“‘What then,’ you may ask, ‘is the difference in their not being bound by necessity, since they result under all circumstances as by necessity, on account of the condition of Divine knowledge?’
“This is the difference, as I just now put forward: take the sun rising and a man walking; while these operations are occurring, they cannot but occur: but the one was bound to occur before it did; the other was not so bound. What God has in His present, does exist without doubt; but of such things some follow by necessity, others by their authors' wills.
“Wherefore I was justified in saying that if these things be regarded from the view of Divine knowledge, they are necessary, but if they are viewed by themselves, they are perfectly free from all ties of necessity: just as when you refer all, that is clear to the senses, to the reason, it becomes general truth, but it remains particular if regarded by itself.”
—from Book 5, Prose 6
Though it should hardly surprise me, considering how often I have re-read the book, certain images from the Consolation have become like reference points for me, and they will pop up in my thinking at the oddest of times, firmly but kindly reminding me of how to find peace within Nature.
One of them is the picture, back in Book Two, of the man with empty pockets whistling his way past the robber. It returns to me whenever I am complaining about my circumstances, bemoaning that life is unfair, and seething with resentment toward both God and man.
Now what was really the source of my dissatisfaction? Craving things I did not need in order to be happy, and defining myself by forces well beyond my power were my downfall. If I had not wanted vain and petty things, then vain and petty men would not be of any threat to me at all.
Another is the picture presented here, of the sun rising and a man walking. I have my own version of it, foraged from a long-ago memory of getting up very early to go on a mission of love. It returns to me whenever I get confused and despondent about freedom and fate, not in a textbook sort of way, but in the very immediate sense of whether my choices ever make any difference.
Whatever has happened, or is happening, or will happen must, quite simply, happen. That sounds like a silly tautology, and, in a sense, it is precisely that. If it takes place, then it takes place, regardless of when it occurs; for Providence, there will be no distinction of past, present, and future, even as there is one for me.
And yet all of these events follow from their own particular causes, which are themselves permitted within Divine omnipotence and omniscience.
The sun rises for its own reasons, and it is ordained to do so by certain determined laws of Nature. I rise for my own reasons, and I do so from my own self-determining judgment, also as a part of Nature.
The former is a simple necessity, because the sun chooses nothing in the matter, while the latter is a conditional necessity, because I have been the one to decide.
God, however I may choose to understand Him, made all things in specific ways. Some were made with no freedom, and others were made with degrees of freedom.
That the Divine has absolute power over all creatures does not exclude autonomy, since it is within the realm of power to both restrict and to permit. That the Divine has absolute knowledge of all creatures does not hinder free will, since it is within the realm of awareness to be conscious of what it did not itself directly determine.
Recall, by analogy, that I could well have stopped my children from breaking that iPad, but I did not do so. Recall that I knew what would happen, but I did not make it so.
The sun could not have refused to rise that morning, but I could certainly have followed my better judgment, and refused to let myself play the fool. I could have stayed at home, and read a good book, and left all those confused passions right where they were, allowing others to live their lives as they best saw fit. I did not need to have any further part in it, and yet I made the call.
“This is the difference, as I just now put forward: take the sun rising and a man walking; while these operations are occurring, they cannot but occur: but the one was bound to occur before it did; the other was not so bound. What God has in His present, does exist without doubt; but of such things some follow by necessity, others by their authors' wills.
“Wherefore I was justified in saying that if these things be regarded from the view of Divine knowledge, they are necessary, but if they are viewed by themselves, they are perfectly free from all ties of necessity: just as when you refer all, that is clear to the senses, to the reason, it becomes general truth, but it remains particular if regarded by itself.”
—from Book 5, Prose 6
Though it should hardly surprise me, considering how often I have re-read the book, certain images from the Consolation have become like reference points for me, and they will pop up in my thinking at the oddest of times, firmly but kindly reminding me of how to find peace within Nature.
One of them is the picture, back in Book Two, of the man with empty pockets whistling his way past the robber. It returns to me whenever I am complaining about my circumstances, bemoaning that life is unfair, and seething with resentment toward both God and man.
Now what was really the source of my dissatisfaction? Craving things I did not need in order to be happy, and defining myself by forces well beyond my power were my downfall. If I had not wanted vain and petty things, then vain and petty men would not be of any threat to me at all.
Another is the picture presented here, of the sun rising and a man walking. I have my own version of it, foraged from a long-ago memory of getting up very early to go on a mission of love. It returns to me whenever I get confused and despondent about freedom and fate, not in a textbook sort of way, but in the very immediate sense of whether my choices ever make any difference.
Whatever has happened, or is happening, or will happen must, quite simply, happen. That sounds like a silly tautology, and, in a sense, it is precisely that. If it takes place, then it takes place, regardless of when it occurs; for Providence, there will be no distinction of past, present, and future, even as there is one for me.
And yet all of these events follow from their own particular causes, which are themselves permitted within Divine omnipotence and omniscience.
The sun rises for its own reasons, and it is ordained to do so by certain determined laws of Nature. I rise for my own reasons, and I do so from my own self-determining judgment, also as a part of Nature.
The former is a simple necessity, because the sun chooses nothing in the matter, while the latter is a conditional necessity, because I have been the one to decide.
God, however I may choose to understand Him, made all things in specific ways. Some were made with no freedom, and others were made with degrees of freedom.
That the Divine has absolute power over all creatures does not exclude autonomy, since it is within the realm of power to both restrict and to permit. That the Divine has absolute knowledge of all creatures does not hinder free will, since it is within the realm of awareness to be conscious of what it did not itself directly determine.
Recall, by analogy, that I could well have stopped my children from breaking that iPad, but I did not do so. Recall that I knew what would happen, but I did not make it so.
The sun could not have refused to rise that morning, but I could certainly have followed my better judgment, and refused to let myself play the fool. I could have stayed at home, and read a good book, and left all those confused passions right where they were, allowing others to live their lives as they best saw fit. I did not need to have any further part in it, and yet I made the call.
For better or for worse, it went as it did. That God knew this long “before” I was even born reflects the harmony, and not the conflict, of freedom and fate,
Written in 2/2016
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