Thursday, 6th
September, 2012
Brandon Bay, Kerry
The date and days are
becoming elusive already. The only way I can keep track is through this diary.
Today the crowds have gone.
The wind is up and the swell has gone too. Sunset last night was beautiful. The
light reflected in the ocean and on the sand was exquisite. It’s tempting to
photograph such sites as Caroline wanted to do but scenes like that are to be
lived.
Again on reflecting on God there seems to be no
rational and logical basis for belief and, as Vernon posits reason alone cannot be used to
find a way. Vernon
relates the use of reason to visiting a country through guidebooks from within
the confines of your own home; it cannot be done. A country such as Ireland needs
to be experienced.
So how do I experience God if
I do not feel or see?
Science can often be used to
disprove beliefs. For instance Thomas Aquinas (c1225-1274) believed that for
things to move and for everything that is caused there needs to be a mover or a
causer. For Aquinas this is God. Yet if we take the waves we ride it is to
science and meteorology that we find our answers. What causes me to ride, to
paddle is a conscious decision to set myself up in the right spot, move my arms
and (when I remember) to kick my feet thus causing movement which transfers to
momentum, like riding a bike.
Also since Newton physics has proved we don’t need a
prime mover, things will keep moving in a uniform direction unless acted upon
by an external force.
Yet what of the energy that
moves through the ocean transforming water into a ride-able wave? Maybe there
is no energy in the wave. Maybe the energy only existed at its centre, at its
creation?
The unmoved mover and the
uncaused cause refers to the 1st and 2nd aspects of
Aquinas’ 5 Ways.
Image - Gunther
.
Bibliography
Cotton C, 2007 The Photograph As Contemporary Art Thames
& Hudson: London
De Botton A, 2003 The Art of Travel Penguin: London
Newby E, 1995 A Book of Travellers’ Tales Pan Books
Ltd: London
Perlmutter D and Koppman D,
1999 Reclaiming the Spiritual in Art:
Contemporary Cross-cultural Perspectives State University
of New York Press: New York
Sontag S, 2002 On Photography Penguin Group: London
Tolstoy L, 1969 What Is
Art? And Essays on Art London: University Press Oxford
Turner V, 1967 The Forest of Symbols Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press
Turner V, 1969 The Ritual Process Penguin 1969
Various, 1987 The Age of God-Kings 3000-1500 BC Time
Life Books: USA
Vernon M, 2012 God The
Big Questions Quercus: London
Copyright Mark King 2012
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