What is a postulate?
It’s a foundational assumption upon which a larger framework of logical thought is constructed.
Although the contents of this site might be somewhat ecclectic, the foundational postulate upon which all will rest is this:
The universe, and everything in it, is fundamentally good.
This simple statement and belief, sometimes referred to as privatio boni, is grounded in the thinking of Western philosphers such as Plato, Plotinus, and St. Augustine. It is not new, but leads to a few interesting observations:
- Goodness is generally equal to existence.
- “Evil” does not exist independently, but is merely the absence of good; in a similar way that darkness is the absence of light.
- People are creations of good and are imbued with (varying degrees of) goodness.
- No person is fundamentally “bad,” although over time some (many?) of us distance ourselves from or suppress our goodness in various ways.
- Our ability as humans to “create” gives us the power to add goodness to the world.
- Our ability as humans to “destroy” gives us the power to remove goodness from the world.
Again, the point of this post (and site) is not to debate this. It is a postulate and I believe it to be true. There are many people who do not. I understand that, and there are plenty of other places to engage in debate on this topic.
This is a personal website — not an attempt to evangelize or convince. I am building it to engage in creation by expressing my thoughts (see item #5 above). Some of these thoughts may be mundane, some may be practical, others may be philosophical, yet others may just be silly or stupid.
Let’s see where this thing goes!