Who Created God? Understanding the Universe's Self-Awareness

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In summary, the conversation discusses the concept of creating and believing in a higher being or god. The speakers explore the idea that consciousness and structure play a role in our belief in a god, and that our understanding of the universe may change as we evolve and discover more about our own capabilities. They also question the traditional myths and beliefs surrounding god, and suggest that perhaps our own subconscious is responsible for creating the concept of god. Ultimately, there is no concrete answer to the question of who created god, and it is suggested that the idea of a higher being may be a means of providing moral values and preventing chaos in society.
  • #71
-Job- said:
The individual will always report nothing as something that is identifiable and thus, in the individual's interpretation, MUST EXIST.

In this thread and the other, you are still misrepresenting what I've said and are indirectly making my point.

I have clearly stated that nothing (in it's absolute sense), DOES NOT exist. It is NOT a something.

If absolutely nothing does not exist, then something absolute does. This is what we commonly refer to as God.

If absolutely nothing does exist, as you mistakenly quote me as saying, then God doesn't exist, we don't exist, etc.

To drag a point over here from the other thread, there are three types of nothing. The nonexistent absolute nothing. The relatively absolute nothing, which is the partner of the relatively absolute everything. And relatively nothing, which is the partner of something relative.

Everything & nothing are the state of potential outside (before) the universe. The so-called boundary. Something relative & relatively nothing are the state of potential of an infinite universe. The universe without a so-called boundary.

Absoulutely nothing does not exist... God does.
 
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  • #72
-Job- said:
Any individual exposed to actual nothing would report it as being black and silent...
:confused: You sit at your desk with pen and paper. A toy car is placed in front of you on the desk. You are asked to "report" (in text) on its "being". Words appear on the paper ... Next, the toy is taken away. You are asked again to report on the being of the "no-thing" to which you are now exposed. Now, according to your false statement all humans when placed in this situation will report these words " the no-thing toy car is black and silent". :bugeye: Sorry, your logic just does not hold. Here is what I suggest, "any individual exposed to actual "no-thing" would report "no-thing".
 
  • #73
Iacchus32 said:
So, how do we in fact get something from nothing, when in fact nothing is all there is? ... Nay, nor even the slightest potential for something. Wouldn't there at least have to be some sort of basic structure or matrix already there? If so, then how did that get there? Sounds to me like we're speaking about some basic structure which has always been, indeed, a highly intelligent structure. Which is to say, how else could it not be intelligent if, in fact it was the basis for all there is?

Hey, did you know that consciousness is merely the end-result of that which is highly structured? Think about it. How could we possibly do anything, let alone think, without a tremendous amount of structure in our lives? Whereas if these immutable laws that govern this structure have always been, what might it possibly suggest? That the Universe has always been self-aware, and was designed specifically as an outcropping of this?

Well, that certainly dispells any need to ask who created God now doesn't it? :wink:

In answer to the question that is the title of this thread I'd have to say that there was a small number of people who "created God". Today there are many who believe this creation is real. Its like believing "the sun came up" in the morning when the Earth rotated toward the direction of the sun. Its mythology that has been kept alive toward one purpose or another.

Structure has a deeper root... yet it is simple.

Because all events (vacuum, matter, anti-matter, electromagnetic spectrums) are homogenious when examined at the nanoscopic levels of electromagnetic radiation this is an example that there is really only one very reactive and influencial structure. It is the "field" of em waves that give rise to more complex emergent properties such as gravity, mass, matter and other incidentals.

But say you take all the complex emergent phenomenon that populates this universe and boil it down to its common denominator which is electromagnetic radiation. This means what appears to be separate planets, suns and other events is really all one morphic mass of ectoplasmic-like em wave.

This singular em wave has areas of higher density and lower density and they all support each other in complimentary harmonies. As it has evolved the densities have become structured by interaction and in response to their counterparts which are also their compliments (some would call opposites). This arrangement supports the maintainence of structures as we see them today. Otherwise there'd be nothing to see or any seeing of any kind:uhh: .
 
  • #74
"God is a concept, in which we measure our pain"

- John Lennon
 
  • #75
Just ask yourself
What was BEFORE creation?
Answer: Nothing.
But read it correctly - it's a compound word.
No THING
That which was before creation, that which DID creation
was never created (a being unique in that quality as every
other thing WAS ... by IT).
 
  • #76
P.S. I have the math for it - SIMPLE ALGEBRA -
but the .999--- = 1 thread IS LOCKED.
 
  • #77
Eric

Absolutely nothing does not exist... God does.
I agree with you that the first of these statements is simply a matter of logic. But how do you get to the second statement?
 
  • #78
Canute said:
I agree with you that the first of these statements is simply a matter of logic. But how do you get to the second statement?

I wouldn't even be sure about the first one...

Today i read an article in newscientist in which a guy called Victor Stenger claimed that the laws of the universe are also the laws of nothingness. I can't remember exactly how he reasoned this (strangely it did make sense to me when i was reading it), but it was something about the laws of physics being symmetrical and this indicated they were all actually the same law, which happened to be absolutely nothing.
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/mg19125581.800-review-something-from-nothing.html

Apparently he also uses it all as an argument that god doesn't exist, "the universe has no beginning so it wasnt created"...

Maybe i will open a topic about it and see if someone knows more about this.
 
  • #79
Canute said:
I agree with you that the first of these statements is simply a matter of logic. But how do you get to the second statement?

It's a two-part answer.

1. Since absolute(ly) nothing does not exist – something absolute does. The Absolute – God.

2. Absolutely nothing not existing – is not the cause (outside) of the absolute. "Absolutely nothing is impossible" – is inside the Absolute.

As an additional note – the only thing that is impossible inside the Absolute, is the Absolute itself. That would put the Absolute outside of itself. This has major implications for science, philosophy, and religions.

PIT2 said:
Apparently he also uses it all as an argument that god doesn't exist, "the universe has no beginning so it wasnt created"...

The universe having no beginning (not created) is not proof that God doesn't exist. Genesis isn't necessarily entirely accurate –nor is taking it literally vs. science, proof that God doesn't exist.

There is no logic that says God had to create the universe. In fact, it is entirely illogical that there was a creation – when would that have been? What was God doing before the universe – playing with itself? What was inside God before the universe? And when will God destroy the universe and why?

There is a level of of relativity outside the universe I won't get into at the moment – but the universe itself, is an infinite intermingling of something relative & relatively nothing. This is why we will never find mass to contain any literal substance or space to be literally empty.

God is outside infinity. The idea that God is infinite is inaccurate. God is outside having no beginning or end. Infinity (from infinitesimal to infinite) has no beginning or end. This means is that the universe (infinity) never began to, is, or will end to literally (actaully) happen. It is forever in a state of potential of "will happen". This is why the arrow of time seems to move forward.

The universe is "figurative" – in every respect. All "phenomenon" is figuaratively three dimensional. Matter, energy, space, and time are all three dimensional. There is no fourth dimension. It's easy to imagine matter and space having three dimensions – but energy and time do to. Energy goes up and down and back and forth, but it also goes sideways (90 degrees). That's what it does when it "changes" into matter. Time can seem (figuratively) to speed up or down, we can think back as it goes forward, and when it seems to stop (which is does), it's going sideways.

This whole "literal and figurative" idea is important. It's not often if ever discussed as such, but the question of what is and isn't – applies to science, philosophy, and religions as well.

I know I've digressed, but what the heck.
 
  • #80
PIT2 said:
I wouldn't even be sure about the first one...

Today i read an article in newscientist in which a guy called Victor Stenger claimed that the laws of the universe are also the laws of nothingness. I can't remember exactly how he reasoned this (strangely it did make sense to me when i was reading it), but it was something about the laws of physics being symmetrical and this indicated they were all actually the same law, which happened to be absolutely nothing.
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/mg19125581.800-review-something-from-nothing.html

Apparently he also uses it all as an argument that god doesn't exist, "the universe has no beginning so it wasnt created"...

Maybe i will open a topic about it and see if someone knows more about this.

Thanks for mentioning this it sounds very interesting. I'll go read the article.

However, from what you say here I'll make a bet beforehand that the author assumes that because nothing 'scientific' exists nothing at all exists, and does not mention the theory of emptiness, the cosmological scheme expounded in the literature of Mahayana Buddhism in which nothing really exists and nothing really ever happens.

If you start a thread I'll certainly join in.

Canute

PS. Just read the brief summary of the article. Is there a full version online somewhere? My view, from the summary, would be that his ideas are spot on. I'll be interested to hear what Eric thinks. If Stenger has managed to prove his conclusions then he'll have joined a select group of people who have proved the same thing, most notably the Buddhist philosopher Nagarujna.
 
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  • #81
Eric England said:
It's a two-part answer.

1. Since absolute(ly) nothing does not exist – something absolute does. The Absolute – God.

2. Absolutely nothing not existing – is not the cause (outside) of the absolute. "Absolutely nothing is impossible" – is inside the Absolute.
I'm ok with 1. - as long as we leave 'God' undefined. But I can't make head or tail of 2. Could you unpack it a bit?

As an additional note – the only thing that is impossible inside the Absolute, is the Absolute itself. That would put the Absolute outside of itself. This has major implications for science, philosophy, and religions.
Are you sure that it makes sense to say that the Absolute has an inside and an outside? I'd argue that it's not a logically coherent idea. Could we not say that the Absolute is a phenomenon beyond such distinctions, inconceivable in terms of such dualistic concepts?

God is outside infinity. The idea that God is infinite is inaccurate. God is outside having no beginning or end.
Yes, this is what I mean. Why not the same for inside/outside?

The universe is "figurative" – in every respect.
What would 'figurative' mean here?

All "phenomenon" is figuaratively three dimensional. Matter, energy, space, and time are all three dimensional. There is no fourth dimension.
I feel if you argue that there is no fourth dimension you have to also argue for the (absolute) non-existence of the other three. But maybe not. There is a decent argument for a fifth dimension in addition to spacetime, by the way. This would equate the fifth dimension with the Absolute. But whether this would really count as a dimension would depend on how we define a dimension. There's a book around titled 'The Church of the Fifth Dimension' about this idea, but I've never read it. This dimension would be like the 'hyperspace' used by science fiction writers to get around the universe, thus accounting for nonlocality.

This whole "literal and figurative" idea is important. It's not often if ever discussed as such, but the question of what is and isn't – applies to science, philosophy, and religions as well.
If by figurative you mean something like metaphorical then this seems an important point. It's absolutely crucial in religion and mysticism, but I've been overlooking just how important it is also in science and philosophy. Thanks for that.

regards
Canute
 
  • #82
Canute said:
I'm ok with 1. - as long as we leave 'God' undefined. But I can't make head or tail of 2. Could you unpack it a bit?
Are you sure that it makes sense to say that the Absolute has an inside and an outside?

Canute... I'm enjoying this. You have such a good inter-disciplinary understanding.

I think you missed something, if it seems to you that I'm saying the Absolute has both and inside and an outside.

The Absolute has no outside whatsoever – both of itself and to itself.

Number 2 is subtle, but important. Actually, I shouldn't say "but" – subtle is of the greatest importance, as you well know. But I digress.

The absence (impossibility) of absolute nothing is not the cause (reason) for the Absolute. The Absolute doesn't exist "because". That would be giving the Absolute an outside.

Take the following two phrases and turn them around in your brain:

Absolutely nothing doesn't exist.
Absolutely nothing is impossible.

This is the fundament for all of "existence" within the Absolute (which has no outside whatsoever).

Yes, God (the Absolute) is undefined in two senses. It is not the God of one religion, but not of others. We can't step outside of it to turn around to look, to see what it is. Within it however – it can be "seen" to be literal, indivisible, and invisible. The reason we can logically see that it has no outside – is because we can see right through it – it's invisible.

Canute said:
If by figurative you mean something like metaphorical then this seems an important point. It's absolutely crucial in religion and mysticism, but I've been overlooking just how important it is also in science and philosophy. Thanks for that.

The answer to this is yes and you're welcome.

All "points" inside the Absolute are metaphorical, and have both an inside and an outside. They also fall within a hierarchy of "relative" that has the universe at the bottom. The universe is last and least, but it doesn't seem like it, because being figurative ourselves, we have a natural tendency to see things backwards.

Which brings me to one last point. A single (R)elative that has an outside but doesn't have an inside (of itself or to itself). It is at the center of the Absolute. The center is the only place inside a point with no outside – so it's everwhere.

The Relative is also literal, indivisible, and invisible. It is the only point in direct respect to the Absolute. It is inside each and every figurative point. It's presence is what leads us to believe there is an absolute inside the Absolute – scientifically, philosophically, or religously.

The Relative is zero and the Absolute is one – neither can be divided nor "detected". When the day comes that science, philosophy, and religions realize this – we will all realize that the "absolute" we think is inside of the universe is the Relative (false absolute) and it just sits there pointing outward to the true Absolute.

The Absolute is not inside of itself.
 

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