if god existed what what he be or look like...

Discussion in 'Philosophy' started by perfectstranger, Feb 10, 2014.

  1. I study LaVayan Satanism, the core belief is that you are your own god. I actually enjoy the idea of self-divinity. So sorry, but I am not misusing anything here.

     
  2.  
    Again, your perspecitve doesn't dictate how reality really is.. even if you choose to play with labels.
     
  3. #23 squidrick420, Feb 15, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 15, 2014
    I am not playing with labels. I am merely stating that I see god in myself, why is this so difficult to understand?
     
    This wasn't meant to be some cheap joke or a crack on religion, I am serious when I say this. Do you not see god in yourself too? We all have the power to dictate our lives, we are essentially the god of our actions, we create our own life, we are the creators of our own world.
     
    Sorry if my ideology does not appeal to you. But that does not mean you should just dismiss what I am saying as mere wordplay. And if my perspective does not dictate how 'reality really is' then neither does yours because reality is defined differently for everybody; but in the case of this thread we are talking about a theoretical reality dealing with the divine. I merely stated my view on this theoretical reality and how I personally define it.
     
  4. #24 Boats And Hoes, Feb 15, 2014
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    I never said you were joking nor disingenuious. So, what do you understand by the term "god"? A being who can make decisions? Now, by that same logic, would that make my dog who chooses between the two kinds of food put before him also a "god"...? And what makes a human "god" different than a dog "god"?
     
  5. I take an atheist and even a slightly agnostic approach towards god (yes, sounds ver illogical, but it works out). The best way I can define God is through a polytheistic-like approach. In one sense, God is the perpetual flow of life, the ever present but intangible flow of the universe. I adopted this from Daoist beliefs which define this belief as the Dao. I have extensively studied the Daodejing and I have basically accepted their notion that the universe is governed by an intangible force that is essentially incomprehensible.
     
    That however was only one scenario of my beliefs; I also believe in the ideals of self-divinity as the personal creator. The difference in this act of decision making as you put it and what I see lies in the depth and complexity of the decision itself. You are just making a basic cognitive decision when you choose between two foods, that does not really effect your future. Humans have the ability to make a decision that will impact our future in ways we can predict; I chose to go to college, I created that destiny for myself because I know that it will open up certain pathways for my life. I could have made the decision to continue working for private contractors, that would have made my life completely different from what it is now. The divinity lies in the fact that we as humans can make decisions that will knowingly effect our entire lives, we can use this power to create our own destiny, we have complete control over the course of our lives. This is an abstract form of god, but it is still a way of defining the divine.
     
    Another way I see god is through Greek and Roman polytheism. The gods did not act so much as a creator as they did metaphors for the extremes of human existence. Apollo falls victim to lust, Daphne the huntress falls victim to Apollo, Zeus has anger issues, Aphrodite is kinda slutty, and Phathon lets curiosity cause his death. Sometimes a God needs to represent idealized versions of our faults and failures. It is important to look upon the divine and see a reflection of humanity; whether it be through ourselves, through our faults, or though an intangible and nameless force that governs all things.  
     
  6. #26 Boats And Hoes, Feb 15, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 15, 2014
     
    1.) So, is this flow eternally self-subsisting? And, where is this flow located... in the universe?
     
    "I have basically accepted their notion that the universe is governed by an intangible force that is essentially incomprehensible." -- Is this "flow" of the universe and the governance of it one and the same thing?
     
    2.) So, you personally can be a creator, but you deny there being the possiblity of a higher creator? How levayean of you..
     
    3.) Distorted Greek mythology shouldn't delineate how you view the philosophy behind the notion of Divinity.
     
  7. #27 squidrick420, Feb 15, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 15, 2014
    1) The dao, aka the eternal flow, needs no location. Let me quote a couple passages from the Daodejing for you that describe the Dao. I could do it myself but it would take forever and I would rather let you draw your own conclusions from the source text itself.
     
    1​
    Dao can be talked about, but not the eternal Dao.​
    Names can be named, but not the eternal name.​
    As the origin of heaven and earth, it is nameless:​
    As the mother of all things, it is nameable.​
    So, as ever hidden, we should look at its inner essence:​
    As always manifest, we should look at its outer aspects.​
    These two flow from the same source, though differently named;​
    And both are called mysteries.​
    The Mystery of mysteries is the Door of all essence.​
     
    4​
    The Dao is like an empty bowl,​
    Which in being used can never be filled up.​
    Fathomless, it seems to be the origin of all things.​
    It blunts all sharp edges,​
    It unties all tangles ,​
    It harmonizes all lights,​
    It unites the world into one whole.​
    Hidden in the deeps,​
    Yet it seems to exist forever.​
    I do not know whose child it is;​
    It seems to be the common ancestor of all, the father of all things.​
     
    2) I do not deny that there is the possibility of a higher creator, but I do not fully accept it either. The Greek philosophies of Aristotle presented the logical explanation that if the universe is in motion, then something must have set it in motion. Perhaps I believe this, but I do not deny that the universe could have been created through natural events either. The point is that I am free to choose what I believe in or do not believe in; and perhaps that ability is a connection to the divine.
     
    3) Greek and Roman mythology should indeed play a role in how divinity is looked upon. I refuse to look at divinity from a single prospective, I grew up Christian and was always told to believe that ideology and nothing more. After studying many other religions I have noticed that a common theme in Religion is for the God or Gods to reflect humanity. Greek and Roman mythology is not distorted, and I have not distorted its views, I have merely read them. They present a perfectly valid form of a human connection to the divine! When God's represent common themes among human interaction then the people have a moral guideline they can look to. Maybe by Christian definition this does not make them a 'God' but that is only one definition, and no definition is more valid than another when spirituality is involved. 
     
  8. #28 Boats And Hoes, Feb 15, 2014
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    1.) No, I know of Dao, and the philosophy behind it, my point was to simply point out that such thoughts and conceptions are beyond empirical verification; meaning, if you were to deny God on the grounds of tangible evidence, I was going to state that the philosophy of Dao is just as unverifiable as any sort of theistic philosophy.
     
    2.) You should look into Anaxagros and Parmenides...
     ​
    "Nor was it once, nor will it be, since it IS, now, all together -- One, continuous;
    for what coming-to-be of it will you seek? In what way, whence, did it grow?
    Neither from what-is-not shall I allow you to say or think;
    for it is not to be said or thought-That it is not.
    And what need could have impelled it to grow Later or sooner, if it began from nothing?
    Thus it must either BE completely or not at all."
     
    3.) My point was that the Greeks stole their mythology from the Egyptians and Babylonians; therefore, you should look Amun-Ra and Zurvan... the notion of a Supreme being is not confined to modern Jewish, Christian, Islamic thought.
     
  9. 1) I understand where you coming from that no theistic ideology can be proven through empirical evidence. I just like the Dao, it is one of those ideologies that sticks out to me is all. I don't think it needs to be proven though, a major part of the Daodejing is vagueness and personal interpretation. If I can get a valid life lesson from the book somewhere then I see no reason to taint it with any form of modern verification.
     
    2) I will definitely look into that some more. I actually recognize the last line of that quote from my humanities textbook haha. I will need time to sit down and read through this stuff in full though.
     
    3) I guess I was being too reliant upon the Greek and Roman God's in my comments. I was mainly just using those as examples in particular because of the large body of literary works that depict their interaction with humans. Ovid's Metamorphoses and the writings of Homer being the first two that come to mind. There is no denying that these religions borrowed from Egyptian religion, but the difference lies in the sheer quantity of literature that depicts these god's interacting with humanity on many different levels. I could have also elaborated on Hindu beliefs and how they depicted human interaction with the god's but in a much different manor than the Greeks and Romans; the role of Arjuna and Krishna in the Bhagvahad Gita being the particular example. As for the supreme being aspect in Egypt the sun god Ra essentially acted like a top figure such as Zeus but did not take such an extensive role as to be declared the sole god of Egyptian culture. Although there is the little situation with Akhenaten and his brief conversion to the first recorded monotheistic culture. The idea of a Supreme Being can also be traced to Persian culture and the Zoroastrian religion which developed as a monotheistic religion separate from Judaism.
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  10. #30 Boats And Hoes, Feb 15, 2014
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    1.) I hear ya, bro. :smoke:
     
    2.) Sounds good.
     
    3.) When I say that there is ONE God above all... I don't mean to say that there aren't other free spirits (or beings) out there who can manipulate the forces of the universe by making chooses and decisions (such as the spirits or gods of the egyptians, sumerians, hindus, etc.,); I just mean to say that there IS only one SUPREME spirit who "stands" above all... and that all cultures and civilizations have acknolwedged such a primoridal (decision-maker) Being.
     
  11. #33 Boats And Hoes, Feb 15, 2014
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    "Amun-Ra is the ultimate God of entire ancient Egypt; many of the Egyptians considered him as the God of Kings and King of Gods! He is the oldest and the most worshipped ruler of ancient Egypt. Amun-Ra simply means: Hidden Light (Amun= Hidden and Ra= Light). During the early Greek civilizations, Greeks considered him the Egyptian synonym of Zeus!"
     
    "Zeus" (as the term should be understood, i.e., denoting the Supreme Godhead) has no appearance (so he doesn't look like a regular man, and espeically not like Zach G. lol). The Greeks loved to anthromorphize their deities.
     
  12. do you always respond seriously to jokes?
     
  13. He's obviously at least a older white male, probably a republican....bill o reilly with a beard
     
  14. You were angry that OP didn't say she? But you have still excluded anyone who doesn't identity as either strictly male or strictly female. In regards to the English language, the most reasonable title imo for God would be forms of "It."
     
  15. I actually came here to say this tho:
     
    what what in the butt
     
  16. #38 -Martyr, Feb 16, 2014
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2014
    God's always been represented as a man. And judging by whether or not you subscribe to Christianity/Baptism, the first woman was made from a man. So the options are pretty limited. If God existed though he'd sound like Liam Neeson, look like a cross between Odin and Jesus Christ, and he'd smell of lilac and blood from centuries of face palming with the intensity of a thousand suns.
     
  17. Lol wut. No im not Christian any who. I like to think Jesus pronounced hey Seuss has a nice set of tits and his dad resembled rick from the walking dead. Cause yea. Sex.
     
  18. #40 240sxLover, Feb 16, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 16, 2014
    He would obviously be some sort of non-corporeal being, duh. Or more akin to ancient Chinese philosophy. Like the cosmos IS God. We are part of God. The universe is one.
     

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