This'll be a pretty straightforward post. Or at least, that's the intent going in.
Bit of a challenging week up ahead in that there's a lot to get done in not a whole heckuva lot of time. [score one for using "heckuva" in the post] I'm sure I'll manage as any number of my friends have pointed out, but it also is just annoying in the here and now, and I'd rather be on the other side of this week when it's all over and done with.
Looking forward to summer break. It's looking increasingly likely I'll just buy myself a PS3 anyway, regardless of whether my bank account is up or down the requisite $400. Oh well, hopefully the price will come down by this summer. [Doubt it.]
Spinoza tells us that all of the universe is in God. And that God is a timeless entity, and everything we think we are, we sort've still are, but fundamentally, we are all just modes, or modifications, temporally and spatially of God. [Should've put a disclaimer, leaving straightforward territory]
I care about this line of reasoning twofold. First, because I find it inherently interesting. And second because I have to write a paper on it due Friday.
But back to the metaphysical point at hand, I guess I'm not sure what it changes to define God as the only substance in the universe and all other things as modes therein. I think it just kind of pushes back the questions. I mean, okay, I don't tend to think of myself as merely an expression of God, a way of God's existing, but whether I call myself a mode or a substance, there are still other questions I want to know about what I am.
And, unfortunately for Spinoza, he didn't get to live in the world of 21st century physics. Sometimes substances do seem to come from nothing. Matter and anti-matter splitting apart for no good reason, and by all accounts, before they split apart, they don't exist. At least, that's how I understand it. I should do more research if I'm going to put that in the paper. At any rate, there's always the big bang. This universe hasn't just always existed.
So, we'll see where that goes.
Closing thoughts: Beds are warm in the morning. Outside is not. God is as mysterious as ever. I am not.
