this proposition doesn’t prove how it would undermine the compatibility between determinism and free will even if such an intellect existed. Laplace's conclusion under the proposed conditions is proper and must be true. But the question is not whether the conclusion itself is true if the argument, Laplace’s Damon (actually intelligence), does not represent (demonstrate) or prove the fact (truth) but only a possibility that this may be a fact (if such an intellect existed). We cannot say that this is a definition of determinism by Laplace but a possible vision (of a definition) of a universe under the proposed conditions.”

“To prove this to be a definition, not only of determinism but also of the actual world (Universe), to which goal Laplace aims, Laplace would have (or should have) offered “proof” of the actual state of the Universe. Since this was impossible, he defined a world under such “ideal” conditions through an example as a proposition. The question of whether the world, under such “ideal” conditions, would be ideal is highly debatable (we would dare to think that such a world would be not only far from perfect but on the verge of horror). From this argument, it follows that if such a world were not, in fact, ideal, then imagined or proposed “ideal conditions” would not be ideal either.”

“Determinism implicitly seeks perfection, but the idea of determinism pursuing perfection is the pursuit of its own perfection (rather than perfection outside itself). But we would first need to know what perfection and an ideal are. It would not matter much if, by analyzing this, we conclude that the ideal and the perfect are the same, in which case we would use these words and terms interchangeably. But the problem is how to define the basis (on which determinism is, and must be, largely based) of the whole universe if we do not understand exactly the meaning, or all possible meanings, of the terms perfect and ideal, not to mention our understanding or misunderstanding of the actual state of the Universe.”

“We must conclude that any proposition (definition) of abstract concepts (linguistically or philosophically) is not necessarily a proposition (definition) of that to which these concepts or propositions (definitions) ought to be applied. This kind of thinking, or definitions coming from such thinking, is inherently false. On the other hand, if the supposed or proposed argument reflected reality, it would be a definition of a fact and not a proposition (“definition”) of an imagined concept. Laplace didn’t show interest in proving that this is the actual reality or even stating it, so it must be that he either imagined his argument as a hypothesis or he believed that this example argument contains enough merits of itself to justify not only the argument but also the fact or truth itself. From our point of view and the idea of the Universal Mind as having a potential for infinite variety, we can conclude that even an “intellect” of a Universal Mind cannot predict and know all the varieties of its potential and the potential of all possible universes in infinity, which saves it from its own perfection while opening the door for infinite potential of the “free will.”

“Energy or matter, without being powered by the Ultimate Universal Force (Universal Mind), the source of everything, would not be able to finely tune itself irrespective of the potential for combinations and irrespective of its size (even if it were millions of times larger than our Universe). If it were not for the force beyond energy and matter (the Ultimate Immaterial Source of Everything) feeding, organizing, and fine-tuning it, energy and matter would be dead, without any life or force in them.”

“There is Something, the Being, and this Being cannot be denied empirically or theoretically and cannot be challenged by skepticism. It would also be hard to deny that the Being (Universe) may be God himself (Itself), theoretically or hypothetically. If, for a moment, we forget the idea of intelligent design or the idea of a benevolent God or any God as presented by religions, and even if we forget the idea of a God who creates the world (Creator-God), we can still think of a God who recreates himself in the form of the Universe.”

“What if God is here? What if God is the Universe? If we ask this question, it becomes clear that God is the subject and must be the subject of scientific inquiry equally, if not more, as of religious investigations, not to mention philosophical ones. Arguments about the existence or nonexistence of God should not be based only on assumptions and premises that God is something beyond the World, beyond the Universe. It is equally legitimate to consider the Universe, God-World, as the God himself (itself).”

“It is impossible that any (incredibly highly complex) universe would be, or can be, created by pure chance. If any chance is involved, then this is a chance of higher order and functioning under the ultimate laws of the Being. But this chance (as we understand the word chance and use it) is zero because “chance” gives a chance to the possibility (probability). The chance is the creation itself (the moment of creation) and is not random. Chance is responsible more for improbability than for securing probability because the driving force ("engine") of existence is not a chance; it is not evolution per se but the potential activated through evolution and not caused or created by evolution. Evolution manifests degrees of existing potential (Being, Absolute Mind). (This potential is the infinity of probabilities [which excludes improbability because if there were improbability, there would be no infinity].) We are all part of the paradoxical labyrinth (infinity) of the strange, mysterious being called the Absolute. Solving this biggest mystery of all helps us solve our own mystery of existence because the Absolute is one organism of which we are minuscule cells.”

“It is impossible that, by pure chance, the Universe would organize itself in any way (not to mention finely tuned) either in one Universe or a multiverse. Per a cosmological constant, as we see it, the Universe must contain the same potential everywhere, and this potential is not dependent on chance. Still, it is enriched by chance so that the infinite potential may work along with free will.”

“The so-called "organized complexity" should not be ascribed to God or the Universe but to the complexity of our understanding. These complexities are not complex per se but arise from our limited powers of comprehension and understanding. Not only is God (the Being) simple, but the Universe is also simple. Our idea of complexity and the complexity of our knowledge is not simple. Whatever we do not understand becomes complex but becomes simple once we understand it. The level of our understanding is not the measure of complexities but our abilities. Complexities are proportionate to our abilities: the bigger the abilities, the lesser the complexities.”

“Almost perfect precision and fine-tuning, containing laws and order on every level in the Universe, proves more simplicity than complexity. Simplicity is the safer way to order than anarchy, which is complex precisely for its lack of order. What is complex to us is not complex to God. Not only is God simple, but the world (Universe) is also simple in his mind (the world's mind at the same time), which is ours too. We may also say that God and the world are complex from our point of view and simple from God's point of view (which does not help much if we only try to argue for the sake of an argument and not for understanding).”

“The question, “Is God a necessary being?” can be reformulated to read: Is the Being a necessary being? If there is a Being and we know there is (the world), then it must be necessary; otherwise, it would not exist. Not only is the Being necessary, but it is also indestructible and eternal. If the Absolute Being were only necessary and not indestructible and eternal, it would not exist because necessity would not create it. If there is nothing, there is only nothing. In nothingness, there is no necessity out of which anything may come into the Being. If the Being is necessary, this necessity is always present as the Being itself.”

“The necessity of nothingness does not create anything. The real value and meaning of the Being are not in its necessity but in its very existence. If it did not exist, necessity would neither help nor create it. If the Being exists, and it does, it is pointless and redundant to insist on its necessity. The necessity of itself, without the Being, is nothing. The main point is if there is a Being, not if it is necessary. (What is) obvious need not be proved. Explanation of the Being and the creation or the existence of the world is not in its necessity but its existence. The Being is unborn and always existed regardless of being necessary or unnecessary.”

“The Unified Field (Theory) of Everything A force feeding all the “energy and matter” in the Universe, creating the unified field, is the Universal Mind (Universal Source). Michio Kaku said that “an equation an inch long would allow us to read the mind of God.” Clerk Maxwell created the first field theory (electromagnetism) in the mid-19th century. In the 20th century, Einstein’s general relativity theory, treating gravitation, was the second field theory. Einstein and some other scientists tried to create a theory where electromagnetism and gravity would be different aspects of the same field, but they failed. With quantum physics, things became even more complicated. Einstein tried to reconcile the theory of relativity and quantum theory with no success. The standard model theory describes electromagnetism and strong and weak nuclear force, yet gravitation stays out of the picture. I must reiterate that gravitation is not a force and cannot fit any equation. The “force” affecting all matter and energy, as described by the law of gravitation, is not the consequence of mass but of motion. The “force” of motion of larger masses is larger than the “force” of motion of smaller masses. The mass does not cause gravitation and is not the cause of attraction and curvature of space but motion. The Universal Mind in action is the Ultimate Unifying Force, the Universal Source of all information needed to create energy and matter, the laws of physics, and the Unified Field of Everything. The Primordial Immaterial Indestructible Energy is the Universal Source powering the Unified Field of Everything.”

“Onenness: Unity between the Universal Mind and the World The divided One is still the One. The undivided One is the One that sleeps. The modus operandi of the One is union in division and division in the union. There is no escape from the One. No division can damage the oneness or wholeness of the One. There is only one Organism. Although the Source is in the sphere of meta or transcendence, it is still the One with the World. Creation is not separate from the Creator. It is the Creator itself. Not only can the World be separated from the Creator and stay One simultaneously, but the World creates and powers the Creator in the opposite direction. The Source of Everything powers Everything, and Everything powers the Source. Without the Source, there is no World; without the World, there is no Source. The Purpose is the Source of the Source. The purpose is in the division and creation. The life of the Source is the World.”

“On the level below the strings, the smallest immaterial “particles” (“waves”) reach the "absolute speed." Based on this, the smallest and undetectable “particles” (“waves”) are everywhere, micro and macro, since they are fundamental and indivisible. They must be anywhere simultaneously at an almost absolute speed. Absolute speed is equal to no speed. That is the static state of absolute speed. In this way, the Universe is “static” on its “highest” “point” on a macro level and its lowest on a micro level. From this principle comes the unity of Everything. At the moment of “absolute speed,” energy or matter disappears.”