12. There is a necessary being



  1. Understanding eternity

Men cannot understand his nature because he is infinite and so is above all finite intelligence. Understanding him is as impossible as confining the vastness of the sea in a hand. However, we can understand the necessity of his existence.

It is clear that something exists, and even atheists do not deny it.

A being cannot exist without a sufficient reason to its existence. This principle is so obvious that nobody discuss it.

(Painting: San Juan en Patmos. FOUQUET, Jean. Museo Condé. Chantilly)

  A. Answer writing a, b or c. (If the letter takes the red a correct answer)

  1. Men cannot understand:

    a. a. eternal nature
    b. stars
    c. human society

  2. The eternal necessary being is above all:

    a. our memory
    b. our finite intelligencee
    c. our personality

 3. We cannot confine in our hand:

    a. several rings
    b. a little thing
    c. the vastness of the sea

 4. But we can understand:

    a. the necessity of his existence
    b. God
    c. divinity

 5. The existence of things are not denied by:

    a. animals
    b. even atheists
    c. vegetables

 6. A being cannot exist without:

    a. a supposition
    b. a probability
    c. a sufficient reason to its existence



  2. The necessary and the contingent being

Understanding the sufficient reason to the existence means to understand why it exists, that is to say, its cause. There can be two reasons or causes:

a) Because it has that power in its own nature, that is, it exists by itself.

b) Because it is created or produced by another one.

If a being exists by itself, by the power or its own nature, we say that it exists necessarily. In other words, the existence takes part in the nature of its essence. This being existing necessarily we call the necessary Being.

However, if a being is created or produced by another one, it owes its existence to an external cause and it does not exist but depending on that cause which has produce it. This being could be not to exist and we call it contingent or produced by another one.

(Painting: Descanso en la huida a Egipto. PATENIER, Joaquim. Museo del Prado. Madrid)

  B. Answer choosing the : a, b, c.

  1. Understanding why a being exists is to know:

    a. the sufficient reason of existence
    b. who has foreseen it
    c. who has produced it

  2. To understand that there can be:

    a. a cause or reason
    b. two reasons
    c. three reasons

 3. One exists by himself:

    a. due to the power or his nature
    b. because he is infinite
    c. because he is a demigod

 4. Only who exits necessarily:

    a. exists by himself
    b. exists by another one
    c. has been created by another one

 5. To whom exists by himself we can name:

    a. contingent being
    b. produced by another one
    c. necessary Being

 6. The being produced by another one owes its existence to:

    a. its own power
    b. an external cause
    c. its own nature or essence


  3. About contingent beings

   All beings (minerals, plants, animals, men) cannot create on their own. And cannot be contingent or produced all of them.

   The produced being does not owe its existence to its own nature, because it has not got this power.

   A contingent being would not exist had it not been for a strange and external being has given its existence.

   In other words: without a necessary Being, nothing would exist.

   All of us accept things existing, and so a necessary being exists.

(Painting: Alegoría de abril. Triunfo de Venus. COSSA, Francesco del. Palacio Schifaroia. Ferraz)

  2. Choose a, b or c

  1. All beings:

    a. can create by their own
    b. cannot create by themselves
    c. are produced by their own

  2. There cannot be only:

    a. contingent beings
    b. necessary beings
    c. possible beings

 3. The produced being does not owe their existence to:

    a. a necessary Being
    b. their own nature
    c. a superior being

 4. A contingent being would not exist had it not been for:

    a. their own nature
    b. their essence
    c. a strange and external being

 5. If there would not be a necessary Being:

    a. nothing would exist
    b. there would be everything
    c. there would be minerals, plants and animals

 6. Things exist, so there are too:

    a. possible things
    b. probable things
    c. a necessary Being




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 ®Arturo Ramo García.-Record of intellectual property of Teruel (Spain) No 141, of 29-IX-1999 Plaza Playa de Aro, 3, 1º DO 44002-TERUEL







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