Conatus: REVISED EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

what if there was a conclusion that ultimate reality thinks the world is worth it? It might be argued that to embrace the One should also mean to embrace the manifestation of

multiplicity — and hence to embrace paradox.

Could we accept that there is grace and beauty in the world without having to pin down exactly the reasons for this or the source of ultimate explanation? This is something that will be discussed in future chapters.

In the meantime, in trying to address the various paradoxes brought to our attention by religious belief, we might usefully refer to the mystical tradition, which has roots in Judaism and Islam as well as Christianity. The mystical apprehension of the divine seems to suggest a sense of rightness in all things. Somehow the paradox of pain existing along with a benevolent God is resolved — or perhaps transcended. This seems to allow the adherent to embrace life’s paradoxes and find harmony in all things. For me, this is the real tie-in with Schopenhauer’s noumenon, although it seems to be reached more from a negation of the self than by introspection.

In this chapter there are also different kinds of truth surfacing. Instead of analytic/synthetic, rationalist/empirical truth, there are revelation and personal experience. Philosophically, this might still be called mysterian, but I suspect believers might not want this — in fact, a believer might argue that their sacred texts and direct experience of faith are more real than either empiricism or rational truth and that their faith takes precedence over philosophy or

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