Musings on Immortal Souls ~ Introduction

Musings on Immortal Souls	000.10	001
“Sum ergo Cogito!”	000.20	002
“I am, therefore I think!”	000.21	003
Knowing or Cognition is a function inherent in the souls of God, Angels and Man.	000.22	004
I      - INTRODUCTIONII     - BASIC CONCEPTS or Chain of AttributesIII    - SO WHAT ABOUT “SOUL”IV    - LANGUAGE OF THE SOULV     - CONSCIENCE AND FREE WILL AND COMMUNICATIONVI    - COMPUTER of MAN of GODVII   - MORE ON COMMUNICATIONVIII  - MORE ON FREE WILL, CONSCIENCE AND JUDGMENTIX    - MORE ON CONSCIENCEX     - OUR VOYAGE INTO ETERNITYXI    -		006
001. First, I will muse about the process of knowing. Knowing precedes action. Secondly, I will muse about the destination of the soul and what the trip would entail.I once mentioned to my Jesuit philosophy professor the proposition that “God is to man as man is to computer”. “Blasphemy!!!” he said. I said “the philosophical Principal of Cause and Effect – God’s cognition function was replicated in some way in man; man replicated the cognition function in computers” My argument wasn’t accepted. I went away and years later I designed a cognition function in the MAC+ compute; and another one later using high-speed computers. One application was to process data and “connect the dots” regarding relational aspects of various information relating to the military-industrial complex or terrorism. My original proposition that “God is to man as man is to computer” can be reversed to “Computer is ‘created’ by man who was created by God”. By doing ‘reverse engineering’, using the Principle of “Effect-to-Cause”, and using “analysis-synthesis” we can arrive at a more illuminated understand of higher forms of “cognition” Most people are more familiar with computers than with formal learning in logic, epistemology, ontology, cosmology, fundamental and advanced psychology, natural law, ethics and apologetics. They could, by using the Principle of “Effect-to-Cause”, arrive at concepts which would assist them to better comprehend the functions of their soul which govern their current life.	001.00	005
INTRODUCTION	I	006
002.         This monograph is not a scientific treatise. This monograph puts forward my own views and notions which I continually revise as I learn more. I want to explore different concepts relating to the soul in my own vernacular. In the computer vernacular, I am “dumping core” or “downloading” the last 60 years of my learning about cognition and the soul. I don’t want to talk too seriously; but I would like to provoke meditation by the readers. Whether you agree or disagree with statements I make, you might learn something new or explore further the ideas expressed.	002.00	007
003.         Part of the cognition process is like trimming a Christmas tree. You have a tree which starts out empty of ornaments, lights and tensile. These are scattered in boxes or just lying around. In our cognition process we accumulate knowledge of many things. We naturally try to place these data on our own tree of knowledge. Some of our ideas are strewn around in our mind, largely unorganized.  You know the word “scatter brain”, someone who doesn’t seem to have his thoughts together in a particular area. It’s fairly easy to be that way. It takes thinking energy to hang them together in a cogent way to present a clearer relational picture of Christmas.	003.00	008
004.         Man, “homo sapiens”, enjoys hanging their thoughts on the “Tree of Knowledge”. He can stand back and perceive the likely relationships among thoughts and fill in various branches in different areas of the tree. When you perceive new concepts there is a cheer in your soul, which is often expressed externally. “Eureka” was used by some of the ancients.	004.00	009
005.         Thoughts can be put up as ornaments (concrete reality), lights (basic truths) or tensile (the ambient context). When a light goes out, you might discover the truth it represented no longer has a filament of truth. You can either remove it or leave it there.	005.00	010
006.         This paper describes my Tree of Knowledge as of now regarding cognition and the soul. By the time I finish this paper, there will be more additions and deletions. Knowledge doesn’t stand still.	006.00	011
BASIC CONCEPTS or Chain of Attributes	II	012
007.         God is infinite! ([no flaws] – [always was and always will be] – [all knowing] – [perfect in all His attributes] – [no beginning, no end] – [immortal] – …  “Who God is in His Essence, no one will fathom, neither the mind of Angels nor of man. Get to know God by contemplating His attributes”. (Ref. 01, Sec. 001.10)	007.00	013
008.         God created the Angels ( [a definite beginning, no end] – [eternal] – [given a soul, but no body] – [immaterial being] – [has an eternal soul] – [given intellect and free will] – [has a conscience to govern actions] – [subject to sinning – re; Devil] – [has preternatural intellect]	008.00	014
009.          God created man – in His Image and Likeness] – [a definite beginning, no end] – [eternal] – [given a soul, with body] – [has an eternal soul] – [body is mortal and will die] – [given intellect and free will] – [has a conscience to govern actions] – [subject to sinning] – [has natural intellect] … (Adam had preternatural intellect; but it darkened when he disobeyed God).	009.00	015