Q&A: Is Man Primordial?
Is Man Primordial?
Question
Hello,
I understood that according to Kant, time was “created with human reason.”
A. Is he right?
B. If so, does that mean that man is primordial, like the eternity of God?
Answer
According to him, time was not created, because it does not exist. It is a form of our way of looking at the world, and not something that exists in reality.
A. I don’t know.
B. No. The term “primordial” is used by us within the framework of our perspective, which uses terms of time. In those terms, we are newly created and He is not. For example, I can talk about my grandfather’s date of birth even though I did not exist then. That talk is being done by me today, so I use my own time. But through my time-lenses I can look at earlier periods.
Discussion on Answer
Unfortunately, I don’t see a discussion here, and I don’t see a continuation of the discussion. What is the connection between this question and the previous discussion? Are you asking whether we have a soul beyond the body, and whether it existed before the formation of the body? Whether yes or no—what does that have to do with the timeline and with the existence of time?
As for your question, I tend to think that the soul existed earlier and entered the body. I am a dualist who accepts the existence of a soul beyond the body. Therefore, in my opinion it is more reasonable that they were not created together.
Okay, thank you.
Regarding the Rabbi’s point that this is not a continuation of the discussion about time:
Yes, I was being a bit roundabout instead of asking the question directly.
I thought to infer from the idea that man is primordial like the eternity of God that he also existed before entering the body, but the Rabbi rejected the thought that man is primordial, so the analogy fell away.
Okay, with your permission I’ll continue the discussion:
Was “I” created when I was born 28 years ago, or did I exist beforehand and was only “clothed in a body”?