A convenient definition of God
One half of your troubles in life could be avoided if only you knew for sure whether God exists. The problem is, no one today knows for sure what God looks like; everyone uses the narrow Anthromorphic definitions, which raise more questions than they answer. What you need to do is use a definition that suits your preconceptions, yet can be proven to exist.
This requires a mathematical concept. I’m sure you’ve learned Set Theory in school. Do you remember something called the Universal Set?
The Universal Set is the set of all things, persons, thoughts, that have been or might be. Include all of existence as you know it. Can you see all this as one Entity?
This Entity, which contains everything you know within it, is God as the Hindu philosophy defines him. This, as you can see, is a matter of definition and not of existence. And there is no way to deny the existence of such a God.
In fact, God exists in the overlapping region between definition through existence, and existence because of definition. So the correct answer to the question, “Do you believe God exists?” or “Do you believe God lives in you?” or “You really think God exists in every blade of grass?” is to say, “Yes, that is the way I define it.”
To take a related example. You, or maybe your parents, defined your name. Now if I ask you, “You believe your name is X, and everyone you know also believes that. But is that really your name?” You’d be confused. The name and you map together because of definition. So it is with God and our definition of him.
It is as a wise man said, “Belief is like a path through the forest. The path did not exist before all the people chose it, and walked it.” Just as most of basic mathematics is a matter of definition, to make all the kids use the same numerical and notational conventions, a lot of religion is just a set of conventions that gather believability from belief.
This requires a mathematical concept. I’m sure you’ve learned Set Theory in school. Do you remember something called the Universal Set?
The Universal Set is the set of all things, persons, thoughts, that have been or might be. Include all of existence as you know it. Can you see all this as one Entity?
This Entity, which contains everything you know within it, is God as the Hindu philosophy defines him. This, as you can see, is a matter of definition and not of existence. And there is no way to deny the existence of such a God.
In fact, God exists in the overlapping region between definition through existence, and existence because of definition. So the correct answer to the question, “Do you believe God exists?” or “Do you believe God lives in you?” or “You really think God exists in every blade of grass?” is to say, “Yes, that is the way I define it.”
To take a related example. You, or maybe your parents, defined your name. Now if I ask you, “You believe your name is X, and everyone you know also believes that. But is that really your name?” You’d be confused. The name and you map together because of definition. So it is with God and our definition of him.
It is as a wise man said, “Belief is like a path through the forest. The path did not exist before all the people chose it, and walked it.” Just as most of basic mathematics is a matter of definition, to make all the kids use the same numerical and notational conventions, a lot of religion is just a set of conventions that gather believability from belief.
posted by Sudarshan at 11:24 AM
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