How do you define 'God'?

Originally posted by NiNjABackflip
reply to post by Itisnowagain

 

I was born with sight and hearing and then the mind was implanted and built a wall between the seer and what is really appearing.

The mind grew along with sight and hearing. No one who has ever seen or heard did so without a mind.

When I say 'mind' I am referring to 'the speaking mind'.
No one is born speaking. Speaking is what makes us different from other animals and it is what separates us from God. The stories told by the mind deceive. The words learned tell stories of other and one gets lost in a story.

reply to post by Itisnowagain


Then why talk at all? That might be a good end to the conversation...any conversation for that matter. All futile.

Originally posted by Itisnowagain
I was born with sight and hearing and then the mind was implanted and built a wall between the seer and what is really appearing.

And the mind is creating (inventing) methods of differentiating between what we 'see' to be a logical belief, like the solidity of a rock, and another level of logical belief which is comparable to the spaces between the particles which make up that rock.

The atomic structure of atoms belie that apparent solidity and we struggle with (the) conundrum that (it) presents. If all that exists is mostly empty space and energy, then how do we relate that to our concept of reality? There IS a tree over there, but is it really ONLY a tree as our poor senses take it to be?

Originally posted by NiNjABackflip
reply to post by Itisnowagain

 

Then why talk at all? That might be a good end to the conversation...any conversation for that matter. All futile.

Read the link I posted and rise above.

Originally posted by Itisnowagain
The mind tries to escape this present moment in search of better things. It dreams of the past and it dreams of the future. In doing so it denies the present. The mind is always next and before or somewhere else.

And there we have the basic struggle of Buddhism... to remain always in the present.

Originally posted by masqua

Originally posted by Itisnowagain
I was born with sight and hearing and then the mind was implanted and built a wall between the seer and what is really appearing.

And the mind is creating (inventing) methods of differentiating between what we 'see' to be a logical belief, like the solidity of a rock, and another level of logical belief which is comparable to the spaces between the particles which make up that rock.

The atomic structure of atoms belie that apparent solidity and we struggle with conundrum that presents. If all that exists is mostly empty safe and energy, then how do we relate that to our concept of reality? There IS a tree over there, but is it really ONLY a tree as our poor senses take it to be?

So what good does it do you to know what it looks like in an atom or stand on the moon? Does it make life joyful and delightful?
If one is not having a good time in this existence there is a reason. I have posted a link earlier in this thread and if you take the time to read it it may make life so much lighter.
This link will take you to something totally enlightening.
www.truthcontest.com...
It is a gift.

reply to post by Itisnowagain

Read the link I posted and rise above.

Why bother if the stories told by the mind deceive? I don't feel like being deceived today.

Originally posted by masqua

Originally posted by Itisnowagain
The mind tries to escape this present moment in search of better things. It dreams of the past and it dreams of the future. In doing so it denies the present. The mind is always next and before or somewhere else.

And there we have the basic struggle of Buddhism... to remain always in the present.

If you think one has to stay in the present then one has not realized that it is impossible to not be present.
It is no struggle when it is realized that one is the present.

Originally posted by NiNjABackflip
reply to post by Itisnowagain

 

Read the link I posted and rise above.

Why bother if the stories told by the mind deceive? I don't feel like being deceived today.

The truth shall set you free.
You will have to trust that you will recognize truth - truth is so rare that when you read it- it will astound you.

Originally posted by Itisnowagain
This link will take you to something totally enlightening.
www.truthcontest.com...
It is a gift.

I'm not interested in viewing your link, I'm interested in what you think.

I have a large number of books on philosophy and theology, which , if it would help, I could spend the next month quoting from, but it will do nothing to transfer my own personal thoughts on this matter. It is external to my own mind

How would you present your perception God or would you only prefer to give us all your perception of God through the minds of others?

Originally posted by masqua

Originally posted by Itisnowagain
This link will take you to something totally enlightening.
www.truthcontest.com...
It is a gift.

I'm not interested in viewing your link, I'm interested in what you think.

I have a large number of books on philosophy and theology, which , if it would help, I could spend the next month quoting from, but it will do nothing to transfer my own personal thoughts on this matter. It is external to my own mind

How would you present your perception God or would you only prefer to give us all your perception of God through the minds of others?

As I have told you - God is all there is. I don't have to read it in a book. Is there anything but the present? Unless you go to the mind for 'other' things?
Is there anything wrong with right now.......unless you think about it.
This moment is not seen because the mind always likes to bring in more, like 'I have a book and it says this....'
What I have been posting on ATS since I joined is what is basically in the link I provided - I did not write it - I found it today. It is a truth contest set up by students, they have set it up to find truth.

This truth contest is not a competition with a winner. It is simply the best way to find, check, and spread the truth. The most clear, complete, and accurate explanation of the truth of life will be on top followed by the next best. Everyone wins, because we will have the best entries together. It does not matter who writes the entries. What is said is all that matters.

reply to post by Itisnowagain


Truth is ever elusive, liable to change with every new thought.

Insofar as the present is concerned, I am at the same time grateful for the discoveries of our past, like the use of fire, the wheel and powered flight. Also, I work constantly toward new discoveries, both personal for my own well-being and in the hope of a better situation for my grandchildren.

Presently, I am enjoying an intelligent conversation with you as the last layer of paint dries on my latest creative effort. Strangely enough, that work is based on the patterns developed as atoms are smashed together in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

Unfinished, btw... really just getting it down to what appears to be a carving on slate.

reply to post by masqua


That is beautiful.

reply to post by Itisnowagain


Thank you... it's the third in a series of paintings reflecting (as I understand it) the search for the Higg's Bosom, or the 'God Particle' as it is currently known as.

Interesting research at CERN, considering the topic here.

Originally posted by masqua
reply to post by Itisnowagain

 

Thank you... it's the third in a series of paintings reflecting (as I understand it) the search for the Higg's Bosom, or the 'God Particle' as it is currently known as.

Interesting research at CERN, considering the topic here.

Try as they might they will never find what makes the world appear solid. Because there is nothing solid - it is all made of nothing.
Nothing is the true state of things.
Only the present appears to matter.

Originally posted by Itisnowagain
Try as they might they will never find what makes the world appear solid.

That is a 'belief'. That they are looking, though, is evidence of our desire to understand new conceptions.

Because there is nothing solid - it is all made of nothing.

Everything is made of energy, actually, and energy can be both visible and invisible (lightning and gravity)

Only the present appears to matter.

I accept that idea and that the matter present knows changes both in past and future matter. Matter has memory and future possibility.

After considering where gods came from, who coined the term, what they meant by it, how gods have evolved, why they have evolved, what was changed about them and who did the changing, I have come to something of a conclusion:

"God" simply means "greater than that which is observing". This is the ONLY element that all divine figures have in common across the ages.

Some may also say that it is an acronym: "Generate, Organize, Destroy". By this logic, we are also gods, something I have been arguing in favor of for quite some time.

reply to post by DISRAELI

God is a Creator

We are all creators. Does that make us all gods? We have created stories, lives, we have created medical marvels and technological wonders that would not exist if it weren't for us. Does that make us gods?

reply to post by n00bUK

Define God;
God is a word, a noun.
Lord - Deity - Divinity - Godhead - Idol; The source of all moral authority; the supreme being.

That's the modern definition. That definition applies to the last 2,000 years of spiritual conformacy.

reply to post by Risingfall


Your concept of God as both good and evil is not unaccepted. Originally, in Judaism, both God and Satan (as the Adversary) were of the same cloth. Satan was one of God's angels, performing on God's command. When Satan tested you, or when you faced a trial by ordeal, it was all part of God's will because the Satan was doing as God commanded. This definitely puts a much more interesting spin on the story of Job found in the Old Testament.

It was the Catholic Church who first began to discern between "good" and "evil" and God and a Devil. For whatever reason (I'm really not sure why) the Church seemed to have a problem with their God being responsible for the evil of the world as well as the good.

Over time, the Satan (previously referred to as a position, not necessarily a personal name) subdivided, becoming a host of angels who "fell", becoming Fallen Angels, or demons. This was how we ended up with figures like Belphegor, Mammon, Satan, and Lucifer. The subdivion of the position of Satan (a term which simply meant "adversary") into many identified figures responsible for various forms of evil present in the world.

Your holistic monotheism is part of an older view concerning the Judeo-Christian God. Your view of God is how God was originally viewed by those who first created the worship of Him. A God of "everything" must necessarily also be a God of evil as well as good.

~ Wandering Scribe

reply to post by AfterInfinity

"A Creator" was simply meant to mean "one who Creates".
I was using it as part of a description of character, in the same way that I used "One who communicates" and "one who becomes Incarnate" further down the page.
The phrasing was not meant to imply that he was one of many.

In fact Creation Theory understands Creation to be unique.
Humans cannot create, in that sense, only in a lesser, metaphorical sense.
Writing a story, for example, is not "Creation" in the sense intended, and so it does not make us gods.