04. Why does anything exist?
The questions are the title of the above painting by Paul Gauguin, explained in Wikipedia as follows:
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (French: D’où venons-nous ? Que sommes-nous ? Où allons-nous ?) is an 1897–98 painting by French artist Paul Gauguin. The painting was created in Tahiti and is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. Viewed as a masterpiece by Gauguin, the painting is considered “a philosophical work comparable to the themes of the Gospels”.
Wiki explains that Gauguin attended a Catholic boarding school with a strong religious focus, and although he became anticlerical, these questions stayed with him.
The World
(2) the relation between God and time?
(b) the origin of space (which depends for its existence on time and matter)
(c) the relation between God and space
Is it intended to:
(a) satisfy our curiousity about the mechanics of How the universe was formed; or
(b) tell us of Who formed the universe?
Are they scientifically sound, or are they like a painterly illustration that gives the essential shapes but leaves out the details that are beyond human understanding?
(9) What are the dangers of treating it as poetry?
Although I would like to have a pop-up form which allows you to keep your personal answers here, I haven't found how to do that within budget. So, I plan to prepare downloadable pdf files with fillable spaces for your answers - yet to be done.
