When did I
come into this world?
Men and women are not
creators.
“Brother
Aurelius, did my mother and my father create me?”
-Brother
Raymond,- “ . . . there is one form which is given from without to every
bodily substance, such as the form which is constructed by potters and smiths,
and that class of artists who paint and fashion forms like the body of animals,
but another and internal form which is not itself constructed, but, as the
efficient cause, produces not only the natural bodily forms, but even the life
itself of the living creatures, and which proceeds from the secret and hidden
choice of an intelligent and living nature, let that first-mentioned form be
attributed to every artificer, but this latter to one only, God, the Creator
and Originator who made the world itself and the angels, without the help of
world or angels.
For
the same divine and, so to speak, creative energy, which cannot be made, but
makes, and which gave to the earth and sky their roundness, this same divine,
effective, and creative energy gave their roundness to the eye and to the
apple; and the other natural objects which we anywhere see, received also their
form, not from without, but from the secret and profound might of the Creator,
who said, "Do not I fill heaven and earth? and whose wisdom it is that
"reacheth from one end to another mightily; and sweetly doth she order all
things." Wherefore I know not what kind of aid the angels, themselves
created first, afforded to the Creator in making other things. I cannot ascribe
to them what perhaps they cannot do, neither ought I to deny them such faculty
as they have. But, by their leave, I attribute the creating and originating
work which gave being to all natures to God, to whom they themselves thankfully
ascribe their existence.
We
do not call gardeners the creators of their fruits, for we read, "Neither
is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the
increase." Nay, not even the earth itself do we call a creator, though she
seems to be the prolific mother of all things which she aids in germinating and
bursting forth from the seed, and which she keeps rooted in her own breast; for
we likewise read, "God giveth it a body, as it hath pleased Him, and to
every seed his own body."
We
ought not even to call a woman the creatress of her own offspring; for he
rather is its creator who said to his servant, "Before I formed thee in
the womb, I knew thee." And although the various mental emotions of a pregnant
woman do produce in the fruit of her womb similar qualities, as Jacob with his
peeled wands caused piebald sheep to be produced, yet the mother as little
creates her offspring as she created herself.
Whatever
bodily or seminal causes, then, may be used for the production of things,
either by the cooperation of angels, men, or the lower animals, or by sexual
generation; and whatever power the desires and mental emotions of the mother
have to produce in the tender and plastic fetus corresponding lineaments and
colors; yet the natures themselves, which are thus variously affected, are the
production of none but the most high God.
It
is his occult power which pervades all things, and is present in all without
being contaminated, which gives being to all that is, and modifies and limits
its existence; so that without Him it would not be thus, or thus, nor would
have any being at all.
If,
then, in regard to that outward form which the workman's hand imposes on his
work, we do not say that Rome and Alexandria were built by masons and
architects, but by the kings by whose will, plan, and resources they were
built, so that the one has Romulus, the other Alexander, for its founder; with
how much greater reason ought we to say that God alone is the Author of all
natures, since he neither uses for his work any material which was not made by
Him, nor any workmen who were not also made by Him, and since, if he were, so
to speak, to withdraw from created things his creative power, they would
straightway relapse into the nothingness in which they were before they were
created? "Before," I mean, in respect of eternity, not of time. For
what other creator could there be of time, than he who created those things
whose movements make time?” [1]
“Brother
Aurelius, I simply had to share your entire answer. Thank you.”
We
have seen that the person we are is spirit. The rest of our soul, the mantle
and the energy-cells, are there to enable our spirit to minister to our
heavenly Father (through our body) while here on earth.
Performance
by my soul.
I would like to review how my soul performed through this
experience.
1. My soul left every corner of my body in an orderly
manner, almost instantly, without suffering a loss of any kind.
2. My soul assembled the energy-cells, who were somehow
realigned, compacted together, and wrapped them in the mantle for their exit
from my body.
3. My spirit followed the mantle (as its head), leaving my biological head to do so.
4. My soul then assumed a position above my body.
5. My mantle then opened up and exposed the energy-cells.
6. Not one energy-cell moved, yet they all blinked
continuously, in so doing they displayed their power, their light and their
(heat?).
7. My mantle maintained its position by way of its
oscillating “fins.”
8. There below me was my body, nothing but a heavy pile of
wet meat.
9. When I pondered my return to my body, it took place in a
flash. In one powerful woosh I returned into my body (through the same spot from which I made my
exit) and instantly, my consciousness was in my biological head. I also felt my
consciousness returning to every part of my body, distributing the energy-cells
throughout my body as it did so. This was no mean feat.
Imagine standing in the Sahara desert with a giant vacuum
cleaner. With one draw, the vacuum cleaner sucks up every grain of sand in the
desert. Then, in one instant, in reverse, it returns every grain of sand to its
original exact location, returning everything to exactly as it was. This is
what I experienced and it reflects to some degree how I experienced both
processes, i.e. leaving and returning to my body. This is simply beyond
anything I have seen or known. Our bodies, marvels and wonders that they are,
are nothing when compared to our soul with its abilities. After my return to my
body, finding myself in my clothes again, I was filled with wonder.
It is abundantly obvious that not one tiny step of this
entire process was attributable to flesh and blood but rather to my soul where I
was, though I did not understand or comprehend
why or how things were happening.
If I live to be two hundred years of age, without my soul:
1. My brain will never be able to add 2+2.
2. My body will never move.
3. My body will never feel pain.
4. My eyes will never see, even the darkness.
5. No sound will ever come out of my mouth.
6. My ears will never hear the loudest thunder crash.
In other words, without my soul, this body can do nothing, zilch.
-Brother
Raymond.-
“Yes,
brother Thomas.”
-What
is the meaning of this word, ‘zilch’?-
“Brother
Thomas, it means, ‘zero, nothing.’ Perhaps from an alteration of z(ero) +
(n)il.” [2]
-Well...
a new word for me. Thank you Brother Raymond.-
My spirit is in charge of my spiritual and biological life.
Yes I have only one life and it is
spiritual in nature and in purpose, since God created me in his image and
likeness. My soul does not belong to me; it belongs to God, its Creator. Like a
compass, it unwaveringly shows me the right course, whenever I allow it to do
so.
I had a body from the moment I was conceived.
“Now Brother Thomas, I would like to touch on a couple of
points on this question, “The soul (spirit, mantle and energy-cells) is united
to a body and is its form.”
Point number one.
It is my spirit that is I, that makes me what I am, that
operates my body. Let us remember once again the words of our blessed Lord:
“It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to
offer. It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The
words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”[3]
Point number two.
Look
at the graphic below:
Note:
Soul (spirit, mantle and energy-cells) present in all stages regardless of size
of the body. The zygote is indeed a male or a female human person, whose body
is at a given moment one cell, but which continues to grow until it has 2, 4,
8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1,024, 2,048, 4,096 until it reaches 50 to a 100
trillion cells or more. From the beginning a zygote is a person in formation
and development, from conception to death.[4]
Obviously
a man or a woman cannot conceive energy-cells, a soul or a spirit. If their
mating results in a flesh and blood offspring, it is because God gave that
zygote a soul. But what is a “zygote?”
The
Free Dictionary (Google) defines a zygote as:
“1.
The cell formed by the union of two
gametes, especially a fertilized ovum before cleavage.
2. The organism that develops from a zygote.”
It
also defines a cell as:
“a.
The entire material or physical structure
of an organism, especially of a human or animal.
b. The
physical part of a person.”
So,
a “zygote” is a cell that is the entire material or physical structure of a
human, the physical part of a person. Everything a body is, (past, present and
future) is contained therein. In other words a zygote cell is a body, and the
life therein is human because it has a rational soul.
Now
a zygote does not know how to develop the human body, but the soul, created by
God does. From the very first instant the first cell was formed by the union of
two gametes, God’s created soul goes into “action,” this new spirit goes into action.
Now, we have a cell that at this stage is the entire person, body and
soul.[5]
[1] St. Augustine the City of God, Book XII Chapter 25. That
God alone is the creator of every kind of creature, whatever its nature or
form.
[2]
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/zilch
[3] John 6:63
[4] Depending on the source, that figure varies from 10 to 100
trillion cells. Sources: Asimov, Isaac. The Human Body, New rev. ed., p. 79;
New Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 6, p. 134; Van Amerogen, C. The Way Things
Work Book of the Body, p. 13.
[5] I nearly jumped through the roof when I read, “The Human
Rational Soul in the Early Embryo by Stephen J. Heaney, Professor of
Philosophy, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN 55105. (651) 962-5000 or
(800) 328-6819. What I had learned from this great experience, he confirms with
his knowledge and academic background. I am quoting only a part of his work,
the rest can be seen at:
www.vanderbilt.edu/sf1/ThomistFertilization.htm
which I
strongly urge you to read.
He
says in part: “Since our knowledge of the coding and workings of genetic
information is far from complete, it is certainly not necessary that the
information triggering differentiation be extra-zygotic. The coincidental
evidence, however, is striking. Let us grant, for the sake of argument, that
interaction with molecules outside the zygote provides the last piece of
information which sets off the differentiation process. What metaphysical
significance does this have? Does it mean that a human rational soul--hence, a
person--is not present? Is a power of the parent still at work, forming the
body of this individual?
The
evidence suggests a more likely scenario. A parental power may be at work, but
its power is only instrumental, not formative. Take this passage, for instance:
"At most, the zygote possesses the molecules that have the potential to
acquire informing capacity." (90) What seems to be going on here is that
the maternal molecules supplying the necessary bits for the beginning of
differentiation simply enable the zygote to do its own work of formation. The
human soul of the zygote can do this work alone, even though, for a while,
certain necessary physical conditions must be supplied from outside the zygote.
The power of differentiation at a certain stage is a power of the thing, hence
derived from its soul, but it is a passive power, requiring certain triggering
events. An analogy might serve as an illustration. We have powers of sensation,
but these powers do not act all by themselves. They require an external
stimulus to begin their operation. Without a sound, the power of hearing is
useless. This does not mean sound is part of the power of hearing, but it is a
necessary condition for it. Likewise, the power of formation into the embryo
stage is already present in the zygote, awaiting the necessary conditions for
beginning its operation. Under this latter scenario, the better explanation of
the personhood of the zygote and embryo would be that the same soul, the human
rational soul, is present in the zygote and embryo, and it alone is properly
responsible for the formation of the body from the combination of male and
female chromosomal material. The power of the parents in the formation of the
zygote and embryo, necessary in Aristotle's and Aquinas's understanding of
fetal development--in fact, necessary to any theory of mediate animation under
Thomistic metaphysical principles--is simply not present. Each of these authors
under scrutiny has missed the mark by approaching the issue from the
perspective of material conditions rather than what operations require the
human soul. They suggest that we must have a human ontological individual
before the soul comes. But it is, in fact, the soul which makes this matter to
be a human ontological individual.”