1. Epistemics of divine reality The Dynamics Behind Claims to Knowing God BY DOMENIC MARBANIANG

2. Questions regarding what the universe ultimately is have often puzzled humans.

3. The Greek philosopher Archytas once asked the question: “Suppose I stood at the edge of the universe and hurled a spear outwards of it, where would it go?” Of course, it couldn’t go outwards because if it did, that would not be the edge of the universe. On the other hand, if it did bounce back, the question still remained, what lay beyond. In other words, the edge was conceptually impossible; at the same time, an infinite extension of space or the universe was also conceptually impossible. That constituted the ultimate paradox of reality.

4. Throughout the ages of history, philosophers have battled over such ultimate paradoxes, and many felt these were functional concepts bridging the now to eternity, to the transcendental, to the immutable, to the absolute, to God the Divine Reality. ETERNITY TRANSCENDENTAL IMMUTABLE ABSOLUTE GOD THE DIVINE REALITY

5. However, the resulting conclusions differed; some consummating in Monism, while others in pantheism, polytheism, or one of the many variants of religious philosophies.

6. Many also rebelled against these transcendental concepts and chose the way of either skepticism or just pragmatism, some saying that reality cannot be known as it is… while others contending that all knowledge is only pragmatical in nature, ie. It is merely a matter of workability – if something works for us, we believe it is true. In other words, we do not know what ultimate reality really is.

7. This in other way, was also an attempt to expel the transcendental categories from human vocabulary. ETERNITY TRANSCENDENTAL IMMUTABLE ABSOLUTE GOD THE DIVINE REALITY

9. David Hume the Scottish critic who rebuffed almost every traditional argument for the existence of God laid the anti-metaphysical rule that rules modern scientism. He said: If we take in our hand any volume of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance, let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames, for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion David Hume

10. In modern times, Voltaire had predicted the extermination of the Bible and Nietzsche had announced the death of God among humans. Science was filling the gaps and absorbing into its fold both the philosopher and the theologian. God is Dead! Bible Will Be Extinct Science=Truth

11. However, the two World Wars brought the question of absolute ethics to the forefront.

12. Wasn’t there something intrinsically evil about the Concentration camps? Wasn’t there a difference between the perpetuators of crime and the exterminators of crime? Wasn’t there a difference between the traditional hero and the villain? Somewhere, the issue of absolutes had to be addressed.

13. And, if absolutes did exist, there must be a way of accounting for them, a way which was not merely empirical, i.e. based on experience alone, but a way that was rational.

14. But, the rational and the empirical are in perpetual conflict; and the conflict still remains.

16. NECESSITY

17. IMMUTABILITY

18. INFINITY (UNIVERSALITY)

20. CONTINGENCY

21. MUTABILITY

22. FINITUDE

24. Gaudapada, the teacher of the advaitinSankaracharya wrote a Karika, a rational treatise that demonstrated the impossibility of experience being the source of truth and the rationality of reality as being truly non-dualistic in nature – where the subject and object cease to exist along with the perception. However, there needed to be something to account for why there is any experience of plurality at all, and the theory of Maya was postulated to solve this complexity.

26. UNCAUSED ABSOLUTE

28. when experience went to the edge, reason was thrown off.

29. The only salvation now rested in something that came and restored the balance between the two.

30. Philosophers such as Anselm, Pascal, and Kierkegaard asserted that the balance could only be struck by FAITH.

31. Blaise Pascal Reason is Based on Faith St. Anselm Faith Precedes Understanding Soren Kierkegaard Faith=Meaning

33. ABADHITA (CONSISTENCE)

36. REVELATION Mind, Matter, Meaning Intellect, Emotions, Will Substance, Eternity, Relation

37. Epistemics of Divine Reality addresses these questions and looks in detail at the various dynamics involved in the processes that drive conclusions about the universe, about man, about meaning, and about God.