Tony's Page: Spiritual Journey and Musings

One man's journey into the only aspect of human life that ultimately matters....

Saturday, August 11, 2018

Atheist? Agnostic? Religious?

All meaningless labels, in non-dualistic thought. All that ultimately matters is Truth. I apply the word "God" to Ultimate Truth. I also capitalize the words that I write that have anything to do with Ultimate Truth. But these are just my own personal preferences. I don't seek to convince others to do the same or to agree with me in these conventions.

Atheist. A person who does not believe in God. Agnostic. A person who just doesn't have an opinion about the existence of God. Religious. A person who believes in God and expresses that belief through certain actions or avoidance of certain actions.

All meaningless labels.

Why?

Because a label only symbolizes a thing; it is never the thing itself. If God (Ultimate Truth) is All There Is, the way we label (or avoid labeling) It is meaningful only to us.

What about oracles?

The idea of oracles has been around probably as long as the human race. Even people who don't view themselves as religious or superstitious frequently exhibit a belief in an oracle of one type or another. In ancient times, oracles were viewed as special people or things through which the divine will was communicated to lowly humans. Prophets, priests, scriptures, visions, and revelations are all examples of such. In modern time, many such beliefs persist, mingled with other superstitions.

Did God create us?

God can only create the Eternal, the Perfect, the Innocent, the Limitless. Does this describe humans?

What is Eternity?

Human thought conceptualizes eternity as having a beginning, but never ending. In non-dualistic thought, Eternity is that which has always existed, exists now, and will always exist. In other words, Eternity is God, and God is Eternity.

God creates the Eternal and the Creations of God share all of God's attributes, save one: creation does have a beginning.

This is the ONLY difference between God and God's Creations: God has always existed, while the creations of God

Is there dualism in God?

In a word, no.

There can't be. If God is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, there can be no separation at all. There can be no distinct parts, features, preferences, mannerisms, traits, or characteristics in a perfect god.

I mean, fantasize with me for a while. Imagine we are in Heaven paying a visit to God. The first question that comes up is, which God are we visiting? The God of Earth? The God of some other planet? I think most people (excepting LDS) would say, "Well, there's only ONE God!" The LDS doctrine is that there are many gods. This doctrine creates many problems and questions because of the inherent separation in a belief in a plurality of gods. Are all the gods equal? If so, why do we need more than one? Are they each all-powerful? Do they compete? Do they compare 'notes?' Do they compare their works to those of other gods? Do they argue? Do they have private thoughts and private activities?  How can privacy even exist in a realm of omniscience?

So back to our fantasy. Let's leave the LDS doctrine and go with the one espoused by most Christian religions: there is only One God, the God of all the universe. Let's go visit Him. Or Her? Does god have gender? A body? An appearance? A presence? Does god have moods? Preferences? Habits? Hobbies? Does God have time for a visit? Or is he too busy answering prayers and creating stuff? Does God have to maintain things after he creates them? Does God have to intervene in the affairs of his creations? Or does he intervene just for fun? Does God mess with us? Or does everything he does have a divine purpose? Does God intend only good? Does anything ever happen that God didn't intend?

And we could go on and on. Some parts seem pretty silly. But, to a person who tries to impose dualism on God, the only answer you're left with to these (and many other) questions will ultimately be, "We just are not capable of understanding all the ways of God."