Define your Deity

Lent 2020 - Day Three

At the heart of any religion is its deity, its God. In the process of building a religion, the central deity needs to be defined. Here is a set of questions I have asked myself - what are your answers?

• Was your God necessary for the creation of the Universe?


• Was your God present and perfect at the birth of the Universe?


• Is your God in a steady state, or evolving along with the Universe?


• Is your God intrinsically a good and loving God?


• Is your God omnipotent (able to do everything), omniscient (knowing all) and omnipresent (everywhere)? 

These are, I think, the basic questions to ask about God - questions as to God's gender and image are entirely secondary. A male 'lord', 'a king'... No - such thinking is nonsensical, given the infinitesimally tiny scale of life, human life, on Earth placed in the context of a Universe consisting of billions of galaxies, each consisting of billions of stars. A Universe which began with a Big Bang - and who knows, may one day stop expanding, start contracting in upon itself back into a singularity from which another Big Bang and so on into infinity. And then the question of Life emerging - conscious life, the emergence of consciousness within the Universe... Our expanding scientific knowledge is opening, rather than closing, the possibilities and dimensions of our deity.

It is our imagination that's lacking; it's easier to imagine a deity that's anthropomorphic - a wise old man with beard - rather than as a concept; God as a process, an unfolding, a becoming, a purpose, a destination, an evolution, a path to perfection.

I have taken to not using the personal pronouns 'He', 'Him' or 'His' in relation to 'God' any more than one would use the pronouns 'he', 'him', 'his' in relation to the Universe, to Creation.

We are either tied to religions rooted in history, rooted in pre-scientific times - or else we are tied to Newtonian determinism that rationalises and reduces wonder to physical laws and equations. But science has moved on; quantum physics has opened doors to new questions rather than answers. Nearly a century ago science felt nearly ready to announce that it would be but a matter of years or even months before a final set of equations explained everything. Not so. The wonder is still there; the big questions concerning the future of the Universe, concerning our own consciousness, remain unanswered.

And how does God manifest God in our lives? In your life? Tiny chinks of light that shine through the everyday - that inner hug, tears of love welling up in the eyes...? Miracles? Does God intervene in our lives? Can we "petition the Lord with prayer"?

Looking for answers to this particular question will take more than a lifetime; I think that our instinct is a good guide that can help at least point us in the right direction. Organised religions often serve to distract and confuse with dogma - it is your own inner voice, those moments of profound insight - that are most useful to finding your own answers.

To find your way, keep walking, eyes open

This time two years ago:
The Mysteries of Quantum Physics

This time three years ago:
Lent starts tomorrow

This time four years ago:
Coincidence and survival

This time seven years ago
The Book of Revelations

This time eight years ago:
Strong late-winter sunshine

This time nine years ago:
Best pics from February 2011

This time ten years ago:
Kensington

This time 12 years ago:
End of the line