One additional observation for consideration....

The oak tree/acorn analogy and the "to know 'Self' is to know Divinity" thought that you included above would seem to imply the idea of universal oneness, a concept that I personally embrace.
Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, was an early proponent of universal oneness, believing that everything is interconnected and that all things including humans are continually and eternally being recycled back into the larger whole.
Following that train of thought we actually have no beginning or end, we are eternal in both directions, but at the human level of awareness have a limited understanding of the full range and scope of universal cosmic consciousness.
So if we ever get the answer to the mystery of what God is, I do agree that it will be in consciousness, but at a level that will transcend our temporal human experience.