What is God?

[Xerces]

In your opinion, what is God? An old man sitting in a throne, a universal unconciouss force, Gaia, Christ, Ourselves, an Alien?

Either way or whatever God you believe in.. do you believe?

In my opinion God is in many places, but I prefer to read what other mycotopians have to say first.

God is Love.

[Hippie3]

i am god so pretty hard not to believe.

[Xerces]

Masami Eiri from Serial Experiments Lain!

[ClearLight]

I think the sufi's got it right. In Ibn' Arabi's work, Fusus al Hikam (The Wisdom of the Prophets), the chapter on the Prophet Mohammed(pbuh) has an excellent analogy, that goes (paraphrased) as follows... ".. Allah appears in many forms and manifestations. He is in everything, thus everywhere (Immanent) as well as Transcendent, and therefore beyond understanding... However, in a Hadith, it is said '... Neither the Heavens nor the Earth can contain me, but the Heart of my servant can...' and goes on in quoting a saint, '.. As to the ways in which Allah appears to His believers, in his Compassion, he appears in the way that best suits them, in other words, as the color of water is the color of the container that holds it, so Allah appears to his believers according to the limits or beliefs in which they hold him, so it is better to have no expectations or beliefs in how Allah will appear, or at least, chose those that are most favorable for yourself. "

Thus, if you want a thunderous cranky old man on a throne hurling brimstone, or expect that, that's what you'll get. You want a loving Goddess.. reframe your point of view. Want nothing? Get Nothing.. It's really up to you and how you believe, until you experience..

It is said that you never see the Face of Allah ( God), until you die. The best you can do is to see the Throne of the Creation, (which is trust me, enough in itself). So should you desire to go beyond forms, that Light will guide you there..

--------------------------
The Eternal Silence of Light Upon Emptiness...

[Hippie3]

The best you can do is to see the Throne of the Creation, (which is trust me, enough in itself)

you believe god sits on a throne ?
does that mean he has an ass to sit upon too ?
i am doubtful there is a 'throne', frankly.

[ClearLight]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

you believe god sits on a throne ?
does that mean he has an ass to sit upon too ?
i am doubtful there is a 'throne', frankly.

Didn't say God sat on a throne.. Didn't describe what the throne was.. . or anything about it.. Didn't talk about the 4 archangels of the throne or the 3 archangels of the presence... Didn't talk about all the Light.. didn't share details of the experience either....

Right now, it's just a mirror reflecting your beliefs back to you...

[Outer]

nm ..NO comment, its wierd i dont believe but if i talk shit bout him i feel like something bad is gonna happen.

[cheshire]

gods my cousin, solid oke, taught him all i know

[Hippie3]

throne is a word in the english language-
it comes with a meaning already attached

throne |θrōn| noun a ceremonial chair for a sovereign, bishop, or similar figure. • ( the throne) used to signify sovereign power : the heir to the throne.

you mentioned seeing this throne.
since you just told me what you didn't say,
now say what this chair for god is ?

[Bobcat]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

i am god so pretty hard not to believe.

Careful Hip, thats sacrilege! Don't make me spite you for misrepresenting me!

[Lefty]

A homeless man brandished a sign proclaiming him to be a sock, a belief I find to be commonly accepted when I inquire as to someones beliefs. Which is generally never.
You have posted several post that strike me as rather inquiring. WTF is up w/that? Why would you be soo curious all @ once?
Back ye Goddless heathen. Why would anyone want the devil behind them? Sounds like a porn flic I wouldn't watch.

[Hippie3]

curiosity is normal, lefty.
don't let paranoia get you

What if you just don't know and don't particularly care either way?

[Hippie3]

then just pass on by to a more interesting thread...

[Lefty]

I respect your call, probably me...

[aumbrellaforainydays]

i think as a society in the west, the idea of god is pretty christian. i cant deny that their god is wrong because i cannot prove he doesnt exist. in my view a god is a something created in our minds that was the creator of a very complex and cruel world. through god(s) we communicated what we thought was what we saw was in fact what we saw. eventually by accurate prediction (i think season change and technology) early man found that if one was a good being earth than that god will grant them a good word for the afterlife, so like any good being we do what we do to please our god (s). whether it/he/her/them has a gender/age/race/existence is besides what really matters, faith, and let the maxim be, "i will not let noone tell me who or what god is, because if god is love then how would you go through a life worth loving?"

[ridder]

Originally Posted by Transition Force

What if you just don't know and don't particularly care either way?

you cared enough to post didn't ya



what is god? god is.

[ridder]

Originally Posted by aumbrellaforainydays

... so like any good being we do what we do to please our god (s).

i see that as how ego wants us to view itself.. god in this case = ego (cause and fullfillment of our perceived desires). however the spiritual experience of enlightenment would seem to reverse that logic; our divine source does for us. when cut off from this state we feel a lack that our ego makes us very aware of and then tries to fill unsuccessfully when in a state of awakening and openness, all possible conceived needs are met in the moment of the present during our communion with our source. full realization of this i think is true humbleness and humility.

[siam_jim]

i might get wrath on this one. i do not believe in any gods. thinking back to when was the god(s) came to be is very interesting. during the caveman era there weren't no gods. gods to me was invented from fear,hope and the desire to explain the unexplainable. from giant storms to sudden death. i see people talking to gods but after 2000+ years wouldn't you think the gods would at lease make 1 appearence? NO.
also i see people use gods to keep others in line in knowing what is right from wrong. like i don't know. and i wonder why is it the good die young and the bad seems to live longer and at time better? just my thoughts.

siam

[TVCasualty]

Could God make his ass so big that He couldn't fit on His throne?

Actually, I think the throne is metaphor for one's heart or something.

All I know is that if I were an infinite, omnipotent perceiver/creator, I'd get bored after awhile out in the Void all by myself. I'd schism my awareness into infinite tiny specks, each on a journey to experience some novelty. After awhile (infinity) I'd have had all possible experiences from all possible perspectives, at which point I would recombine for a full understanding of Everything. This is a work in progress. Some traditions call reality the 'ocean' and we are 'droplets' that ultimately return to that ocean, becoming one with it. Same thing.

So basically Hip's right, he is god (small "g", sorry). And so am I and so are you. Which is redundant.

[Hippie3]

see, he knows.

[Xerces]

Ok, now that I've heard some of your opinions regarding the higher power, I may post my personal belief.

I think almost every ancient reference to GOD, ANGELS and SPIRITS (including DEMONS) found in thousands of years old civilizations, some pagan, some christian, but they all held some -sometimes unconcious- secret knowledge and embedded it in kabbalistic rituals and prophecies. Something tells me all humans are connected through a network that we are not aware of. Some call it the collective unconsciousness / consciousness, some call it a telepathy link, or maybe just conditioned and connected thoughts, conditioned by TV, media, internet, cultural beliefs, connected through everything, making one collective consciousness.

In the bible there are many references to this, I believe the bible is just a bunch of books that got collected by Emperor Constantine "There was no specific list or accounting of all the books that made up the Bible until the commission of the first Bible by the Emperor Constantine in the 4th Century AD. The books that make up the Authorized King James Bible were chosen by men, not divine forces".

BUT I also believe a LOT of secret knowledge has been kept in the bible.
Without mentioning all the moral stories about good samaritans and how one could be good and giving and generous all the time, that are a pretty good guide for someone on the wrong track. Of course there are some who just take it too seriously like puritans or traditional jews who just follow the rules blindly when actually its more of a "guidelines" than rules.

Some predictions in the Bible have come true, some are believed to very likely turn out to be true. There are also some crappy books. I personally like the book of Apocalypse of Jesus Christ or Revelations of John. I think one day people will realize a lot of the prophecies foretold in that book are going to come true one way or the other, but not neccesarily in a literal way. Maybe there wont be a beast coming out of the ocean, but something metaphoric may also happen. A lot of symbolic meaning and a lot of numerology takes a part of the book for those interested.

Extracted from Wikipedia, Personal Comments in Green.

--
"Apocalypse (Greek: Ἀποκάλυψις -translit. APOKALYPSIS, literally: the lifting of the veil), is a term applied to the disclosure to certain privileged persons of something hidden from the mass of humankind. The Greek root corresponds in the Septuagint to the Hebrew galah (גלה), to reveal. Apocalypse technically refers to the unveiling of God, in his guise as the Messiah, and not to all of the destruction of the world which will accompany God's Revelation of Himself to Humankind.

An Apocalypse in the terminology of early Jewish and Christian literature, is a revelation of hidden things given by God to a chosen prophet; this term is more often used to describe the written account of such a revelation.

The disclosure of hidden wisdom is made through a vision (allucinogens?) or a dream. Because of the peculiar nature of the subject-matter, this is evidently the most natural literary form. Moreover, the manner of the revelation, and the experience of the one who receives it, are generally made more or less prominent. Usually, though not always, the account is given in the first person. There is something portentous in the circumstances, corresponding to the importance of the secrets about to be disclosed. The element of the mysterious, often so prominent in the vision itself, is foreshadowed in the preliminary events. Some of the persistent features of the "apocalyptic tradition" are connected with the circumstances of the vision and the personal experience of the seer.

The introduction of Angels as the bearers of the revelation is a standing feature. God does not speak in person, but gives His instruction through the medium of heavenly messengers (aliens?), who act as the seer's guide."
--

Maybe the number of the beast in our foreheads could mean something else, maybe the end of time is something that will be revealed to all humans at the same time, maybe will find our minds expanding or evolving, some to a higher state, and some will fall.

[Hippie3]

fyi the Pentateuch [the first 5 books of the xian bible] as a collection
predates constantine by many centuries .
the hebrews had their canon of books long before the xians came along.
the bible is just the xian [new testament ] books appended
to the far older hebrew [ old testament ] canon..

[aumbrellaforainydays]

i think we should read more of these books:

The Pali Canon
Sutta Pitaka
The Twelve Suttas
Abhidhamma Pitaka
Visuddhimagga
The Dhammapada

[boomer1400]

According to my thoughts, and that of Wikipedia which I believe sums it up somewhat nicely; maybe not wholly but in my mind nicely:

God is the deity believed by monotheists to be the supreme reality. Often characterized as a male figure, he is believed variously to be the sole omnipotent creator, or at least the sustainer, of the universe.

[Hippie3]

not a very good definition since polytheists also call their deities 'gods'.
the word's use is not limited to monotheists as is stated.

[spacecowboy]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

i am god...

It's the first thing I thought when I saw this thread.

[Soliver1]

I never understood how so many xian belief systems are considered to be monotheistic, as so many consider God and Jesus to be two separate entities, both with godly powers, and many throw the holy ghost into the mix, which isn't a being perse, but certainly an entity of sorts which is either in you or not...

I'm reading the book of Mormon now, for shits and giggles, so this stuff is on my mind these days... the reading is an academic exercise, a hobby of sorts. No one knows what god is, and I doubt we'll ever find out, but looking for it is an interesting pastime in itself

soliver

[Xerces]

If you are talking about the trinity, I see it in many ways. If we take Father, Son and Holy Spirit -or Ghost- I think its just different faces of the same god.

A god who can be a Father to us, protection of some kind, advice, thanks, etc.
A god who can be Son or Man, and thus understand us and speak to us, or maybe the God becoming a Man and viceversa.-
A god who is a Spirit, that goes through us in the spiritual realm. Its a powerfull binding force that shows us things.

Just my opinion

[TVCasualty]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

fyi the Pentateuch [the first 5 books of the xian bible] as a collection
predates constantine by many centuries.

You have a copy of the Xian Bible?

All I have is the Travel Guide. Here's a short bit:

Xian is the capital of Shaanxi province, located in the southern part of the Guanzhong Plain. With the Qinling Mountains to the south and the Weihe River to the north, it is in a favorable geographical location surrounded by water and hills. It has a semi-moist monsoon climate and there is a clear distinction between the four seasons. Except the colder winter, any season is relatively suitable for traveling.

Yes, I'm joking, but that was true about Xian.

A little bit of on-topic text I like that isn't a joke:

A lover doesn't figure the odds.

He figures he came clean from God
as a gift without a reason,
so he gives without cause
or calculation or limit.

A conventionally religious person
behaves a certain way
to achieve salvation.

A lover gambles everything, the self,
the circle around the zero! He or she
cuts and throws it all away.

This is beyond
any religion.

Lovers do not require from God any proof,
or any text, nor do they knock on a door
to make sure this is the right street.

They run,
and they run.

(Rumi, Mathnawi, VI, 1967-1974 translated by Coleman Barks)

[Xerces]

That was beatifull. God is Love, be a lover, not a religious person.

[boomer1400]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

not a very good definition since polytheists also call their deities 'gods'.
the word's use is not limited to monotheists as is stated.

The definition I gave was a generalization from WIkipedia. Take up your concerns with them. Perhaps you would rather have Websters defintion which is:
1 capitalized : the supreme or ultimate reality: as a : the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped as creator and ruler of the universe b Christian Science : the incorporeal divine Principle ruling over all as eternal Spirit : infinite Mind
2 : a being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship; specifically : one controlling a particular aspect or part of reality
3 : a person or thing of supreme value
4 : a powerful ruler

[Hippie3]

i would define god as
the underlying intelligence that imposed design upon universal chaos.
the architect [chief builder] of this universe.

[boomer1400]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

i would define god as
the underlying intelligence that imposed design upon universal chaos.
the architect [chief builder] of this universe.

Good overall General discription, could be defined more; but, good overall.

[Hippie3]

i like this definition too-
God is a comedian
playing to an audience
too afraid to laugh.

[boomer1400]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

i like this definition too-
God is a comedian
playing to an audience
too afraid to laugh.

Beautiful!!!

[Donor]

http://www.fullmoon.nu/articles/art.php?id=tal

I really like this story about this man meeting God on the subway.. Check it out!

As for belief in God, I like this philosophy most out of what I have read so far:

http://www.kybalion.org/kybalion.asp?chapter=showall

[Bio_DUD]

soliver and hippie3 I agree with both of your opinions.

I believe that religion is a good moral community to live with and one that gives us comfort.
One major belief of mine is that in order to get the complete portrait of life one cannot paint with a single color. He must dip his brush in many colors. I believe that people need to see other religions and take them for their good sides. kind of like what soliver said: we are not going to know what god is until it doesn't matter anymore, so who's to say who is more right than another. (not an exact quote, hopefully I didn't disrespect ya soliver or take it out of context)
That's my two sense (pun intended, I know I'm funny)

[Mycorama]

I God, therefore I am.

Originally Posted by Hippie3

fyi the Pentateuch [the first 5 books of the xian bible] as a collection
predates constantine by many centuries .
the hebrews had their canon of books long before the xians came along.
the bible is just the xian [new testament ] books appended
to the far older hebrew [ old testament ] canon..

that is correct

the torah and the tanach in their original languages (mostly hebrew, but there is a little bit of aramaic in the 'nach) are very interesting reads

once you read em in the original and appreciate the original beauty you realize that 99% of preachers are so full of it it ain't funny

Originally Posted by ridder

you cared enough to post didn't ya

true that

what i'm saying is that the poll doesn't leave an option for agnostics like myself who aren't sure

i used to adhere to a judaic faith considered heretical by orthodoxy, but once i hit college i lost my faith

now i'm more of an agnostic with taoist leanings, but my summary of life is "i don't know - there's something more to it, but don't try to force your theology or politics on others'

[Hippie3]

unsure = don't believe

[Xerces]

an Agnostic is a person who claims that they cannot have true knowledge about the existence of God (but does not deny that God might exist).

The atheist is a person who has developed an active belief that there are no gods.

[Leary's Ghost]

i can answer an emphatic yes!, but thats about where my certainty ends. thats why i am "seeking." thats why i am on topia and thats why i have an interest in psychedelics.

this will surely draw fire, but i feel sorry for anyone who answered "no, i dont believe."

excuse me, i have to duck...

[Hippie3]

Originally Posted by Xerces

an Agnostic is a person who claims that they cannot have true knowledge about the existence of God (but does not deny that God might exist).

The atheist is a person who has developed an active belief that there are no gods.

i know what the words mean.
and it means that an agnostic still does not believe,
he is uncertain.
uncertainty is not belief.
thus agnostics would fall in the 2nd category.

[Hippie3]

Originally Posted by Leary's Ghost

... i feel sorry for anyone who answered "no, i dont believe."
excuse me, i have to duck...

lol
and here coms the implied threat-
god will 'get' you if you don't believe.

the evidence runs pretty strongly to the contrary.

[craigwhite21]

I read your story Xeres crazy stuff please read my story about my trip on acid when I seen the eye of osirus which is on egyption texts .Here is what I posted on the other page In reply to your explanation Xeres I had a similar experiance, I was reading the bible while I was on cactus just as it was wearing off and it was as if it was speaking to me in real-time. I was feeling the cactus come out me and it as I was reading it said Bezulbull is in you I am realeasing him from you I was feeling possed by the cactus as it was wearing off me, but I wonder if that was my ego I was fighting, and similar stuff but in real-time to what I was feeling.

I can't remember exactly, but there was another passage I read that came out something like. You are here, because here you are and here you where because here I am or something it was weird it was just like the book was talking to me, as if they where pre-recorded events that happen over and over again. Perhaps the world and fights against over people are one big fight against our ego, thinking we are separate from god.

I can imagine a world next to our own where we dont have bodies and we are all connected together, that way we cant fight etc. There is no material greed. I believe this is what ufo's are, energys from another dimension. You should all try sending energys next time tripping, but I believe even a bad-trip is a good trip as it brings hidden emotions to the service realising an energy or your demons you could say. Perhaps the secret of the fall from grace is thinking we are separate from god and our will is opposed to his, but we are one and the same being mearly facets of him. This is what Jesus tried to teach when he said we could come to god through him, and when he said what he can do we can do also if we believe.

Our believes must create this world to a certain extent, so if we all believed in peace it would happen. I think we all have special powers we are unaware off. I am hoping to try cactus again and then B.cappi and P.virdis to find more secrets of my soul. We write the book with god as we a facets of him. Sons of the sun so to speak. Picture god as a ball of energy sitting there , boring, so bang he splits into loads and loads of parts and then guides them back some get lost on the way but all are eventually returned to him. Perhaps evil is here to teach us good, without suffering we can't learn true love or we wouldn't have anything to measure it too. Perhaps hell is already here and we have to go through it too reach heaven. Picture the earth as a magnet fillining up with energy like a brain, your souls is pulled in by the iron in your blood and brain I believe. But we are not separate we are all the same energy/creature.

So I am here for your learning and you are here for me we are all images of each other whether we get on or not. I have also learned to send an energy to heal people we have an energy at a high frequency round our bodie which can be affected with our thoughts, just the way a magnet helps your blood. So we must be connected to a universal energy, so we create the world and it creates us. An amazing parralel also I have read that the correct translation in the bible isn't end of days it is end of ages. This is why the mayans and that counted in cycles, everything is a cycle going higher and higher. So if you are on acid in front of a full moon or a certain star because your sub-concieus is open to the magnetic energys, there could be star portals so to speak. This is what ancient shamens practised I believe, it isn't the rituals its the energy or thought wave they send out.
This is why the egyptions buried there dead beneath certain stars which are round a cluster where a black hole is. In the Koran it says at the end of days it will be rolled up like a scroll. Look at your ears, or a whirlwind or water going down a drain for example. Everything is a cycle going higher an higher. So It kind makes sense.

[lost_onabbey_rd]

i once talked to god
and god wasn't happy
when i asked him what was wrong
he told me hippie wouldn't get out of his chair
so sorry hip
but i'm gonna have to ask you to get out of my seat

lost

[DJTetsu]

Ok, to answer the question, "what is God?", I think has many meanings, and means different things to different people. I am not Christian and will talk about it as in a nonreligious sense as possible. I am more talking in lines of something like the collective unconscious, and something that binds us in ways that are not too obvious (quantum entanglement). I don't know what THIS thing is exactly but if we start to believe that we are all part of a greater whole (zen/buddhism) something like that phrase, "god lives in each of us" somehow doesn't seem to be so far off. If this is so, then an interesting question to ask is where does God end and where do I begin?I don't know if there is a God, and I tend to go back and forth. I do know that there is a Universe, very intricately detailed, possibly infinite, very majestic. Presence of our moon made the four seasons possible that allowed life, and dinosaurs got wiped out which allowed the evolution of man. Every hair on your hands has a perfect good reason why it curls up the way it does. Take a look.If we think about this long enough, it all seems like we owe all of this to somebody.A person that has grown considerably spiritually may have a deeper appreciation of his circumstance, and the universe that created him/her. Having a god makes it easier to show appreciation since we can pray, and say things like "dear lord, thank you for this meal..."I had a good idea for a bumper sticker"If you don't believe in god, believe in gratitude"

[exitium]

The question "What is God?" actually contains a paradox.

First we begin with the classic conception of what God 'is.' This is basically an abstraction of the characteristics which define God-concepts in most monotheistic religions. Most religions contain something like this idea, except some of the more philosophical forms of Hinduism, because they are badasses. Obviously, since I've said there will be a paradox, this is presented only to undermine it later, although there is nothing 'wrong' with this idea beyond its paradoxical nature. Whether you dislike or are uncomfortable with paradox is a personal problem.

Assumptions of classical concept: 1)God is omnipotent and omnipresent (this is omitting the third characteristic of this classic definition, which is omnibenevolent (all-good; perfectly good), since it is unnecesary for my argument and it negated by the paradox eventually anyway). Essentially the omnipotent and omnipresent God is all things and has the ability for all action. He is all potentialities and all actualities simultaneously.

Paradox: To say that God "is" something is to limit God to a singular characteristic or a non-infinite list of qualities, even if one of those qualities is "infinity". However, the basic characteristics that describe what God "is," those characteristics that are essentially the concept of godliness (being all powerful, all seeing, being everything everywhere yadda yadda) make it a contradiction to say that God is one thing, or everything. However, to say that God, by definition, cannot be one thing is to say that God's power is limited; that he cannot do a thing, which contradicts the basic idea of God, which is where the contradiction originates in the first place. Funny, isn't it?

Another way of saying this: to say that God is everything and has the power to be anything is to say that God could potentially be nothing, which is a contradiction.

Conclusion: Whether or not the above is a problem. The impossibility of the question "What is God" doesn't mean that God is definitionless (that 'God is' thing again...), because it falls into the paradox as it ascribes a limit to God (that he lacks something, which in this case is a definition). It simply means that God is paradox. (and not a paradox. hah! which is itself a paradox, fuck). Whether or not you're comfortable with the idea that God is essentially unknowable and the very form of knowing and the known is another question entirely.

As far as practical consideration goes, what this means is that you should have no qualms about making up your own definition of God and you should have no problems with anyone else's definition of God because, logically, you ought to recognize that all definitions are inherently both completely wrong and completely right at the same time. Every religion's and every individual person's concept of God is both completely right and completely wrong.

You should simply educate yourself about different ideas of God, meditate on your preconceptions and how you feel about others ideas, and then create your own idea and believe in it. If your idea of God conforms to an organized religion's belief, so be it, follow that religion if you want to. Just believe in whatever gives you comfort in this world.

edit:
It should be noted as ironic that I referred to God as 'he' throughout this without even thinking about it. It should also be noted that this isn't agnosticism, since agnostics belive that there is a 'true' God but that God is unknowable. I disagree with the claim that God is unknowable, since I think that God is not only completely unknowable but also completely knowable. This is basically just to say that any definition of God is a matter of opinion, and that 'truth' is a bewilderingly incoherent concept anyways.