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Beyond the Closed Door: Unique Keys to Unlock Destinies

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Gift Gugu Mona

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“According to Plotinus (c. 204/5—270 CE), God is Intelligence or Mind (Nous), and the world is created out of God (ex deo) and not from nothing (ex nihilo). “The power of the One is to provide a foundation (arkhe) and location (topos) for all existents. The foundation provided by the One is intelligence. The location in which the cosmos takes objective shape and determinate, physical, form is the soul.” … “The being of intelligence is thought, and the thought of intelligence is Being.” … “No idea is different from intelligence but is itself intelligence.” Plotinus accepted the Stoic’s idea of logoi spermatikoi; for him, logoi spermatikoi is a bridge between the soul and the material.”

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“Thomas Aquinas (1225—1274) states that God is a simple being. Although God is eternal, a material world, Universe, is not eternal. For Aquinas, God’s existence is his essence, the basis of Divine simplicity. For anything else, there is a distinction between existence and essence. Aquinas defined his five arguments for the existence of God in his book Summa Theologica: 1. The First Way: Motion. (The argument from "first mover.") 2. The Second Way: Efficient Cause. (The argument from universal causation.) 3. The Third Way: Possibility and Necessity. (The argument from contingency). 4. The Fourth Way: Gradation. (The argument from degree.) 5. The Fifth Way: Design. (The argument from final cause or ends [Teleological argument].)”

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“Spinoza’s (1632—1677) Ethics starts with a clear framework, explanation, and definition of his terms. In that way, the philosophical inquiry becomes more accessible and precise for a reader or interpreter to understand and grasp. When Spinoza, in his definitions, uses the term substance, we understand that it is God. But when the term substance reappears under point III and then again under VI, which treats God, we must question why. For Spinoza, there is substance and substance. What is the difference between the substance under III and VI? We would say that, according to Spinoza, the ultimate, infinite substance is God, and everything formed is of the same substance. If that is the case, all substance is God or Nature. If all substance is God, then the question is, why separate substance from substance? Spinoza wanted to highlight the difference between the infinite substance of the ultimate Being, God, and the substance that makes Nature in all its forms. But nature, or anything in nature, is substance “which is in itself and is conceived through itself and does not need another “thing” to form it.” Nature is just a manifestation or mode of God or Substance. Substance (substantia) is not a new term and has been used since Aristotle, if not earlier. Perhaps the substance is interchangeable with terms like arche, aether …. fifth element, proton archon (first principle), Plotinus’ Divine mind (nous), or intelligence. Here are Spinoza’s definitions: Of God DEFINITIONS I. By cause of itself I understand that whose essence involves existence, or that whose nature cannot be conceived unless existing. II. That thing is called finite in its own kind (in suo genere) which can be limited by another thing of the same nature. For example, a body is called finite because we always conceive another which is greater. So a thought is limited by another thought; but a body is not limited by a thought, nor a thought by a body. III. By substance I understand that which is in itself and is conceived through itself; in other words, that the conception of which does not need, the conception of another thing from which it must be formed. IV. By attribute I understand that which the intellect perceives of substance as constituting its essence. V. By mode I understand the modifications of substance, or that which is in another thing through which also it is conceived. VI. By God I understand Being absolutely infinite, that is to say, substance consisting of infinite attributes, each one of which expresses eternal and infinite essence.”

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“We must reevaluate and enrich the idea of God to encompass all inquiries, including scientific and philosophical, to fit reality and the truth instead of serving our more or less sophisticated but still poor or poorly presented and imposed ideas. This enriched idea of God is not only the ultimate goal but an ultimate reality we shall strive to understand fully or get closer to.”

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“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.”

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“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?”

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“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?”

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“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.”

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