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The Complexity of the Spirit - Clabo

Honestly, one of the things I have related to most going through books five through seven has to be Augustine's struggle to grasp the concept of the spirit of God. I think at one point everyone has struggled with the concept that God is infinitely powerful and infinitely present even though we cannot see Him in physical form or talk to him face to face. I am a very science-minded person, so trying to believe in someone who I cannot see and is outside the laws of space and time used to be, and still sometimes is, very challenging for me. Just like Augustine, I feel like when you come to some sort of understanding that you will never be able to fully understand the complexity of God, you are already in a position that is closer to understanding Him. He is more than the human mind will ever be able to fathom in any way. 

I know I kept it pretty short and sweet, but going any further would lead to something essay length in order to explain it. However, do y'all have any thoughts on this topic? 

P.S. I commented on Emmett Bryant's and Lily Caswell's posts.

Comments

  1. Jamie PetersFebruary 1, 2021 at 9:20 PM

    I agree with the observation that most of the blog posts this week, mine especially, are leaning towards explication paper material. That being said, I find it very interesting how drastically the opinion of the complexity of God contrasts between two Neoplatonists such as St. Augustine and Boethius. Augustine believes that our own heads get in the way of accepting God's complexity, while Boethius argues that our heads get in the way of discerning His simplicity.

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  2. Micah PowersFebruary 2, 2021 at 9:30 AM

    I agree that so often us science minded folk try to sort God into a box or wrap him around and into what we know the amazing thing about that though is that every time we put God in a bubble he manages to kind of burst that bubble and should his immense capability.

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