The problems of Omnipotence - Part III
We've seen here, how omnipotence can be a tricky concept.
When we walk a path and that path splits, a choice is presented to us. Do I turn left, or right? We do not have the power to go to both paths at the same time. You can walk both paths simultaneously only if your power is limitless, only if your are omnipotent.
If we can do everything, the power to perpetually enjoy a certain state of mind, to enjoy all my favorite states of mind, or even to create an infinite number of states of mind and enjoy them all at the same time, is possible. Being at perfect bliss is not an aspiration of an all powerful being, it is just something such beings always have, because there is nothing stopping them from having it - they are all powerful.
Again, nothing you can think of has "no" for an answer.
Given this, the word "choice" will lose meaning. When regular beings choose something, there is always a motive or a reason for choosing A instead of B. And even when the choice is random, there is usually a reason for that too: indifference, no time or patience to choose, etc...
Omnipotent beings will be presented with a dilemma: their choices never have a reason behind it, because they have absolute power. Why? They can change the choices they are about to have, change themselves not to need the choice, make themselves able to choose both, whatever... There is never a "no" to "can a Omnipotent being do this or that?".
If you can do everything, you don't choose anything. Choices are options that only limited beings need to go through. Example: "Should I stay single, or get married?". An all powerful being knows the lives of all married people and of all single people, from the past and the future (omniscience). Such being can know the pros/cons of all people of both groups and enjoy both at the same time. Better yet, without the cons.
So next time you hear someone say God did something this way instead of that way, and they give you an explanation as to why that choice was the way it was, remember how Omnipotent beings don't deal with choices. Choosing is a thing for us power limited mortals. And as for the reason or explanation given: Omnipotent beings are not limited by anything, so there are never reasons to go one way instead of another.
So what would motivate an all powerful being to do anything?
We've seen here, how omnipotence can be a tricky concept.
When we walk a path and that path splits, a choice is presented to us. Do I turn left, or right? We do not have the power to go to both paths at the same time. You can walk both paths simultaneously only if your power is limitless, only if your are omnipotent.
If we can do everything, the power to perpetually enjoy a certain state of mind, to enjoy all my favorite states of mind, or even to create an infinite number of states of mind and enjoy them all at the same time, is possible. Being at perfect bliss is not an aspiration of an all powerful being, it is just something such beings always have, because there is nothing stopping them from having it - they are all powerful.
Again, nothing you can think of has "no" for an answer.
Given this, the word "choice" will lose meaning. When regular beings choose something, there is always a motive or a reason for choosing A instead of B. And even when the choice is random, there is usually a reason for that too: indifference, no time or patience to choose, etc...
Omnipotent beings will be presented with a dilemma: their choices never have a reason behind it, because they have absolute power. Why? They can change the choices they are about to have, change themselves not to need the choice, make themselves able to choose both, whatever... There is never a "no" to "can a Omnipotent being do this or that?".
If you can do everything, you don't choose anything. Choices are options that only limited beings need to go through. Example: "Should I stay single, or get married?". An all powerful being knows the lives of all married people and of all single people, from the past and the future (omniscience). Such being can know the pros/cons of all people of both groups and enjoy both at the same time. Better yet, without the cons.
So next time you hear someone say God did something this way instead of that way, and they give you an explanation as to why that choice was the way it was, remember how Omnipotent beings don't deal with choices. Choosing is a thing for us power limited mortals. And as for the reason or explanation given: Omnipotent beings are not limited by anything, so there are never reasons to go one way instead of another.
So what would motivate an all powerful being to do anything?
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