Formless God

[Don Penguinoini]

I stumbled on a quote from the Gita. I like it a lot.
Whatever takes form is false.
Only the formless endures.

When you understand
The truth of this teaching,
You will not be born again.

For God is infinite,
Within the body and without,
Like a mirror,
And the image in a mirror.

As the air is everywhere,
Flowing around a pot
And filling it,
So God is everywhere,
Filling all things
And flowing through them forever.

- Ashtavakra Gita 1: 18-20

Mainly Christianity has labelled God as an old white man in white robes with a grey beard. How cany anyone possibly know that?

To me, this quote is the answer.

 

[Sunstone]

Nice passage.

 

[Caladan]

Very Taoish.
and mystical in general.
Jewish commentary (Midrash) on Psalms: "The true nature of God is beyond any of his attributes as humanly conceived".

 

[Don Penguinoini]

Very Taoish.
and mystical in general.
Jewish commentary (Midrash) on Psalms: "The true nature of God is beyond any of his attributes as humanly conceived".

I agree, God cannot be anything like we think, we are finite beings and do not have the capacity to imagine something like God to its fullest.

 

[Riverwolf]

I don't think Christianity itself is to blame for idolizing God as an old Caucasian man in red. It's just that a Christian man painted It that way on the roof of a Christian church.

I personally think that among modern God-concepts, the most accurate one is, ironically, the concept of the Living Force from Star Wars. (For non-Star Wars geeks, the "Living Force" is the idea that the Force is not light or dark as on a line, but just energy that different people use differently.)

 

[Quagmire]

This is good news because I hate filling out forms.

I just started reading the Gita again, Don P. It's been a while and I never realized before that, like Caladan pointed out, there are definate similarities to the Tao Te Ching.

 

[Hema]

Yes, all that takes a form is temporary because it is limited...limited by space and time.

 

[Don Penguinoini]

This is good news because I hate filling out forms.

I just started reading the Gita again, Don P. It's been a while and I never realized before that, like Caladan pointed out, there are definate similarities to the Tao Te Ching.

Still some time before i read the Gita.

 

[Laremst]

Though I am Atheist, I believe if there ever was a God that it would be like the OP.

 

[Don Penguinoini]

Though I am Atheist, I believe if there ever was a God that it would be like the OP.

Welcome to Hinduism! The religion where you dont even need to believe in God!

 

[Nade]

I agree, but disagree. To me, it is not only the formless that is real, but rather the formless and the formed are both part of the greater reality that comes without dualities like formed and formless. You can't just focus on only the formless to get it, right? I mean, there is not just the formless and formed, but the real that is real.

Thats why some people say, "this is god", correct?

 

[Don Penguinoini]

I agree, but disagree. To me, it is not only the formless that is real, but rather the formless and the formed are both part of the greater reality that comes without dualities like formed and formless. You can't just focus on only the formless to get it, right? I mean, there is not just the formless and formed, but the real that is real.

Thats why some people say, "this is god", correct?

I am....lost

 

[Riverwolf]

I agree, but disagree. To me, it is not only the formless that is real, but rather the formless and the formed are both part of the greater reality that comes without dualities like formed and formless. You can't just focus on only the formless to get it, right? I mean, there is not just the formless and formed, but the real that is real.

I think I get it. The formless and the formed both make up reality. Like matter and anti-matter. Right?

 

[Mister Emu]

Mainly Christianity has labelled God as an old white man in white robes with a grey beard. How cany anyone possibly know that?

That is untrue...

Traditional christianity sees God the Father as a spirit...

 

[Ben Dhyan]

This is a saying from the Hermetic tradition,..

If anyone has a spiritual eye, let them go forth from there body to behold the beautiful.
Let them fly up and float above not seeking to see shape or colour but rather that from which these things are created.
That which is qiuet and calm, stable and changeless, That which is ONE.
That which issues forth from itself and is contained in itself
That which is like nothing else but ITSELF.

For those who are not familiar with the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the first event of the deceased spirit when it leaves the body is to behold formless pure white light. After some time, a glorious deity appears within the white light reflecting the most beautiful colors imaginable.

If the deceased spirit's attention is drawn from the formless white light to the gloriously beautiful deity/god, it soon finds itself no longer in the realm of the pure formless white light but is now in the realm of the glorious Deity, hence it has begun the descent down into the lower realms of existence.

This 'test' is repeated in each realm, and each time the deceased spirit's attention is drawn from the relative sublime ambiance of a realm to some glorious deity within it, it descends yet further down.

Eventually, if the deceased's spirit continues to be deceived by the color and glamor of a created artifact at each realm as being more desirable than the pure essence of the realm itself, it will descend to a realm where it finds itself entangled in a female womb,.. and the reincarnation cycle begins!

The essential message of the Tibetan Book of the Dead?...that the pure formless white light first beheld after death is THAT which the deceased's spirit should surrender to completely, for the second and lower realms lead to even lower realms which ultimately lead to reincarnation.

 

[UnityNow101]

That is untrue...

Traditional christianity sees God the Father as a spirit...

Correct. However, people do not see it this way. The reason being that the leaders within the faith have split God up into three, with one being exclusively called the "Holy Spirit." That makes people believe that God, the Father must be a physical old man sitting up in the clouds. Jesus did say that God is spirit, so I agree that Christianity, in it's original form, did not teach that God was some physical old man sitting in the clouds...

By the way, that quote in the OP is quite beautiful. I am agnostic but could see God being as expressed within that passage from the Bhagavad Gita. If there is a God, chances are that he is not some physical old man ruling from atop the clouds...

 

[Renji]

Mainly Christianity has labelled God as an old white man in white robes with a grey beard. How cany anyone possibly know that?

No. Christians believe that God is formless but has "hind parts" as the Bible says. And about that " old white man in white robes with a grey beard" it's just a depiction of Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh.

 

[Mister Emu]

Correct. However, people do not see it this way. The reason being that the leaders within the faith have split God up into three, with one being exclusively called the "Holy Spirit." That makes people believe that God, the Father must be a physical old man sitting up in the clouds. Jesus did say that God is spirit, so I agree that Christianity, in it's original form, did not teach that God was some physical old man sitting in the clouds...

Outside of the LDS I think you would be hard pressed to find a Christian who believes that the Father has a physical form in heaven.

it's just a depiction of Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh.

?? The "old man in the clouds" picture is generally one of the Father in my experience...(like "The Creation of Adam")

 

[Don Penguinoini]

That is untrue...

Traditional christianity sees God the Father as a spirit...

I was probably over-doing it there.

 

[UnityNow101]

How could a God of spirit walk among Adam and Eve in the Garden? There is evidence in the Bible that God was a physical being.