Conscious vs non-conscious

[Polarbear]

Hello!
I am a new deist and I am trying to figure out whether god is conscious or not and I would love to hear your thoughts on the issue. Thanks!

 

[The Sum of Awe]

That depends on who you ask. Also, Welcome to RF hope you stay and enjoy

 

[Polarbear]

Thanks for your reply Awe! However I realize that I may have expressed myself inaccuratly in my first post. My question was not whether deists believe god is conscious or not, but what you and others think of the issue as I don't have an opinion on the matter myself. Sorry if this post is also poorly worded.

 

[Breathe]

I'm not a Deist, so I can't answer, but just wished to welcome you to the forum.

 

[Polarbear]

Thanks Odion, I appreciate it.

 

[Robert.Evans]

Hello!
I am a new deist and I am trying to figure out whether god is conscious or not and I would love to hear your thoughts on the issue. Thanks!

As far as I am concerned, the part that we think of when we say God is Conscious. That is what makes up everything. In a very broad way I would be seen as a Theist, though really I have no title as I cannot find anything which completely suits me. I see God as a Fractal, therefore the Ultimate One, the Source, would not be seen as Conscious. The Image which comes from the projection of that Source would be Consciousness itself, and after many different prints of this as the Consciousness grows, it becomes the physical world-- which is a bit like Pantheism etc. Hagelin a physicist says that everything at the smallest level is an ocean of consciousness. This to me is not surprising (even if not mainstream science) as if it were fractal one would expect that.

 

[Prana Pastime]

Hello!
I am a new deist and I am trying to figure out whether god is conscious or not and I would love to hear your thoughts on the issue. Thanks!

It has been said in a few different scriptures " Ye are Gods" so in that sense I guess, yes, God is Conscious.

 

[ThePainefulTruth]

Hello!
I am a new deist and I am trying to figure out whether god is conscious or not and I would love to hear your thoughts on the issue. Thanks!

The only evidence that bring up the question of God is the existence of the universe. Was it created or did it come into existence spontaneously. There's no evidence for or against either possibility, leaving us to choose one of only 2 reasonable preferences: for an agnostic-deist position, or an agnostic-atheist position. But IF it was created, that act of creation requires a conscious will, otherwise it was not created.

I know of no deists who claim certainty that God exists, only that IF God does exist, that It does not interfere in the natural law of the universe, in order to protect our free will which would be the only reason to have created the universe in the first place.

 

[Willamena]

I'm quite sure God is unconscious, since that blow left him lying in the alleyway.

 

[JaiKaliMaa]

Consciousness really is a uniquely human trait. Our consciousness helps us be awake, allows us to function, on a physical level. As God is supreme and ultimate, he doesn't have a human body like you and me. He is beyond that, he is beyond physicality and human emotion. God is "unconscious" in a human context, but he knows all and he is all.
In Hinduism, we believe that we are all our "own gods" just waiting to be awaked through enlightenment, or moksha, to rid of our human consciousness for the final time to fully join with God and his ultimate understanding. (This could take a few centuries of reincarnation first...)

 

[Twilight Hue]

A conscious decision to vacate the premises? God is smart. *Grin*

Welcome to the rabble.

 

[ThePainefulTruth]

I'm quite sure God is unconscious, since that blow left him lying in the alleyway.

What're you saying, God should stick to weed?

 

[Prana Pastime]

The only evidence that bring up the question of God is the existence of the universe. Was it created or did it come into existence spontaneously. There's no evidence for or against either possibility, leaving us to choose one of only 2 reasonable preferences: for an agnostic-deist position, or an agnostic-atheist position. But IF it was created, that act of creation requires a conscious will, otherwise it was not created.

I know of no deists who claim certainty that God exists, only that IF God does exist, that It does not interfere in the natural law of the universe, in order to protect our free will which would be the only reason to have created the universe in the first place.

ThePainefulTruth, I think scientists would argue there is evidence for both creation and spontaneous arising. It would just depend on which scientist your talking to. For instance, the physicist Lawrence Krauss would say there is certainly not a god being involved and the beginning was random, however, Brian Greene and Andre Linde at this point wouldn't rule out the likelihood of a creator.

 

[ThePainefulTruth]

ThePainefulTruth, I think scientists would argue there is evidence for both creation and spontaneous arising. It would just depend on which scientist your talking to. For instance, the physicist Lawrence Krauss would say there is certainly not a god being involved and the beginning was random, however, Brian Greene and Andre Linde at this point wouldn't rule out the likelihood of a creator.

Krauss has amended his position, along with several others like Dawkins, to say that a laissez-faire God can't be discounted. Even Hawking had to back down when he claimed to have evidence from before the Big Bang showing there was no God, and he wasn't happy about it. Atheism has been so busy disproving invented, revealed gods that they never really stopped to consider the fact that a deist God is not like any of those, and is as reasonable as atheism.

 

[Prana Pastime]

Krauss has amended his position, along with several others like Dawkins, to say that a laissez-faire God can't be discounted. Even Hawking had to back down when he claimed to have evidence from before the Big Bang showing there was no God, and he wasn't happy about it. Atheism has been so busy disproving invented, revealed gods that they never really stopped to consider the fact that a deist God is not like any of those, and is as reasonable as atheism.

I know Hawking is an atheist and remains so but I can totally understand why. His life has been so horrible stricken with that disease. His movie was really good.

 

[ThePainefulTruth]

I know Hawking is an atheist and remains so but I can totally understand why. His life has been so horrible stricken with that disease. His movie was really good.

Yes, a lot of people do that, but you'd think they'd be the most susceptible to hope. In any case, I think he's become more resentful with age (I'm guessing), when he seemed more adaptable when he was young and the trauma would have brought about the most devastating change. And I do think he's still an atheist, it's just he was forced to admit that there was no proof/evidence for his atheism so he can't reasonably claim certainty, as a scientist on the public stage anyway.

 

[columbus]

I'm quite sure God is unconscious, since that blow left him lying in the alleyway.

I realise that you are being a bit facetious here. But it illustrates an important point.
People and our language put conscious at the top of states of being. Unconscious, subconscious, semiconscious, it's all about states of being that are inferior to consciousness. It is hard to even talk about something more sophisticated, super consciousness if you will.
We humans think of ourselves as the Crown of Creation. A superior being must be like us, only more so. Smarter, more powerful, more aware, more of everything we care about.

But if God is as far beyond us as we are beyond an amoeba, consciousness would be a profoundly limiting characteristic. Claiming that God cares, plans, wants, teaches, expects, demands....even "is" anything small enough for us humans to understand is proof to me that the claimant is making it up.

God is not anything we can understand or speak for.
Tom

 

[Neo Deist]

I was going to answer, but TPT nailed it.

I'll add that ultimately, it does not matter.