Divinity – what do you think it is?

[_Z_]

Divinity – what do you think it is? I’ll leave the idea open rather than try to define it myself, i just want to see if there is anything to it - i.e. is it a state both of god and someone who reaches or glimpses god. or is it a nature unto itself - like faith?

[Curios Mike]

Divinity:fudge made of whipped egg whites, sugar, and nuts

Well I'm not sure aside from the receipe I've posted, but All other definitions seem to point to a God, or maybe even Godlike.

By the way Godlike may not nessicarily mean all powerfull.

[juantoo3]

Kindest Regards, Z!

I am not certain I quite understand what it is you are asking with "divinity." I suppose, from my perspective, you mean God. I do not know how to paint a picture of God. I cannot see Him (of historical respect) directly. I do not know that He is a being as such. I think of Him more as what IS, in reality and truth. I realize terms like reality and truth can be very subjective, but I sense an underlying fabric or canvas to truth and reality that are there regardless of perception or lack thereof. I try very hard not to paint God in my image, or to place boundaries that in my mind do not (or should not, imo) exist.

Unless, and here I often wonder if I am flirting with heresy, "God" is an alien civilization that dropped down one day and planted a seed in a garden we now call earth...

[_Z_]

hi guys

i tend to isolate ideas, perhaps divinity cannot be seperated from god. perhaps it is a little of god within everything. i just wanted to explore the idea in its aspects like e.g. simplicity, truth, beauty etc. but i suppose fudge will do

thanx for replies!

[juantoo3]

Kindest Regards, Z!

i tend to isolate ideas, perhaps divinity cannot be seperated from god. perhaps it is a little of god within everything. i just wanted to explore the idea in its aspects like e.g. simplicity, truth, beauty etc. but i suppose fudge will do

OK, I can try to play along. In some sense I can relate to isolating ideas, but then I find myself fitting the pieces into the grand puzzle. I guess what I am trying to say is that even isolated ideas tie into each other, and cannot really exist in isolation alone. Not when those ideas are such as "divinity, God, beauty, truth," etc.

And yet, having said this, I am wondering...

Can beauty exist without a reference? Surely there must also exist ugly, in order to show beauty. In other words, if all is beauty alone, and there is no other, then beauty is mundane, "normal", unexceptional and even boring. Can this relate equivically with divinity?

Can divinity exist without a reference? Perhaps, but then what purpose is served? If nothing profane exists, and divinity is all, and there is no other, then divinity again is mundane. I do not know why, but I have an image in my mind of a manager, managing a business in which nothing is going wrong, everything is constantly and perpetually correct, just as intended. How boring and unchallenging can that be? What opportunity for growth and development? If there is no need, it will not become a target or goal to reach for.

Another image comes to mind, a man retires after years of service in his occupation. He takes up his hobby, goes fishing and basically kicks off his shoes. He gets fat and lazy, and dies within three years, because he no longer has any goals to strive for, no reason to get out of bed in the morning.

There is a certain energy, I think, that develops from the contrast of opposites. I think this is alluded to somewhat with the concept of yin / yang, or even electrical poles. Stasis is inertia, a "flatline" of death. At least if there is some destination to reach for, (even the wrong one?), there is energy that sustains and creates and bouys and drives.

Perhaps one day this will no longer be. Perhaps things are different in some other dimension. We could guess all kinds of perhapses...but for the here and now it seems to me there is an energy that develops from opposition, from opposite ideas, that the one pole forms and frames the basis for the other, providing a reference.

No beauty without ugly, no ugly without beauty. No peace without war, no war without peace. No truth without deception, no deception without truth. No divinity without the profane, no profanity without divinity.

Just my rambling thoughts for the evening.

[Dondi]

I found these definitions for divinity on Answers.com:

di·vin·i·ty
n., pl. -ties.

1. The state or quality of being divine.
2. 1. Divinity The godhead; God. Used with the.
   2. A deity, such as a god or goddess.
3. Godlike character.
4. Theology.
5. A soft white candy, usually containing nuts.

So, we need to establish which definition we want to talk about. Personally, I like the last one, but that's just me.

[_Z_]

Hi juantoo3,

Can beauty exist without a reference?

Excellent question! I see beauty as simplicity and symmetry etc whereas ugliness is a lack of such features, yet as you say this is comparative beauty. I am just doing a thread called ‘the melting pot’ where I will try to describe ‘inner heaven’ - perhaps this is beauty without comparison?

Can divinity exist without a reference?

I agree that we need comparisons, it is like the saying ‘heaven is a place where nothing ever happens! This is what brought me to wonder about divinity, I.e. is it the highest state or is it a reflection of this in all things? Of course I wouldn’t like to divide everything into two halves, as sometimes a given thing can be divine to one and not to another - the world is just a paradoxical place like that.

Dondi, hi

Good definitions, yet what is divinity if it is a nature of god - or is it the primary expression of god? Like an energy that permeates all. The problem here is that of opposites - as said above - if god has such a nature then it would automatically create its opposite, and I cant see god being like that if it creates err evil?

Perhaps god is beyond all duality and that this union of oneness creates divinity within all things?