Comparative Metaphysics

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_voyager.co.nz>
Date: Sat, 06 Mar 1999 17:44:30 +1300


Alex Ferguson:

ABF>>>I believe you've just 'proved' that Atrilith was 'manifest' in the
>>>'Cosmos', before the 'Cosmos' was created.

Me>> Depends on what you mean by the last sentence fragment.

>By that phrase (I wasn't aware that my sentences were becoming
>fragmentary, at least before the pubs close) I was being somewhat
>'carefully vague', since I'm not sure in _what_ sense you are
>claiming that Atrilith 'manifested', exactly.

I said nothing about how he manifested. I merely said that he manifested, which you admit he did, in opposition to the Malkioni Creator who does not manifest.

>> But I didn't _say_ 'created world', I have always said 'Cosmos'.

>I'm attempting to use a more useful term.

Well it would have helped if you had pointed it out rather than I having to unwelcomely discover that my words were being subtly changed.

>The whole talk of
>'manifestation' very much implies to me 'created world', or at least
>'that part of the Universe (i.e., everything) which is not transcendent/
>the Other Side'.

The Other Side is not transcendent. I am using the "within the Cosmos" to mean anything that is not wholely transcendent. Does this help?

>If you're going to talk of a 'Cosmos' that the Creator
>is outside of, but that Atrilith is (or was) inside, I'm not at all sure
>I know how you're defining or using the term.

I believe I have defined the Cosmos according to the Vithelan myth and pointed out that Atrilith does manifest within the Cosmos whereas the Creator remains on the outside from his mythology.

>So far as I can tell, the concept of 'first individuated entity' is
>basically what the Western 'Creator', the Eastern 'Atrilith', and the
>Dara Happan 'One' is all about. By no means am I saying these concepts
>are interchangeable -- rather, that each is the _closest_ analogue
>each has in the other schemes.

But I was originally pointing out to Nils that these analogs break down. Is the Creator an individuated entity or not? It literally depends on the Malkioni you talk to.

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