Stace’s Time and Eternity

1.

Positive divinity may be attributed to the unknowable characteristic of God. Its nature remains a paradox and arguments that contradict; that God is the object of religious search – the immutable being remains, at the same time a non being; that in itself a contradiction of statements. But according to Stace, human act of searching and satisfying for the divine hunger is surrounded by paradoxical ideologies, because to categorize and take contradiction out of the unknowable is to rationalize something that can be understood. The metaphysical nature of God as it is cannot be identified categorically, since for it to be rationalized, then the experience of it can be explained. It will also act as a precursor of intellectual activities in determining the nature of God.

God is viewed on the conception of the human mind, that is, God shares the same feelings and emotions felt by human beings.2. Predicates are used as preexisting notions on the knowledge of God. That a positive predicates is God as being and the negative as God as a non-being.

God is viewed as a conception of the human mind. It is a psychological God rather than material. As such, human emotions are applied to God since it was conceived by the human psyche. Predicates cannot be used in the literal sense; that God is a mind, love or any other emotion or sensations.

These concepts are symbolically applied rather than taking in the literal sense.3. Symbolical view of religion is pressured by the ideologies espoused by science. That is, every phenomenological human event viewed symbolically by religion is contradicted by the doctrines of science, such as the creation doctrine of the Bible is impossible according to the teaching of geology or biology.

Consequently, when religious dogmas responds to these attacks, it moves away from the literal to the symbolic. Fundamentalism impedes symbolical interpretation to be taken as true. All theological doctrines must be taken literally.4.

The scientific-minded skepticism attempts to view religion that takes literal truths to be against the laws of nature or an illogical act. Philosophical skepticism is deadlier as it argues that dogmas contradict logic. Scientific skepticism only attempts to tackle religious doctrine; that these doctrines contradict the verified facts of science with regards to the different studies that concern the physical world. Philosophical skepticism however, questions the essence of religion, such as the problem of the existence of God, essence, nature, among others.

5. The entire force of Hume's statement of evil depends on its literal interpretation. That is the words 'willing' and 'able' act as part of human as well as it can be understood by man. Theese are mere symbolisms or metaphors that do not constitute a knowable knowledge and the imagery it tries to represent.

6. To attribute literal emotions means to deny the unknowable and unreachable state of God. To attribute the literal, or knowable means it denies the sense of detachment, infinitude and the unreachable state of God.7.

If God is considered as a state of being or an unmoved nature of mind, then it cannot be considered as unmoved or eternal since the natural impulse of a state of mind is to constantly change and move, just as human emotions attributed to the nature of God are. The notion of change with infinity means that it lacks a certain character at one time when it changes. It is therefore finite because of complete lack and it cannot be considered infinite if something lacks everything.8.

Religious language must be taken as symbolical rather than the literal sense. In the literal sense, there are only contradictions such as the goodness of God, the notion of good and evil, creation, among others. The mere fact of God's nature – it being a being and a non-being at the same time – in the literal sense is a contradiction. That is, religion moves from the literal to the symbolic.9. All literal statements in relation to the notion of God, if understood, becomes false.

The notion can only be understood through a symbolic method rather than a literal one. That is, if God is viewed literally then its double notion of being and non-being cannot be understood by the precepts of science.10. The condition for a symbolism in order to meaningful necessitate both terms can be known. That a symbolical representation can be translated into a literal understanding. This is impossible for religious symbolism since any literal proposition about God would immediately conceptualize a concrete example of its nature.

Symbolism according to Stace, is a relation between two objects; one is the image or picture or the metaphor while the other is truth which the image stands for or represents.11. Proposition on God does not stand for another statements12. Stace does not maintain religious feeling to mystics.

As religion and God cannot be explained rationally by literal or symbolic translation, the thing left is the feeling itself. That God and religious experience can be felt by the supernatural consciousness of mystical interpretation. He maintains that God can still be experienced in the consciousness of man, that necessitates in using mystical intuition in modes of thinking. It is in the natural capacity of man to use a concept in relating God and religion to everyday experience.13.

Language in lieu with the understanding and interpretation of God must be of the symbolical sense. To use literal sense in identifying and equating God is to delimit it as fact; to take it literally. For example, the notion of religion experience equates 'awe' and 'fear' hence the terms awe-inspiring and God-fearing. To take it literally is to associate it with the understanding that religious experience is full of awe and God instills fear. Also, literal implication means that God experiences the same emotions as humans do.

14. God, in a sense, is detached from the natural order, living in the divine one. That is, to associate God as timeless, infinite, and encompassing means it is separate from human experience. To associate God as being and part of human experience takes away its notion of being unknowable and infinitude since experience is considered finite.

15. The timeless excluding divisions and relations means that it is detached from the whole in order to preserve its timelessness.16. Naturalism views the divine order as external; that is separate from the natural order which it follows. It views divine experience merely as illusions of the human mind that is detached from the natural order. For the mystic, religious is experienced through subjective feelings.

17. Metaphysical solutions utilize a naturalistic or mystical solution. However, these solutions contradict the other since the divine order is considered to be innately found in human consciousness. If it is supposed to align itself with the natural order, then forms a contradiction.18. The gap between the eternal, infinite, leaves confusion with the natural order.

Science, as it attempts to explain the totality of things through empirical methods, cannot rationalize the existence of a being that cannot be proven by scientific research and experiment. The conflict between science, naturalism, and religion further separates these perspectives in the manner in which they acquire truths.19. The error in pantheism is that God is limited in the world and he does not transcend it. That God is part of every tree, stone, river therefore limiting its infinitude. Transcendence is the detached presence of god as part of an equally detached divine order.

20. The conception of divine intersection with the natural order, God's immanence is represented by the intersection that takes place at every point while transcendence is represented by the difference between the divine and eternal as two different dimensions from the natural order.21. In a naturalistic standpoint, that is the attempt of science to explain supernatural phenomenon is unscientific. A naturalistic standpoint entails the view of the natural law, bereft of any supernatural or unexplainable phenomena.

In relation with science, it only attempts to view facts and laws espoused by the natural workings of the order.22. There is a multiplicity of religious activity with regards for the naturalistic standpoint. To view God as something that can be explained through concepts and symbolisms is one of the many viewpoints with regards to the natural order. As the natural order seeks to explain everything as it is, rather than identifying a concept beyond the use of verifiable fact is the cause of the many perspectives in a naturalistic standpoint.

23. The answer to all theological problems is silence or metaphors. That concepts, propositions, logic, among others, can be attributed only to silence or metaphors; that is silence of God himself. Since God is 'apart' while remaining present from the natural order, its nature cannot be entirely explained. Only when its experienced directly through mystical intuition. As Stace suggests, this intuition is not limited to the mystical experience.

Divine experience is attributed within the self; that subjective experienced can explain divine situation. It is through the experience that we feel the Ultimate, whether be called God or some other deistic label. In essence, it remains eternal and infinite.24. Metaphors function as answers to subjective experience. As stated previously, metaphors consist of knowable statements; the image and the truth it stands for.

It can only be then considered as a true metaphor rather than a 'mere' metaphor. The truth lies with the experience of divinity and it through experience that these metaphors can be answered.25. To induce mystical experience from glandular effects is no different from a state without such invocation. Stace suggests that once religious experience is induced, we therefore hand ourselves to the natural order, that is, the correlation of the consciousness and its relation to bodily functions.

The natural order is in which the precursor of science revolves around, that everything can be verified and experimented on before in an be considered as a fact. The fact that once chemically-induced reactions affect the human mind and psyche, it follows that this experience coincides with the natural law. It remains similar with a religious experience bereft of any chemical reactions. There is no difference of glandular effects between the mystic and non-mystic, except for the state of mind of the mystic.

The similarity lies on the same experience of both minds with different consciousness.26. In a naturalistic sense, fact is considered to be part of the natural order. Science utilizes this term as something that is proven through reliable methods of data gathering and experimentation. To consider God as a fact implicates that it is a part of the natural order rather than the divine.

To equate God as a fact, thing, object or existence is the use of concepts that are naturally taken from the natural order. It also equates that God as a fact, can be explained by science, the main problem of debate between science and religion. To be a fact means to impart itself in the universal order. As a both a being and non-being, unexplainable, and unreachable, God cannot be considered a fact since it will take away its infinity and omnipresence. If fact is to be applied with God, it is considered a metaphor; a mere representation of a indiscernible truth, but not, it itself a fact.

27. Symbolism evokes experience through affirmation of the mystical. Mystics seek to evoke meaning from different things by evoking meaning that we already know. Meaning is considered as a concept, but as a symbol, it does not possess any.

28. To equate God with symbols or concepts is to base it with rhetorical exaggerations. To apprehend the existence of God means that it can be comprehended in some degree through the use of concepts. But to equate as such means the mystery and incomprehensibility are just exaggerated.29. The relation implied by concepts is of likeness and resemblance.

Rudolph Otto argues the numinous, that which he calls for the religious experience, is incapable of being conceptualized The mystic takes the analogy between a non-natural character of the numinous or numen and uses it as a metaphor or ideogram. This is where religious symbolism arises and derives its nature. Stace contradicts this argument through the use of concepts, that rather than having two separate views, it is directly apprehended from the numen.30. To be adequate is to possess a greater or less nearness to the self-realization of God. The more adequate symbols are those which are closely associated with the idea of God.

Concepts or symbols such as 'mind' is of the higher level while those that are of inanimate existence are least adequate. It is important then for God to be consider as a mind or person rather than force, for it primarily is close to gravitation or cohesion, terms of fact and of science. It represents the lowest order, furthest away from self-realization. To attribute force per se, that is to view force as a physical one is inadequate and crude. But to attribute force or power to mind and personality, according to Stace, is not inadequate.

31. Idolatry is considered as a misinterpreted source of religious symbolism. It takes only the literal meaning of the words associated with God. In Stace's point of view, idolatry is not to be thought as a false religion since it represents the higher symbolism in inanimate objects fashioned into images of living things. It merely are inadequate symbols applied or associated with the divine.

32. The conceptual intellect is mode of consciousness that affects the natural order. Divine order applies intuition. Both are interrelated in search of virtues. In the natural law, virtue does not exist since value can be construed as something that is pleasing rather than being good or bad. The natural order is indifferent to values and cares only on the innate workings of the universe.

Science merely describes the workings of the natural order, stating facts and laws. The divine uses intuition, and it is through this that it apprehends a set of values.33. It is often asked whether values are absolute, eternal and objective, or relative, temporal and subjective. Both are considered true as values are do not belong with the natural order.

It is invoked through mystical illumination or the religious experience which are considered lower