Space?

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I regard everything as “Things.” I try not to pour anything more into “Things” than is needed to make their reality somatic and understandable to me. Smarter men and women than I have divided Things up into genera and species, as each Thing more or less resembles other Things. One of the speciators, as it were, is the relationship between Things consisting of greater or lesser density.

To my way of thinking, Space is merely a Thing. It is postulated that there is no place in Space where there is nothing, i.e. an absolute vacuum (as we conceive it). Even in the farthest reaches of it, scientists indicate that other Things (more or less) are passing through almost every square inch of Space. In the least dense areas of it, it may be a singular photon, speeding through on its way somewhere, and certain fields (e.g., gravity) exist in it.

So, for me Space is that Thing that is the least dense of everything we conceive of as Things. Other Things of greater, equal, or lesser density are able to pass through it with more or less ease (even though they might be slowed down because of friction). E.g., a bullet easily passes into and through a human body. The primary component of the bullet which is lead, is denser than skin and other human tissue, and so passes into and through it until it slows perhaps to some indistinct stop.

The MOHS scale ranks many types of Things as to their hardness, which is a reflection of each’s density, to some degree, as well as how the primary components of it adhere to one another. A stainless steel bullet will pass through lead (until ultimately slowed by friction).

Things hold together by natural processes we understand to be “hooks” of various kinds: electro-magnetic forces, the inexorable pull of opposite charges, laminin hooks, things swimming in simple solutions, the mere affinities of things within a spatial manifold, and so forth. But, what I’ve been thinking about is this: at what point do we reach that level of matter where absolute, i.e., perfect, Space exists? Is absolute Space akin to spiritual matter? Certainly spiritual matter can pass through any kind of matter we can think of, no matter the thickness. And, every species of matter, or any conceived alloy of it, no matter how hard or how dense, i.e., diamond (at “10” on the MOHS scale) or 18:10 (or greater?) stainless steel (virtually incorruptible), has Space within it.

The question I have is, “Is this the ‘limit?’ Is there not yet one more (or more) level(s) of vacuum-perfection, or thing-perfection, that we know and have named, “Spirit?”

All of this is simple enough – almost grade school stuff. Pure Space is postulated into possibility because we are capable of envisioning it within an enclosure. I can, for example, envision myself traveling out into space with a fish tank and an extra piece of glass for a top. I can don a spacesuit, take the fish tank outside of the machine that got me there, then seal up the fish tank by putting the lid on it and sealing it to the other four, glass walls. We can’t see it, but, we know Space is there. It can only be made less perfect by allowing a leak. In the meantime, it co-exists with atmosphere almost in the same way that it co-exists with our atmosphere.

So, how can we be so sure that there are no such things as spirits or souls? How can we be so sure that there is no ultimate spirit, which we call “God?” I witness posters herein always requiring material proof. In the absence of such, they conclude that there are no souls, nor any spiritual posibility of a being known to us as God. There is no stretch to spiritual stuff from the postulated reality of a pure vacuum, or from the postulated reality of even less perfect vacuums.

Now, it looks as though all Things tend towards greater and greater entropy – until, ultimately, there can be places where no photons or any other quantum and even sub-quantum stuff exists. Of course, there are those places already: they exist in between: in between physical and material stuff, in between protons and neutrons, in between electrons and nuclei. They are there and we know they are there. We perceive no interaction with matter or the physical - that we know of - in the sense that we expect to have from our scientific understandings.

How is this wrong?

jd
 
If persons are not things they are not subject to entropy… 🙂
Tony:

With that exception. 😊

Although their discarded bodies might. Then, knowing each of our Forms as precisely as only He can, He restores our bodies to us by the power of His Will.

God bless,
jd
 
But, what I’ve been thinking about is this: at what point do we reach that level of matter where absolute, i.e., perfect, Space exists? Is absolute Space akin to spiritual matter? Certainly spiritual matter can pass through any kind of matter we can think of, no matter the thickness. And, every species of matter, or any conceived alloy of it, no matter how hard or how dense, i.e., diamond (at “10” on the MOHS scale) or 18:10 (or greater?) stainless steel (virtually incorruptible), has Space within it.

All of this is simple enough – almost grade school stuff. Pure Space is postulated into possibility because we are capable of envisioning it within an enclosure. I can, for example, envision myself traveling out into space with a fish tank and an extra piece of glass for a top. I can don a spacesuit, take the fish tank outside of the machine that got me there, then seal up the fish tank by putting the lid on it and sealing it to the other four, glass walls. We can’t see it, but, we know Space is there. It can only be made less perfect by allowing a leak. In the meantime, it co-exists with atmosphere almost in the same way that it co-exists with our atmosphere.

So, how can we be so sure that there are no such things as spirits or souls? How can we be so sure that there is no ultimate spirit, which we call “God?” I witness posters herein always requiring material proof. In the absence of such, they conclude that there are no souls, nor any spiritual posibility of a being known to us as God. There is no stretch to spiritual stuff from the postulated reality of a pure vacuum, or from the postulated reality of even less perfect vacuums.

Now, it looks as though all Things tend towards greater and greater entropy – until, ultimately, there can be places where no photons or any other quantum and even sub-quantum stuff exists. Of course, there are those places already: they exist in between: in between physical and material stuff, in between protons and neutrons, in between electrons and nuclei. They are there and we know they are there. We perceive no interaction with matter or the physical - that we know of - in the sense that we expect to have from our scientific understandings.

How is this wrong?

jd
 
But, what I’ve been thinking about is this: at what point do we reach that level of matter where absolute, i.e., perfect, Space exists? Is absolute Space akin to spiritual matter? Certainly spiritual matter can pass through any kind of matter we can think of, no matter the thickness. And, every species of matter, or any conceived alloy of it, no matter how hard or how dense, i.e., diamond (at “10” on the MOHS scale) or 18:10 (or greater?) stainless steel (virtually incorruptible), has Space within it.

The question I have is, “Is this the ‘limit?’ Is there not yet one more (or more) level(s) of vacuum-perfection, or thing-perfection, that we know and have named, “Spirit?”

Now, it looks as though all Things tend towards greater and greater entropy – until, ultimately, there can be places where no photons or any other quantum and even sub-quantum stuff exists. Of course, there are those places already: they exist in between: in between physical and material stuff, in between protons and neutrons, in between electrons and nuclei. They are there and we know they are there. We perceive no interaction with matter or the physical - that we know of - in the sense that we expect to have from our scientific understandings.

How is this wrong?

jd
JD
Let me respond to these excerpts from your OP.

You are not only not wrong, but if I interpret your meaning correctly, you are absolutely correct.

The space that permeates the “empty” places (in between physical and material stuff, in between protons and neutrons, in between electrons and nuclei) is the spiritual component of reality. Teilhard called such “space” the “within” of things — as opposed to the “without” of things, the stuff we observe (or experience) as matter and energy.

I once attempted to describe how this duality can be explained in a reasonable way in my one and only thread, “God exists, but how?” (now on page 35). My approach is to postulate that actuality consists of two kinds of space: continuous and discrete. I argue that all matter (fermions) and all forces (bosons) are nothing more than configurations of “discrete” space that are immersed in and permeated by continuous space. Thus discrete space becomes the substance that forms objective reality and continuous space is the spiritual substance in which it is immersed. This duality can be explained mathematically based on Cantor’s set theory of transfinite numbers.

It is argued that matter is nothing but space when we consider that the atom is made up of electrons (“point” particles) and a nucleus; the nucleus consists of protons and neutrons; and protons and neutrons are made up of quarks, which are also “point particles”. Consequently, matter is made up of nothing but “points”.

I envision the universe as a single whole configuration of discrete points that define what we call objective reality immersed in a background of continuous space of infinite extent, a spiritual substance, the Mind of God.

Let me know if you’re interested in pursuing these ideas further?

YPPOP
 
JD
Let me respond to these excerpts from your OP.

You are not only not wrong, but if I interpret your meaning correctly, you are absolutely correct.

The space that permeates the “empty” places (in between physical and material stuff, in between protons and neutrons, in between electrons and nuclei) is the spiritual component of reality. Teilhard called such “space” the “within” of things — as opposed to the “without” of things, the stuff we observe (or experience) as matter and energy.

I once attempted to describe how this duality can be explained in a reasonable way in my one and only thread, “God exists, but how?” (now on page 35). My approach is to postulate that actuality consists of two kinds of space: continuous and discrete. I argue that all matter (fermions) and all forces (bosons) are nothing more than configurations of “discrete” space that are immersed in and permeated by continuous space. Thus discrete space becomes the substance that forms objective reality and continuous space is the spiritual substance in which it is immersed. This duality can be explained mathematically based on Cantor’s set theory of transfinite numbers.

It is argued that matter is nothing but space when we consider that the atom is made up of electrons (“point” particles) and a nucleus; the nucleus consists of protons and neutrons; and protons and neutrons are made up of quarks, which are also “point particles”. Consequently, matter is made up of nothing but “points”.

I envision the universe as a single whole configuration of discrete points that define what we call objective reality immersed in a background of continuous space of infinite extent, a spiritual substance, the Mind of God.

Let me know if you’re interested in pursuing these ideas further?

YPPOP
Thank you for that (name removed by moderator)ut YPPOP. And, yes, I would absolutely love to pursue these ideas! But, I must warn you: you are far advanced from me on this subject. :o

I know that you have been doing an enormous amount of research in this area, so I am glad that you found this thread. I’ll do the best I can to keep up with you, so please start this, as I don’t know where to begin.

God bless,
jd
 
Thank you for that (name removed by moderator)ut YPPOP. And, yes, I would absolutely love to pursue these ideas! But, I must warn you: you are far advanced from me on this subject. :o

I know that you have been doing an enormous amount of research in this area, so I am glad that you found this thread. I’ll do the best I can to keep up with you, so please start this, as I don’t know where to begin.

God bless,
jd
JD,
Thank you for your response, I am willing to discuss my thesis for as long as you like. It is quite extensive, but I believe perfectly understandable to someone of your intellect.

Let me begin the discussion with this rationalization: philosophically we can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God and since this is a philosophical forum, I choose to build my thesis on the axiom; “God Exists”. The resulting thesis describes one possible and plausible model of how God designed reality at the ground level. I describe a mechanism that operates at the ground of reality that is manifested as the observations and laws of physics at the level we experience.

The thesis is based on the contention that we “exist” at four levels of reality: objective, subjective, rational, and transcendental. This contention is important to my thesis so if you have questions concerning my view of multiple levels of existence, I would be happy to go into more detail. If you are comfortable with what I wrote and you want to continue to discuss my thesis; or if you would like a broader picture of what my thesis contains, let me know.

With your agreement, I will begin an explanation of how I think God is present in all four levels of reality.

Have a pious All Souls day! And Saints day too!

Yppop
 
I regard everything as “Things.” I try not to pour anything more into “Things” than is needed to make their reality somatic and understandable to me. Smarter men and women than I have divided Things up into genera and species, as each Thing more or less resembles other Things. One of the speciators, as it were, is the relationship between Things consisting of greater or lesser density.

To my way of thinking, Space is merely a Thing. It is postulated that there is no place in Space where there is nothing, i.e. an absolute vacuum (as we conceive it). Even in the farthest reaches of it, scientists indicate that other Things (more or less) are passing through almost every square inch of Space. In the least dense areas of it, it may be a singular photon, speeding through on its way somewhere, and certain fields (e.g., gravity) exist in it.

So, for me Space is that Thing that is the least dense of everything we conceive of as Things. Other Things of greater, equal, or lesser density are able to pass through it with more or less ease (even though they might be slowed down because of friction). E.g., a bullet easily passes into and through a human body. The primary component of the bullet which is lead, is denser than skin and other human tissue, and so passes into and through it until it slows perhaps to some indistinct stop.

The MOHS scale ranks many types of Things as to their hardness, which is a reflection of each’s density, to some degree, as well as how the primary components of it adhere to one another. A stainless steel bullet will pass through lead (until ultimately slowed by friction).

Things hold together by natural processes we understand to be “hooks” of various kinds: electro-magnetic forces, the inexorable pull of opposite charges, laminin hooks, things swimming in simple solutions, the mere affinities of things within a spatial manifold, and so forth. But, what I’ve been thinking about is this: at what point do we reach that level of matter where absolute, i.e., perfect, Space exists? Is absolute Space akin to spiritual matter? Certainly spiritual matter can pass through any kind of matter we can think of, no matter the thickness. And, every species of matter, or any conceived alloy of it, no matter how hard or how dense, i.e., diamond (at “10” on the MOHS scale) or 18:10 (or greater?) stainless steel (virtually incorruptible), has Space within it.

The question I have is, “Is this the ‘limit?’ Is there not yet one more (or more) level(s) of vacuum-perfection, or thing-perfection, that we know and have named, “Spirit?”

All of this is simple enough – almost grade school stuff. Pure Space is postulated into possibility because we are capable of envisioning it within an enclosure. I can, for example, envision myself traveling out into space with a fish tank and an extra piece of glass for a top. I can don a spacesuit, take the fish tank outside of the machine that got me there, then seal up the fish tank by putting the lid on it and sealing it to the other four, glass walls. We can’t see it, but, we know Space is there. It can only be made less perfect by allowing a leak. In the meantime, it co-exists with atmosphere almost in the same way that it co-exists with our atmosphere.

So, how can we be so sure that there are no such things as spirits or souls? How can we be so sure that there is no ultimate spirit, which we call “God?” I witness posters herein always requiring material proof. In the absence of such, they conclude that there are no souls, nor any spiritual posibility of a being known to us as God. There is no stretch to spiritual stuff from the postulated reality of a pure vacuum, or from the postulated reality of even less perfect vacuums.

Now, it looks as though all Things tend towards greater and greater entropy – until, ultimately, there can be places where no photons or any other quantum and even sub-quantum stuff exists. Of course, there are those places already: they exist in between: in between physical and material stuff, in between protons and neutrons, in between electrons and nuclei. They are there and we know they are there. We perceive no interaction with matter or the physical - that we know of - in the sense that we expect to have from our scientific understandings.

How is this wrong?

jd
Can I start with the bolded before going on?

Your question is
how can we be so sure that there are no such things as spirits or souls

My question is who is sure?

There is a difference between possiblility and probability.

There is also a difference between sure and certain.
 
JD,
Thank you for your response, I am willing to discuss my thesis for as long as you like. It is quite extensive, but I believe perfectly understandable to someone of your intellect.

Let me begin the discussion with this rationalization: philosophically we can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God and since this is a philosophical forum, I choose to build my thesis on the axiom; “God Exists”. The resulting thesis describes one possible and plausible model of how God designed reality at the ground level. I describe a mechanism that operates at the ground of reality that is manifested as the observations and laws of physics at the level we experience.

The thesis is based on the contention that we “exist” at four levels of reality: objective, subjective, rational, and transcendental. This contention is important to my thesis so if you have questions concerning my view of multiple levels of existence, I would be happy to go into more detail. If you are comfortable with what I wrote and you want to continue to discuss my thesis; or if you would like a broader picture of what my thesis contains, let me know.

With your agreement, I will begin an explanation of how I think God is present in all four levels of reality.

Have a pious All Souls day! And Saints day too!

Yppop
Yppop:

Strangely enough, you haven’t lost me yet! Let’s continue.

I only have one question at this juncture: if you found a compelling philosophical proof for God’s existence, would you change any of your methodology?

God bless,
jd
 
Yppop:

Strangely enough, you haven’t lost me yet! Let’s continue.

I only have one question at this juncture: if you found a compelling philosophical proof for God’s existence, would you change any of your methodology?

God bless,
jd
When the methodology starts off with a conclusion…why change it unless you are a scientist who welcomes critics.
 
Can I start with the bolded before going on?
Absolutely!
Your question is
how can we be so sure that there are no such things as spirits or souls
My question is who is sure?
Well, that’s a good point. I guess that I would have to point to some on these fora, and to many on the outside, who shall remain nameless.
There is a difference between possibility and probability.
There is also a difference between sure and certain.
Another good point.

God bless,
jd
 
When the methodology starts off with a conclusion…why change it unless you are a scientist who welcomes critics.
Well, the methodology might be compelling to him, but not to others. So, in that sense he may want to act just like a scientist. I’m guessing Yppop’s is a cosmology, not just a philosophical proof.

jd
 
Absolutely!

Well, that’s a good point. I guess that I would have to point to some on these fora, and to many on the outside, who shall remain nameless.

Another good point.

God bless,
jd
Peace to you my friend
 
Well, the methodology might be compelling to him, but not to others. So, in that sense he may want to act just like a scientist. I’m guessing Yppop’s is a cosmology, not just a philosophical proof.

jd
Everyone is a scientist at heart in a way.

Cosmology is fascinating.

I look forward to more insight from this thread on the topic.
 
Yppop:

Strangely enough, you haven’t lost me yet! Let’s continue.

I only have one question at this juncture: if you found a compelling philosophical proof for God’s existence, would you change any of your methodology?

God bless,
jd
Since I am assuming the existence of God as my starting point, a compelling proof of God would not change anything unless the proof included an explanation of HOW God is involved with our reality that disagreed with my thesis. Then I would discard my thesis and revert to faith alone for in spite of my compellig need to rationalize, I find people of faith, pure and unbridled faith such as my wife’s, superior to anything that I could rationalize.

Anway until such a proof comes along lets have some fun and lets rationalze some more.

Before I address objective reality let me first explain a bit more about my approach to an explanation of reality.

I believe in God; I also believe in science. However, because of its self-restriction to that which can be observed, science is only a partial description (not an explanation) of reality. Because of this self imposed restriction, science can only deal with objective reality. The best science can do with subjective reality is to describe qualia as an emergent property of the neuronal networks of the brain. This, at best, is a hand-waving argument. Scientists generally ignore rational (except for their use of mathematics) and transcendental reality. However, in terms of achievement of goals, science is the most successful enterprise in the history of man. This gives science the self-assured power to pontificate about the truth. My strategy in avoiding conflict with science is to argue that what science describes is at an explicate level while God creates at the implicate level.

I use the word ‘implicate’ in its original meaning of “to enfold”, the connotation of which when applied to reality means that the universe exists as a single interconnected “whole” and as such implies a single comprehensive mechanism that actualizes possibilities.

I use the word ‘explicate’ in its original meaning of “to unfold”, the connotation of which when applied to reality means that the universe is a collection of loosely related entities and as a result is described by a variety of unrelated hypotheses, theories and laws that as a body of knowledge is called science.

Being grounded at the implicate level, my thesis will attempt to explain objective and also subjective, rational, and transcendental reality in 'physical" terms. By physical I mean anything related to the four elements of objective reality: space and matter (the static elements) and time and energy (the dynamic elements)

Please feel free to ask for a more detailed explanation of anything I’ve written.
Thank you for your interest.
Yppop
 
Since I am assuming the existence of God as my starting point, a compelling proof of God would not change anything unless the proof included an explanation of HOW God is involved with our reality that disagreed with my thesis. Then I would discard my thesis and revert to faith alone for in spite of my compellig need to rationalize, I find people of faith, pure and unbridled faith such as my wife’s, superior to anything that I could rationalize.

Anway until such a proof comes along lets have some fun and lets rationalze some more.

Before I address objective reality let me first explain a bit more about my approach to an explanation of reality.

I believe in God; I also believe in science. However, because of its self-restriction to that which can be observed, science is only a partial description (not an explanation) of reality. Because of this self imposed restriction, science can only deal with objective reality. The best science can do with subjective reality is to describe qualia as an emergent property of the neuronal networks of the brain. This, at best, is a hand-waving argument. Scientists generally ignore rational (except for their use of mathematics) and transcendental reality. However, in terms of achievement of goals, science is the most successful enterprise in the history of man. This gives science the self-assured power to pontificate about the truth. My strategy in avoiding conflict with science is to argue that what science describes is at an explicate level while God creates at the implicate level.

I use the word ‘implicate’ in its original meaning of “to enfold”, the connotation of which when applied to reality means that the universe exists as a single interconnected “whole” and as such implies a single comprehensive mechanism that actualizes possibilities.

I use the word ‘explicate’ in its original meaning of “to unfold”, the connotation of which when applied to reality means that the universe is a collection of loosely related entities and as a result is described by a variety of unrelated hypotheses, theories and laws that as a body of knowledge is called science.

Being grounded at the implicate level, my thesis will attempt to explain objective and also subjective, rational, and transcendental reality in 'physical" terms. By physical I mean anything related to the four elements of objective reality: space and matter (the static elements) and time and energy (the dynamic elements)

Please feel free to ask for a more detailed explanation of anything I’ve written.
Thank you for your interest.
Yppop
Thus far, you are making very good sense. No questions at this point.

jd
 
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