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Is God Aware of Being God?

roger1440

roger1440

I do stuff
Sunstone said:
Assuming god exists, are there any reasonable grounds on which god can be said to have self-awareness. i.e. consciousness? If so, what are those grounds? If not, why not?
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"God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"" (Exodus 3:14)
 
lovemuffin

lovemuffin

τὸν ἄρτον τοῦ ἔρωτος
I am not sure of an exact reference, but I've read of a Hindu understanding wherein Brahman does not know itself to be Brahman, but Ishvara does. For example: "Brahman does not know, for it is knowledge; It does not enjoy, for it is enjoyment; It is not “existent” but “existence”." -- Swami Krishnananda, The Realization of the Absolute.
 
Kirran

Kirran

ॐ
Premium Member
well named said:
I am not sure of an exact reference, but I've read of a Hindu understanding wherein Brahman does not know itself to be Brahman, but Ishvara does. For example: "Brahman does not know, for it is knowledge; It does not enjoy, for it is enjoyment; It is not “existent” but “existence”." -- Swami Krishnananda, The Realization of the Absolute.
Click to expand...

I don't see that Ishvara's awareness is necessary here to be honest. I believe in a non-conscious Brahman myself.
 
Kolibri

Kolibri

Well-Known Member
Kirran said:
Does 'before me' imply that God began existing at a certain point?
Click to expand...

To answer that let's read another passages from the Bible.

Before the mountains were born
Or you brought forth (or "brought forth as with labor pains.") the earth and the productive land,
From everlasting to everlasting, (or "From eternity to eternity.") you are God.
- Psalm 90:2

Jehovah has become King!...
Your throne was firmly established long ago;
From eternity you have existed.
- Psalm 93:1a,2
 
Kirran

Kirran

ॐ
Premium Member
Kolibri said:
To answer that let's read another passages from the Bible.

Before the mountains were born
Or you brought forth (or "brought forth as with labor pains.") the earth and the productive land,
From everlasting to everlasting, (or "From eternity to eternity.") you are God.
- Psalm 90:2

Jehovah has become King!...
Your throne was firmly established long ago;
From eternity you have existed.
- Psalm 93:1a,2
Click to expand...

OK, that makes sense, the 'before me' previously was just a turn of phrase then.

Thanks for clearing that up.

I suppose it's not so much that God, in Christianity, has existed and will exist forever, but that God exists outside time, or at least transcends it.
 
Kolibri

Kolibri

Well-Known Member
Kirran said:
OK, that makes sense, the 'before me' previously was just a turn of phrase then.

Thanks for clearing that up.

I suppose it's not so much that God, in Christianity, has existed and will exist forever, but that God exists outside time, or at least transcends it.
Click to expand...

It is one of the things we can not comprehend on a personal level. What it would be like to have lived forever? Living forever is not that big of a deal as God has put eternity in our hearts, but not having a beginning is outside our realm of experience.

"He has made everything beautiful (or "well-arranged; proper; appropriate.") in its time. He has even put eternity in their heart; yet mankind will never find out the work that the true God has made from start to finish." - Ecclesiastes 3:11
 
InChrist

InChrist

Free4ever
Sunstone said:
Assuming god exists, are there any reasonable grounds on which god can be said to have self-awareness. i.e. consciousness? If so, what are those grounds? If not, why not?
Click to expand...

The God who reveals Himself in the biblical scriptures makes His Self-awareness apparent.

For thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the Lord, and there is no other. Isaiah 45:18
 
S

Stormcry

Well-Known Member
Sunstone said:
Assuming god exists, are there any reasonable grounds on which god can be said to have self-awareness. i.e. consciousness? If so, what are those grounds? If not, why not?
Click to expand...

If God is aware of being god, there's 'I' and wherever there's 'I' there's pride as 'I' is the root cause of pride. And I don't think God would have pride.
 
Blackmarch

Blackmarch

W'rkncacntr
Kirran said:
OK, that makes sense, the 'before me' previously was just a turn of phrase then.

Thanks for clearing that up.

I suppose it's not so much that God, in Christianity, has existed and will exist forever, but that God exists outside time, or at least transcends it.
Click to expand...
also many times in bible "before" is a place , as well as or instead of a time, used often in God's relation to man. (before, after, right hand, and left hand)


From the bible I also find Christ's rebuke, "is it not written, ye are gods?" to be interesting.
 
Rick O'Shez

Rick O'Shez

Irishman bouncing off walls
Sunstone said:
Assuming god exists, are there any reasonable grounds on which god can be said to have self-awareness. i.e. consciousness? If so, what are those grounds? If not, why not?
Click to expand...

Does consciousness imply self-awareness? I'm not sure.
 
ThePainefulTruth

ThePainefulTruth

Romantic-Cynic
Sunstone said:
Assuming god exists, are there any reasonable grounds on which god can be said to have self-awareness. i.e. consciousness? If so, what are those grounds? If not, why not?
Click to expand...

My definition of God is Truth. But by convention, God is a conscious divine being. If it turns out that the Truth is not conscious, then that Truth is God. But that clashes with the convention. So for clarification, let's call that Truth, Pi, the pinnacle of irrational numbers.
 
George-ananda

George-ananda

Advaita Vedanta, Theosophy, Spiritualism
Premium Member
In my school of thought God/Brahman is best defined as pure sat-cit-ananda (being-awareness-bliss). Awareness is what God is. It's fundamental and has no components.
 
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