The following quotes were taken from the
The Different Names of "God" thread:
I don't know if this is entirely related to the topic at hand, but I wanted to sort of express my own views towards what I think "God" is and why there are so many different names for what is clearly supernatural.
I think God is a grand designer of sorts, a mind that programs existence on its many levels, but I think god (lower-case g) is a much higher level of development we can all apsire towards on our journeys of expansion into the infinite. The quest knows no ends.
If I ever did believe in a "God" anymore, then it would most likely be tilted slightly towards Deism - however, given recent even further advancements in science, even Deism seems almost out-dated to me.
Quantum theory implies the existence of an all-omnipresent living mind, as there needs to be something that sees the creation for it to take shape. Something needs to gaze upon the image for it to have its own absolute reality.
That said, I will admit that I personally suffer from a "desire to have faith in a personal god" versus "faith itself is the path towards belief in the supernatural and therefore closing up of the mind to the natural and the physical" conflict.
Perhaps with sufficent faith, if we really chase the paths ahead, then we will come to a super-natural point from where we can move mountains. Anything is possible!
I have often wondered what sort of minds would develop if they were never introduced to ideas like the supernatural whatsoever. In essence, are we inherently pre-disposed to having faith in some sort of supernatural being, ideas, or philosophies as ways of explaining phenomena? Or do we end up resorting to things like "spirituality" and "supernatural explanations" because we currently lack the knowledge to explain something.
If it is not true it is very well invented - that is one of my favorite quotes (Giordano Bruno). The world is a big place. We may find one day that all ideas have an immanence within reality on some level of manifestation. To create something that it cannot contain may be an incredulous invention. The box of barriers shall be broken asunder!
One question: Is "God" the term for our lack of knowledge about the natural and physical?
For the mundane aspects of existence, God may describe what can't currently be explained, but when it comes to dream development, going beyond the limits of our perceptions may bring to pass what naturalism would deem impossible. The annihilation of all limits draws nigh!
Yes, often, but I think it also goes deeper into God being a term to shortcut to our lack of understanding of the nature of our existence and the deep need to create a reason and a purpose for our lives. Trying to place oneself in a greater context is a means of reconciling that... even if we were raised in a society with no emphasis on the supernatural, I think that deep wondering would still exist, because it's really the ultimate open-ended question.
A broadened horizon makes for a much better and more meaningful voyage, and along the way, many treasures are yet to be discovered. Many new lands and explorations await us across the ocean.
I tend to think that humans share some deep level of yearning and satisfaction that often manifests itself as spirituality, or deep love, or zeal for some cause, or passionate expressiveness, or losing oneself in sensation, or daring physical pursuit, or intense learning, or any other number of forms of expression of breaking beyond the self to engage in something that feels like "more". Where it comes from, or why it exists, I have no idea, but I feel like there's a good likelihood it means that there is something more than what we know right now. On a practical level, I know that it refreshes us, renews us, gathers us, and energizes us. Even if ultimately there is no "beyond", I think there's something important or at the very least positive about tapping into that sort of feeling, and that sort of consciousness. It opens us up and invites acceptance of the potential existence of things we don't understand, respect for the great mysteries of life, the questions that bind us.
Human experiences are limited by our sense perceptions, but if we tap into the deep recesses of the mind, the world will open and unfold before our eyes. A good sense of wonder is a fountain that springs forth worlds of all kinds, and as we merge with the source of it all, our minds will take flight. Our ascension is immanent!
I don't think you get what religion is. Most people with their Western pseudo-scientific reasoning (and yes, I think that evangelical atheists ...as opposed to open-minded agnostics...aren't even real scientists, they presume too much based on lack of evidence and have monstrously transformed lack of belief into a belief system, somehow) don't see to understand that the entire point is aligning your consciousness, via faith, to the divine.
Proper evidence used with false reasoning can lead to fables, though good fables can prove to be valuable metaphors in conceptualizing new designs. Even things that aren't present on our plane can give us their gifts.
It's a conscious choice, and a state of mind. And it can be proven over and over again what incredible mind-body alignment people can have via prayer and meditation.
I like the paradox of centering ourselves with the acentric vastness of this endless and infinite existence, but our own individual universe may have such a core from where we can derive strength and inspiration (Nikola Tesla's ideas were not all his own; many may have sprung from this source). We have yet to penetrate the secrets of this core.
It's like you don't get it, because you're not even looking in the right place, for the right thing. You're looking for evidence of a giant old man in sandals, and not seeing that the Tao or God or All That Is...is everywhere, all around you, in every living thing, permeating existence.
Perhaps there could be a fusion of two concepts, the existence of a divine being living in an omniversal creation melted into one, because after all, life must exist under all conditions and phases of development. Evolution I believe can realize all ends of the spectrum, from humans and gods to God. All things conceivable could manifest.
That's why I don't want to debate it. It's pointless to use the methodology of Western debate and divisiveness to perceive the whole.
Without taking up the sword of challenge, we will experience no triumphs in our cosmic arena; arguments are a forge for refining our ideas and developing their directions. If we are simply content with the current state of things, they will remain in their static state, incapable for change. Transformation is the way forward into the future.
I think the Bible (or Jewish Torah) offers a unique name. Much of society has been groomed to view it as a legalistic tradition, but it has much to offer on a metaphysical level too. When Moses asked the "Burning Bush" what the name of the god was that he should tell people that sent him, a voice replied.. "I am that I am. Tell them that 'I am' sent you." The compounded form is Yahweh, coming from the verb meaning "to be". I don't know how it happened, but somehow this mysterious figure became a mere "old man in the clouds", when the underlying thought is more abstract. The Yahwist Jews viewed this god as "being" itself. "Self-contained being" rather. Or the source of being. Eastern philosophy is full of these concepts too, but once you make a comparison, many Christians raised in the West find it distasteful to compare with other Asian traditions. They like their old man in the clouds version.
The old man in the clouds perhaps has reached his most full and complete state of I am that I am, that is, he has attained self-mastery and found his own true self inside, taking his personal growth to the max. We each seek this light shining with all promise on our paths leading to the divine. Our ultimate destiny has yet to be realized, and it may be long in coming, but we draw ever closer.
Transcendental Will flows through us all and changes the world!