The Scourge of The Dark Side...Tolkien and Modernism

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Originally Posted by Ibrîniðilpathânezel

Did that make any kind of sense? This is what I get for going online too soon after waking up....

No, I get what you're saying.

It may well be possible for an omniscient Eru, outside the limits of Time, to coexist with free will, but perceiving how this could be so within the construct of Time may not be possible.

That may very well be true, but I'm not willing to accept it as a solution without proof or real comprehension. If we do, "God works in mysterious ways" might well be the universal explanation to anything we don't understand (although he/she/it/xxx certainly does). But as I said before, and you suggested, seeing things from a limitless God's perspective is impossible for finite beings like ourselves. To continue my earlier analogy, it would be as fruitless as an ant trying to see things from a man's perspective, while burying it's fangs deep into his bare pinky toe.

But what is time? I for one take it for granted and can't imagine it in any other way than we perceive it. But I remember from my physics-classes that time isn't as fixed as one is tempted to believe (fex. it passes more slowly for an object travelling at speeds approaching the speed of light). But I'm out of my depth here. If there are any students or scientists with knowledge of advanced physics around, I'd appreciate their input.

Edit: I did a quick search and found this discussion which pretty much mirrors my earlier thoughts, although with much more knowhow obviously (haven't read much of it myself yet though): http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=245197

Here's a teaser:

Q: "Are not these very words, written by myself, nothing more than a consequence of the initial conditions?"

A: "I don't think we yet really know the answer to that question. In the classical/newtonian era before qm theory was developed; most phycists would probaby hedge for a Deterministic universe. Now with qm it's a very contentious issue."