AWARENESS
(Posted 2008-05-16 17:25:25 by ArchPaladin)

(I know!  So many spiritually-themed entries in a row.  Yet, this is what's
going on in my life, which is what you came here to read about.  Suck it
up.)

There's a thought experiment that was proposed by John Searle called the
Chinese Room [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room ] [wikipedia.org].
 It was originally proposed as an argument as to why true movie-style
artificial intelligence is impossible, but it has a lot of profound
philosophical implications as well.  You really should read the wikipedia
entry because the explanation is good, but the basic gist of the argument
is that AI is impossible because a computer program that was supposed to
simulate intelligence doesn't really _understand_ what it's doing - it's
just carrying out a set of predefined instructions.  The presumption (and
the ultimate source of a lot of debate, IIRC) is that it is the quality of
understanding that distinguishes an intelligent being from an unintelligent
one.

Granted that this is a through experiment, and that every analogy
eventually breaks down if we take it too far.  Nevertheless, there are
interesting spiritual analogues to this.

Despite being spiritual beings, we are not well connected with the senses
that show us the spiritual realm.  Some would even say that we have no
spiritual senses at all.  So, when we approach spiritual situations -
whether that be wrestling with the idea of God, or struggling to find
meaning and purpose within a chaotic existence - we are largely blind to
what goes on around us.  Many choices that we make that affect our
spiritual lives (which is arguably every choice) can be made without
thought about what impact those choices have on our spiritual well-being. 
As Christians, we have access to God and instructions on how to carry out
our lives successfully from a spiritual perspective, but we can easily
follow those instructions just like a person sitting in the Chinese room. 
We may take actions that we don't fully understand (ie. stepping out on
faith), looking for results that we believe will come but are not seen as
guaranteed when viewed by undiscerning eyes.

As I've grown in my walk with God, it has been interesting to see my
spiritual awareness change.  This has been particularly true as of late,
with all of the things that I've sort-of-talked-about here.  Before I would
make a lot of decisions that I knew were correct but really couldn't tell
you why.  Now, my spiritual awareness has grown, my understanding of things
has changed, and I can explain things better.  I'm most definitely not out
of the Chinese room yet, but I'm beginning to understand.

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