O Vastness:
You have created.
Breathed your essence
Along the still face of the waters
Cut us from the cloth
Of your raiments
Let us walk
Beneath the angels
Given us dominion
Over the beasts.
But have you designed?
i am composed
of everything
you dreamed
i am made
of everything
you imagined
but now
i must be bold,
and ask you
to go further:
You made me --
But now,
O Architect of All,
Design me:
Work backwards
And, before conceiving me,
Conceive of me:
Commit me to paper
Determine my purpose
Waft like a vapor
Back toward genesis
And give me a
Design.
A way.
An elegant
Unifying
Idea.
Then bring it forward
To my now
Draft me
On your table of light
Let me be an idea first,
Then an embodiment
Of that noble thought.
Then, truly,
Will i be purpose:
Ennobled,
Enlivened,
Animated:
Intelligent.
And all that you could have wished.
--Mr. Gobley
4 comments:
Well, this is an interesting development.
As I wrote a little while back, I don't think much of the theory of intelligent design because humans don't appear to be very intelligently designed at all (more info here).
However, the idea that we are designed to grow into God's image is quite interesting. It goes against the words of Genesis 1:26, which apparently says we are made in God's "appearance", not just "image". Still, I have no problem treating it allegorically if that is called for (or just tossing it out all together as old superstition or the best that primitive minds could conceive).
So, you could imagine a God who creates creatures with the potential to become good and wise and learned (ie, in God's image) and then stands back to see how it turns out. Or, perhaps, plays an active role and somehow assists the creatures in achieving their godhood.
In this scenario, "heaven" would be that good and wise and learned state achieved sometime before death. At least that's the way I take it, your mileage may vary.
That would be very cool if it were true.
This provokes an important question: can any being (God, for example) create another being greater than itself? Could God create man and then, after a period of learning and evolution and so on, have man surpass God?
Part of me thinks this is preposterous, but if you cast the question differently, you think about it differently: could man ever create something that surpassed man? Well, that doesn't seem so impossible at all.
This leads to an infinite progression, rather than a regression. God makes man, man makes the next better thing, and that better thing goes on and so on.
(I'm pretty sure there is a science fiction novel lurking in these ideas somewhere.)
So the answer to the question of intelligent design becomes, "not yet, but we're working on it."
Ha!
What ever you might imagine about how the Universe was designed, you can be sure the Transcendent imagined it better.
I'm creating something that I hope is better than myself... my children. I'm almost as sure God wishes His children to attempt to be as good or better than He, not in terms of power or Godhood, but in Goodness and brotherhood. It's gonna take an eternity and a miracle.
Rob, being fallen away doesn't mean you can't take a peek at a Catholic site, does it? The Anchoress is a great place to see if anything has changed since you've been away, and she may also be able to answer your inquisitive mind's questions. Mr. gobley, I proudly showed my mom your poems and a few comments. She was amazed, as am I w/each creation you digitalize :).
Rob:
i don't believe your interesting idea -- or mine, or ours -- to be inconsistent with Genesis, nor with any foundational text in any mono- or nontheistic tradition I'm familiar with. We are to raise ourselves toward the Divine in our lives -- our lives, our paths, are an essential part of Creation. Just as Creation blossoms continually, so must we. This would indicate to me that we are made very much in the image of the Creator and the Creation.
And yes, i feel strongly that God creates but does not micromanage. God does seem to me to "stand back." If God did not stand back, what would be the point of our strivings? Would we need to strive? Would striving even exist? Would we not be living in a kind of miniseries?
Your comments once again are very stimulating, like your blog!
Karen: i hope your mom visits often -- as often as you!
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