[Here, we can pause and savor the artistry of embalming Hugo Chavez, I am the Change, and placing him in a glass coffin for all to worship.

Here is the counter example to God’s creation. The spontaneous orders of Venezuelan Society were reduced by a sovereign^infra Public Cult into perverts worshipping a plastic corpse in a glass coffin.

Preservation and poverty are the signs of a dying spontaneous order.

Consider the Inca civilization, which the Chavez Cult unwittingly imitates.

Their empire was structured as the domains of kings who had conquered territory.  Each conquered territory belonged to the conquering king (even though that king may have died).  Each royal generation expanded the empire’s territory in order to support its own court, while the earlier courts continued to rule their respective lands, with the embalmed king still on his throne.]

Summary of text [comment] page 44

[From de Chardin’s perspective, “slipping back into complex forms, simple elements and Nothingness” must be part and parcel with “emerging from complex forms, simple elements and Nothingness”.

If God stopped the process, He would violate the integrity of His Creation.  Preservation (of one possibility, at the expense of all other possibilities) cannot occur in the realm of actuality, unless that realm is fixed, frozen, or embalmed.]

[Let me state the previous blog another way:  Natural evil gives rise to a situation that shows that the normal context is no longer capable.  The actualities have limitations.

On the lowest level, the membranes₃ are no longer capable.  Death is the situation that membranes cannot contain.

On the middle level, arranging, … groping₃, desists. Illness challenges the cell’s ability to handle its own metabolism.

On the highest level, the cell₃ is no longer viable.  Distress challenges the integrity of the cell.

Each nested form has its own limitations (evil^metaphysical) that are breached when challenged by (evil^physical).]

Summary of text [comment] page 44

[Now, let us explore natural evil (what Schoonenberg calls “physical evil”) in terms of these interscoping nested forms, starting with the example of the cell.

On the lowest level, when inside versus outside₂ slips into Nothingness₁: death.

On the middle level, when metabolic pathways₂ slip into biological constituents₁: illness.

On the higher level, when homeostasis₂ slips into the loss of coordination among organelles and receptors₁: distress (or “cellular pain”).

This implies that natural evil corresponds to a spontaneous order slipping back into whatever it emerges from.  The actuality is somehow challenged or compromised. The normal context cannot hold.]

Summary of text [comment] page 44

[Now, I consider this interscoping nestedness on a very tiny scale.

Let me consider a eukaryotic cell as an example.

The cell itself is a unity:

Cell₃(homeostasis as ecology₂(organelles and receptors₁))

Arranging, … groping₃(metabolic pathways as internal environment₂(biochemical constituents₁))

Membranes bending in order to define₃(inside versus outside₂(Nothingness₁))

Two points should be noted.

The interscoping nested forms may fit into the adjacent higher level in more than one way.

The lower form may fit into either actuality or possibility of the adjacent higher form.

The lower form may contribute to actuality when it is “taken for granted’ by the higher nested form.

The lower form may contribute to possibility when its potential is exploited in the adjacent higher nested form.

Interscoping nested forms may branch.

The interscoping nested forms are not fixed in terms of graininess of detail.  They may accordion in and out to lesser or greater detail.]

Summary of text [comment] page 44

[OK, de Chardin has been vaporized and condensed into interscoping nested forms.

Unification₃(ecology₂(complex forms₁))

Arranging, … groping₃(environment₂(multitude of elements₁))

God bending in order to create₃(creatio ex nihil₂(Nothingness₁))

How do they fit one another?

To me, it seems that the entire lower nested form fits neatly into the firstness of the adjacent higher level.

I also suspect that these nested forms could fold in or out like a telescope, thus encompassing different scales.]

Summary of text [comment] page 44

Image

Unification₃(ecology₂(complex forms₁))

Arranging, … groping₃(environment₂(multitude of elements₁))

God bending in order to create₃(creatio ex nihil₂(Nothingness₁))

Summary of text [comment] page 44

OK, done. Schoonenberg’s quote of de Chardin has been fit into nested forms:

God bends Nothingness in order to create.  The very structure of Nothingness means that God can proceed in only one fashion: arranging; unifying little by little, under the attraction of His influence; groping with the interplay of great numbers, a multitude of elements, immense, effectively infinite in number, simple and hardly conscious; eventually yielding more complex forms, arriving at forms capable of reflection.

[The next blog will have a picture.  Suffice to say, the nested forms do not intersect.  They are hierarchical in a mystical sort of way.  I call this way: “interscoping”.]

Summary of text [comment] page 44

OK, we are a little deeper, but I am not finished with the quote.  The italicized portions have already been fit into the prior nested forms:

God bends Nothingness in order to create.  The very structure of Nothingness means that God can proceed in only one fashion: arranging; unifying little by little, under the attraction of His influence; groping with the interplay of great numbers, a multitude of elements, immense, effectively infinite in number, simple and hardly conscious; eventually yielding more complex forms, arriving at forms capable of reflection.

[The normal context of the next nested form seems, to me, to be “God bending in order to create”.  The actuality or possibility is “Nothingness”.

Again, we have two options:

God bending in order to create₃(blank₂(Nothingness₁))

God bending in order to create₃(Nothingness₂(blank₁))

Unfortunately, it appears that I am out of extra words.

“Blank” must be either “proceed in only one fashion” or “the very structure of” or both.  These sound like actuality.

Is there some other word that has the same “spontaneous order” implications that “ecology” and “environment” have?  After all, the implications of “proceed in only one fashion” and “the very structure of” sounds like the “anthropic principle”, the incredibly fine-tuning of the fundamental constants (that permitted life to evolve).

Would the Latin term creatio ex nihil do the job?

Let me try it:

God bending in order to create₃(creation ex nihil₂(Nothingness₁))

Or maybe

God bending in order to create₃(creation ex ₂(nihil₁))]

Summary of text [comment] page 44

[OK.  Try again.  The previous blog covered the words in italics.]

God bends Nothingness in order to create.  The very structure of Nothingness means that God can proceed in only one fashion: arranging; unifying little by little, under the attraction of His influence; groping with the interplay of great numbers, a multitude of elements, immense, effectively infinite in number, simple and hardly conscious; eventually yielding more complex forms, arriving at forms capable of reflection.

[With “unification”, “ecology” and “more complex forms” out of the way, what other terms or phrases can we look at?

To me, it appears that “arranging, unifying, attracting, influencing and groping” puts “a multitude of elements” into context.

Again, we face the question about permutations.

Arranging, … groping₃(blank₂(multitude of elements₁))   or

Arranging, … groping₃(multitude of elements₂(blank₁))

Once again, I can reach into my bag of tricks and consider how the other term, “environment” would fit in.  Of course, it would describe “actuality”, leading to:

Arranging, … groping₃(environment₂(multitude of elements₁))

What is striking about the nested forms – so far – is that the actualities of ecology₂ and environment₂ are spontaneous orders.

Is there more?]