Hi, Gilberto, At 04:08 PM 12/13/2004, you wrote: >>I'm not convinced that what you wrote contradicts or precludes the >>possibility of what I wrote above.<<
If I understood you correctly, you suggested that (at least some?) proponents of perennialism might distinguish between actuality and necessity. In other words, even though the perennial philosophy has characterized certain (all?) traditions, movements, or (fill in the blank), you believe it unnecessary that it should continue as such in the future. I pointed out that every perennialist whose works I have read appeared to believe in the identity of the philosophia perennis with God's Nature (i.e., Platonism), and that, in this context, it has been regarded as invariable. >>So you are saying that both God's will and God's Essence can change?<< I don't know about God's Essence, but I think God and His Messengers *can* change Their minds or wills. >>On some level there is a distinciton between a good faith attempt to define >>murder, and the kinds of motivated arranements which happen in court cases.<< I agree. >>But the paradigm isn't the elephant, the paradigm is just the blind man's >>attempt to touch the elephant and guess at what it's really like. There is >>one unknowable essence, one elephant.<< Well, *I* was using the elephant as an illustration for a paradigm (a divine Revelation). I suppose one *could* use the same metaphor for the divine Essence. >>I'm not surprised THAT we disagree, what I'm just trying to figure out is >>where we disagree. Some things you say sound more correct than what I've >>heard from other Bahais but you don't seem to accept the kinds of >>implications I would expect.<< Okay then, a couple of questions: Which of my ideas appear correct to you (and why)? And what other implications of my ideas would you expect? Mark A. Foster * http://markfoster.net "Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger" -- Abbie Hoffman __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
