by Nathan Coppedge page
Part I. Effective-Meaning: Objective-Time
�1.b. Initial Development page 1
Effective-Meaning: Changeable-Soul:: �
Where does the Effective World coexist with a Meaningful World? It is where the Changeable World coexists with a Soul World.
Where does the Changeable World coexist with the Soul World? We must answer this question to know what Effective-Meaning is in the context of Objective-Time: Mutable-Meaning. Does the soul change? How does a soul coexist with a changing world? If we answer these questions we will find where the Changeable meets the Soul.
So there are a number of options for how the soul changes 1. It doesn�t change, the soul is immortal. If it changes it is by definition excluded from being a soul. The soul is an essence, and if we change essences we are fractured from every fiber of our former lives. 2. If we are considering how the soul is perceived and not how the soul actually is (since we may not be able to perceive how things actually are anyway), then what we call the soul may only be a fluctuation of determinations about self-identity. Also, if we are what we do, we may also say that we are what we perceive, as we would not admit to ourselves that our actions have meaning separate from our understanding of how the world works, including our personal sense of self-identity. 3. Whether or not the soul is immortal, it changes when the body dies. For those that believe in reincarnation, the soul�s progress through each life is a preparation for the next. If one in addition believes in karma and free-will, as opposed to or in conjunction with fate, then each life is a consequence of judgment enacted upon the previous. If one believes in karma without reincarnation, the object could be to make the most of the here-and-now by avoiding death. In this final case the soul might be defined as that which cheats death.
In light of the preceding, it is clear that we must propose different cases depending on how the soul is defined. Here are several ways to define the soul: 1. The soul is the body; when the body dies the soul is dead. If the soul is the physical body that we perceive, then obviously it changes by age, sickness, exercise, in response to nourishment or shades of poison. Also it might undergo subtle changes in the way it works in response to thoughts and feelings, which reflect meanings in the world or from God (who may have a different kind of soul). 2. The soul is the essence that lends individuality to a person. It may have its own language for things, creating meanings that shroud the hard truths of life experience. 3. The soul is the divine essence that originates from God. It provides light and reason where there would be only pain and darkness. It is immortal, but rumor has it that it may be lost or killed. 4. The soul is the perfect part of the self. We are shrouded from its purity, because like the eyes of God, it would kill us. But it is who we are, and it is protected from all harm, until judgment.
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Preface
Summary
Part 1a.
Iteration 1
Iteration 2
Iteration 3
Iteration 4
Part 1b.
Iteration 5
Iteration 6
PART II.
(incomplete)
PART III.
(outline)
PART IV.
(outline)
NOTES
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