EvC Forum: Another "New" View of Creation

Hi Will Seamus Ennis, and welcome to the fray.

I wonder how much you have really studied this question, as I don't see anything spectacularly new here.

Message 3 One night, we had a visitor at the Affinity Circle at our center who read some poetry about the creation of good and evil, light and darkness. When the young poet was through, he asked for some feedback, and in one of those 'inspirational moments' I responded. "My favorite creation story only has three words:
...It's still happening."

Not knowing what the "Affinity Circle at our center" represents (is it a church or a community center?) I wonder how much depth you have in the various religions of the world.

It looks to me that I need to define what I mean by "intelligence."

Indeed, especially as IDers have tried to shanghai this term and redefine it. Your following text doesn't really do much to explain what you mean, but what I gather is that there is an amorphous intelligence that permeates the universe and directs what happens.

Hence my statement that there is observable intelligence even in the smallest particles.

Pantheism - Wikipedia

quote:
Pantheism (Greek: πάν (pan) = all and θεός (theos) = God, literally "God is all" -ism) is the view that everything is part of an all-encompassing immanent God. In pantheism, the Universe (Nature) and God are considered equivalent and synonymous. More detailed definitions tend to emphasize the idea that God is better understood as an abstract principle representing natural law, existence, and the Universe (the sum total of all that was, is and shall be), rather than as an anthropomorphic entity.

Varieties of pantheism

This article distinguishes between three divergent groups of pantheists:

Classical pantheism, which is expressed in the immanent God of Kabalistic Judaism, Hinduism, Animism, Monism, neopaganism, and the New Age, generally viewing God in either a personal or cosmic manner.
Biblical pantheism, which is expressed in the writings of the Bible with the understanding of personification linguistics as a cultural communication idiom in Hebrew language. [Isa 55:12] [Acts 17:28] [Ps. 90:1]
Naturalistic pantheism, based on the relatively recent views of Baruch Spinoza (who may have been influenced by Biblical pantheism) and John Toland (who coined the term "pantheism"), as well as contemporary influences.
... The division between the three strains of pantheism are not entirely clear in all situations, and remains a source of some controversy in pantheist circles. Classical pantheists generally accept the religious doctrine that there is a spiritual basis to all reality, while naturalistic pantheists generally do not and thus see the world in somewhat more naturalistic terms.

We have one member here who has identified himself as a Spinoza Pantheist, iirc.

And expression of intelligence is the Creative Process. This is happening now, as new stars form, as the pressure and heat and radiation create new chemical bonds. New expressions of life are happening as species evolve.

The point in this is that the whole Universe is responding, now in this moment, based on inner repeatable patterns and the conditions it finds. This is intelligence.

It seems to me that you are describing Naturalistic pantheism.

Enjoy.

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