God Speculation
The premise: The concept of God is ridiculous because people claim that everything was created by something much more complex than us that we can’t understand…but then that would necessitate something even more complex creating that “God,” and you have this fantastic chain of “Creators of Creators.” Well, I’m not going to lie. That is quite ridiculous.
Michael relayed to me a concept embodied in the phrase “Ground of Being,” basically stating that everything more complex was built up from simpler things, down to energy and whatever is even more foundational than that. Instead of a most complex creature, we have the “Ground of Being,” the most foundational condition of reality. So he’d say something like, “I don’t thank God for creating me…I give thanks to the Ground of Being for giving me Being.”
WELL…you know what? I would say “yes, right on.” Why? Because the Baha'i writings don’t define God as some more complex creature; rather, God is the “Divine and Invisible Essence,” the “Preexistent Reality.”
“Preexistent Reality” and “Ground of Being.” Think about it! Both imply a sort of foundation of existence. And, as in my previous speculation, I will carry forth the point that whatever you may call the foundation of existence, on which all existence depends, it must of a certainty encompass all possibility.
In other words, that which is more foundational encompasses the possibilities of whatsoever complex manifestations are derived from it. To specify is to define, and to define is to limit. Hence, the foundation of all being is the most undefined and the most limitless.
(The concept of “tree” is unspecific, and yet it is the foundation for every species of tree in existence. When you don’t define what kind of tree it is, the possibilities are all there.)
Seeing as we have existence, it follows that whatever we call the “foundation of all existence” has the power to bring concepts and possibilities into reality.
I have heard expressed the thought that whatever the power of the universe is that governs the laws of nature and ties everything together, it is definitely not in the form of an individual, a.k.a. a “Personal God.”
But of course!!! The foundation of all being cannot be contained within the limits of a human concept of individuality, personality. These are too limiting and specific. A word on limitlessness as revealed in Islam…
"No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision; He is the Subtile, the All-Perceiving."[1] [1 Qur'án 6:103.] (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 98)
Anyway, I’m turning it around now. Whereas God is not limited to a specific Person, I must say that as the Preexistent Reality, God must definitely encompass both the impersonal and the personal. Just because the limit, the confinement is absent, does not mean that God is incapable of understanding and possessing personality. Setting aside the connotations of personality as we know it, we can still say that the Preexistent reality is a unified entity (!) that is the foundation of infinite forms.
AND, if God chooses to relate to us in the form of a Divine Personality, even though His/Its essence is foundational beyond (or poetically speaking “exalted above) such attributes, it’s a good thing, for the sake of our own comprehension. I’ve quoted this before but I’ll do it again:
O SON OF BEAUTY!
By My spirit and by My favor! By My mercy and by My beauty! All that I have revealed unto thee with the tongue of power, and have written for thee with the pen of might, hath been in accordance with thy capacity and understanding, not with My state and the melody of My voice. (Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)
Um…no further explanation required.
One more thought:
Materialists will assert that consciousness itself depends on the physical form of the brain and its specific electrochemical activity. I will say that this form is necessary in order to attract the power of consciousness to a point in the physical world, thereby binding it to a specific time, place and individualized frame of reference.
While writing this I did a search in Ocean for “Preexistent.” I’m delighted right now to find that the inklings of my speculation are exponentially developed in the writings of Abdu'l-Bahá, in parts of “Some Answered Questions” that I never got around to reading in my adult life. (If I saw these passages before, at age 12 when I first explored the book, suffice it to say that they went over my head and I lost interest).
Life beckons and I will end this for now. Suffice it to say, I will be reading more from Some Answered Questions in the near future and will probably have more to say about it soon…
With love,
Mona
Michael relayed to me a concept embodied in the phrase “Ground of Being,” basically stating that everything more complex was built up from simpler things, down to energy and whatever is even more foundational than that. Instead of a most complex creature, we have the “Ground of Being,” the most foundational condition of reality. So he’d say something like, “I don’t thank God for creating me…I give thanks to the Ground of Being for giving me Being.”
WELL…you know what? I would say “yes, right on.” Why? Because the Baha'i writings don’t define God as some more complex creature; rather, God is the “Divine and Invisible Essence,” the “Preexistent Reality.”
“Preexistent Reality” and “Ground of Being.” Think about it! Both imply a sort of foundation of existence. And, as in my previous speculation, I will carry forth the point that whatever you may call the foundation of existence, on which all existence depends, it must of a certainty encompass all possibility.
In other words, that which is more foundational encompasses the possibilities of whatsoever complex manifestations are derived from it. To specify is to define, and to define is to limit. Hence, the foundation of all being is the most undefined and the most limitless.
(The concept of “tree” is unspecific, and yet it is the foundation for every species of tree in existence. When you don’t define what kind of tree it is, the possibilities are all there.)
Seeing as we have existence, it follows that whatever we call the “foundation of all existence” has the power to bring concepts and possibilities into reality.
I have heard expressed the thought that whatever the power of the universe is that governs the laws of nature and ties everything together, it is definitely not in the form of an individual, a.k.a. a “Personal God.”
But of course!!! The foundation of all being cannot be contained within the limits of a human concept of individuality, personality. These are too limiting and specific. A word on limitlessness as revealed in Islam…
"No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision; He is the Subtile, the All-Perceiving."[1] [1 Qur'án 6:103.] (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 98)
Anyway, I’m turning it around now. Whereas God is not limited to a specific Person, I must say that as the Preexistent Reality, God must definitely encompass both the impersonal and the personal. Just because the limit, the confinement is absent, does not mean that God is incapable of understanding and possessing personality. Setting aside the connotations of personality as we know it, we can still say that the Preexistent reality is a unified entity (!) that is the foundation of infinite forms.
AND, if God chooses to relate to us in the form of a Divine Personality, even though His/Its essence is foundational beyond (or poetically speaking “exalted above) such attributes, it’s a good thing, for the sake of our own comprehension. I’ve quoted this before but I’ll do it again:
O SON OF BEAUTY!
By My spirit and by My favor! By My mercy and by My beauty! All that I have revealed unto thee with the tongue of power, and have written for thee with the pen of might, hath been in accordance with thy capacity and understanding, not with My state and the melody of My voice. (Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)
Um…no further explanation required.
One more thought:
Materialists will assert that consciousness itself depends on the physical form of the brain and its specific electrochemical activity. I will say that this form is necessary in order to attract the power of consciousness to a point in the physical world, thereby binding it to a specific time, place and individualized frame of reference.
While writing this I did a search in Ocean for “Preexistent.” I’m delighted right now to find that the inklings of my speculation are exponentially developed in the writings of Abdu'l-Bahá, in parts of “Some Answered Questions” that I never got around to reading in my adult life. (If I saw these passages before, at age 12 when I first explored the book, suffice it to say that they went over my head and I lost interest).
Life beckons and I will end this for now. Suffice it to say, I will be reading more from Some Answered Questions in the near future and will probably have more to say about it soon…
With love,
Mona