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my skin is not my own
Joined: 26 May 2009
Posts: 82
Location: the wheel of samsara
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Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 7:36 am Post subject: Concept of God
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The concept of god FH portrays for us I thought was interesting. From the first couple of chapters I've started with a few pointers, followed by quotes from the book to prove the points. As I progress through the novel I'll expand on these ideas and begin discussing the quotes. if anyone has anything to say/discuss or if I missed anything, please add.
 GOD = the lord knows very well what is in your heart. Your soul suffices this day as a reckoner against you. I need no witnesses. You do not listen to your soul, but listen instead to your anger and your rage.
Clearly being god means all-seeing, all-knowing, all-hearing, all-smelling [this is funny "The Duncan's odour preceded him: the man was high on his own adrenalin." And.. "Leto sniffed, he smelled the esters of a preservative oil riding on the stink of Moneo's perspiration."]
The following are dictionary meanings;
Omni = a word element meaning "all"
Omnipotent = almighty, or infinite power, as god or a deity. Having unlimited or very great authority.
Omnipresent = present everywhere at the same time.
Omniscient = knowing all things, or having infinite knowledge.
Prescience = knowledge of things before they exist or happen; foreknowledge; foresight.
TWO SEPARATE BEINGS = Leto the Emperor and the worm who is god.
He [Leto the Emperor] kills no one. It is the worm [who is god] that kills.
Leto lives in the bosom of god.
VULNERABILITY = Leto was always aware that his hands and feet were vulnerable. Some of his flesh, especially the face, was vulnerable to a lasgun.
HAS AN ENEMY [ENEMIES] = not sure if this is a point on its own or fits in here under vulnerability.
Siona is my ardent enemy. But even while Siona surprises me she reminds me of what I fear most - the sameness and boredom which could break the Golden Path. Siona is the contrast by which I know my deepest fears.
Enemies strengthen you. Allies weaken. I tell you this in the hope that it will help you understand why I act as I do in the full knowledge that great forces accumulate in my empire with but one wish – the wish to destroy me. You who read these words may know full well what actually happened but I doubt that you understand it.
ENJOYS SURPRISES = You know how much I enjoy surprises. It is absolute prediction which equals death to me. How utterly boring death is. I assure you that the ability to view our futures can become a bore. Even to be thought of as a god, as I certainly was, can become ultimately boring.
THE PREDATOR = the D-wolves are but an extension of my purpose and my purpose is to be the greatest predator ever known.
I am a predator. The predator improves the stock. The predator does not hate its prey. Predators kill. I kill but I do not hate. Prey is good. Prey assuages hunger.
For what do you hunger, Lord? For a humankind which can make truly long-term decisions. The ability to change.. your mind. Short-term decisions tend to fail in the long-term.
Time runs out for any finite observer. Even my thousands of years are but a puny blip against infinity. In the view of infinity, any defined long-term is short-term.
ANCESTRAL MEMORIES = if there is any true crypt of my ancestors, I am that crypt. Both my paternal grandfather [duke Leto] and his mortal enemy the old Baron Vladimir Harkonnen rest uncomfortably in my ancestral memories. Even my father [Paul Muad-Dib] is not content. I have done what he feared to do and now his shade must share in the consequences. The Golden Path demands it.
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Last edited by my skin is not my own on Wed Nov 04, 2009 3:46 am; edited 2 times in total
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boardadmin
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Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 5:07 pm Post subject:
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Interesting points/quotes all. But remember that, although Leto II was all of these things (a divinity in some sense), he also didn't use all of his senses to their limits. For instance, he only peeked at the future to see if the Golden Path continued. He never glimpsed every aspect of how it would unfold. Therein lay the trap of prescience that he was painfully aware of.
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my skin is not my own
Joined: 26 May 2009
Posts: 82
Location: the wheel of samsara
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 3:36 am Post subject:
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| boardadmin wrote: | | He never glimpsed every aspect of how it would unfold. Therein lay the trap of prescience that he was painfully aware of. |
All which begins must end. The rise and fall of empires / societies / universal phenomena – from the macro to the micro. Leto knowing this – accomplished this. Where the other societies want to continue for ever and ever – without the possibility / allowing of change, but want complete control and order over the known universe according to their rules and regulations – always in combat for supremacy with other like minded individuals / societies. We may want or think of god / heaven / peace to be immortal / everlasting – it / he / she / is only mortal in the end… especially manifested in the physical world. we may even begin to question what do we think [a] god is..
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