Extra-Solar Religion and Science
A Biblical Vision
So, I think there will be a communication from beyond spacetime, that lacks the cognitive detail of Hamlet’s father describing his murder by poison in his ear. The one account of a transcendental message I can recall, although it does not involve a vision, I heard in Sunday school. It was the story of Saul setting off to Damascus to persecute some Christians. Checking the description in Acts of the Apostles, I found the story goes like this:
A great flash of light from the sky interrupted Saul’s journey, sending him to the ground.
A voice said, “Saul why do you persecute me?”.
Saul replied, “Tell me, Lord, who you are”.
The voice said, “I am Jesus, the one you persecute. Go into the city. Learn what you must do.”
And those with him who heard the voice from the sky saw nothing and were amazed.
I have shortened the biblical text, I hope without removing essential information. Bright light and emotional shock occur that function a means of focusin attention with piercing focus. There is no account of a vision but we are not given Saul’s description of how he experienced the event. Somebody else its relating the event, perhaps at second hand. But the absence of a vision is suggested but not confirmed by Saul's question. The details of the message are of considerable interest to theologians.
From the point of view of message size, the information content is suspiciously large, including the cognitive detail in the names and the direction to go to a city. And a conversation occurs rather than a brief statemen. The message appears deliberately short, because someone in the city is left to fill in the details. But the fact that Saul followed instructions, reversing his pattern of behavior completely, organizing Christians to survive in the long term instead of persecuting them, shows he treated the message as real. The implication is that the source of the voice was well aware of Saul's organizational and personal talents.
3/2/2021 10 (8, 9 out)
. . .a moment expressed while the poet is not . . .