Defining God

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~Solum-Ipsum Aug 9, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

I've seen this issue come up again and again, and I think it's worth discussing: God, beyond whatever we say of it, is a definition – even if "it's really not an entity but a reality beyond our means of comprehension and definition" or whatever.

Now, what atheists do, is form a different definition: "God is a mental construct of wish-thinking to be able to deal with the ability to comprehend that our life would end. Certain smart guys have seen through this, so they decided to immorally seize power by making up a moral code to keep the less intelligent, superstitious people in line, respecting them for claiming to have a tight relation with a deity, thus religions were born."

We kind of heard that definition ad nauseam. However, religions have different definitions for God, so what are those definitions? What makes God what it is?

I'm mostly expecting answers from people who believe in a certain form of a final transcendental state (enlightenment) or being (God), and would care to try and define it for the rest of us.

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~Solum-Ipsum Aug 15, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

Wow, thanks. I've watched it at last.

So, you say:
• God is consciousness.
• God includes one's individual consciousness.
• God isn't a mere inflation of a human.
• God includes oneself.
• God includes resonating alignment with the focus of observation.
• God can be communicated with through said resonating alignment achieved by the individual.
• God is not an external entity.
• Man isn't lesser than God.

Supplemental information:
⊕ Humans are images of God.
⊕ Humans have a perspective which results in a distorted image of God.

Implications:
→ Reality is of consciousness.
→ One can share consciousness with God, or any object by aligning in self with them.
→ Thus, objects can be subjectified.

Logical issues arising from definition:
⊗ N/A, but leaves a lot of room for further contemplation over the nature of existence.

!creyk Aug 21, 2012 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

100% agreement with everything you wrote

If you want further contemplation, just watch a few more of her videos

~TheAwsomeOpossum Aug 9, 2012

I cannot explain God to you. I can give you an idea. But to really know what and who he is, you have to experience him for yourself.

There was a good analogy one of the leaders of my church gave, about 'tasting salt'. Assuming someone has not tasted salt before, how would you describe it to him? Not sweet.... not sour... just... salty. You can't really describe it well. Instead, you must find some salt, for your associate to taste, that way he too may know what salt truly is.

So read books, learn from people who already know. But then, go and taste it for yourself. Go and find God and know who he is, through your experiences.

~Solum-Ipsum Aug 9, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

So, you say:
• God cannot be explained.
• An idea of God can be given.
• A personal experience is required to know what and who God is.
• The first-time experience of God is like acquiring a new form of sensing (e.g. tasting salt for the first time).
• It is hard to describe through other senses.
• Literary and verbal studies from the relevant sources may provide guidance to experiencing God.

Supplemental information:
⊕ N/A (very clean)

Implication:
→ God can be hardly approximated without direct experience.
→ Direct experience of God may be achieved through studying relevant literacy and attending such lectures.

Logical issues arising from definition:
⊗ If direct experience can be approximated by studies, there must be some sort of lead that aids one understand God's (super)nature.

~TheAwsomeOpossum Aug 9, 2012

Well, I was being a bit vague, but yes, you got it about right.

I'd actually encourage you to go seek a direct experience with God. Go talk to him yourself, and find out how he answers. From there, you will have a satisfying answer, which you can believe in.

I do actually believe in a very physical Christian God, but... I feel that I cannot use just logic to persuade you to believe in him. You need your own experience and knowledge to understand and believe in that. You need your own testimony of what is true.

What I meant sort of with the literary and verbal studies, is that, they can give you ideas, and inspiration, which may help you when you have your experience. Study can help you get ideas you may not have on your own. So, talking to people, and reading things, in a sense, is good; though you can only know it through your experiences.

In other words, study is not a substitution for experience, but an aid, which helps magnify your understanding of the experience.

In any case, I Hope that helps explain it better

.

Best of Wishes,
-TAO

~Solum-Ipsum Aug 9, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

Thank you for the clarification.

I'm actually gathering information on understanding what can be understood of God in order to aid myself in achieving such an experience. I will also share my own views in the end.

!creyk Aug 9, 2012 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

Salt:sometimes 'salt' simply refers to table salt, which is sodium chloride. Usually the term is applied to an ionic compound produced by reacting an acid with a base.

~cowboypunk Aug 9, 2012 Professional General Artist

That sounds delicious!

!creyk Aug 9, 2012 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

~The-Thunder-Fox Aug 9, 2012 Hobbyist Artist

Nice generalisation there. I disagree with it in many respects and the definition itself goes way off topic.

A god, in general, is a supernatural being with agency over something in this world. It can cover quite a large range. There are animist spirits, where the wind or ocean or harvest is thought to possess a spirit. There are polytheistic gods, where these spirits are anthropomorphised and possess dominion over their respective aspects. Then you get into monotheism which just has one god that does it all. Go further, and you get deism where a god created everything but that's all. One step further, and you have atheism, where there are no gods.

That's the general definition of a god. Claims that 'the universe is god', or 'love is god', are just jettisoning the supernatural connotations of 'god'. It's dressing something completely different in a superficial façade. In short, it's unnecessary.

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