Eternal consciousness / John S. Dunne.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dunne, John S., 1929-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Immortality--Christianity.

Immortality.

Future life--Christianity.

Future life.

Spirituality.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (153 p.)

Place of Publication:

Notre Dame, Ind. : University of Notre Dame Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In his new book, John S. Dunne asks: "So what is eternal consciousness? It is, I take it, consciousness of the eternal in us. If time is 'a changing image of eternity, ' as Plato says, the changing image of the human being is like The Voyage of Life, four paintings by Thomas Cole, showing childhood, youth, adulthood, and age. The eternal in us is the person going through these phases. It is the vertical dimension of the life, as in the title scene of War and Peace where Prince Andre lay on the battlefield looking up into the peaceful sky, perceiving peace in the midst of war. If the horizontal dimension is time and the vertical dimension is eternity, then eternal consciousness is awareness of the vertical dimension. What is more, the vertical dimension carries through the horizontal, as the person walks through life upright instead of being dragged through in 'quiet desperation.' Willingness and hope, accordingly, is willingness to walk through upright with hope in the face of death and darkness." -from the book What can I know? What should I do? What may I hope? Dunne explores these questions in his characteristic hermeneutic method, finding the answer in "the words of eternal life" (John 6: 68). It is the life of the spirit that is the eternal in us, the inner life of knowing and loving, the life of hope and peace and friendship and intelligence. "If there were no eternal consciousness in a man, " Kierkegaard says, "what then would life be but despair?" John Dunne adds, if there is eternal consciousness in us, on the other hand, there is hope. To readers of John Dunne's books, Eternal Consciousness will be the latest installment chronicling his spiritual journey; to readers new to Dunne's oeuvre, it will be a lively introduction to the distinctive voice and thought of an inspiring author.

Contents:

"We can know more than we can tell"

Telling the story

Knowing the relationship

Is matter a dimension?

Does the brain situate the mind?

Does the body situate the soul?

Real presences

Presence of others

Presence to self

Presence of god

Words and music

Theme: the verbal inside of music

Inscape: the musical inside of words

Story and song

"Where do you come from?"

"Where are you going?"

Eternal consciousness

Song cycle

Note on mind and matter.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780268077761

0268077762

OCLC:

797816840