PROCESS THEOLOGY &
PROCESS SCIENCE OF MIND
By Arthur Chang
Ernest Holmes’ dream was for
a time to come (process) when science and religion walked hand in hand. That
time is now. However, in the search for truth there is no guarantee that what
is found will fit seamlessly into one’s assumed and familiar cosmology or
worldview.
Process theology is radically
different in many important ways than Plato/Aristotle influenced classical
theism we have accepted as theological correct for centuries. Process is a
theology that grew out of current philosophy and science (namely quantum
physics) rather than out of the scriptures. However, the concept of God fits
more closely the qualities of God in history, which is more like the
Judaic/Christian model than it is like the current classical theism of Greek
philosophy with its notion of God as a static actuality, immutable, perfect,
and unfeeling.
Process thought affirms that
process is fundamental. This does not mean everything is in process. That would
imply even process is subject to change. It teaches that there are unchanging
principles and abstract forms. However, to be actual is to be a process. Thus,
anything that is not a process is an abstraction from process, and not a
full-fledged actuality.
Alfred North Whitehead, the
seminal thinker on this latest form of process thinking, says the temporal
process is a “transition” from one actual entity to another. These entities are
momentary events, which perish immediately upon coming into being (quantum
physics). They perish to be succeeded by the succeeding events. Time does not
flow but comes in “droplets.” Think of a filmstrip with discrete frames. When
in motion it seems to flow smoothly. Without the boundaries, there could be no
real individuals. Boundaries are what allows us to identify events.
However, there are events
that have their own unity, unlike a storm, or party. These may consist of
person or animal, tree, mountain and so forth. This is an experiential unity.
Events of this type Whitehead calls “actual occasions” or “occasions of
experience.”
This subject becomes much
more complex and I’ll stop here. However, there are great implications for
theological reflections. As we proceed we will see that God does not control
everything, or else there would be no true freedom. There are past actualities
as well as present. However, the future has no actualities. God is fully
engaged in our lives offering options. God feels us and is responsive, and God
is not coercive, God is persuasive.
This is an extremely brief
attempt to introduce to you a few concepts of Process theology and Process
Science of Mind. Learning it is worthwhile even if you will have to live with
it awhile to arrive at that conclusion.
No comments:
Post a Comment