fandomhigh | Destiny & Free Will, Week VI [Monday, Period 4]

As students arrived today, they might notice Ghanima had actually written on the chalkboard for once:

Sarv-gyaata | Sarv-samarth | Sarv-vyapt

"Good morning, students," she said clearly. "Today we study the the 'omni' categories. Omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent."

"Omniscience is the capacity to know everything infinitely, or at least everything that can be known about a person, including thoughts, feelings, life and the universe, and so on," she said, beginning to write on the board. "In monotheism, this ability is typically attributed to God. This concept is included in the Qur'an, where God is called "Al-'aleem" on multiple occasions. This is the infinite form of the verb "alema" which means to know. In the Bible, God is referred to often as "The Great I Am," among other similar names, which also incorporates His omnipresence and omnipotence. In Hinduism, God is referred to as sarv-gyaata," she pointed at the words on the board, "which means omniscient, sarv-samarth, or omnipotent, and sarv-vyapt, omnipresent."

"There is a distinction between inherent omniscience, which is the ability to know anything that one chooses to know and can be known, and total omniscience, which is actually knowing everything that can be known." Ghanima smiled and tapped her chalk against the board. "It might sound like more semantics to you, but I promise, it's a very large difference."

"Some modern theologians argue that God's omniscience is inherent rather than total, and that God chooses to limit his omniscience in order to preserve the freewill and dignity of his creatures. Certain theologians of the 16th Century, comfortable with the definition of God as being omniscient in the total sense, to rebuke created beings' ability to choose freely, embraced the doctrine of predestination."

"Our second topic, omnipresence, is the ability to be present in every place at any, and/or every, time; unbounded or universal presence. It is related to the concept of ubiquity, the ability to be everywhere at a certain point in time. Some argue that omnipresence is a derived characteristic: an omniscient and omnipotent deity knows every thing and can be and act every where, simultaneously. Others propound a deity as having the "Three O's", including omnipresence as a unique characteristic of the deity."

"Omnipotence is where it starts to get a bit trickier," she said thoughtfully. "Belief that God can do absolutely anything can be thought to yield certain logical paradoxes. A simple example goes as follows: Can God create a rock so heavy that even he cannot lift it? If he can, then the rock is now unliftable, limiting God's power. But if he cannot, then he is still not omnipotent. This question cannot be answered using formal logic due to its self-referential nature. Two excellent examples of this are the liar paradox and Godel's incompleteness theorem. This problem led in the High Middle Ages to developing the concept of mathematical infinity, and laid the basis for infinitesimal calculus."

"A good example of this trinity might be the animal transformations that seem to plague the island at times," Ghanima said. "Say, perhaps, I had a TA that turned into a bird, or a student into a rabbit or kitten."

Not that it had ever happened. Really. Or that she had recorded this same lecture last year, with Reno as a tiny red chicken.

"One could argue that an omniscient god would, one, know of the student body's habit of thumbing their collective noses at destiny. He, she, or it, would also know of every thought a person has ever had, or ever will have. The omniscient god would know that being something cute and fluffy would be rather embarrassing for most students, who tend to think of themselves as fighters, and therefore rather fitting. Two, an omnipotent god could easily make someone a fluffy birdie, and finally, an omnipresent god would be able to enact it in the here and now."

"So, I would like you to pair up and discuss. What do you think is most important for a divine being that's writing destiny? Which of the Omnis is most compatible with the idea of free will? Which is the most incompatible? Do you feel omnipresence is part of the other two, or is it something that can stand separately. Can you be omniscient if you are not omnipresent? Team up, and decide."

"Oh, and anyone who missed last week? Please come see me at my desk after class."

[OOC: OCD UP!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Eleanor was looking around for some to pair up with and contemplating which question to answer.

There was someone that Leda would maybe have preferred to avoid. Given what had happened recently. So instead she sought her out. She was going for denial afterall.

"Hey. So uh, wanna partner up? Oh, and do you still wanna go for that night walk?" Leda seemed wired and tired all at once.

Eleanor was surprised to see Leda. She had taken Karla's advice and kept her distance, not wanting to cause any undue pain. Maybe the fact that she was here now meant she was starting to heal.

She smiled warmly. "Certainly. For both things. Please join me."

Leda smiled, and sat down. Starting to Heal? Well, she was working on it. In a way. She didn't feel like she was healing.

"When do you want to do the hike? I'm good all this week. Oh, uh, which thing do you want to talk about, Scout?"

"How does Wednesday sound? And I was thinking either the one about the divine being writing destiny or the Omni and free will question. Which do you prefer?"

"Wednesday is perfect." she nodded. ~~Mun will be available starting about 8pm eastern~~ "And, I think I understood the first one best, so lets go with that one."

She nodded. "So, I guess the first question would be why would a being write a destiny for someone? Are they doing it for just that person or some other greater goal?"

"I'd imagine it'd be for some greater goal. I have a hard time figuring on a diety focusing special attention on one person simply for that person's benefit. Or detriment."

She wondered how Horus fit into that. Was it his idea to have the elementals teach her to ensure that Alison was stopped?

"I'd like to think so as well. Perhaps that individual could influence or even change the outcome of a situation that would affect many others."

"Like, those stories about people destined to stop some evil overlord or something. It's never about personal glory, it's about saving the world."

"Is that the most important part, then? The destiny has to have something to do with saving the world? Irregardless of what may happen to the person in question?"

"Picking one person and making them go through all that doesn't sound like someone that's going to be too concerned with that person, beyond the task appointed to them." Yeah Leda still wasn't so hot on the whole destiny thing.

"That's possible," she agreed, "but I'm not sure if that is the case for all." At least she hoped she hadn't been a random choice. Yes, she was beginning to think that perhaps she had some kind of destiny given what had happened to her. "Maybe some do feel something for the person they chose."

"Maybe it depends on who's doing the choosing."

"Do you think some dieties or beings are more caring than others?" she wondered.

"I don't know. I don't really know anything about gods. Well, one of the Pups was pretty Christian and he made his God sound like a decent guy."

"I think most people view dieties like that. I haven't really been a follower of any particular religion, to be honest about it."

"Hey neither have I. Durward, that's the guy I mentioned, he was one of the few Christians that made God sound cool."

She nodded. "So, have we completed the assignment? Or is Professor Atredies's question one of those that people could write about forever? I think the latter perhaps, but I don't think we need to go that far," she laughed lightly.

"I think we're done. Unless we decide to make a career out of debating it."

"I believe I can think of better ways to spend my time," she smirked. "I'll see you on Wednesday?"

Destiny & Free Will, Week VI [Monday, Period 4]

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