Why God may be so difficult to define.

[shoni7510]

Originally Posted by Honza

As we have observed many times; defining God is nigh on impossible. Perhaps one of the core reasons for that is God is MANY things instead of just one or two or a few things.

If you imagine that God is Hope to somebody at any one time; at the same time He/She may be Happiness to somebody else at that same time.

I have heard God described in a myriad of ways - perhaps God is all those multiple qualities?

Hence God is not ONE as such; but MANY. Yet One at the same time. He/She has multiple qualities....all the time.

God is Everything and Nothing and he reveals himself to each one in the manner that will make sense to that person. It is impossible for the human mind to grasp everything that God is and try to define it. He is That Which Is

[Tobi]

(Something to make you all laugh) -or laugh at me?? Go ahead

I once met "God" (haha)...this is what happened:
I am walking through the rooms of a house. It is brightly and pleasantly lit, but doesn't look much like a house, more like a laboratory or something.

I came to a room, and saw a man fiddling about with a stove. This was our dialogue:
"Hello....who are you?"
He smiled and said, "I am God."
"Oh wow! It's nice to meet you. I've heard so much about you!"
I observed him and found his kindly face and general character to be quite pleasant. He did have white hair and a short-ish white beard, but nothing like the William Blake pics! He was bending over the stove messing about with a frying-pan.
"What are you doing?"
"Cooking breakfast."
"Is that...all?"
"Yep. Want some?"
"What is it?"
"Bacon and eggs"
(Oh dear....or oh wow...God wasn't vegan....)
"It smells good...."
But I was on my way somewhere -wasn't I?
"Do you know the way out of this place?"
"Just keep going dear, and you'll get there. Are you sure you don't want some breakfast...?"

(Yes that was a dream.)

[Shivani Devi]

Wow Tobi, your conversations are much better than the ones I seem to have...

G:"What are you doing?"
M: "As if you don't already know"
G: "Humour me"
M: "As if my life didn't humour you enough"
G: "Don't be like that"
M: "Well, make me some other way then"
G: "You're not opening up to me"
M: "What, you want an engraved invitation now?...I'm cooking chicken cacciatore...want some?"
G: "No thanks, I'm trying to watch my weight"
M: "Do you know the way out of this place?"
G: "what place?"

I'd like some tips on how to reason with God...that'd be nice....

[WabiSabi]

Originally Posted by The Necromancer

Wow Tobi, your conversations are much better than the ones I seem to have...

G:"What are you doing?"
M: "As if you don't already know"
G: "Humour me"
M: "As if my life didn't humour you enough"
G: "Don't be like that"
M: "Well, make me some other way then"
G: "You're not opening up to me"
M: "What, you want an engraved invitation now?...I'm cooking chicken cacciatore...want some?"
G: "No thanks, I'm trying to watch my weight"
M: "Do you know the way out of this place?"
G: "what place?"

I'd like some tips on how to reason with God...that'd be nice....

Haha, sounds like my mother and I. Have you ever tried actually talking with him rather than shutting him out?

[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by WabiSabi

Haha, sounds like my mother and I. Have you ever tried actually talking with him rather than shutting him out?

Yep and I'm still trying to learn how to deal with that and incorporate those energies into every day existence - hence why I am always shutting him out. It's like trying to have sex, talk on the phone, wash your hair and cook chicken cacciatore simultaneously.

[Honza]

You sound like you are enjoying yourself!

[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by Honza

You sound like you are enjoying yourself!

You have no idea how much!

[Unseelie Queen]

Any time I attempt to define God I find myself essentially describing Cthulhu-- eldritch and unfathomable! ..And infinite, infinitely unfolding, kaleidoscopic, constantly bubbling below the surface, animating us all and yet, we are not the center of it; we are like crudely-built robots when it comes to comprehending it. I could never apply or project a human-like personality (and ego) onto it (even though it indeed contains multitudes and infinite modes of expression) or even view it as a sort of super-powered archetypal angel/deity. I could not say how it sees or interact with us, because we, along with everything else, every little wisp and thread binding together the universe are its eyes. It would almost feel insulting, as well, to summarize God as some placid, static all-seeing being, smiling and constant and serene, when surely it must be every bit as chaotic, dark, and shifting, since chaos and darkness and entropy (as well as light, yes) helped bore it. And it in turn can split it off into innumerable, independently-functioning (unique, even) divine parts, each part containing the whole, condensed. It's the root and the seed. And it, I believe can create indirectly-- I do not think it (God) is necessarily the sole architect of every realm, every universe, even if those each contain that same primordial essence. I consider every thing to be an emanation rather than direct creation, and we in turn (as we contain this same divine spark) dwell within emanations of our own, multiplying and rippling outward and inter-mingling with every soul and dimension and realm in existence. But perceiving and seeing all this while human feels incredibly difficult. It feels like being blind, or underwater. There is such heaviness to wade through, and words, meaningless words, labyrinths and symbols that we've collectively created over time, all trying and failing to encapsulate what is both far more simple and far more complex than we can possibly know. And yet miraculously this elusive source can still somehow be felt, though by the time it goes through the countless filters of our conscious mind, it can become distorted.

God (or simply 'spirit' if you prefer) is the flame, and we and this universe are both the light and shadow emanating.

Flannery O'Conner once wrote something in her prayer journal that's always resonated with me:
"You are the slim crescent of a moon that I see, and I am the earth’s shadow that keeps me from seeing all the moon. The crescent is very beautiful and perhaps that is all one like I am should or could see ... I do not know You, God, because I am in the way."

[Shivani Devi]

"You are the slim crescent of a moon that I see, and I am the earth’s shadow that keeps me from seeing all the moon. The crescent is very beautiful and perhaps that is all one like I am should or could see ... I do not know You, God, because I am in the way."

*cries*

Jai Chandrashekara!!!

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by WabiSabi

Isn't such need eternal?
So won't He be waiting forever?

Hahah, very good!

But, you must mean in a place where
there is no space or time, of course!
LOL!