Wednesday 17 August 2016

Souls

Poul Anderson, Operation Chaos (New York, 1995), Chapter XXIX, pp. 223-224.

In the goetic universe:

the nature of souls is unknown;

however, valid observations have proved that they exist;

but the observations are "'...scattered and not repeatable under controlled conditions...'" (p. 224), as with other paranatural phenomena;

paraphysical forcefields, like similarity and ergody (?), are not limited by light speed;

therefore, they can in principle move energy between any points in space;

thus, a small input can give a large output;

therefore, qualitative understanding is more important than quantitative and rapid progress is possible in goetics;

souls may be supernatural or paranatural.

Ginny thinks that a soul:

is an energy structure within the parafields;
is formed by but outlives a body;
can move between universes;
can remain disembodied on Earth as a ghost;
can enter a fertilized ovum to reincarnate;
can be allowed to approach the Highest and thus be saved;
can be attracted to the Lowest and thus be damned.

Using the parafields, scientists devise new spells which work. In James Blish's Midsummer Century, between any two topologically identical events, there is a diagrammatically expressible affinity or repulsion which can be acted out by dances. Thus, protective rituals can work.

4 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I can agree, more or less, with some of Ginny's suggestions about souls. But not the one about reincarnation because I believe God creates a new soul at every conception for that new body alone.

Sean

David Birr said...

Paul and Sean:
I'm not a believer in reincarnation. But...
"They will come back--come back again--as long as the red Earth rolls.
He never wasted a leaf or a tree. Do you think He would squander souls?"
-- Final lines, "The Sack of the Gods," Rudyard Kipling

Paul Shackley said...

David,
But the individual leaves or trees do not return though they give life to their successors. The human equivalents are language and culture. I'm with Shakespeare: "...our little lives are rounded with a sleep."
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, David!

Unfortunately, we wretched and evil human beings are certainly wasting souls by the millions because of "legalized" abortion.

I used the double quotation marks to show my utter disagreement with so called laws purporting to make right an evil act, murder of the unborn. No "law" contrary to justice and the natural law is RIGHT or binding on us.

Apologies, but you were talking about natural things like leaves returning. I could argue that trees and leaves can "return" in a sense. Trees scatter seeds or acorns by means of which some reproduce. That is a way by which some can "return."

And, as Paul said, "language and culture" give life to a human being's successors, even if he had no children. Or at least a man's thought and works might survive him, if he was a writer or an artist.

Sean