Definitions of "god"

[Unveiled Artist]

The OP is more of metaphysics and the energy defined by different traditions rather than energy as in science. So the idea is the definition of god by context has different definitions while energy is probably a common denominator.

 

[shunyadragon]

Can science explain the nature of god rather than referencing god by creation?

The ultimate nature of God no. Science is only predictable of the attributes and the nature of our physical existence. The existence or non-existence of God cannot be determined by science, which is neutral to all beyond the falsification of theories and hypothesis concerning the nature of our physical existence.

Energy would be god rather than a creation or reflection of what a god may have created.

God would be the Creator of the energy as a fundamental attribute of God in our physical existence.

 

[Bear Wild]

Would it also makes sense that there is no duality in forces but just one force (like waves) flowing in and out of each other as one sea?

No it seems much more complex than that just like there is matter and energy and not just one aspect. There are many gods and goddesses representing aspects of the natural world so no not just one.

 

[Thief]

Cheat sheet (ignore the list. It's not the same as the first link.)

I won't cheat.....and I have a list

bigger, faster, stronger, most intelligent and greatly experienced

cannot be.....pushed aside
circumvented
subdued
tricked or cheated

in a Word............Almighty

 

[Unveiled Artist]

So not a Creator God to whom creation is bound or has some obligation to?

No. It refers to "god" (used for common language purposes) as, in christianity, synonym to (holy) spirit. There's a good list of synonym to the life force. I found a good definition of it.

the force or influence that gives something its vitality or strength.
"the passionate life force of the symphony"
the spirit or energy that animates living creatures; the soul.

I actually didn't know it had a definition until I looked it up on google.

Since "god" is such a universal term, it must then have a universal origin. There must have been a time when early human beings did not consider the term "god" as anything other than what it originally meant as applying to the one element that they considered or understood to be "God". It appears to me that as humans spread out in the earth, that their ideas about "God" ("The Great Spirit" for some) became slanted towards what they wanted to believe of him, yet still holding to a core belief of 'him/it' as the source of all energy...to be revered and respected.

It "must".... wouldn't be enough to say whether it does or doesn't.

Probably not, no. Though everything isn't dependent on us (our religion, interpretations) for it to exist or not.

In this case, though, since most people on RF knows the word god that's the word best to use. It's not correlated to any abrahamic, eastern, or pagan. Just for convenience.

Humans are imaginative creatures and as we can see from the common spiritual bond they all hold down through time, their beliefs have been fragmented into all manner of religions and religious practices.....but none can claim to be the one universal truth of it.

How far can we go back to find out where it all started? Bible believers have such a point of reference.....what do other religions have? They acknowledge the existence of this pervasive spiritual energy force...but where does it come from?

I don't see a universal truth in life and religions.

What do other religions have? I think it's best to ask the religious and study them as well before making opinion one way or another.

Though closest comparison is when JW talk about soul/body. When one dies without christ, the soul/body is gone until the JW believers are resurrected. So, in this case, since there isn't a soul/spirit of a deceased person, whatever it was that gave/is life to human beings is also (as the link in the OP argues) the same life force that's in other religious traditions by different names. Though they generalized the traditions greatly, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.

 

[blü 2]

"God," in this case, used because it's a common term people know. Not in this case does god refer to any nature or characteristic of one god/s abrahamic, eastern, pagan, and otherwise.

I found this interesting below of the different natures of what people mean when they refer to god as, let's say, the life force or energy that livens all into being. Tradition, language, Practice, oral and written dictation, etc helps one live it. Differing religions define it (using "it" to talk about something /grammar not to Be the nature of that thing) and see it in various ways.

Universal Life Force Energy: 8 Examples from Around the World

These lists are generalizations but hoping you get the context. Read at your own time. I know most faiths on RF don't like to discuss their views on this word (of single or multiple context), but hopefully there is some interaction nonetheless.

Enjoy.

45 Unique Subtle Energy Definitions & Names | Subtle Energy

Cheat sheet (ignore the list. It's not the same as the first link.)

Thanks for those links.

To anyone who thinks the universe, or energy, or some Universal Unnamed Force, is sentient and purposeful per se, I say, Please show me.

No luck so far,

 

[Milton Platt]

"God," in this case, used because it's a common term people know. Not in this case does god refer to any nature or characteristic of one god/s abrahamic, eastern, pagan, and otherwise.

I found this interesting below of the different natures of what people mean when they refer to god as, let's say, the life force or energy that livens all into being. Tradition, language, Practice, oral and written dictation, etc helps one live it. Differing religions define it (using "it" to talk about something /grammar not to Be the nature of that thing) and see it in various ways.

Universal Life Force Energy: 8 Examples from Around the World

These lists are generalizations but hoping you get the context. Read at your own time. I know most faiths on RF don't like to discuss their views on this word (of single or multiple context), but hopefully there is some interaction nonetheless.

Enjoy.

45 Unique Subtle Energy Definitions & Names | Subtle Energy

Cheat sheet (ignore the list. It's not the same as the first link.)

There are seemingly as many definitions of god as there are people to define the word. That is very telling.

 

[exchemist]

It's the context not the word. Here's the context (Qi) the "vital energy that is held to animate the body." Scientific word energy and what's being described are the same thing. The practice, traditions, language, and context are what differentiates them not the definition.

But it is nonsense, scientifically speaking, to claim that there is something called "vital energy" that animates the body. The idea is bogus.

Living organisms require energy to sustain them of course, but this is just ordinary energy, which they get from biochemical reactions, involving external nutrients that they take in.

 

[exchemist]

“All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a conscious and intelligent non-visible living energy force. This energy force is the matrix mind of all matter.” – Max Planck, developer of Quantum Theory

So what did they misquote?




Bonus Material

Other quotes from Planck:

In all my research I have never come across matter. To me the term matter implies a bundle of energy which is given form by an intelligent spirit.
Max Planck

I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as a derivative of consciousness.
Max Planck

And perhaps the most apropos:

Truth never triumphs-its opponents just die out.
Max Planck

"Energy force" is a nonsensical term, to any physical scientist. Mechanical work, which is a form of energy, is due to a force acting through a distance. W=Fd.

What Planck actually said, according to Wikiquote, is this:

• As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clearheaded science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about the atoms this much: There is no matter as such! All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particles of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. . . . We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Spirit. This Spirit is the matrix of all matter.

Wikiquote also has the original German: Synergy - Wikiquote

Notice that the word "energy" does not appear anywhere in this. Nor does the term "matrix mind". Planck, who said this around 1900, was a committed Lutheran Christian. Evidently he found his work on atoms reinforced his faith in God. The force he refers to is simply electrostatic attraction, between electrons and atomic nuclei. He seems to be speculating about the origin of the order in nature, as so many religiously inclined scientists have done, before and since.

Where do you get your version of the quote from? I suspect it has been altered, to fit the schtick of some pedlar of woo, who wants to attach a quantum physicist's name to it in order to give spurious authenticity.

 

[exchemist]

I meant what I said. There are other sciences like Occult Science, Vedic Science, etc..

None of these is science.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Thanks for those links.

To anyone who thinks the universe, or energy, or some Universal Unnamed Force, is sentient and purposeful per se, I say, Please show me.

No luck so far,

That's just the abrahamic view point. Think in terms of, say, holy spirit not a deity/person. The force can be to them defined as love and grace rather than some one who gives dictations.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

There are seemingly as many definitions of god as there are people to define the word. That is very telling.

How would you define god as a common nature of all names mentioned? (Not specific to abrahamic, eastern, and pagan views)

 

[Unveiled Artist]

But it is nonsense, scientifically speaking, to claim that there is something called "vital energy" that animates the body. The idea is bogus.

Living organisms require energy to sustain them of course, but this is just ordinary energy, which they get from biochemical reactions, involving external nutrients that they take in.

The link doesn't refer to life force as energy defined by science. Science isn't part of the discussion. Energy is another would for vitality. It's the spirit (per none religious definition) in a person when he or she is erect in their passion and value.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Edit. After looking mechanical energy would be the closest

"Energy force" is a nonsensical term, to any physical scientist. Mechanical work, which is a form of energy, is due to a force acting through a distance. W=Fd.

What Planck actually said, according to Wikiquote, is this:

• As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clearheaded science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about the atoms this much: There is no matter as such! All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particles of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. . . . We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Spirit. This Spirit is the matrix of all matter.

Wikiquote also has the original German: Synergy - Wikiquote

Notice that the word "energy" does not appear anywhere in this. Nor does the term "matrix mind". Planck, who said this around 1900, was a committed Lutheran Christian. Evidently he found his work on atoms reinforced his faith in God. The force he refers to is simply electrostatic attraction, between electrons and atomic nuclei. He seems to be speculating about the origin of the order in nature, as so many religiously inclined scientists have done, before and since.

Where do you get your version of the quote from? I suspect it has been altered, to fit the schtick of some pedlar of woo, who wants to attach a quantum physicist's name to it in order to give spurious authenticity.

The OP isn't science oriented. Energy is life to everything living. Take away the metaphysics that's all that's left. But the OP has to do with metaphysics not science.

 

[exchemist]

The link doesn't refer to life force as energy defined by science. Science isn't part of the discussion. Energy is another would for vitality. It's the spirit (per none religious definition) in a person when he or she is erect in their passion and value.

I agree with you there: science certainly isn't part of the discussion.

But what you say is untrue: both links in the OP claim, falsely, an association with science.

The first link has the cheek to actually head the page with a misquotation from Planck, while the diagram at the head of the second link contains the nonsense term "subtle energy science."

If one wants to use "energy" in a non-scientific (in fact, scientifically meaningless) sense, then one should not pretend these notions are endorsed by famous scientists like Planck, as the OP does, or use pseudoscientific terminology.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I agree with you there: science certainly isn't part of the discussion.

But what you say is untrue: both links in the OP claim, falsely, an association with science.

The first link has the cheek to actually head the page with a misquotation from Planck, while the diagram at the head of the second link contains the nonsense term "subtle energy science."

If one wants to use "energy" in a non-scientific (in fact, scientifically meaningless) sense, then one should not pretend these notions are endorsed by famous scientists like Planck, as the OP does, or use pseudoscientific terminology.

The main focus, the definitions and words are closer to metaphysics not science. I'm not familiar with the quotes and who they are attributed to but the general consensus is people have different words for vitality and spirit within their traditions. I'm not sure how science came into this, though. RF thing I guess.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I agree with you there: science certainly isn't part of the discussion.

But what you say is untrue: both links in the OP claim, falsely, an association with science.

The first link has the cheek to actually head the page with a misquotation from Planck, while the diagram at the head of the second link contains the nonsense term "subtle energy science."

If one wants to use "energy" in a non-scientific (in fact, scientifically meaningless) sense, then one should not pretend these notions are endorsed by famous scientists like Planck, as the OP does, or use pseudoscientific terminology.

Here's the definition of life force:

the force or influence that gives something its vitality or strength.
"the passionate life force of the symphony"
the spirit or energy that animates living creatures; the soul.

Here's a different view of subtle energy and metaphysics.
An Introduction to Subtle Energy

 

[blü 2]

That's just the abrahamic view point. Think in terms of, say, holy spirit not a deity/person. The force can be to them defined as love and grace rather than some one who gives dictations.

I'll bite back the temptation to remark on better whiskies and whiskeys, though like God they're benevolent spirits if not abused.

I'm concerned with the distinction between the real on the one hand, and the purely internal, the purely conceptual / imaginary, on the other. I observe that God is never seen in nature, no photos, no weekly TV program, not even dental records at the Missing Persons Bureau. If we found a real suspect, we'd have no way of telling whether [he] was God or not. (Worse, we don't even have a defined concept of real 'godness', the quality a real God would have and a real superscientist who could create universes, raise the dead, travel in time &c, would lack.)

Ah well.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I'll bite back the temptation to remark on better whiskies and whiskeys, though like God they're benevolent spirits if not abused.

I'm concerned with the distinction between the real on the one hand, and the purely internal, the purely conceptual / imaginary, on the other. I observe that God is never seen in nature, no photos, no weekly TV program, not even dental records at the Missing Persons Bureau. If we found a real suspect, we'd have no way of telling whether [he] was God or not. (Worse, we don't even have a defined concept of real 'godness', the quality a real God would have and a real superscientist who could create universes, raise the dead, travel in time &c, would lack.)

Ah well.

I'm not sure how this relates to the OP or what I mentioned.

I guess people have their issues with the word god as they perceive it as abrahamic sense. In this case, it's just used as convenience and more termed as one of many words that define vitality of the spirit or person in which (so looked again on the link) is also referred to as subtle energy. Think of Reiki and other practices such as energy healing. It's more akin to that than the common abrahamic definition people attribute to the word god.

 

[exchemist]

Here's the definition of life force:

the force or influence that gives something its vitality or strength.
"the passionate life force of the symphony"
the spirit or energy that animates living creatures; the soul.

Here's a different view of subtle energy and metaphysics.
An Introduction to Subtle Energy

Even this link contains the following: "Modern science suggests the world is made of matter and energy. Matter is anything that takes up space. Energy is the ability to move matter or do work. Understanding what energy is and how it moves in the body can offer practical benefits in your daily life."

The implication is that the sense in which they use the word "energy" is the scientific sense. They then immediately proceed to teach the reader a load of stuff which is completely unscientific about "energy".

This is deception.