Love it when my brilliant writer friends pleasurably explore thoughts that perplex all of us, with such grace. I’ve given up worrying about G-d and just living life the best I can in the Jewish ways I do. Having also grown up in WV (not born there) I can remember my own teen puzzlement with people being re-born; what had they been doing before that when they went to church? And I believe it’s my Jewish upbringing that allowed me never to feel that I needed rebirth nor a strict definition of G-d. But bless those souls that felt the need for I’m not one to judge.
A key problem with the "does God exist" question is that it seems to presume that God is a thing, a particular phenomena separate from all else. The word God, like all nouns, is built upon this presumption of separation and division. As soon as we say the noun "God", and before we even begin to consider the question of existence, we may already be stuck in a false premise. A failure to question the premise underneath the "does God exist" question may have trapped centuries of thinkers in a pointless debate.
What if the entire concept of "things" is an illusion created the inherently divisive nature of what all human beings are made of, that is, thought?
What if the division and separation we perceive everywhere we look is not a property of reality, but instead a property of thought, the tool being used to observe and analyze reality? As example, if I was wearing tinted sunglasses then all of reality would appear tinted to me.
What if God is not a "thing", but instead "the everything"? As example, consider space, a single unified field uniting all of reality at every scale. What if God is like space, real, but non-existent in the sense of lacking weight, mass, shape and form etc? What if God is space? What if intelligence is built in to the fabric of reality?
A key problem with the "does God exist" debate is that it spends way too much time indulging the battle between competing answers, and way too little time examining the question. If the question itself is inherently flawed, we're unlikely to obtain any useful answers from it. And that seems to be about what has happened.
What is the definition of "genius"? I find this post brilliant, and I know way less about string theory and Judaism than you. (Almost sounds like I'm competing to know less, when I say it that way) I am always tell my daughters that being "smart" is only relative. Relative to what? There are so many things. Soon to be 8 years old Gianna reads above grade level while 10 year old Sophia struggles with reading comprehension. Does that mean Gianna is "smarter" that Sophia? Sophia knows more about math than Gianna, does that make her "smarter" than Gianna? Neither, they each have their strengths and weaknesses. Gianna just happens to LOVE reading, Sophia, not so much. Sophia has more experience with math than Gianna due to being older.
Sarah, you are a genius when it comes to writing and you have a very keen perspective of things that a lot of people don't even think about. (Should they be thinking about them, is not for me to say). You are brilliant in your own way and your propensity to sometimes cause or get into trouble means you're living your life instead of just going through the motions. How boring would it be if one didn't experience a bit of trouble here and there. And much less would have been learned in the process. 😉
Love it when my brilliant writer friends pleasurably explore thoughts that perplex all of us, with such grace. I’ve given up worrying about G-d and just living life the best I can in the Jewish ways I do. Having also grown up in WV (not born there) I can remember my own teen puzzlement with people being re-born; what had they been doing before that when they went to church? And I believe it’s my Jewish upbringing that allowed me never to feel that I needed rebirth nor a strict definition of G-d. But bless those souls that felt the need for I’m not one to judge.
A key problem with the "does God exist" question is that it seems to presume that God is a thing, a particular phenomena separate from all else. The word God, like all nouns, is built upon this presumption of separation and division. As soon as we say the noun "God", and before we even begin to consider the question of existence, we may already be stuck in a false premise. A failure to question the premise underneath the "does God exist" question may have trapped centuries of thinkers in a pointless debate.
What if the entire concept of "things" is an illusion created the inherently divisive nature of what all human beings are made of, that is, thought?
https://www.tannytalk.com/p/article-series-the-nature-of-thought
What if the division and separation we perceive everywhere we look is not a property of reality, but instead a property of thought, the tool being used to observe and analyze reality? As example, if I was wearing tinted sunglasses then all of reality would appear tinted to me.
What if God is not a "thing", but instead "the everything"? As example, consider space, a single unified field uniting all of reality at every scale. What if God is like space, real, but non-existent in the sense of lacking weight, mass, shape and form etc? What if God is space? What if intelligence is built in to the fabric of reality?
https://www.tannytalk.com/p/intelligence-is-intelligence-a-property
A key problem with the "does God exist" debate is that it spends way too much time indulging the battle between competing answers, and way too little time examining the question. If the question itself is inherently flawed, we're unlikely to obtain any useful answers from it. And that seems to be about what has happened.
Thanks so much for this. I agree very much with this. God just is. He is just a given. I've always felt this way.
Hooray Sarah darling
You did a good job with that, Sarah.
Love, Mom
What is the definition of "genius"? I find this post brilliant, and I know way less about string theory and Judaism than you. (Almost sounds like I'm competing to know less, when I say it that way) I am always tell my daughters that being "smart" is only relative. Relative to what? There are so many things. Soon to be 8 years old Gianna reads above grade level while 10 year old Sophia struggles with reading comprehension. Does that mean Gianna is "smarter" that Sophia? Sophia knows more about math than Gianna, does that make her "smarter" than Gianna? Neither, they each have their strengths and weaknesses. Gianna just happens to LOVE reading, Sophia, not so much. Sophia has more experience with math than Gianna due to being older.
Sarah, you are a genius when it comes to writing and you have a very keen perspective of things that a lot of people don't even think about. (Should they be thinking about them, is not for me to say). You are brilliant in your own way and your propensity to sometimes cause or get into trouble means you're living your life instead of just going through the motions. How boring would it be if one didn't experience a bit of trouble here and there. And much less would have been learned in the process. 😉
"I'm very brave and not scared of what might appear in the comments at all!" she lied.
Thanks for inviting me to write about something that, in truth, I have no business writing about.