MDDM World-as-text

[Terrance]

jbor wrote:
> 
> As I noted, "text", in the definition we've been using here, isn't confined
> to words. And I think science can nail down most human sensory equipment and
> data nowadays.

I understand your definition of "text." 

You wrote: 


"As soon as a person writes or says or thinks or senses (or paints or
dances
or whatever other form of expression) that "the world is this or that",
he
or she is creating a text, a representation or interpretation, of the
world."

I don't have a problem with this definition of "text." Not for the
moment anyway. 



Jbor says, 

"The argument is not that the world doesn't exist. And "textual" isn't
meant
as a synonym for "verbal"."


What is the argument? Is is that the world is not a text but thinking
makes it so? 
And, one can think a text without verbalizing it? That is, one can
express the thought-text with paint or dance. 

So why not say the world is a painting or a dance? 

Are we talking about "free will"? That is, the power that we have of
causing activity or functioning? It's an arbitrary power and the Gods
have it and so do men. Of course (to bring this back to Paul's point) in
some "world-views" God is a first principle, He creates without being
created. As His creations, we too are principles, but not first
principles because although we dance and paint and sing and create, we
are or were created by God. 

On John: 

First, what is John talking about? More importantly, is John talking or
writing? 
Is there some spirit present, some revelation at hand? 

 You have to keep reading to see what John says about the word and
creation. In the Christian world-view, God is a creator god and man is
also a creator. Man has free will. Man uses his free will to frustrate
God's initial plan. Man is inventive, sometimes he's good, but for the
most part he's bad. When god creates, what he creates is good. This
includes man. But man does not create harmonious order in the world. God
floods his creation and wipes it out. He wants to get rid of all the
evil man has created. Gods plan after this includes a series of first
families and righteous men. Man advances in his moral and spiritual
life. The story progresses, it is a history with an open future. What
the future will be, depends upon two kinds of creators, god and man. The
Sistine chapel is a good example of a creator, in this case a poet and
painter, giving expression to the creative in god and man. Is the
sistine chapel a text? OK, we could say that it is. But why should we
call it a text?