How Can We Be Materialistic While God Is Not?

Question

A discussion on the nature of material existence and the divine. [AR_ID:1928]

Answer 1

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.

Summary of the answer:

Materiality is a characteristic of the deficiencies and limitations of material beings, not a characteristic of their perfection. God possesses the perfections of all beings.

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Detailed answer:

Philosophers have stated that the cause that grants existence possesses the perfections of its effect, as it makes no sense for the giver to lack what it intends to give to another.

What they mean by the cause enjoying the perfection of the effect is that it has a higher and more complete status than the existence of the effect, such that the existence of the effect is considered a ray of its existence, rather than the limits of the effect's existence being preserved in the cause.

In other words, the cause that grants existence must possess the existential perfections of the effect in a more complete and higher manner, rather than being characterized by its deficiencies and limitations. If the concepts of being material, spatial, temporal, and subject to change and alteration do not apply to God Almighty, it is because these concepts are characteristics of the deficiencies and limitations of material beings, not of their perfections.

Source: The New Approach in Teaching Philosophy - Vol. 2, pp. 64, 65.

May you be successful in all good.