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What do humans have most in common with a deity?

amorphous_constellation

Well-Known Member
I guess I always that that if there was a higher power, the thing we have most in common with it has to be something to do with how we think. Here is a rough list of things that might relate the human mind to the god mind

One - I would say that of the processes that go on in our head, human perception is probably the dimmest thing about us, and that god can perceive everything a lot better than us. However, we do get a foundational representation of everything, at least

Two - Our ability to create things, via the body, the hands in particular, is weak. However, it can be extremely novel, in comparison to what other beings do. Arguably, we create a lot more novel content than god is willing to create, as seems to prefer allowing scientific processes to carve most matter into different shapes for it

Three - I think we might be closest to god in our ability to have simple linear thoughts, and we might be no different than it in that regard. We do not have tons of data to think about, as the brain can only hold so much. However, there is something about thought itself that is irreducible, no matter if you are god, or a man. No matter if you only know a small amount about a subject (like a human would), or if you can 'remember' the future (like I suppose god can)

Add to this list if you wish. Or react in disgust, whatever you want
 

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
Well there might be something 'divine' in the ability to think, because the simple ability to do it is a magnitude less restrained than physical matter experiences. Though obviously, it is limitations in our case

Well there might be something 'divine' in the ability to commit suicide, because the simple ability to jump off a cliff is a magnitude less restrained than physical effort required to climb up the hill.
 

amorphous_constellation

Well-Known Member
Well there might be something 'divine' in the ability to commit suicide, because the simple ability to jump off a cliff is a magnitude less restrained than physical effort required to climb up the hill.
maybe divine is not the word I was looking for, perhaps I would say that we are freer in our ability to have a thought, than we are to produce a tangible action with the human body. I can think of a peach for half a minute, and then think of the martian landscape for the reminder of that minute, and the switch that I make is instantaneous, unlike anything else in the world. I cannot build a car in 30 seconds, and then climb a mountain in the next 30 seconds.

The body is weak, per your example. It cannot do what the mind can, for if the ability of the body was more equivalent to that of the mind, it would have no trouble climbing a mountain in 30 seconds. Because it would have the 'bandwidth' of the mind. But it does not seem to
 

amorphous_constellation

Well-Known Member
Everlasting life, wisdom and a body.
Perhaps it is possible that life and wisdom require some kind of a body, but I don't think that wisdom is a given. Perhaps 'thought' is a given, but it seems that it is not intrinsically organized. It needs to be organized, perhaps in perpetuity. Or at least it takes effort to organize it sufficiently
 

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
maybe divine is not the word I was looking for, perhaps I would say that we are freer in our ability to have a thought, than we are to produce a tangible action with the human body.

And most of us can pee with less effort than we use to solve a quadratic equation.

And absolutely none of this has anything to do with deity.
 

amorphous_constellation

Well-Known Member
And most of us can pee with less effort than we use to solve a quadratic equation.

And absolutely none of this has anything to do with deity.
The comparison is that of an almost autonomic response (I think) compared to something you can do in your head, if you probably studied it long enough. Free abstraction seems obviously (perhaps) to be the workshop foundation of deity. But the body seems like a form of training for humans, who have limits on their thought-power, and willpower (perhaps these are two somewhat separate, but related things)
 
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