If the Cosmos is not Random, the Rest Follows

When the Pilgrim talks with Carlo Martello in the Sphere of Venus, they quickly move from purpose vs. randomness in the Universe, to the shaping forces that must originate in G-d. And Dante connects this to something as simple as why offspring are often different from their parents. The idea of Telos is working on all scales.

What starts as a simple question from the Pilgrim about why children sometimes are so different from their parents, or more specifically why virtuous people can have so viceful children, quickly ends up as a solid argument for G-d, from the basic question of whether the Cosmos is Randomly developed or not.

After the assumption that such a total randomness would create “ruin, not skillful craft“ in the Cosmos we are observing, Carlo Martello takes an abrupt step back and starts talking about human beings and citizenship, in terms of belonging to a community and thriving as person when living according to your nature, and thus playing a generative and contributing part of the community. On a smaller scale this is partly referring to Aristotle’s philosophy and thoughts that happiness comes from living “according to nature”, but it also combines the ideas of a personal “telos” or meaning/intention/purpose to the purpose on a larger scale, in this case to that of the community. For the community or society to function according to its purpose, the citizens have to be aligned with their own telos as well. And this scales upwards, meaning that for humanity to function according to its telos and purpose, there needs to be happy thriving societies that are properly aligned with both telos and the transcendent truths.

But where things further connects is the following: that for a community to function, there needs to be a variety of personality types and natures, to create a varied and thriving whole. And if children were “carbon copies” of their parents in every respect, this variety would be distorted as a lawyer would have maybe 3-4 lawyers, a king would have maybe 4-5 princes, and a baker would produce several baker children. So this is used as an argument that by necessity – offspring need to be varied to secure this variety in the community and society overall, and interestingly this is a form of purpose/telos argument for a biological reality which is very easy to observe, just looking at how different siblings can be or are from each other, in nearly every family one looks at. So to sum up this part: the purpose of communities is dependent on this variety, which then shapes reality. One might say it shapes it through evolutionary survival of those communities that do have this variety, over those communities where children were too alike their parents, not just by physical appearance, but also in terms of nature and personality.

When this is established, one can connect the dots at a much bigger scale; that this fact of differences between people and their offspring is an effect of a bigger telos for communities, societies, humanity – and also then for the cosmos as a whole, at a tiny microscopic scale granted, but indeed connected. And the implications of this perspective is once again breath-taking, as Dante thus connects your personal role and purpose and telos, to that of the fate the entire living Universe – to fulfill its richness and overall Telos. Meaning that how you live and how you choose to exercise your free Will, is indeed important and connected to the long term course of the Cosmos, through its potential ripple effects through time and space.

But in addition to this, and there is more, one might look at the interplay between purpose and biological evolution, which is a complicated field even today, to determine which way the forces are working. But if we step back to the premise – that no purpose and pure randomness is falsified through merely observing the incredible sophistication and astronomical improbability of the Universe, and even more now after the last 100 years of new science, this dynamic is already established. If the Cosmos is not random, it is influenced or guided by immaterial forces. Which then “proves” that there is a purpose or telos shaping the creation and evolution of the Cosmos. And then we are down to the exact mechanism through which this is happening.

Again here, Dante has given us at least a suggestion, through Beatrice’s speech about matter itself. Matter is not “dead matter” randomly created, but a combination of “potential matter” and the “virtues” or “guiding immaterial principles”, which when unified – creates the emergence of physical matter. In other words, Dante has already explained the mechanism and interplay between the immaterial forces, or “intelligences” as was the term often used in Medieval and Ancient vocabulary, which determines or influences the emergence of the material world. So what this means, is that if there is a purpose, the material world is shaped by forces (or “intelligences”), that do really exist. This follows from strict logic. And if we know that they exist, Dante would simply say, they need an immaterial, eternal and infinite source, which is then G-d. And all of this follows a clear line of logic, if the Cosmos cannot be Randomly developed.

So to sum up all of this; A non-random Universe requires shaping forces of the material world, and these forces must “come from” somewhere, or have a “source” somewhere, which is how we come to G-d, as Dante sees it.

And as a quite almost humoristic twist, Dante lands this whole question from the simple wonder he had, of why Carlo Martello’s brother Roberto was so viceful, when his grandfather Carlo I was such a wise and virtuous ruler. Which again points to another idea – that the biggest questions of all, are reflected and shines through on the smallest and even mundane scales as well. One can discover the deepest Truths of being and of the Cosmos, in simple everyday scenes or dynamics, that can open up these insights or even revelations, on the journey up to the Heavens.

Date: 2024-01-23 17:13:46 - Views: 53

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