What is God?

[Tube Socks Dude]

I was recently asked if I am my own God. The answer is yes and no. It depends on what one means by God.

I hold to a dipolar conception of God similar to that of Process theism rather than the monopolar view of classical theism which sets up checklists of seemingly contradictory divine attributes, such as being-becoming, and cause-effect, then goes down the list ascribing only one side to God that squares best with certain Hellenic notions that the "really real", is wholly simple, immaterial, and passionless. To me, this “monopolar prejudice” is lopsided. Nothing real can be described by reference to only one side or pole. I believe God is a modulation between two poles or fundamental aspects; an eternal pole of potentiality and a temporal pole of actuality or manifestation. These two poles are the primordial Divine nature and the consequent Divine nature. The latter actualizes in the world the divine possibilities of the former. This requires polar contrasts such as relative and absolute, subject and object, effect and cause, becoming and being, temporal and eternal, concrete and abstract, actual and potential, contingent and necessary, finite and infinite, and complex and simple. They are correlative in that each member of a pair requires the other for its meaning; that is, symmetry of meaning exists between them. Being-becoming, actuality-potentiality, necessity-contingency are mutually interdependent correlatives, so that nothing real can be described by an exclusive reference to only one of the contraries. Classical theism breaks the law of polarity since one pole of each contrary is regarded as more excellent than the other, so that the supremely excellent being cannot be described by the other and inferior pole, thus denying God the contrasting term for interpreting deity. However, if God is to be conceived as the eminent embodiment of value and supremely worshipful being, then God must be conceived not in monopolar terms but as dipolar, exemplifying the admirable forms of both pairs of metaphysical contrasts. For example, rather than saying that God is in all respects active and in no respects passive, the alternative is to say that God is active in some respects and passive in other respects, each in uniquely excellent ways. If it is good to be independent and not deterred by others, it is also good to be deeply moved and affected by the feelings of others. I view creation as God's own eternal evolution from unconsciousness into self-consciousness and self-actualization. We should rejoice in the fact that we have a genuine significance in the life of God. God’s love is not just creative, as if made known only by doing something good things for us. Rather, it is both creative and receptive.

Hartshorne explains that God is a whole whose whole-properties are distinct from the properties of the constituents. While this is true of every whole, it is more so of God as the supreme whole. . . .The part is distinguishable from the whole although within it. The power of the parts is something suffered by the whole, not enacted by it. The whole has properties too which are not shared by the parts. Similarly, God as whole possesses attributes which are not shared by his creatures. . . . We perpetually create content not only in ourselves but also in God. And this gives significance to our presence in this world. To be is to be free, to be choosing, and to be enjoying (slightly or greatly, positively or negatively) the process of selecting from among competing influences. To be doing this is to be alive. To be doing it with the complexity of performing these tasks self-consciously, rationally, purposefully is to be doing it as a person. To have perfect awareness of all this, perfect memory, love, and preservation of it, and to be giving perfect guidance to the others who are involved in the process is to be the only perfect person, God.

God’s Primordial nature functions as a “lure for feeling”. God is not an authoritarian deity who rules by forceful coercion but a caring deity who lures events to achieve maximum depth of aesthetic value, beauty, harmony and peace through gentle persuasion. God is not an unmoved mover, imperial ruler or ruthless moralist, instead a patient, tender and caring God who lures events to realize divine aims. Primordial nature functions as a lure toward value. God is the poet of the world patiently leading by a vision of truth, beauty and goodness. The Consequent nature is a caring deity who saves all beauty achieved by creative events as everlasting value-qualities in the divine memory.

God is not just transcendent but possesses dual transcendence. According to this principle, God is radically unique individual in the most ‘eminent’ sense in that he surpasses every other reality in every aspect of both the poles of his nature. Hence every category, which is predicated to God’s existence or actuality, applies to God as the supreme instance or the ‘supercase’ of that category. Thus God’s existence, relativity, dependence, love are all uniquely and supremely cases of categoric excellence. In Hartshorne's view, God can embrace excellent aspects of both activity and passivity, or of permanence and change; classical theists, on the other hand, exclude passivity and change from their conceptions.

Besides Process Philosophy, Dialectical Monism helps explain complementary polarities which, while opposed in the realm of experience and perception, are co-substantial in a transcendent sense. Also Dual Aspect Monism overcomes the spirit/matter, mind/body dichotomy by saying the universe and its contents possess two aspects of equal ontological status, a physical aspect and a mental aspect. The aspect that is emphasized depends on the way the universe is approached, through introspection or external observation. Thought and extension are not distinct substances, but two of the infinite modes of the one substance “God or nature”. Gustav Fechner 1801-1887 explained dual-aspect monism by means of a circle analogy; a circle is both concave and convex, and exhibits one or the other aspect depending on the perspective from which it is viewed.

Many mystics, philosophers, scientists and psychologists have come to realize there is no ontological gap between God and nature. For example, Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021) stated that Matter is not corporeal but spiritual. Moses Cordovero (1522) stated that the Infinite is present in every part of the finite. In Spinoza's (1677) panpsychism, some form of consciousness is found in all matter. Leibniz (1766) saw the universe as an infinite number of fundamental units (monads) each having a primitive psychological being. Whitehead (1929) viewed reality as a collection of events occurring in a basic field of proto-conscious experience. Russell (1927) described a "neutral monism" which gave rise to both mental and physical entities. Wheeler's (1990) pregeometry and Chalmers' (1996) dual aspect theory view information as a basic constituent of reality which may give rise to experience. The Bohm/Hiley (1994) approach involves a monistic field of quantum information/potential from which conscious experience is derived. Cicero said, "Why will you not admit that the universe is a conscious intelligence since conscious intelligences are born from it?

Nothing exists that is not a manifestation of Supreme Consciousness which is comprised of essence and energy and characterized by awareness. Energy is simply a compressed form of consciousness set into motion. Therefore matter is energy in a form or mode of consciousness. Astrophysicist Sir James Jeans wrote in the 1930s, "...the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine." So, too, as proposed in the The God Theory, ultimately it is consciousness that is the origin of matter, energy, and the laws of nature in this universe and all others that may exist. And the purpose is for God to experience his potential. God's ideas and abilities become God's experience in the life of every sentient being. What greater purpose could there be for each of us humans than that of creating God's experience? God experiences the richness of his potential through us because we are the incarnations of him in the physical realm.”

The unity and plenum of Being became within Itself a duality of Being and Non-being; a set of polar opposites like the division of the Tao or Tai Chi into Yin and Yang, the division of Paramashiva or Parasamvit into Shiva and Shakti, the division of the Light of the En Sof into Hesed and Gevurah. When the Infinite Being divided the 'waters' of its consciousness into subjective and objective, the universe was formed by the interaction of these two aspects of original consciousness and, along with it, the capability for Infinite Being to view itself from an infinite number of viewpoints. The human race today represents approximately seven billion different viewpoints of the one Source. You are Infinite Being, observing itself through the viewpoint that is you. Each mind has the vocation of developing a unique perspective on what it is to "be". Human minds appear as partially isolated or partially independent pockets of divine thought and purpose. These centers of consciousness receive their separate identity due to the constraining conditions of natural law, material composition, biological drive and the gift of free agency. We are sparks from the flame finding infinite ways to burn and shine on behalf of God's pervading consciousness. We are drops which fall from the rain cloud of Divinity. As in the emergence model of creation God does not sit impassively above the process, untouched and unchanged by the vicissitudes of cosmic history. Instead, there must be emergence within God as well. God is affected by the pain of creatures, is genuinely responsive to their calls and acquires experiences as a result of these interactions that were not present beforehand. Ultimately, we will not suffer a loss of individuality, but a gaining of sympathy. Like God, we will rejoice in every little victory by anyone in the world, and feel sadness at harm done to another, sadness for the person harmed, and for the one harming, who cannot see the harm they are inflicting on their own soul.

All things are in God and God is in all things, yet God is still greater than all things. The Hermetic maxim is also true: All is in The All and The All is in All. The Absolute is the substratum of reality which is unmanifest and manifest, transcendent and imminent, primordial and consequential. You can call it God, the Tao, Brahman, Ein Sof, the Ground of Being or whatever you like.

"He is too great to be called by the name "God".
He is hidden, yet obvious everywhere.
He is bodiless, yet embodied in everything.
There is nothing that he is not.
He has no name, because all names are his name.
He is the unity of all things,
so we must know him by all names
and call everything "God". ~ Hermes Trismegistus

 

[Penumbra]

I gave you reps for the post, but I wonder, what is it that brought you to this conclusion as opposed to another conclusion?

I've never been able to set up a conclusive list of traits God has, or even be sure that a god exists, so whenever people give an overview of what they believe God to be, my first question is always, "How do you know?"

 

[Tube Socks Dude]

I've never been able to set up a conclusive list of traits God has, or even be sure that a god exists, so whenever people give an overview of what they believe God to be, my first question is always, "How do you know?"

I’ll compare such knowing to that which takes place in the dreaming state. Take the example of a dream where you are running through a jungle being chased by a lion. The energy patterns of your mind create your “self” in the dream. It also creates the jungle where you exist and the other being in the dream chasing you. In this case, the knower, the knowing and the known are all the same thing in different modes of mental energy, which are the dreamer, the dreaming and the dream. It is the same with the One and the many. Subjective intuition indicates that existence itself is a result of the knower, the knowing and the known all produced by the mind/consciousness of the One.

It is as if Truth is a sphere. People run all around on the outside of the sphere with their surface consciousness looking for the absolute truth, only to end up plotting points on the surface of it. Every time they think they have found the ultimate end point, another point is plotted by somebody else. There is no end point on the surface of a sphere. One can only experience its spherical shape to know it. So it is with absolute Truth. One can not pinpoint it with propositions, doctrines, dogmas and mere scientific evidence. It must be experienced. The Tao that can be nailed down with name and form is not the real Tao, only a description or aspect or quality of it.

It is like intuiting the principal of God embedded in nature, such as how water acts. One may say look at the waves rising and falling to describe the ocean. However, what makes water essentially water is its wetness. If you were yourself water, you would know yourself as wetness but there would be no way to describe wetness with words. You would simply have to be wet. Recognize the underlying quality of the ocean of consciousness and you recognize God as the substratum of reality just like water realizing it is wet.

Notice how the sun in the sky can be seen far way, yet its light travels to earth as a mode of its being, and then you feel the invisible mode of its energy. Sun, sunlight and energy are all the same thing, yet distinct aspects. So it is when intuiting the connectedness of all things in the universe. Reality speaks of itself without words by observing nature.

When the time is right, your consciousness will wake up as if you just experienced a sudden flash of lightning bringing wareness of the way things are both inside and out. It may last for a second or a few minutes, but it will leave an imprint on your mind. That’s all it takes.

There is no hard and fast rule, but just for a basic idea of what one might expect when the “knowing” comes. The following is a short excerpt from Richard Maurice Bucke's book "Cosmic Consciousness". Some or all of the following may be experienced:

“What is his experience? Details must be given with diffidence, as they are only known to the writer in a few cases, and doubtless the phenomena are varied and diverse. What is said here, however, may be depended on as far as it goes. It is true of certain cases, and certainly touches upon the full truth in certain other cases, so that it may be looked upon as being provisionally correct.

At the same instant he is, as it were, bathed in an emotion of joy, assurance, triumph, "salvation." The last word is not strictly correct if taken in its ordinary sense, for the feeling, when fully developed, is not that a particular act of salvation is effected, but that no special "salvation" is needed, the scheme upon which the world is built being itself sufficient. Simultaneously or instantly following the above sense and emotional experiences there comes to the person an intellectual illumination quite impossible to describe. Like a flash there is presented to his consciousness a clear conception (a vision) in outline of the meaning and drift of the universe. He does not come to believe merely; but he sees and knows that the cosmos, which to the self conscious mind seems made up of dead matter, is in fact far otherwise--is in very truth a living presence. He sees that instead of men being, as it were, patches of life scattered through an infinite sea of non-living substance, they are in reality specks of relative death in an infinite ocean of life. He sees that the life which is in man is eternal, as all life is eternal; that the soul of man is as immortal as God is; that the universe is so built and ordered that without any peradventure all things work together for the good of each and all; that the foundation principle of the world is what we call love, and that the happiness of every individual is in the long run absolutely certain. The person who passes through this experience will learn in the few minutes, or even moments, of its continuance more than in months or years of study, and he will learn much that no study ever taught or can teach. Especially does he obtain such a conception of THE WHOLE, or at least of an immense WHOLE, as dwarfs all conception, imagination or speculation, springing from and belonging to ordinary self consciousness, such a conception as makes the old attempts to mentally grasp the universe and its meaning petty and even ridiculous. This awakening of the intellect has been well described by a writer upon Jacob Behmen in these words: "The mysteries of which he discoursed were not reported to him, he BEHELD them. He saw the root of all mysteries, the UNGRUND or URGRUND, whence issue all contrasts and discordant principles, hardness and softness, severity and mildness, sweet and bitter, love and sorrow, heaven and hell. These he SAW in their origin; these he attempted to describe in their issue and to reconcile in their eternal results. He saw into the being of God; whence the birth or going forth of the divine manifestation. Nature lay unveiled to him--he was at home in the heart of things. His own book, which he himself was (so Whitman: ‘This is no book; who touches this touches a man’) [193:382], the microcosm of man, with his three-fold life, was patent to his vision" [79:852]. Along with moral elevation and intellectual illumination comes what must be called, for want of a better term, a sense of immortality. This is not an intellectual conviction, such as comes with the solution of a problem, nor is it an experience such as learning something unknown before. It is far more simple and elementary, and could better be compared to that certainty of distinct individuality, possessed by each one, which comes with and belongs to self consciousness. With illumination the fear of death which haunts so many men and women at times all their lives falls off like an old cloak--not, however, as a result of reasoning--it simply vanishes. The same may be said of the sense of sin. It is not that the person escapes from sin; but he no longer sees that there is any sin in the world from which to escape. The instantaneousness of the illumination is one of its most striking features. It can be compared with nothing so well as with a dazzling flash of lightning in a dark night, bringing the landscape with had been hidden into clear view. Distinctly there are many degrees of higher consciousness from the elementary awareness of shared consciousness with other individuals to the perception of profound scientific insight, and the transcendental experience of the mystic. These represent the varying degrees of creative intelligence of the cosmos, the infinite divine principle represented in the anthropomorphic symbolism of "God" in the many religions of the world."

The good news is that if it never happens, that's fine too.

 

[Tube Socks Dude]

You ask, "How can we know the Infinite?" I answer, not by reason. It is the office of reason to distinguish and define. The Infinite, therefore, cannot be ranked among its objects. You can only apprehend the Infinite by a faculty superior to reason, by entering into a state in which you are your finite self no longer, in which the Divine Essence is communicated to you. This is Ecstasy. It is the liberation of your mind from its finite consciousness. -Plotinus

 

[Tube Socks Dude]

It is He who is revealed in every face, sought in every sign, gazed upon by every eye, worshipped in every object of worship, and pursued in the unseen and the visible. Not a single one of His creatures can fail to find Him in its primordial and original nature. ~ Ibn 'Arabi, Futûhât al-Makkiyya

 

[Tube Socks Dude]

"He moves and He moves not; He is far, yet is near. He is within all that is, yet is also outside. The man who sees all beings in the Self and the Self in all beings is free from all fear." ~ Isa Upanishad

 

[Tube Socks Dude]

“Divinity is the enfolding and unfolding of everything that is. Divinity is in all things in such a way that all things are in Divinity.” ~ Nicolas of Cusa

 

[Tube Socks Dude]

Enter eagerly into the treasure-house that lies within you, and so you will see the treasure-house of heaven; for the two are the same, and there is but one entry for them both. The ladder that leads to the Kingdom is hidden within you, and is found in your own soul. Dive into yourself and in your soul you will discover the rungs by which to ascend. - Saint Isaac the Syrian

 

[Tube Socks Dude]

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. ~ Albert Einstein

 

[Penumbra]

The good news is that if it never happens, that's fine too.

How is that fine?

 

[Tube Socks Dude]

How is that fine?

Because the "All That Is" often chooses to view itself from the perspective of duality. That's why the Abrahamic religions have done so well for so long. There is a time to experience the ecstacy of the unitive state and a time for the perception of separateness. To know what is near requires the corollary of far away in order to have symmetry of meaning. God looses itself in phenominal reality to experience the joy of finding Itself anew in each center of consiousness. If you do not have a mystical experience, you are still playing your part in the grand cosmic unvolding. It's all going on whether you know it or not. There is nothing to be saved from, only personal evolution to gain. Your job is to learn and grow and experience life, and hopefully contribute at least one small something to humanity that interconnects with everthing else to elevate mankind to higher state. It is not a case of meeting criteria for worthiness before God, to get his attention or run from his wrath. If you make a wrong decision, the universe is set up to be self-correcting. Wrong actions will ripple back like a stone thrown in a pond and eventually you find out you were only hurting yourself when hurting others. From a quantum mechanics standpoint it would be call it the web of relationships and you can't mess it up. You can't let God down. Your vocation is simply be authentically who you were created to be with all your physical, biological, emotional, psychological and spiritual ingredients. If that means even if you never have a mystical experience, then God is still satisfied because you made authentic choices the way only you could and gave new meaning to the perspective of duality.

 

[Penumbra]

So God keeps certain parts of him separate so he can view himself from multiple angles?

It sounds cruel.

 

[AzA]

I was recently asked if I am my own God. The answer is yes and no. It depends on what one means by God. ...

"He is too great to be called by the name "God".
He is hidden, yet obvious everywhere.
He is bodiless, yet embodied in everything.
There is nothing that he is not.
He has no name, because all names are his name.
He is the unity of all things,
so we must know him by all names
and call everything "God". ~ Hermes Trismegistus

Tube, I'd missed this aspect of your voice. Welcome home.

 

[Soul_Golem]

Dude,

I think you are over-analyzing God.

God is not a theorem.

I know you know that, but my head is spinning after reading your post.

One tip, the best way to write for the Web is to be concise and to the point without being lengthy and wordy.

I know from experience how to write for the Web, because I am a web developer and your post is a shot above my head and a little too fast for me.

So, I respectfully request you post again your thoughts.

Thanks if you do, and jelly beans if you don't!

 

[Tube Socks Dude]

So God keeps certain parts of him separate so he can view himself from multiple angles? It sounds cruel.

That is just one way of contemplating it. It is not a literal separation in the ontological sense. It is by degree or limitation of attributs such as knolwedge. Anything that congeals from spirit to mind to matter is bound up in one way or another so that it cannot be all that the font and source of Being is in its plenitude. Anyway, that's what made sense to me personally. It gives me purpose. It could also just be a plain, simple emanation, unfolding, emerging, becoming, flowing from one to many and returning to the source or fractalization leading to many new "gods" in their own right. Process Theology basically just says God becomes because that is what God does...continually bcomes something more, creates, generates novelty (because God has a monotony threshold). What I'm trying to do is simulate an interest to explore concepts of God. There are many more philosophical or metaphysical views of reality than that of classic theisim and creation ex-nihilo (out of nothing).

 

[Tube Socks Dude]

Dude, One tip, the best way to write for the Web is to be concise and to the point without being lengthy and wordy......So, I respectfully request you post again your thoughts.

Extreme wordiness is why I followed up my long post with simple quotes from Plotinus, Ibn Arabi, the Upanishads, Nicolas of Cusa and the Kybalion. I figured they could say it more succinctly.

My beliefs are condensed from anecdotal statements collected from a wide range of sources such as Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Thales of Miletus, Xenophanes, Anaxagoras, Apollonius of Tyna, Rumi, Kabir, Hazrat Inayat Khan, Meister Eckhart, Mechtild of Magdeburg, Teilhard de Chardin, Fritjof Capra, Sri Aurobindo, Aldous Huxley, Friedrich Wilhelm von Schelling, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Mathew Fox, Richard Rohr, Br. David Steindl-Rast, the Vedas, the Tirumantiram, the Tao te Ching.

However, if I must provide a simple explanation, I suppose a good final summary of my beliefs about God could well be taken from the Song of Vibhuti Yoga by Sri Swami Sivananda…..

I am fragrance in jasmine, beauty in flowers
I am coolness in the ice, flavour in the coffee
I am greenness in the leaf, hue in the rainbow
I am taste bud in the tongue, essence in the orange
I am mind of all minds, Prana of all Pranas
I am Soul of all souls, Self of all selves
I am Atman in all beings, apple of all eyes
I am Sun of all suns, Light of all lights.
I am that I am, I am that I am,
I am that I am, I am that I am.

 

[Soul_Golem]

Extreme wordiness is why I followed up my long post with simple quotes from Plotinus, Ibn Arabi, the Upanishads, Nicolas of Cusa and the Kybalion. I figured they could say it more succinctly.

My beliefs are condensed from anecdotal statements collected from a wide range of sources such as Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Thales of Miletus, Xenophanes, Anaxagoras, Apollonius of Tyna, Rumi, Kabir, Hazrat Inayat Khan, Meister Eckhart, Mechtild of Magdeburg, Teilhard de Chardin, Fritjof Capra, Sri Aurobindo, Aldous Huxley, Friedrich Wilhelm von Schelling, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Mathew Fox, Richard Rohr, Br. David Steindl-Rast, the Vedas, the Tirumantiram, the Tao te Ching.

However, if I must provide a simple explanation, I suppose a good final summary of my beliefs about God could well be taken from the Song of Vibhuti Yoga by Sri Swami Sivananda…..

I am fragrance in jasmine, beauty in flowers
I am coolness in the ice, flavour in the coffee
I am greenness in the leaf, hue in the rainbow
I am taste bud in the tongue, essence in the orange
I am mind of all minds, Prana of all Pranas
I am Soul of all souls, Self of all selves
I am Atman in all beings, apple of all eyes
I am Sun of all suns, Light of all lights.
I am that I am, I am that I am,
I am that I am, I am that I am.

Okay...

That clears it up real good. Heheh would almost think you are joking, but never know. I guess I will stop by your profile and see if the Sun shines on my skin, and damn it is too hot in the Summer and too cold in the Winter. Can't you do something about controlling that heat correctly?

 

[MoNiCa4316]

God is not a 'what' but a 'who' God is a person.. I don't think we can know Him through philosophy. But through prayer. Whatever knowledge we have of Him comes through revelation, and for this we spend time with Him, talk to Him. We love Him. Love others. It's hard but not complicated

God bless

 

[Tube Socks Dude]

Okay.... I guess I will stop by your profile and see if the Sun shines on my skin, and damn it is too hot in the Summer and too cold in the Winter. Can't you do something about controlling that heat correctly?

Wise cracks like that are the reason I started out with a whole page full of technical jargon describing my beliefs in detail,,, so people would know I'm not literally saying I am God in the same unrestricted sense as the Creator. The whole point is that the ontological gap between God and nature is a feeling based on a temporal perception of separation and differentiation. When one recognizes there really isn't a gulf, consciousness is awakened, there is a lifting of the veil over the mind and awareness of reality is enhanced. The perceived duality experienced here in the phenominal realm is hijacked and used as a tool by priests, clergy, preachers and theologians to insert themselves between God and men as His special representatives and administrators. What many call revelation is really whatever they got second-hand from an external religious authority or book. That's not revelation. That's believing propositional hearsay. What religious leaders don't want you to know that there was always both God within and God without. They only want you to know about the God without so they can introduce you to Him and then be the mouthpieces to tell you what He thinks, wants and demands (usually money for church salaries). You may indeed have to be told about the outside God by others, but the God that has always been within is something you will eventually discover for yourself, your true self, your higher self.

 

[Tube Socks Dude]

Whatever knowledge we have of Him comes through revelation,.....

Don't you mean through the Magisterium?