The Closeness of “God” and the Make up of the World

[Kiouni]

The idea of the universe to the general public is this infinite plain of existence that makes up our reality. One thought process farther we find ourselves thinking of the big bang and the expansion of the universe as a whole. So we have this idea in our head of a giant balloon being inflated from an internal spark. In any case people visualize the darkness of space and see that as the content of the universe and some invisible field that ends in the edge of the known universe. Known because this is what we know by looking up. The next step is that of speculation instead of deductive reasoning, because we ask ourselves what is out side of our little bubble of existence? This idea is flawed though because it is similar to asking whether it ever snows above the clouds.
The darkness of space and outer space is not the universe. This concept of what the universe is has been misleading for too long. The darkness of space is simply that Space. The mater and anti-mater that occupy some of the space is what our actual universe is. When the big bang occurred it did not expand out a bubble of black space and continue to push this invisible curtain of space ever outward, the blackness was already their. The big bang pushed mater outward.
The planets, dust, galaxies all of material existence burst from a singularity and moved out in an outward expansion that is traceable today. When scientists say that the universe is expanding, they are not referring to a glass ceiling but rather to the stellar drift of know planets. This expansion has been well documented. Most recently their has been some excitement to the idea due to the discovery a large black hole in our own galaxy that I causing our planet as well as vast other cosmic materials to spiral in a handle bar like swirl. The really fascinating part of this discovery is that of trace remnants of light particles left behind indicating planets have gone into this black hole and then been sling shot out at an incredible speed.
This concept of planets being launched into other galaxy is fascinating when you take into count the inevitability of life from the seemingly random and improbable formation of inorganic materials coming together to form life. The probability of life in our universe is that of 1: to an infinite number. While this seems like an extraordinary coincidence to have life in our universe we can deductively reason that we do because I am here and as the Rene Descartes once said, “I think, therefore I am.”
The point to all of this is that our galaxy is not isolated from other know galaxies. We look up at the constellations and feel small and insignificant compared to how far the distance is between our two galaxies but that gap has been bridged before. Our mater and “their” mater have been the same at one point in time. Imagine this for a second, what we see as a seemingly improbable distance to cover has already been traversed and the materials that make up distant worlds are the very same that make up ours. We are not so far away or isolated in our corner of this universe after all.
If you realize that we are carbon based organism and go solely off of that you will quickly realize that the materials of our world are what makes up us. Like the old saying goes “you are what you eat.” When you imbibe water that substance becomes apart of you. Don’t believe me? Weigh yourself before you drink water and then after, obviously you have gained exactly the same material onto yourself. If you have thoughts about coming from the ground and cannot simply take the bibles word of coming from clay you should look more closely to soil. The ground you walk on is there because of all that has come before you. Look at our moon, it is dead. The ground has neither the same color nor consistency as ours. The dust that makes up the moon is jagged because of the lack of wind and friction to wear down the edges and the make up of the actual ground itself is that of sand. Every planet that does not have life is at best simply a planet of Dunes.
The organic byproducts of life left behind form what we see in our gardens. The very make up of soil is the building blocks of life. We have coal, oil and natural gas from ancient forest growths that have been covered over with sediment and compressed into their very basic elements. These very same elements are burned by us and released into our atmosphere only to be rained back upon us or more prominently absorbed by our oceans. Which in turn are either absorbed by us as dissolved solids in our water or inhaled as an air particle. Our food is also made from these very same elements as well. Now, expand this concept to our moon. Our moon is actually a junk of earth that was knocked off during a prehistoric meteor strike. Our moon is us, we are our moon.
Take all of the above concepts and realize that in all of the infinite time the world has been here as we have known it that there has been this intermingling or “canoodling” or materials and you the vastness of space seems to melt away. In Christianity the concept of a transcendental God is a prominent theology and statements from prominent Christian philosophers are consistent. For example Marcus J. Borg says:
“And if the universe was enormous, maybe even infinite, where did a God “out there” fit in? Either I had to think of God as a being within the universe or else as “beyond” the universe (which made God very far away, at best). The bigger the universe got, the farther away God seemed. God began to seem quite remote.” 1
This “remoteness” is lost when you take in the interconnection of the entire world and the universe as a whole. We are literally everything that ever was and everything that will ever be. What I am made up of will make up one day my grandchildren or that of a few sprigs of grass that a great man will see being clipped and weep for the lose of a relative. This concept is simply an expansion on cause and effect. I exist so one day I will cease to exist. I am made up of material that was before me, so one day others will be made up of me.

1) Borg, Marcus J., “the God We Never Knew.” (HarperSanFansico, 1998) pg. 22

[Mythsaje]

1. My philosophy (such as it is)

My Philosophy (such as it is)



I'm tired of religion. There, I said it. I'm tired of those who claim to have inside information as to the nature of the universe to which the rest of us aren't privy...or don't believe. I'm tired of those who pretend that they're somehow better because they think some higher power has revealed to them (or us) the truth behind the illusion.

Fuck that.

We can't expect some higher power to come down and fix all the things we've broken. The reason our world and lives are fucked up is because WE humans fucked them up. And we were given (by nature or some mysterious creator) the brains, talent, and manipulative tools to fix a lot of them. If we can set aside our greed and lust for power long enough to bother. Disease? We can take care of that. Hunger? Ditto.

If we stop arguing about whose God is better and what country supposedly deserves his favor the most.

We have the tools, the intelligence, and the talent. We just don't have the drive.

We hand our power over to a bunch of fools who think there's some transcendent spirit that's going to come down and wave his hand and fix everything and then wonder why the world continues to be fucked up.

Stupid.

I know I'm supposed to give lip service to other peoples' beliefs and, for the most part, I do. I DO respect those who understand that this is our world and we're responsible for the welfare of our fellow humans. Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, and god knows how many other "prophets" have said so. And some of their followers listen and understand. Good for them. The ones who don't are the ones that raise my ire.

God's not going to fix everything. As long as we allow these dickheads to act as though that's what they expect, they're going to stumble around like a drunk troll in a glassmaker's shop, busting things and expecting someone off-stage to fix it all.

But you can't blame infant cancer on God. You can't expect him to wave his hand and fix it. All these exist because they're OUR problems. Even if some deity exists, all of our troubles are just that...OUR troubles. We were given the tools we have to fix them ourselves.

Science shouldn't be used to find better and more efficient ways to kill one another. That's NOT what it's for. We're not given the tools and talent to allow some folks to make obscene profits and live in houses so large that they have to hire dozens of servants just to clean them.

People can only LIVE in one house, and drive one automobile at a time. Why should some folks have ten cars and five houses, while some people sleep in cardboard boxes in alleys and under bridges? Because "God" likes it that way?

Nonsense. It's because we are entirely missing the point.

We can fix all of this, as long as we understand that it's OUR job. Taking care of one another...not trying to acquire as much shit as we can before we die.

Our troubles are human troubles, caused by human mistakes, and fixable by human ingenuity. I truly believe that.

And before you ask...I'm not an atheist, or even truly agnostic. I'm a pantheist/humanist. Or humanist/pantheist. I think the universe is a wonderous place, and possibly the only thing that deserves to be recognized as God. But, if this is indeed the case, each and every one of us, and every creature that walks, crawls, or swims, and even the trees through which the wind is blowing right now, and the wind itself, are ALL part of God and are therefore sacred.

"That which you do to the least of these" and all that.

"God" is too big a concept for anyone to have a handle on. Bible or no. Koran or no.

Science is what we call the act of trying to understand God. It's slow, and sometimes confusing. But it seeks to understand. It questions. It reveals. It learns. It grows.

Carl Sagan, in his book Contact, suggested a little something I found very intriguing. Maybe WE (intelligent beings) exist in order to someday explain God to itself.

For, as far as we know, and as far as we can prove, WE are the minds and hands of God. Not just us, but anything out there in the great unknown that can also think and build.

If this is the case, we've been mighty irresponsible deities, haven't we?

[Kiouni]

2. I agree with you 100%

Your intuitions on the religion and the world are accurate and deductive. I hope you re-read what i posted initially and see it as a Buddhists take on how we came to be. That is what I am and that is what my post reflects, there is no god. Taking your problems and placing them outside yourself will never be the answer.

I have not read anything by Carl Sagan but will add him to my list, I really enjoyed his take on god that you provided. Thank you.

[Mythsaje]

3. Yes...

I enjoyed what you posted, which is why I responded with mine. You can see the influences of both Buddhist and Taoist thought in my philosophy, I imagine.

I think we, as humans, make a drastic mistake when we assume to "understand" God.

We can only do the best we can with what we know.

[Skittles]

4. most people cannot accept what simply is

there's always got to be such great meaning behind everything....I think most people simply cannot accept reality, cannot live unless they make stuff up

[cyborg_jim]

5. "The probability of life in our universe is that of 1: to an infinite number."

No, the probability is 1. It is certain that the universe contains life.

[TRYPHO]

6. You'er both correct but one is unaesthetic

"The probability of life in our universe is that of 1: to an infinite number."
Posted by cyborg_jim

No, the probability is 1. It is certain that the universe contains life.
--
Because 1x1x1x1x1x1 etc will also always equal 1.

TRYPHO

[cosmik debris]

7. You missed the Douglas Adams version of the equation

If there are an infinite number of planets in the universe

And if we know that one planet has life

The the probability of life in the universe is 1 over infinity

That is statistically equal to zero, so the probability of life in the universe is zero.

Therefore you don't exist so quit complaining.

I love Douglas Adams.