MAN AND GOD - a logical approach

In my prior entry, I noted that, from the historical record, we know that virtually every culture, throughout the entirety of recorded history, has had a belief in God or gods yet there is no supporting empirical evidence that those ideas of God or gods are valid. The implication of this global behavior is that the need for a connectedness to the Universal is driving us so hard that we are both willing and desperate enough to live with fabrications of our own making.

When we examine religion, in every place and time, we find that the God or gods worshiped have taken on the values of each particular society. For example, it is well known that God was depicted in the Old Testament as a vengeful God but in the New Testament he became a loving God. This had led the cynics to say that “God was created in man’s image”. So this puts us in the position of either just accepting the beliefs of our times or taking a time out to examine the human concept of God or gods.

In Western thought, dating back to its origins, it is believed that God is personal or anthropomorphic. Therefore our relationship with him is of a personal nature. We pray, he listens, he acts.

However to be personal, God would have to have attributes such as loving or vengeful and having attributes would give him definition. What can be defined, that is what is distinct in character or in dimension, time and place, is within the creation. Therefore a personal God would have to be a part of the creation. This is clearly an illogical premise; the creator can not create himself. This must also mean that he can not be outside of creation as the creator of the universe and within the universe as an individual at the same time. Therefore the concept of incarnation can not be correct either. In addition, God can not act as action is a part of the dynamic creation. To act is to be within the creation.

All this is an egocentric view – a view that the world revolves around us and therefore so does God. It is the view that God comes to us. Even when we think that we are going to God by worshiping him, in reality, we are engaging in a relational activity between us and our own self generated idea of a personal deity -- an idea, like all other ideas, that is within relativity. Therefore we can not be going to God because he is not within relativity.

This all occurs because we function at the level of intellect and every thought that is generated is based solely on experience within the creation. Consequently, when the intellect attempts to understand the source of creation it can only think in terms of the creation.

The opposite of the ego centered view, is the God centered view. God is the source of creation so therefore concepts of reality need to start there. This is the view that we should align ourselves with God.

Keep in mind that the ultimate source of relativity can only be God or the Godhead. Therefore temporality cannot be independent from God and to believe so is delusional and, ultimately, self destructive. If the creation can not be independent from the creator then it must be connected to him. Therefore the creation would be God’s manifestation.

Most important to us humans, as best as we can tell, in this creation, we can do more than merely go about living and reproducing. As best as we know, we are the highest life form. Through the process of evolution, humans have developed minds of unimaginable complexity. It is estimated that the human brain has within it 100 billion neurons and a quadrillion synapses. This has given us the ability to transcend individuality and transcend intellect. For those who have pursued this path, when in the transcendental state of consciousness, the focus on individuality and the mundane has faded, leaving nothing but the Godhead – the ultimate experience of reality.

From the individual perspective, absolute reality is beyond intellect and therefore is even beyond imagination. Never-the-less, the transcendental experience of the absolute, being the experience of Reality itself, immeasurably exceeds the value of any accomplishment within the temporal field itself.

This does not mean, however, that the goal and the worth of unification should be exclusive to accomplishment within temporality, within God’s manifestation. It does not point to a cave in the Himalayas! Instead, its value is in arming the individual with a sense of connectedness to both the transcendent reality and to the whole of creation. With such a state of awareness, delusion is dispelled, inner happiness is maximized and the effectiveness of action becomes unparalleled.

RELIGION

The most important subject that anyone can undertake to understand is what we loosely call ‘religion’. Academics have approached it historically, theologically, culturally, mythologically, psychologically and even logically. Yet the general public resists the knowledge developed and, instead, offers often heard sentiments such as the following: “You have to believe because science can’t disprove…” “Everybody has his own reality.” “There must be a heaven because everybody believes that there is one.” “ I know that God is real because I can feel his presence.”

We know from the historical record that virtually every culture, throughout the entirety of recorded history, has had a belief in God or gods and a belief in some kind of an afterlife. And, from what evidence that archeologists have pieced together, some rudimentary forms of thee beliefs likely go back even further.

We also know that there is no empirical evidence to support these notions and entire belief systems have been based on what a court of law would call ‘hearsay’.

I would suggest that of all of the approaches to understanding religion, the most insight can be developed from the psychological and logical approaches and I will present my observations through these vectors in upcoming blogs.

Until then, the followers of this blog may give some thought to why every society throughout time has believed in gods and a hereafter. What drives everyone to accept these beliefs? What is the comment element?