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Transtheists: Does God Exist?

Niatero

Niatero

*banned*
SalixIncendium said:
Does God or do gods exist?
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This is amazing! A gift from God! :grinning: I wanted to post about that question, but I don't see myself as an atheist or as a theist. Maybe not a transtheist either, but I'm hoping that you're using it as an umbrella term for not being theist or atheist.

This is only about the God(s) in Abrahamic scriptures. I haven't thought about any other gods enough to agree or disagree with saying that any of them exist. In other posts I've said that in the Abrahamic scriptures I see God saying that there isn't anything we can know about him. For me, that includes knowing whether he exists or not. Without any description, definition, or picture of God, "God exists" and "God does not exist" are nothing but meaningless strings of words that look like they're saying something but really aren't.

Now, a few minutes ago, I thought about approaching it from a different angle. Some characters in Bible stories are pictured as being the voice of God. Whatever they say is God saying it. Whatever they do is God doing it. Serving and obeying them is serving and obeying God. At the same time, God is our creator and the creator of the world around us. I take that as a continuous creation, not a spit and run. So one question would be, does what they say and do look to me, metaphorically, like it's coming from someone who created me and the world around me? On the face of it I would say no. Looking deeper. I'm not sure. I've been immersing myself in that story most of my life, with and without thinking that the God of Abrahamic scriptures exists or is real, and it has been working very well for me.

(later) I was thinking that my idea of the God of Abrahamic scriptures as possibly being purely metaphorical (or as a place filler like the infinity symbol as a limit) was relatively recent, but now I remember thinking that as long ago as 50 years ago.
 
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Niatero

Niatero

*banned*
sayak83 said:
No. Advaita Vedanta holds that the Absolute can be directly and fully perceived or grasped by a sufficiently prepared mind. But the perception is a "concept-free" perception. One cannot linguistically or conceptually described in a way that fully communicates to the other what is That which was perceived, though partial (and necessarily error-ridden) hints that point to it can be given. And this inability is because this Absolute transcends all such conceptual categories. We cannot tame IT with our puny logic or math or causal physics. It is such that overflows all those boundaries....Brahman (literally that is what the word means).
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When I saw this earlier, I didn’t understand it. A while ago I was watching leaves fluttering in the breeze, and I think maybe I understand it now. Not only that, It’s a confirmation for me of what experienced, and what I thought about it. Within/without is a false dichotomy.

Leaves fluttering in the breeze

I was standing there
Looking at a tree
And I remembered who
My God is to me
 
Niatero

Niatero

*banned*
sayak83 said:
No. Advaita Vedanta holds that the Absolute can be directly and fully perceived or grasped by a sufficiently prepared mind. But the perception is a "concept-free" perception. One cannot linguistically or conceptually described in a way that fully communicates to the other what is That which was perceived, though partial (and necessarily error-ridden) hints that point to it can be given. And this inability is because this Absolute transcends all such conceptual categories. We cannot tame IT with our puny logic or math or causal physics. It is such that overflows all those boundaries....Brahman (literally that is what the word means).
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I always wonder if a person has actually experienced it, or if they just know the words to say. Is there any way to know? Maybe I don’t need to know.

(later) Even if they haven’t experienced it, someone has. Otherwise, how anyone know the words to say?
 
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SalixIncendium

SalixIncendium

अहं ब्रह्मास्मि
Staff member
Premium Member
Niatero said:
Maybe not a transtheist either, but I'm hoping that you're using it as an umbrella term for not being theist or atheist.
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Not exactly. Transtheism generally acknowledges the existence of gods in this relative reality, but they are transcended by liberation...Self (or non-self...check local listings) realization.
 
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