Re: Science and Religion

[Howard Pattee <***>]

Bob and I never talked too personally about religion, but once, I think over Manhattans 
before dinner, we agreed that Spinoza?s pantheism (or panentheism) was the only concept 
that would fit well with our concept of truth. I also believe Bob was instinctively a 
synchronic thinker as are many mathematicians (not the same as Platonism). I remember Bob 
using the Spinozan phrase "sub specie aeternitatis" (under the aspect of eternity)

Here are a few of my favorite quotes that I am sure Bob did or would enjoy.

ON SYNCHRONICITY
Boethius (~480~524)
Since God hath always an eternal and present state, His knowledge, surpassing time's 
notions, remaineth in the simplicity of his presence and, comprehending the infinite of 
what is past and to come, considereth all things as though they were in the act of being 
accomplished.

Meister Eckhart (~1260-1327)
Time is what keeps the light from reaching us. There is no greater obstacle to God than 
time. And not only time but temporalities, not only temporal things but temporal 
affections; not only temporal affections but the very taint and smell of time.

ON TRUTH
Benedict (Baruch) Spinoza (1632-1677)
But human power is very limited and infinitely surpassed by the power of external causes. 
So we do not have an absolute power to adapt things outside us to our use. Nevertheless, 
we shall bear calmly those things which happen to us contrary to what the principle of 
our advantage demands, if we are conscious that we have done our duty, that the power we 
have could not have extended itself to the point where we could have avoided those 
things, and that we are part of the whole of Nature, whose order we follow. If we 
understand this clearly and distinctly, that part of us that is defined by understanding, 
that is, the better part of us, will be entirely satisfied by this, and will strive to 
persevere in that satisfaction. For insofar as we understand, we can want nothing except 
what is necessary, nor absolutely be satisfied with anything except what is true (The 
Ethics, last pgph. Of Human Bondage).

Eckhart:  What is truth? Truth is something so noble that if God could turn aside from 
it, I could keep to the truth and let God go.

Howard