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Meant to Be - On the creation and its completion
Why do I exist? Where do I come from? What is the path which links 'nothing' with 'being'?
This book explores the path which leads from nothingness into existence. It is the route the universe has followed in its long genesis. It is also the road each human being traverses within his own limited existence because living is a creative process.
Where do all these roads lead up to? And where do they come from? Bodifee searches for the origin of existence in order to find the goal.
The book has three parts. The first deals with the problem of the legitimacy of human existence. On the one hand there is a sense of guilt, as expressed by Anaximander, Schopenhauer and some modern ecologists, on the other hand there is the answer by Plato and christian theologists that 'being' is identical with 'goodness'. Human being is a transient and finite being, hence it participates in goodness and knows evil because of its limitations. The consequence of this understanding is that man should expand 'being' by acting morally.
The second part of the book is about creation, the origin of everything that exists, as conceived by modern science and by ancient myths. This includes a study of some general principles of creativity, and of the phenomenon of time, the dimension in which creative processes occur.
The last part deals with the relation between time and eternity. As argued, time is a manifestation of the partial character of being. Hence creative processes gradually eliminate time from being. The fullness of existence is the eternal reality to which the word God refers. It is in this timeless existence that the ultimate destiny of man and of all beings is to be found.
This book explores the path which leads from nothingness into existence. It is the route the universe has followed in its long genesis. It is also the road each human being traverses within his own limited existence because living is a creative process.
Where do all these roads lead up to? And where do they come from? Bodifee searches for the origin of existence in order to find the goal.
The book has three parts. The first deals with the problem of the legitimacy of human existence. On the one hand there is a sense of guilt, as expressed by Anaximander, Schopenhauer and some modern ecologists, on the other hand there is the answer by Plato and christian theologists that 'being' is identical with 'goodness'. Human being is a transient and finite being, hence it participates in goodness and knows evil because of its limitations. The consequence of this understanding is that man should expand 'being' by acting morally.
The second part of the book is about creation, the origin of everything that exists, as conceived by modern science and by ancient myths. This includes a study of some general principles of creativity, and of the phenomenon of time, the dimension in which creative processes occur.
The last part deals with the relation between time and eternity. As argued, time is a manifestation of the partial character of being. Hence creative processes gradually eliminate time from being. The fullness of existence is the eternal reality to which the word God refers. It is in this timeless existence that the ultimate destiny of man and of all beings is to be found.
303 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 4, 2012
2 people want to read
About the author
Gerard Bodifée
29 books10 followersGERARD BODIFEE (Mortsel, 1946) is astrofysicus en redacteur wetenschappen bij De Standaard. Hij publiceerde reeds verschillende opgemerkte essays.
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