"'...God never felt obliged to make the universes easy for us to understand.'"
-Poul Anderson, A Midsummer Tempest (London, 1975), p. 98.
There is some empirical basis for Valeria's reference to "God" because, in her universe, where magic works, it is possible to contact a Heaven, a Hell and their inhabitants. But are these supernatural realms specific to that universe? Another timeline visited by Holger has Aztec gods. Are those supernatural beings autonomous or subordinate to a single multiversal creator, as Bacchus and the river god are subordinate to Aslan, although with a surprising degree of autonomy, in Narnia?
Valeria's father makes the point that:
"...if parallel worlds exist, they must be linked in a very fundamental way; otherwise the hypothesis is unverifiable in principle and therefore meaningless. Deriving from the same source, embedded in the same matrix..."
-Poul Anderson, Operation Chaos (Sutton, Surrey, 1995), p. 2.
But is the single source a common creator? If every possibility exists, does this include universes where statements like "God does not exist" or "God is dead" are true?
I thought that "God is dead" meant something like "God never existed but now more people realize it," but apparently some "God is dead" theologians mean that a powerful supernatural being literally ceased to exist. I think that every possible interpretation is put on unverifiable statements of this kind.
James Blish's Black Easter ends with a demon announcing God's death but the sequel ends with Satan wondering whether He has merely withdrawn. In Mike Carey's Lucifer, a character says that God is dead whereas He has merely withdrawn - but will not return. Could such options exist within Anderson's multiverse?
8 comments:
Hi, Paul!
I certainly don't believe God is either dead or has "withdrawn." And my view would be what you speculate Steven Matuchek seems to hold, that God is the ultimate source or origin of all the universes. Nor do I believe the Aztec gods, or any kind of pagan gods, to be REAL gods. Or, even, to be frank, that any pagan gods EXISTS at all in REALITY.
But, I admit to speaking as a Catholic monotheist!
Sean
Sean,
Other gods might exist in other universes?
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
I daresay a writer of fantasy could entertain that idea in his fantasies. That would not bother me. But no convinced Catholic could BELIEVE such an idea.
Sean
But could there be one eternal and infinite God, and also beings powerful enough to help give rise to pagan myths of gods?
Best Regards,
Nicholas D. Rosen
Nicholas,
No reason why not. I was impressed when Milton suggested the "gods" were demons seeking worship for themselves. But I have problems with "eternal and infinite." One possible meaning of "eternal" is "timeless" and I argued against timeless consciousness in a recent post. "Infinite" is also problematic. Words have meanings in specific contexts. Thus, a square has four sides so there cannot be an infinite square. Self is recognized as such only by contrast with other so, if a conscious being is infinite, where is its other? (The other is like the sides of the square. Remove it and surely we remove what we are talking about?)
Paul.
A person is a self-conscious being with a memory in the social context of a linguistic community. If we remove other persons, language, social interactions and memory of a personal history, then what is left of the individual person? Just as - if we remove sun, soil, atmosphere, other plants etc, then what is left of an individual flower or tree? We can't remove the context and conditions but expect the entity or object under discussion still to exist.
"the "gods" were demons seeking worship for themselves."
My understanding is that was a common belief among early Christians.
Kaor, Jim!
It was. Altho the most sophisticated Christians, then or now, would simply deny pagan gods were any kind of real BEINGS.
Ad astra! Sean
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