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Phenomenal Cosmic [Knowledge]; Itty-Bitty Living Space
Cleon Skousen passed away a few days ago. (Hat-tip to This Mormon Life.) He was a well known LDS author and teacher, and there's a reasonable chance that your ward library has one of his books. He was probably most well known for his ideas about the Atonement, where all matter contains intelligence and Christ suffered in order to satisfy the demands of justice of all of those little intelligences in the universe, thus making them willing to continue their obedience to God. (Skousen is the only person I know of to attempt to explain how the Atonement actually works.)
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The idea of all element having intelligence apparently comes from some of the early brethren such as Brigham Young and Orson Pratt. For Skousen this connection explained not only the Atonement, but miracles as well. Under the oxymoronic subtitle "The Science of Miracles," he writes,"These intelligences love the Father and the Son. They honor them, and therefore they obey them...When the intelligences obey, the matter which is attached to them automatically follows. They are merely responding to the voice of their Creators or Master Organizers." (Days of the Living Christ Vol. 1, p. 124)
So for any command given, the relevant intelligences with their element:
1. Have senses and reasoning ability.
2. Have some idea of what God envisions in his commands.
3. Know how to interact with the other elements in order to get into the proper formation.
4. According to Skousen they also have emotions and agency--they choose to obey.
In addition it would seem that these intelligences have infinite knowledge. How else can they organize themselves into whatever God commands? How would the intelligent elements of, say, water know how to form wine--and good tasting wine at that?
One wonders about how a universe of knowledge could be stored in such a small space. The issue of information storage is already an interesting question as it pertains to God's omniscience. (See this paper (pdf) by David H. Bailey for an interesting discussion.) Skousen's ideas seem to imply a universe of knowledge in each particle of the universe.
I certainly don't understand the powers of God--he can accomplish his purposes--but intelligent elements are not high on my list of suspects.
(BTW, the title is derived from Disney's Aladin.)
4 comments:
True experience is what gave Joseph Smith his gift to see. However, words alone cannot express or give justice to the finer things of the spirit. I believe because our language is so weak our words tend to degrade the greater knowledge of the cosmos. For that reason I believe the 3 Nephites were forbidden to speak of what they had seen or heard in heaven. Either they couldn't speak it clearly or we wouldn't understand it clearly. Thus "don't throw your pearls before swine." However, being a seeker most of my life I've found it true, "seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you and ask and ye shall receive." This has driven my life into greater light and in that greater light I've seen felt and heard the unspeakable. In fact the very language is light and within that light the life of all things lives. Skousen speaks well from my point of view, but I'm sure I'll fall on your list of suspects. Follow the bread crumbs to Emma's Son "Into the Greater Light".
The quote "a universe of knowledge in each particle of the universe", has reminded me of a lesson that was taught to me in a college art class (of all places) focusing on the chaos theory, golden mean, Fibonacci numbers, etc. The teacher had a video that demonstrated a 3D spiraling pattern. As you zoomed into a point on the pattern, it would then open up to become its own larger pattern, which as you zoomed into a point on THAT pattern, it would open up to a much larger pattern, etc... (it's driving me crazy that I can't remember what they were called!). At any rate, these patterns also embodied the idea of infinity within infinity. It completely boggles my mind.
Also, D&C 131:7-8 just recently caught my eye. Interesting tidbit of information that seems somewhat relevant.
When Christ calmed the storm, He commanded the elements themselves. Let us not confuse what we have read, and what we deduce. When things are taken to a logical (or illogical) extreme, they will seem ridicolous.
Senses and reasoning ability
Reasoning ability is not necessarily implied at any but the most crude and rudimentary level. These are not thinking intelligences, any more than trees or starfish. Probably less. Senses likewise.
Extremely complex results may be obtained by relatively simple local actions.
An idea of what God envisions Sorry, that is just not remotely necessary.
Emotions and agency
Emotions - logical, but that is just Skousen't take on the subject.
Agency is the only one that is completely necessary and truly fundimental.
Unfortunately, we know very little about intelligences. We know neither if intelligences in matter are whole or can be subdivided nor anything of their operations or limitiations. Though if we look at primitive lifeforms, we may suspect that their sphere of agency is very small.
Matronne,
As far as matter is concerned, I'm no sure the infinitely small exists. I tend to think that there are fundamental particles.
SunGazer,
An idea of what God envisions Sorry, that is just not remotely necessary.
If we're talking about God's words being directly translated into action, then I don't see how it could not be otherwise. God tells water to be wine. What's wine? What kind? How should it taste?
Ultimately I think these kinds of anthropomorphisms should not be taken literally. I don't know all the ways God accomplishes things, but my suspicion is that when Jesus issued a command, there was a whole lot going on behind the scenes, so to speak, to make his commands reality.
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