Josh Plovanic's Writings and Thoughts

The Romans believed that there was a spirit or even personal deity that followed a person from the moment of birth until the moment of death.  The Romans called these beings "geniuses" which is where the modern engish term "genius" comes from, although with a different application. The Greeks called them "Daimons." They were protective spirits or divine beings. Every person supposedly had one from birth to death. They were in a sense the personication of the divine nature that dwells in every human being. In Christianity, the concept of "guardian angels" borrowed from the Romans, who often depicted their geniuses as having wings and protective tools, not so different from the depictions of angels. These beings were assigned to a person by the Creator, and dwelled with them for the entirety of their lives. Called "tutelary deities/spirits" which means protectors of a person, place, or thing, the jobs of geniuses, daimons, and guardian an

     Every system is a hierarchy, but not every hierarchy is system. A building is hierarchal, with a clear top to bottom structure, but a building isn't a system in itself but it can be a part of one.      The definitive trait of a system is motion. The parts have to move, exchange energy and information, and do some sort of work for a specific purpose.  In a sense all of existence is one massive system, and there are many other systems in that system. You can arrange a hierarchal system around any geometric shape or structure. Circles, squares, triangles, pyramids, spheres, the brain, a tree, your body, any physical/spatial form or object you can arrange a hierarchy based on it. This is important because how you arrange hierarchies will determine how well the system functions and how successful it will be at completing its purpose. In terms of human systems and hierarchies, the arrangement of the hierarchy in governments and societies will determine the effectiveness of the syste

In Christianity, most people think in terms of Heaven, Earth, and Hell. It's been a mainstay in the faith since the beginning to see the universe divided this way. Cosmology in general is pretty complex. There are many belief systems about existence and as a result many cosmologies.  When we look at the cosmos, the vast expanse of space and time that make up the known universe, we see trillions of galaxies and quadrillions upon quadrillions of stars. Even though we haven't directly observed the vast majority of them, it can be a safe assumption that there are many worlds.  Buddhist cosmology divided the universe in a sort of "horizontal/vertical" arrangement of realms. The vertical was based on merit, with the higher the realm, the more intense and valuable the reward, pleasure, and bliss was. The lower the realm, the less rewarding and sometimes even tormenting the realm was. The pinnacle wasn't always clear, and hypothetically you could go on forever up the blis

My favorite angel has been the Archangel Michael since probably when I first learned about him. He is the epitome of a divine warrior. A soldier for the LORD. In fact, in Catholicism, he is the patron saint of warriors, police officers, paramedics, and the "heroes" of society. He is the champion of the weak. The angel who defends the helpless and protects the vulnerable or persecuted from the venom and hate of the Devil.  In tradition he is the strongest angel. The angel who, at the beginning, defeated the Devil and his angels in combat and cast him to earth where he and his angels remain to this day. He is the highest ranking angel. The "general" of God's army. He is the angel you would call for help in times of danger or distress. He is the avenger of injustice, often depicted as holding scales as well as a sword in many depictions.  In short, he is the angel who deals the divine wrath of God. Definitely the one angel you don't want to be on the bad side o

"Only a Sith deals an absolute."  -Obi Wan Kenobi The most striking and profound philosophy I have ecountered recently is that of the Jainist concept of "Anekantavada" or "Non-absolutism." It's a thinking principle of immense social, political, spiritual, and educational utility. The Jains saw existence as infinitely or close to infinitely complex. As a result, they thought no person, worldview, or theory had the complete answers because no finite perspective on existence accounts entirely for the whole system. "No one sees the whole picture." To the Jains, there are no absolutes. It's not a matter of whether a philosophy, belief system, or person is right or wrong on matters with great complexity and uncertainty...in a sense they are neither and both. In the philosophy of non-absolutism, the argument is that if you simplify complex things, you'll end up missing core variables that could factor into a clearer understanding. It's h

One of the most dignified and noble professions in the world is that of a teacher. Teachers pass the knowledge of previous generations and learners to the new generation, which in all honesty is probably the most important action taken in society.  In order for a culture to survive and be resilient, its history and knowledge needs to be ingrained in every generation that is born into it. Societies don't last long if they fail to educate their kids. In a sense, the security of a nation depends on an effective and quality education system, as a lapse in this creates a kind of "threat from within" where an uneducated populace becomes a detriment to the security of it's own nation. We don't need to look very far to see this. For me, the greatest teacher in existence obviously is the Creator. The conscious force and person who permeates the whole of existence. He is reknowned for His lesson-teaching. In fact, He teaches the most important lessons a person can learn. Le

So the last couple weeks I have been on an eastern religions kick in my readings, particularly the ideas of Jainism and Buddhism. Both of these religions are focused on entering into a state of liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth. Such a state is called "enlightenment" or "awakening" where someone becomes aware of the true nature of reality and has overcome the mental bondage of suffering and the cycles of "Samsara," the birth-rebirth cycling of an eternal existence. The goal of this enlightenment is liberation. A state of pure mental and spiritual liberty of which you are free of suffering, delusion, envy, greed, fear, hate, and all the cognitive poisons and inhibitions of thought and understanding. The various eastern religions differ on how they interpret this state and how to achieve it. Today I wanted to do a thought experiment about enlightenment. To start, I want to ask the question "what would happen if the entirety of humanity or a

  The major tenet of my core philosophy is the idea that "everything exists." To put it simply, it is like inverse nihilism, where instead of life being meaningless and empty, where nothingness is the fate of all things and the void becomes the dominant force and truth of existence, nothingness is rendered as the only thing that truly doesn't exist. Everything else exists either as form, idea, or something substantial, and there are an infinite amount of "things" that exist. I call this philosophy "infinitism" because of its complete opposition to nihilism. Kind of like how the opposite of Zero in mathematics would be best represented by the concept of infinity. "The opposite of nothing is everything" so to speak. Now, when I say everything exists, I don't mean everything exists all in one place and all in one time. Everything that exists exists in its respective time and place, or its respective "domain." Just like you'd ne

"Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."      -Hebrews 13:2 One of my favorite Christian songs I listen to is called "Jesus in Disguise" by Brandon Heath. It's a discussion of a hypothetical where Jesus entered our world and instead of a grand show of force and glory He concealed His identity and dwealt amongst us in plain sight.     One of the lyrics in the Chorus says "you were looking for a King you would never recognize." I often wonder how we would treat Him if He were amongst us as just a run of the mill dude.  How would we engage with Him, and what would we do to Him. I have come to understand a truth about God, and that is He often puts us to the test. He tests our ethics. He tests our soundness of mind. He tests our patience and our resolve. He tests our resilience. Many times we fail these tests, and He knows this. He does it not in the same way your sci