{"id":429,"date":"2008-10-20T06:19:42","date_gmt":"2008-10-20T06:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/conversationswithgod\/2008\/10\/the-definition-of-god.html"},"modified":"2008-10-20T06:19:42","modified_gmt":"2008-10-20T06:19:42","slug":"the-definition-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/conversationswithgod\/2008\/10\/the-definition-of-god.html","title":{"rendered":"The definition of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

What if the words “God” and “life” are interchangeable? Wouldn’t that make for an extraordinary spiritual cosmology?
\nThe implications are–if it’s possible to imagine this–more than enormous. They’re staggering, earth shaking, paradigm-shattering. This is because everyone knows what is true about life. Everyone may not know what is true about God, but everyone knows what is true about life.
\nWhat is true about life is that nothing stands outside of life. Nothing exists without life, and life does not exist if nothing exists.
\nYou are the expression of life itself. So is everything around you. Even so-called inanimate objects are found, when examined under a microscope, to consist of particles constantly in motion. These particles and their movements are all part of life. Indeed, everything in the observable universe is life, in some form.
\nThe existence of life is confirmed by life itself. Life is self-referencing, self-confirming, self-sustaining, and self-evident. Life is the evidence of the existence of life.
\nNot only does everyone know these things, everyone agrees with these things. What makes what is being said here so dangerous is what happens when the word “God” is inserted where the word “life” appears. That produces this result:
\nNothing stands outside of God. Nothing exists without God, and God does not exist if nothing exists.
\nYou are the expression of God itself. So is everything around you. Even so-called inanimate objects are found, when examined under a microscope, to consist of particles constantly in motion. These particles and their movements are all part of God. Indeed, everything in the observable universe is God, in some form.
\nThe existence of God is confirmed by God itself. God is self-referencing, self-confirming, self-sustaining, and self-evident. God is the evidence of the existence of God.
\nDo you see the problem now? Those three paragraphs cause all the paragraphs in all the other books about God to fall apart. Everything crumbles. Not just a few of our beliefs about God, but the very basis upon which we have built so much of human society. It all comes tumbling down.
\nThe wonderful thing about this, the exciting thing, is that we get to recreate ourselves anew, and rebuild our human society–and that is exactly what is going on right now. Humanity is in the process of rebuilding itself, and a natural part of that process calls upon humanity to take itself apart, at least a little, until enough of the disassembled pieces are lying before us that we can see how they might fit together in a new way. It’s all part of the process of evolution.
\nA huge part of that process is our renewed exploration of this whole idea of God, and of our thoughts about What God Wants. If in fact the words “God” and “life” are describing the same thing…well, we have some major, major theological implications here.
\nDo we need more evidence of the existence of life than life itself? No. And what does life want? Nothing. Life simply is.
\nLife is an energy, a power, to be used. And it is being used, freely, by all. It has no expectations, no desires, no demands, no requirements, no need to be worshipped and no need to punish those who fail to worship it. Life is a singular and unemotional reality. Life is the creator, and it’s that which has been created.
\nLife is the source of life, and it’s That Which Has Been Sourced. Life produces life, and life informs life about life through the process of life itself.
\nLife is, in a few words, the Alpha and the Omega, the All in All. There is nothing that IS that It is not.
\nIf this is not the definition of God, then what is?
\n(The above is an excerpt from the book What God Wants<\/em> (Atria Books).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What if the words “God” and “life” are interchangeable? Wouldn’t that make for an extraordinary spiritual cosmology? The implications are–if it’s possible to imagine this–more than enormous. They’re staggering, earth shaking, paradigm-shattering. This is because everyone knows what is true about life. 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