Entelechy

Our minister is on vacation this week, so Paul Snider filled in for Wednesday night's talk. Though we are in the middle of a series on relationships, Paul talked about our gardens, the gardens in our mind. What seeds are we planting in our mind? What weeds are we allowing to grow there. Are you the sort of person who needs to be fed weakly weekly or with loads of fertilizer? Are you selective in what you allow to go into your garden or not? Do you have the right tools to cultivate your garden? Do you need a forest fire to clear the land or can you use a hoe?

One thing that Paul brought into the talk was the concept of entelechy. His definition was simple: the huge oak tree is contained in the tiny acorn. A more expanded definition is: an Aristotelian concept of some thing's actuality as opposed to its potentiality with the added belief of a sort of determinism via a "vital force" directing the acorn to become the huge oak tree. This actuality also determines how the entity experiences life. If one was born into a healthy, wealthy household, for example, then he or she will experience life differently than one who was born into abject poverty and unhealthy, even if both of them become wealthy or poor. One may have a prosperous, deserving consciousness while the other may have a lack, victim consciousness.

Of course, one may change his or her mind at any time and thus change his or her life. One may have a victim and lack consciousness, but could decide that she or he deserves better in life and then she or he pursues the new way of living never looking back.

It is all up to the individual.