Let us never tire of metaphysics. Metaphysics is the study of being. It is also the study of God. It is the study of demonstration; demonstration of what is. Metaphysics teaches us about the name of God. Yahweh, which means "I am," is a unique name. Why so? Most descriptions or demonstrations are made of subject and predicate. For example: The cat is sleeping in the basket. Or: The man is a teacher, and so on. The subject refers to the substance. The predicate refers to what is said about the substance. In the theory of concept containment, the essence of the predicate needs to be contained in the essence of the subject for it to be a true statement. We can make true statements about things in the natural world because we can easily determine that the essence of the concept of the predicate is contained in the essence of the subject. You know, because we can speak categorically about things in the natural world. And we can speak about such things univocally.
With God however, we can at best speak analogically, or apophatically. We can only adduce characteristics for God by drawing analogies with characteristics of things in the natural world. And so, when we speak about God, we do not apply the concept containment theory. We do not say that the essence of the predicate we use to describe God is contained in his essence, because his reality lies beyond whatever description we adduce for him. If we said for example: God is good. This is true, but only analogically. We draw from what we observe good things in the natural world to be like, and we apply this observed state of affairs to God. Whereas the reality is that God is beyond good. If we said as well: God is beyond good, or: God is infinitely good; both these statements are true, but still only analogically. We have no positive idea of what "beyond good" is, or what "infinitely good" refers to. We hardly even know what "good" is completely. And so, we cannot say this truthfully about God as we can say: The cat is in the basket.
One of the reasons we cannot apply the concept containment theory in defining what is true as pertains to God is because God is a simple being. His essence is his existence. Things in the natural world are by no means simple like God is. Things in the natural world, including humans, are made of matter-form-composite essences, as Aquinas would assert. We can easily adduce predicates for these things because their composite natures make such things analyzable. We can however not analyze God. Who can subject God to the art of the vivisectionist! Aha - got you, didn't I! God is beyond our human understanding. And so, perhaps the only truthful thing we can say about God is the content of his name: Yahweh, which means: I am that I am (I am I); God is God; he is what he is. In such a case, the subject and the predicate are the same. Nothing else can replace such a predicate, because no essence of anything is containable in the essence of God as to be capable of truthfully defining him. God is beyond form, as my metaphysics teacher told us. God is beyond reality. Like Plotinus' One, God is transcendent of the intelligible.
He is who he is. Just think about that. When you are overwhelmed by the mysteriousness of life, and it seems as if you do not understand what it means, just realize that God does. And you can trust God. But again: if you can trust God whom you do not know, then you can trust life that you do not know. Such faith makes triumphant living possible. In the burning bush, God told Moses, "I am who I am." Yahweh. The power of that name is hopefully not lost on countless generations. From the time of Abraham to the present age, God remains unsearchable, but he remains nonetheless who he is. And he is. Make no mistake about that. I am 33 years old, and so far there is only one thing I have never doubted, and that is the fact that there is in fact God. God exists. I don't just believe it, I know it for a fact, just as I know that 2 plus 2 is 4. I know that God exists. I may not be able to prove his existence in some classy way like countless philosophers have - by the way, let's mention a bunch of the philosophers that have formally proved the existence of God: Descartes, Anselm, Bonaventure, Aquinas, Scotus, Melbranche, Spinoza, and Berkeley; and this is just a handful - yet I know from private experience and thought that there is indeed a God. It is the infinity of God that keeps the universe perennially going, as if to infinity itself. "Light from light."
Anyway. I intend this to be a Christmas reflection. But why should it qualify as such? Because it talks about God. I know about God. I know that he exists, and because this is the only truth I know categorically of him, it is what he is. It is his essence. Because we have said that the only truth we can say about God is that God is God (He is who He is); but if we can say he exists, then "exists" defines him. He is the existing thing, if Descartes is the thinking thing. The essence of existence is the essence of God. God cannot not exist. Christ's birth is celebrated today: the birth of the existing one. This one comes to exist in our hearts and minds. He lives that we too might. We need to trust in him. He will never fail us. We must be close to him, and obey his will for our lives. It's how we're going to move forward. There can be no other way. God is God. Stay with it. Know it. Merry Christmas.
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