Creating Autonomy

I thought I was about done discussing some consequences of a “slowed down” God, but I think I may mention one last point. If travel isn’t instantaneous, it is impossible to control things that are happening far away. In practical terms, what does this mean for divinity?



As I mentioned before, I think it sets up an effective limit for any, well lets call it “supervising”. The realm that an individual may have direct control over is limited. While check ups are of course possible, there must be a level at which time delays limit involvement. In this sense, there is most likely a threshold as it were for divinity. In other words, once a group is sufficiently separated from its head, it must become relatively autonomous. (I don’t think this autonomy in any way denies the existence of God, or the language one would use to describe his influence. It would just mean that many of the things we assume happen directly may be indirect, or due to forms that exist, or previous experiences that have been taught).

So what events would cause this autonomy to occur? According to my reasoning, the prime reason seems to be distance. Now what would cause this separation? Well if one looks at the size of the Galaxy, and the proportion of habitable planets, it would seem that habitable planets (or at least ones that have gotten screened for a closer look according to solstation.com) occur optimistically every 3ly in our neck of the woods or evenly distributing every 1 x 10^3 ly or so according to a simplistic Drakeapproximation (the difference is probably due to thegalactic habitable zone we are in, and different “n’s”). So separation caused by a need to be around a hospitable planet may have required an increase in autonomy. This seems to fit with the mormon belief that pre-mortal spirits , with Christ at the head were the active agents of creation. It may also help to make sense some of the confusion that usually exists with Christ’s role as creator and the old testament Jehovah.

Now of course, this is just speculation. However, it seems to me that for things to function properly, with the constraints of slow communication, each planet really needs its own supervising entity. Of course, with long time frames, it is unlikely that many earth like experiences will be going on simultaneously. However, I think the limiting principle will, to some extent, still apply.