Friday, May 6, 2011

Dog spelled backwards



Well, it happened again. Did you notice? The previous paragraph was invaded. Dear old deus ex machina slipped in through the door, which we can’t permit. Someone give the bouncer the nudge. We can’t allow an alien presence. Clock his ticket, right now. Nip him in the crux before we move on.  

This notion of God. You’ll remember that we’ve been there before—when I spoke of being an Ego-theist. You may have felt then that I evaded the issue, though I feel that I handled it adroitly. We’ll revisit it, but with greater resolve. Let’s see how I perform this time. First, though, to retrace our steps.



When I introduced the topic, I didn’t begin where most people begin and then immediately get stuck. Instead of trying to decide on whether or not there is a Dog, I pondered about that beast’s secret identity. I didn’t sidestep the issue through the semantic expedient of giving Him, Her or It another name: Life Force, Universal Spirit, Nature and the like. I assured you that the quandary was, in fact, simpler. 

It didn’t take me more than a minute to clear the air, and then we all breathed much more easily. Remember how we backed the hairy monster into its lair? I deviate from the mainstream definition in that I do not see God as some superhuman identity looming loftily over the entire creation. So as to regain some perspective, I made a small but vital adjustment: I defined God as simply the highest form of consciousness that there was. Thereby, I conferred the title ‘God’ onto the most imposing player on the block. Sir God, arise.



And by default, if a person happens to have the notion that he or she is alone in the universe, then they were ‘It’. The onus would fall squarely upon them (and if they doubted even their own existence, then God help them.) I asked you not to worry if our chosen god didn’t appear to have the power reply to prayers, move mountains, or walk on water. I promised you that we’d get to that later on . . . and here we are now.

With a fell swoop, I sorted out several pressing issues. I did away with the one-god-or-multiple-dogs thing. Because you see, if there are more than one, then they can’t all be equal (if they were equal, exactly equal, then, by definition, they would be one). No, if there’s more than one contender, then there has Gott to be a winner. The godhead is not a lottery win that you can share. We also avoid the issue of whether God is an actual entity or else a cloud-like spiritual ether. For now, that isn’t a concern. Consciousness, in whatever shape or form, is key. It doesn’t matter where it is housed. Just as long as it exists somewhere.
 

So, unless there’s no consciousness anywhere, then God—as I’ve defined that being—must exist. You see that, don’t you? Well hell, God may then not be as omni- this and uber- that—as all powerful, present, knowing and so forth as you’d imagined God should be, but we’re looking for life on Mars here. Let’s take what we can get. Don’t sweat the small stuff, little man. Who are we to determine just what god can and cannot do? Anyway, you may be surprised. It remains to be seen just what implications are gonna follow. We’re nowhere near done yet.



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