Wednesday, September 19, 2018

God in the coma

Classical theists believe God subsists outside of time and space. So how does God interface with embodied, timebound agents? Take a comparison: suppose a young man suffers severe brain damage from a traffic accident. He's in a coma. 

His mind is still intact. He can dream, remember, imagine, but he's cut off from the outside world. He can't register what people say to him, he can't register when they stroke his hair or hold his hand. He's sealed away in his own mind. (I'm not saying if that's actually true for comatose patients. It's just a thought-experiment.)  

But suppose his best friend is a telepath. Up until now his best friend didn't have to tap into telepathy to communicate with the comatose patient. But they have many shared memories of stuff they did together. Hiking. Jet-skiing. Boating up and down a nearby river. And so on.

The best friend is able to bypass the brain damage and broken sensory relays to contact the comatose patient directly. When the comatose patient dreams, his best friend inserts himself into the dream. They enjoy the same kind of fellowship they did before the accident. The telepath needn't be physically present to be psychologically present. And psychological presence can simulate the five senses. 

1 comment:

  1. Shades of Reverie?
    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6461746/

    ;)

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