"This is the great never-born Spirit of man, never old and immortal. This is the Spirit of the universe, a refuge from all fear.
"Brihad. Up. 4. 3-4"
-Juan Mascaro (trans.), The Upanishads (Penguin Classics, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, 1984), p. 143.
"'And these two valiant souls with you as well,' Barholm continued smoothly. 'As the Spirit of Man's Viceregent on Earth, I'd very much like to hear how they've served It against the Spirit-Deniers.'"
-The Forge, CHAPTER SIXTEEN, p. 299.
"'I will rule the world, all of it, all of it, the Spirit of Man has decreed it.'"
-ibid., p. 305.
Some Points To Note
People on the isolated colony planet, Bellevue, like to refer to it as "Earth." (See After The Fall.)
"Spirit" implies consciousness whereas "It" implies unconsciousness.
I believe that the ultimate reality is conscious of itself but only through organisms, thus that "It" is not an individual subject of consciousness, that the word, "Spirit," is misleading and that "It" or "That," not "He" or "She," is the most appropriate pronoun.
2 comments:
Paul:
It's a running gag that almost every time Raj refers to it as "Earth," even if he's speaking to someone else, Center corrects, "Bellevue."
Kaor, Paul and DAVID!
Paul: but I think people like Raj and Governor Barholm used "Spirit" and "It" interchangeably, and meant the same thing, that the "Spirit" was indeed a conscious God.
David: I remember those moments as well, with Center pedantically correcting Raj's use of "Earth" for "Bellevue." They were amusing!
Sean
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