Emanation, the only true explanation for totality

Yes, that's right, or at least that's what Greek philosophers say. Emanation differs from both evolution and creationism. Emanation differs from creationism because instead of positing a sentient being, God, as the creator of all things, it states that creation is uncaused. Emanation differs from evolution because instead of saying things progress from single cells to more complex cells, it instead says that things go from simplicty to complexity.

Emanation is about an uncaused force going from simplicity to complexity. This more properly describes the origin of life better than both Creationism and Evolution. Evolutionists try and point out that everything needs a rational cause for it to exist, while Creationists fall back on the "if it's created it must have a creator," but both ignore the finer details going on. Neither creationist nor evolutionist deny the complexity of nature, all they argue about is what caused it, genetics or God. Emanation rather says that life is a series of descending levels each reflecting the properties of the level directly above it, but only to its level. Meaning a flower has life, but only so much life as a flower can exhibit, a flower is not life complete (flowers and birds), so that each level is only itself alone and nothing else, but each level has a direct correlation with all other levels, such that all things arise from dependent origination. If you want to talk about the origin of man, creationists say God created man, evolutionists say that man evolved from monkeys, but an emanationist would say that man originated from a dependent conditional axiom, just as an offspring originates dependently from the parents. Where is the beginning of the cycle? How does the first origin arise independently of another cause? It can't, if it is the first. That means that the first origin was uncaused. And if something is uncaused, but exists, it exists eternally, as being uncaused.

Creationism says that man must follow God's law or else he will face hell, and that it is foolish to disobey God because then you miss out on heaven. Evolutionists say that man evolved from millions of years of survival, and so survival by any means is the natural path of life. An emanationist says that so long as we only focus on our lower level, we miss out on the higher archetype that all things descended from. While the universe is complex, the origin is simplex, and knowledge of this allows us to contemplate the true origin of life, removed from both a mythological idea of God as well as a theory in progress. Emanation is not just a theory but an outlook on life, that all things are prototypes of the higher archetype, existing only as much as they cling to this higher reality.

Thats heavy stuff there. I'm going to do a little bit of research on this subject. Any personal suggestions on where I should begin the search?

reply to post by filosophia

are you sure you picked the right word? because this is want emanation means.
The act or an instance of emanating.
2.
a. Something that issues from a source; an emission.
b. Chemistry Any of several radioactive gases that are isotopes of radon and are products of radioactive decay. Im guessing you mean imagination.

Originally posted by MyPathManifests
Thats heavy stuff there. I'm going to do a little bit of research on this subject. Any personal suggestions on where I should begin the search?

The main philosopher of emanation is Plotinus, in his work the Enneads. A website called www.attan.com used to have a lot of information on it but then it was taken down. Essentially the principles of emanation were described as follows which I will try and paraphrase:

1. Starting with the beginning, the highest phase of emanation is the Absolute. In religious terms there is God, heaven, earth, man, each phase is higher than the one lower to it (heaven is higher than earth, earth is higher than man, etc). The highest phase is called the Absolute. Emanationists don't really believe in a creator God as a sentient being but rather as a State of existence.

2. Phases proceed downwards, so in other words the Absolute emanates the second phase (the universe/heavens) then the second phase emanates the third

3. Phases above cause what is below. So in other words the Absolute directly causes the second phase, but indirectly causes the phases lower than it. This will make sense if you look at the universe. The Sun causes the earth's gravitational orbit, and the earth's nutrients cause plants to grow. The Sun, like the Absolute in this metaphor, is the "light" that emanates throughout the entire universe, so without that nothing could exist, but the plants take root in the earth (lower phase). So while creationists say that God directly causes things (even evil, though they have a hard time explaining that), an emanationist would say that everything is indirectly caused by the Absolute since lower phases also play a part. The Absolute is like the administrator of all life but lower phases also add to this. So it is a hierarchial system and not just random levels

4. The lower phases contain a spark or ideal of the higher phase. So in other words a child contains the genes of its parents, the human race contains a "spark" of the divine, and the heavens contain the order and majesty of the Absolute.

Originally posted by pcrobotwolf
reply to post by filosophia

 

are you sure you picked the right word? because this is want emanation means.
The act or an instance of emanating.
2.
a. Something that issues from a source; an emission.
b. Chemistry Any of several radioactive gases that are isotopes of radon and are products of radioactive decay. Im guessing you mean imagination.

Everything proceeds from the Absolute, like an emission, like the Sun emanates its rays outwards into the entire galaxy. It is also described as an overflowing cup that never runs out. The Absolute is infinite, so when you take from fullness, fullness still remains.

OP are you familiar with mystery school "creation" stories about Sophia? It reminds me of emanation the way you are putting it forth, very interesting. Thanks!

Originally posted by Pilot
OP are you familiar with mystery school "creation" stories about Sophia? It reminds me of emanation the way you are putting it forth, very interesting. Thanks!

I know of Philosophy in the Consolation of Philosophy. She teaches Boethius that God orders all things and thus evil is nothing. It's really the culmination of God theory, something Christianity should view with seriousness, but Boethius is marginalized in the mainstream, however he is considered a saint and he has a cult following (literally, the cult of St. Severinus Boethius) and the academic world understands his significance, but mainline Christians hardly even know he exists.

Actually, it was one school of Greek philosophers, the Neoplatonists, who held this view.

Admittedly, it was an important school, since it gave birth to Christianity. Christianity is basically Neoplatonism mixed up with a Jewish mystery-cult. The resemblance is marked in Gnostic versions of Christianity, but more than mere traces exist in all the Athanasian confessions – Roman, Greek and Western Protestant. That bit in the Nicene Creed where it says the Holy Spirit ‘proceeds from’ the Father and the Son? That’s ‘emanation’.

Originally posted by filosophia

Originally posted by Pilot
OP are you familiar with mystery school "creation" stories about Sophia? It reminds me of emanation the way you are putting it forth, very interesting. Thanks!

I know of Philosophy in the Consolation of Philosophy. She teaches Boethius that God orders all things and thus evil is nothing. It's really the culmination of God theory, something Christianity should view with seriousness, but Boethius is marginalized in the mainstream, however he is considered a saint and he has a cult following (literally, the cult of St. Severinus Boethius) and the academic world understands his significance, but mainline Christians hardly even know he exists.

That's very interesting, do you have any books you'd recommend or links?

Here are a few I've been looking at:

www.gnosis.org...
www.metahistory.org...

The second one is John Lash who wrote "Not in His Image"...very good !!