Post by viola on Feb 25, 2018 16:06:24 GMT
Having been raised Catholic, I had been discouraged from forms of spirituality that did not acknowledge an omnipotent, omniscient God. However, I am fascinated by such spirituality, which always seemed more conducive to growth, so this discussion interests me (I didn’t join it earlier because I had never read the Bhagavad Gita.) Reading on Whitehead’s Process philosophy regarding the “problem of evil” has led me to some theories on Hinduism, though. Per a discussion in the “Case for a Naturalistic … God” thread I quoted a description of this problem:
A book I found discusses the work of Ramanuja, an 11th-century Indian philosopher, work it claims is compatible with this growth-orientation, and seems a better solution to the aforementioned problem than the Abrahamic religions (all being rooted in an elitist “might makes right” tradition that ultimately endorses this perfect and omnipotent God) ever had.
In Process philosophy the universe is a creative process and God is a "fellow sufferer" (a "prehensive" subjectivity involved in all events.)
After my brief research on Ramanuja my understanding is that a process reading of the concepts of this thread would see "Dharma" as the way creativity plays out for a sentient and "Atman" as the understanding that neither process nor prehension is supreme.
I realize my thoughts on this are underdeveloped, but I wanted to get them out here for now in the hopes that someone will contribute to this development.
The existence of a perfectly good, omnipotent God and the existence of evil would be incompatible. [Thus,] God does not mechanically determine the existence and character of every actual entity [Every entity does, however, have] the power to determine its own becoming. [We all share in the universe's creative process by making our] own decisions.
A book I found discusses the work of Ramanuja, an 11th-century Indian philosopher, work it claims is compatible with this growth-orientation, and seems a better solution to the aforementioned problem than the Abrahamic religions (all being rooted in an elitist “might makes right” tradition that ultimately endorses this perfect and omnipotent God) ever had.
In Process philosophy the universe is a creative process and God is a "fellow sufferer" (a "prehensive" subjectivity involved in all events.)
After my brief research on Ramanuja my understanding is that a process reading of the concepts of this thread would see "Dharma" as the way creativity plays out for a sentient and "Atman" as the understanding that neither process nor prehension is supreme.
I realize my thoughts on this are underdeveloped, but I wanted to get them out here for now in the hopes that someone will contribute to this development.