Define God

[Unveiled Artist]

But I thought you believed in God.
How can you be Atheist and believe in God?

Anyway, what you explained is reasonable - though I don't agree with the most common approach of most Atheists.
There may be exceptions, as you seem to be, but most Atheists engage in logical fallacies like polarized thinking, and close their mind to any possibilities regarding the symbolic word, God.

I wanted to answer your question. I dont believe entities/deities/gods exist. I define god (dont like that wording) as life. I feel some religious personify their relationship with themselves and life and call it god. Living in this god they feel loved in themselves but personified as an outside deity. Internal feeling externalized.

I prefer to not externalize life. I feel that if we have nothing left, at the end we need to depend on ourselves. We dont always have a safety net.

I would love to have my ancestors always suppport me, but like family on earth, some of us arent family oriented. We have to know ourselves and how we relate to life.

Life is "what" we are part of. That is how I define god.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Carlita, this is one of the most beautiful things I've read lately!
Thank you for sharing this.
I really resonate with much of what you wrote.
Spirituality is about relating - it's consciousness within and without.

Thank you. I really appreciate your words.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Thank you for clarifying, Jayhawker.

Of course.

It's definitely understandable that a lot of emotional and spiritual experiences are beyond words.
This is why I love music - especially classical - to listen to and play.

I'm a big fan of classical music, opera, and ballet.

I believe in the Christian idea, "he who lives by the sword will die by the sword", aka "karma."
But I've wondered if karma is based on intent or actual action - or both. It seems that it is both. What do you think?

I think that "karma" is a human attempt to rationalize the problem of evil.

In distinguishing God from Catalyst, are you suggesting that God is not limited to Aristotle's idea of "prime mover" - who simply got the ball rolling, but is not too much otherwise involved?

The rain does not intend the river nor does the river intend the canyon, yet the Grand Canyon is magnificent. If something is to be attributed to God, that attribution makes sense only is one assumes that this 'thing' was intended.

Is God more involved eternally?

I have no idea, but it would certainly be nice.

 

[wicketkeeper]

How I define God reveals more about me than about God.
My definition of God is still evolving.
I don't claim to know all there is to know about God - nor do I believe I will understand much in my entire life - compared to all there is to know.
Currently, I define God as love based on truth - and as Paul Tillech defined God, as "one's ultimate concern."
I also define God as ultimate GOoD - which each of us strive for by trial and error - active faith.
Part of that GOoD, I consider to be a higher power - a means of tapping into "the kingdom of God within."
And I realize the common need to spiritually connect by personification of (God) spirituality (Jesus, gods, Saints, Mary, etc.).

How do you define God?

I prefer what is written in the Tao Te Ching, the opening two lines: (http://taoism.net/ttc/complete.htm)

The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named is not the eternal name

But, I shall offer my thoughts regardless ! God is within, and God is without, God is everywhere. It is also like this analogy; you are both the wave and the ocean, there is no separation. God is beyond all religions. Maybe Man created God because he needed a father figure ?! I used to have a problem with the word God because it had been corrupted by various religions, I am fine now ! I prefer the Sufi term of The Beloved, or Oneness, or the Source.

God is the blade of grass
God is the wriggling worm
God is the dancing butterfly
God is both you and I.

Copyright(C)2016 Lenny Gazbowski

 

[Papoon]

It sounds like the definition of Love.

 

[arthra]

Why must God be known only by here-say?

I agree.. that's why we Baha'is have a principle of independent investigation of truth... not relying merely on "hear-say"!

"No man should follow blindly his ancestors and forefathers. Nay, each must see with his own eyes, hear with his own ears and investigate independently in order that he may find the truth. The religion of forefathers and ancestors is based upon blind imitation. Man should investigate reality."

~ Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 24

 

[wicketkeeper]

The Kingdom of God is within - so it is written, therefore we must spend time alone in meditation to achieve this goal of knowing God. It is a pointless project trying to define what God is unless we get to know ourselves first. As our friend arthra has said such things require investigation as taking another's word for it is a lazy man's way, and is not necessarily true. And it may take many lifetimes to get a glimpse of the Beloved.

I do enjoy threads like this as I often think about abstract spiritual matters.

A conversation I had with Christian went thus:

C: do you believe in God
ME: no, not the God of religion, nor anyone elses God !
C: so your an atheist ?
ME: no. but before I can even attain a sighting of what you call God I must first know myself, and I my friend,don't know who I am.
C: surely you are the person I am talking with !
ME: this physical body is not who I am it is the vehicle I must use while I am in the physical realms. When my time is up I leave this body you think is me and return Home.
C: but how do you know that ?
ME: because when I was younger I had a Near Death Experience, so I am prepared in advance for the transition(I no longer use the word death).
C: it doesn't say that in the Bible, so how can you claim this to be true and not just a fantastic dream ?
ME: I know the difference my friend between a dream and my NDE. It was even more real than this thing called life ! The colors were alive and dancing, and I felt totally at peace, I felt loved. There is nothing to fear.

I will conclude here.

 

[BilliardsBall]

A great definition of God is found in Jesus Christ. Trust His death and resurrection and you will have eternal life and know this definition quite well...

Please note: If you are morally perfect, you don't need Jesus. But I say He died for all, the perfect for the imperfect, to provide us with eternal life.

 

[HeatherAnn]

I wanted to answer your question. I dont believe entities/deities/gods exist. I define god (dont like that wording) as life. I feel some religious personify their relationship with themselves and life and call it god. Living in this god they feel loved in themselves but personified as an outside deity. Internal feeling externalized.

I prefer to not externalize life. I feel that if we have nothing left, at the end we need to depend on ourselves. We dont always have a safety net.

I would love to have my ancestors always suppport me, but like family on earth, some of us arent family oriented. We have to know ourselves and how we relate to life.

Life is "what" we are part of. That is how I define god.

Thanks for explaining.
I can see your reasoning, but personally, I believe in more than just my own experiences, as subjective as they are understood.

 

[HeatherAnn]

I'm a big fan of classical music, opera, and ballet.

My favorite: Beethoven's 9th 2nd mvmt.

And I also like to play a particular Minuet (F Major) from Anna Bach's notebook.
What's yours?

I think that "karma" is a human attempt to rationalize the problem of evil.

I can see how karma is used to rationalize.
A friend who recently began believing in Karma tried to justify abortion killing with karma - saying the babies deserved it.
I told her that is the rationalization of bullies.
Still, I do believe in certain laws - nature has them and I think spirituality does too.

The rain does not intend the river nor does the river intend the canyon, yet the Grand Canyon is magnificent. If something is to be attributed to God, that attribution makes sense only is one assumes that this 'thing' was intended.

Beautifully phrased.
So, you believe God is based on intention.
How far would you take that - would you say that God or some type of consciousness intends everything - that there are no accidents or coincidences?

 

[HeatherAnn]

I prefer what is written in the Tao Te Ching, the opening two lines: (http://taoism.net/ttc/complete.htm)

The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named is not the eternal name

But, I shall offer my thoughts regardless ! God is within, and God is without, God is everywhere. It is also like this analogy; you are both the wave and the ocean, there is no separation. God is beyond all religions. Maybe Man created God because he needed a father figure ?! I used to have a problem with the word God because it had been corrupted by various religions, I am fine now ! I prefer the Sufi term of The Beloved, or Oneness, or the Source.

God is the blade of grass
God is the wriggling worm
God is the dancing butterfly
God is both you and I.

Copyright(C)2016 Lenny Gazbowski

Very deep. I could meditate on these replies for a long time.
Thanks to everyone, including you.

Taoism has many profound truths, of which I'd like to learn more.
Tao is "basic, eternal principle of the universe that transcends reality and is the source of being, non-being, and change."
Chi is "The vital force believed in Taoism and other Chinese thought to be inherent in all things. The unimpeded circulation of chi and a balance of its negative and positive forms in the body are held to be essential to good health in traditional Chinese medicine."

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

My favorite: Beethoven's 9th 2nd mvmt.
And I also like to play a particular Minuet (F Major) from Anna Bach's notebook.
What's yours?

I don't know enough to have a favorite. I do, however, really like Vanhal's Double Bass Concerto in D Major if only because it demonstrated the range of an instrument that is rarely center-stage.

So, you believe God is based on intention.

I am not claiming that God is based on anything. In fact, I am not claiming God. I am simply suggesting that the term has value only when applied to agency - the capacity for intentional action.

How far would you take that - would you say that God or some type of consciousness intends everything - that there are no accidents or coincidences?

I would not take it anywhere. That said, I rather like St, Augustine's admonition: "Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as if everything depended on you." I would only add: prayer is optional.

 

[Papoon]

"Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as if everything depended on you." I would only add: prayer is optional.

Beautiful.

 

[wicketkeeper]

God is everything from a blade of grass to a gently drifting cloud. We should treat everyone we meet in the truth of that moment, and each act and word spoken should be bathed in Love.

I know I will appear as a dreamer, but I'm not the only one - I am in very good company ! I was given a lovely present by my sister in law, it was a framed picture of John Lennon with the words from Imagine written on it. I read the lyrics when I feel disheartened.

Are we already in hell ? Here's an interesting short video presentation by Bill Donahue:

 

[Subhankar Zac]

The impersonal reality beyond time and space that is unchanging and indestructible. The dynamic force that shapes the cosmos and create all the universes. Lying beyond the senses of 5 senses.
All living and non living beings. The sun, moon, rivers, mountains, etc.
He's compassion and Wrath.
He's love and hate.
He's the creator, he's the maintainer and he's the destroyer.
Genderless and without form.
He's older than the oldest stars and newer than the newest flowers.
He's Satan and He's Jesus.
He's Durga and he's MAHISHASURA.
He's Kansa and he's the all powerful mighty Lord Shri Krishna.
He was Vamana, Shiva, Narsimha and Matsya.
He's me and I m him. He's all living beings and all living beings are him.
He's the food, he's the process of digestion and he's the excretion.
He's the tiniest and filthiest living beings and also the largest stars in the universe.
He's Time but also independent of time.
He cannot be defined in a book much like the ocean cannot be contained in a jar.

That's how I define him.

 

[HeatherAnn]

I don't know enough to have a favorite. I do, however, really like Vanhal's Double Bass Concerto in D Major if only because it demonstrated the range of an instrument that is rarely center-stage.

Nice, thank you. It does have a good range.

I am not claiming that God is based on anything. In fact, I am not claiming God. I am simply suggesting that the term has value only when applied to agency - the capacity for intentional action.

I would not take it anywhere. That said, I rather like St, Augustine's admonition: "Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as if everything depended on you." I would only add: prayer is optional.

It could be that I'm misunderstanding, but the above statements seem conflicting... God being "intentional action" and yet "prayer is optional." Do you mean that God is surely intentional, but it doesn't have to be expressed by formal (recited/religious) prayer? I personally believe that ideally we do "pray always" - that is to always have intention to do the highest GOoD.

 

[Palehorse]

GOD is Love. GOD is Time. GOD is the word "I"(Roman I). Time is money, money is man made.

 

[HeatherAnn]

God is everything from a blade of grass to a gently drifting cloud. We should treat everyone we meet in the truth of that moment, and each act and word spoken should be bathed in Love.

I know I will appear as a dreamer, but I'm not the only one - I am in very good company ! I was given a lovely present by my sister in law, it was a framed picture of John Lennon with the words from Imagine written on it. I read the lyrics when I feel disheartened.

Are we already in hell ? Here's an interesting short video presentation by Bill Donahue:

This was very fascinating - thank you for sharing it.
I especially liked how he said Devil is evil with a D... and God is GOoD with an extra o - symbolic terms to represent the lower and upper fields of consciousness within each of us.
And he made an excellent point about how many teens even kill themselves because of the shame from both religion and the shame from their parents they inherit. Ironically, I read in a religious (lds) book that based on a study, it is estimated that up to 80% of mental illness is rooted in misunderstandings of Judaic or Christian doctrine (& I'd say any misunderstanding and literal interpretation of many other religious doctrines also).

Many of my extended family and friends (& my husband) are lds - and my oldest is pressured to prepare for a mission and go to seminary and other mind-control propaganda... and because he wants to go, I tell him he can as long as he remembers that no religion is perfect... that no religion has a monopoly on the spiritual feeling he'll feel, and he must be familiar with cognitive distortions (ie polarized thinking, emotional reasoning etc.).

 

[HeatherAnn]

The impersonal reality beyond time and space that is unchanging and indestructible. The dynamic force that shapes the cosmos and create all the universes. Lying beyond the senses of 5 senses.
All living and non living beings. The sun, moon, rivers, mountains, etc.
He's compassion and Wrath.
He's love and hate.
He's the creator, he's the maintainer and he's the destroyer.
Genderless and without form.
He's older than the oldest stars and newer than the newest flowers.
He's Satan and He's Jesus.
He's Durga and he's MAHISHASURA.
He's Kansa and he's the all powerful mighty Lord Shri Krishna.
He was Vamana, Shiva, Narsimha and Matsya.
He's me and I m him. He's all living beings and all living beings are him.
He's the food, he's the process of digestion and he's the excretion.
He's the tiniest and filthiest living beings and also the largest stars in the universe.
He's Time but also independent of time.
He cannot be defined in a book much like the ocean cannot be contained in a jar.

That's how I define him.

Interesting, thank you.
I notice many seemingly opposites... except gender... is God only masculine - or is He also a She?

 

[HeatherAnn]

GOD is Love. GOD is Time. GOD is the word "I"(Roman I). Time is money, money is man made.

I agree that God is love, but I see God as beyond time... higher dimensions that I'm not sure about, but I believe they exist.