What is Nature?

[PureX]

Thank you, I respect your reply

My question though was based on the idea that I haven't looked up transcendental or metaphysical and that is why I offered the "second nature" info.

You may attribute your well developed philosophies on to a rather simple basic looking at life kind of way. I'm not saying the ancient Greeks were dumb - no, of course not. But even the philosophers were probably not as sophisticated as you can be even when our words for you came from them! Yes?

We're all standing on the shoulders of those who came before, and so perhaps can see just a little further (forward and back).

I've long been amazed at how well and deeply the ancient Greek philosophers managed to grasp the truly puzzling nature of the physics of existence. They were scientists as well as philosophers. And I suspect any of today's quantum physicists would find himself at home among those ancient Greek philosophers.

I, personally, however, appreciate the eastern philosophy of taoism even more: for it's purity and clarity and humility. I'm not a scientist, I'm an artist. So I identify more closely with the aesthetic involved in eastern philosophy, even though I do appreciate the scientific bent of the western Greeks.

 

[Caino]

ladies first..

just answer the question

From my religion:

"Nature is in a limited sense the physical habit of God."

I posted a much more comprehensive explanation on the UB thread out of respect for the request of TOL members to keep those things in the right place. http://www.theologyonline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4302939#post4302939

 

[I drank what?]

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[I drank what?]

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[rainee]

No offense, but I fear your thinking is all hosed up.

actually i'm just looking for a proper (thorough) definition of it, so that we may discuss said complexities...

Each {set} of Reality has Nature.

1. Physical
2. Spiritual
3. Free Will

I could possibly understand what "physical" means to you.
I could possibly understand what "spiritual" means to you.
I have no idea what "free will" means yet but will accept it as a wild card you can use later to possibly upset the physical and spiritual...

So let's look at physical. It is everything running on a course. It has a beginning, a middle and should therefore have an end. It runs on a course because it is obeying something, running either well or not always running so well.. (as in obeying DNA, gravity, pressure, temperature, chemical reactions, or blah, blah, blah.)

Now what are you thinking when you say "spiritual"?
Does a rock have a spirit?
If you mean all living creatures - maybe even plants - then ok, its spirit might contribute to what makes it what it is and makes it possibly like others that are similar to it. Like that?

But if you say "free will" do you mean something could go against what makes it run a course? Like it will resist gravity?

Or do you mean it could possibly not follow the spirit directive that would make it like others that are like it? Such as not closing when touched when you are a plant that closes when touched?

...but back to some basics, first

Is it natural for a human mother to eat her babies?

I think you should have asked first if any mothers "in nature" eat their young -- unless you are a Christian. Then if you are a Christian you would not ask this at all, or would not ask this in this way according to your spirit.

But where would your "free will" come in?
It can't make you smarter or wiser, can it?
What could it do for you?

 

[I drank what?]

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[rainee]

Here's an article talking about some of the things believed now by science to be attached to you eye color.
Hope it helps you understanding why I don't understand what you are saying about free will.

What your eye color says about you

If eyes are the window to the soul, new research claims they are also a window to our health. A number of studies indicate the color of our eyes affects how we feel pain, how well we can hold our liquor, and even our ability in different sports.

According to researchers at Pittsburgh University, women with lighter colored eyes experience less pain during childbirth compared to women with darker eyes. People with lighter eyes also consume significantly more alcohol, as darker eyed people require less alcohol to become intoxicated.

The reason boils down to genes. A senior lecturer in biomolecular sciences at Liverpool John Moores University said, "What we know now is that eye color is based on 12 to 13 individual variations in people's genes... These genes do other things in the body."

Take melanin,the pigment that makes eyes darker. Research reported in the journal Perceptual & Motor Skills found that it not only makes people more susceptible to alcohol, it also helps increase the reaction time in the brain. So darker eyed people would be generally better at sports like frisbee or baseball.

A similar study done at the University of Louisville found the slower reaction times in lighter eyed people actually helped during activities that require more planning, such as studying or playing golf.[/QUOTE]

 

[I drank what?]

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[I drank what?]

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[rainee]

so then, we good?

Well not really, dear.


You define free above. Is a penguin a bird?
If so is it free to fly?

I have heard it can swim? Are all birds free to swim?

My point in asking these questions is the term "free" refers to a very limited circumstance.
In fact, it is applied only as a very specific situation or narrow topic description.

You could say we are free in the United States. But for this to be true you would have to set the limits you are referring to.

I am not free to do a number of things. My guess is you are not either.

We would not have to "play the hand we are given to the best of our ability" if we were free to get a different hand - so to speak.

So why or how do you relate that to a soul?

 

[chrysostom]

Well not really, dear.


You define free above. Is a penguin a bird?
If so is it free to fly?

I have heard it can swim? Are all birds free to swim?

My point in asking these questions is the term "free" refers to a very limited circumstance.
In fact, it is applied only as a very specific situation or narrow topic description.

You could say we are free in the United States. But for this to be true you would have to set the limits you are referring to.

I am not free to do a number of things. My guess is you are not either.

We would not have to "play the hand we are given to the best of our ability" if we were free to get a different hand - so to speak.

So why or how do you relate that to a soul?

you are free to make silly posts
and
you are free to determine what your limitations are

you are free to make sense
and
you will be held accountable
if
you don't

 

[I drank what?]

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[I drank what?]

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[rainee]

birds are free to try anything they choose, they are also free to learn from failure

like people who ask those silly kinds of questions...

being bound by certain laws/parameters does not impair our freedom of choices, even if we are limited in how many choices we are able to make

even people with only 2 choices still have freedom...

i hope this helps

No young sir, if that is what you are, imho Being bound by certain laws and parameters does indeed impair our freedom of choices!

I fear what you saying is even when we are not free we still have some choices and that is what makes us free...

But so did and do all slaves have some choices.

So according to your outlook ALL SLAVES are free.

Maybe this is true.

But would a heroin addict be considered free by you, even if they are only enslaved by something they willfully did to themselves?

 

[Anto9us]

NATURE

is

SKEETERS OUT IN THE WOODS -- bitin' on ya !!

it is hornets what built a nest in the little plastic tube where they put the newspaper ever morning -- so you stick yer hand in to get the paper and 3 of 'em sting the heck out of yer hand

"Is it natural for a human mother to eat her offspring?"

No - but I could 'boil a young goat in its mother's milk' if I wanted to - cuz I aint under Old Testymint Law

 

[I drank what?]

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[I drank what?]

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[chrysostom]

in a sense, which Nature would you like to consider first?

all slaves are free to disobey their master, they might not like the consequences but that doesn't impair their Free Will



indeed. hence the need to understand the definition of terms before you discuss them...

there are always consequences
and
it would be refreshing to hear a calvinist use that word

 

[I drank what?]

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[Anto9us]

OK - I will try to more SEARCE, I Drank What.

I would refer NATURE to the idea of NATURAL THEOLOGY found in Romans ch. 1.

Paul insinuates that even before Gospel - before Torah -- the "things about God could be understood by looking at what is created" (I am paraphrasing).

This is a pretty strong statement in favor of NATURAL THEOLOGY -- that by looking at Nature -- even "God's ultimate essence and Godhead could be discerned".

So there is much in favor of Natural Theology and NATURE.

(But I still hated it when them yeller jackets stung muh hand -- and I don't like mosquitoes.)