God and Consciousness

[NikolaiI]

I'd like this thread to be about God and consciousness. What are your experiences with expanded, higher consciousnesses, peace of mind and revelation, and God and God's Love?

[Morten]

I'd like this thread to be about God and consciousness. What are your experiences with expanded, higher consciousnesses, peace of mind and revelation, and God and God's Love?

What, pray, is God's love?

[NikolaiI]

Infinite love.

If one raises oneself up close to God, then one can see from a higher point of view, and gets an idea of God's love. God's love and power are infinite, so although he is so removed from us seemingly, on his side, we are very close. If you look at things through God's love, everyone in the world is very close, because you can reach out to them. Then your desire for their liberation is almost divine, because you are immersed in the love you wish for the whole world.

[Morten]

Infinite love.

If one raises oneself up close to God, then one can see from a higher point of view, and gets an idea of God's love. God's love and power are infinite, so although he is so removed from us seemingly, on his side, we are very close. If you look at things through God's love, everyone in the world is very close, because you can reach out to them. Then your desire for their liberation is almost divine, because you are immersed in the love you wish for the whole world.

So, if I stand on the top of my roof does that count? Because if god is in the sky, that would technically mean I'm closer to him, right? What if I'm on an airplane and look out of the window?

[blazeofglory]

Nikolai, you indeed have dedicated your life to a good cause as evident from so many of your writings.
You have amassed a wealth of ideas and of course they are mature and impeccable.

Even if I am by birth a Hindu Brahman and reading Hindu religious texts was not one of choice but of tradition. But you have gone far ahead of me and now in point of fact I learn from your threads tremendously.

[alwaysalready]

Consciousness is God and we are all that which God is. Unobstructed consciousness is the inner Truth of our essential beingness. We all are expressions of the Love of God and that Love is our freedom and indistructable essence.

[City Of Dreams]

The God you speak of might be dead, because mankind has masked and silenced him with thousands of lies, more elaborate with each passing century. The idea of god being high up and far away is contradictory, as you must raise yourself to be near him. God is supposed to be within us, carrying us through life. Because God is love, he would rather lower himself to be near us, than force us to climb to him.

[blazeofglory]

This God thing is very obsessing and all of us entirely are wired to the idea of God, and I feel with the idea of God totally attached with you and indeed not different from you. I live in God through you.

[NikolaiI]

Two things I was thinking about in the last few days about God. . .
God as is he is usually defined as the perfect master, of ultimate power. He doesn't overtly show himself, he is the hidden, concealed, mysterious God, and with our incessant demands we shake our fists at him, implore him to reveal, yet still he is Silent, and it reminds me of something. . . perhaps he is the perfect master, Tao-like, and doesn't interfere because to be silent is the best thing.
The other thing, reason. . . the usual argument is that he doesn't show us, so that he isn't forcing us. Yet what is the greatest crime except blasphemy? And so by not giving in to our incessant demands, our shaking fists, so to speak, he protects us from ourselves. If we don't see God at all, then he doesn't really exist for us, and if we truly believe God to be nothing, then to us he is nothing, and by blaspheming, we blaspheme against nothing, so we do not sin. God is the ultimate goal, but it must be remembered he is the unified Source in which the extremes and opposites meet, or he is even a unified source between the source and the extremes. He is the unification of all paradoxes, and transcendental to all imaginable. In this I mean that he is the beginning and the end, not only the end; he is not only the master of the universe, but everything in the universe is part of Him, and in Him there is neither future nor past, nor now. Erm, that may be a little abstract. . . but on to my main point. . .
Back to Consciousness, there are different types of consciousness; for instance when you listen to a song it affects your consciousness. I would agree that God-Consciousness and God are about the same. Each is the unified consciousness which we see in reflection. It's very advanced, and I will come back to it later.

[blazeofglory]

Consciousness and God are one and the same thing. When man becomes overly conscious of something and his mind soul rises above Sundanese realities he becomes God conscious.

[DapperDrake]

Many people live without giving God a second thought, or even a first thought sometimes, yet they are surely concious - sometimes very much so.
If there is a link between God and consciousness then God is subordinate, that's clear, the question then becomes is God needed at all?
Profound thinking needs no god, but perhaps God does need profound thinking.

[NikolaiI]

I didn't mean that one must think of God to be conscious. I am interested in the different types of consciousness, and God as well. For example a spiritual consciousness which transcends dualities, or even mortal life-- this is called by many different names, such as Moksha, Samadhi, or God-consciousness. I've read accounts of mystical experiences of spiritual consciousness, and I've experienced it myself, and it was the most amazing experience of my life, revelation. This is why I wish to discuss these things. You see in spiritual or mystical experience, we can have periods of revelation, where we can become conscious of the truth.

[blazeofglory]

God is a thing of creation and of course it is the imagination of man. For man needs something to turn to, to blaze the path and to guide him all through the world of darkness.
We need God for God is a fountainhead of inspirations and all ideals manifest.

We need a God so that we can live up to the ideals of it. Without God we live in a state of barbarism.

God is possibility a source of human energies.
God transcends all limits, and it goes beyond the seen.

God is consciousness manifestation, a conformation of everything and nothing goes beyond the periphery of God.

[B-Mental]

I recently posted on one of Blaze's poems. I feel often that the essence of life is shared with all living species. This essence is truly unique, and there is a spark of it in everything. Loving everything therefore brings us closer to God. Keep up the great ideas Nik.

[DapperDrake]

I didn't mean that one must think of God to be conscious. I am interested in the different types of consciousness, and God as well. For example a spiritual consciousness which transcends dualities, or even mortal life-- this is called by many different names, such as Moksha, Samadhi, or God-consciousness. I've read accounts of mystical experiences of spiritual consciousness, and I've experienced it myself, and it was the most amazing experience of my life, revelation. This is why I wish to discuss these things. You see in spiritual or mystical experience, we can have periods of revelation, where we can become conscious of the truth.

The only revelations I've had have been via my learning of science or philosophy and perhaps through my own philosophical thoughts - the only thing religion (God) has given me is confusion and doubt, I am much more at peace without God.

"spiritual consciousness which transcends dualities, or even mortal life-- this is called by many different names, such as Moksha, Samadhi, or God-consciousness."

I don't think God or spirituality need have anything to do with what you're describing here, philosophy is more than capable of bringing these sorts of enlightenment.

[NikolaiI]

The only revelations I've had have been via my learning of science or philosophy and perhaps through my own philosophical thoughts - the only thing religion (God) has given me is confusion and doubt, I am much more at peace without God.

"spiritual consciousness which transcends dualities, or even mortal life-- this is called by many different names, such as Moksha, Samadhi, or God-consciousness."

I don't think God or spirituality need have anything to do with what you're describing here, philosophy is more than capable of bringing these sorts of enlightenment.

Yes, I will accept that non-theistic philosophy can produce mystical and higher states of consciousness. Nietzsche's overman by his description ought to have a higher state of consciousness, though I don't remember Nietzsche describing this in detail.

But if God exists, then even if you are experiencing a state of absorption, if you think God doesn't exist then you are not enlightened, because you are ultimately materialistic.
Or. . . let me say I anticipate a collision here. . . when I say material I mean this material universe-- characterized by imperfection, impermanence, and unsatisfactoriness. There exists another world, however, a spiritual one, which is eternal and full of bliss, knowledge, and perfection.

I understand the position of a non-believer, I was myself one for most of my life. One of the first steps on my journey of faith was understanding through reason God as a source, a non-dualistic source and a higher reality. The source of reality from which it came and into which it dissolves. Plato writes of this-- the Source of Being, the Source of Goodness. I have a deeper understanding of God now; but it wasn't until I had further experiences when I realized it was important to realize oneself, and that there is an imperative for self-realization.

When Blaze writes that Consciousness is God and God is Consciousness, I presume he is speaking of higher consciousness, in other words, Consciousness-Force. There is a story that describes how everything is Consciousness. Everything is made of consciousness, there are different forms, but the substance is consciousness, just like when you have different sculptures of a rock the substance is still rock.

It's difficult to explain, and I admit limited knowledge of it. I am studying one specific form of mysticism now, so I haven't been studying too many others. . . I'll wait for your reply.

[blazeofglory]

In point of fact I can not subscribe to the idea of a mythological god. I have gone through so many religious texts, Vedic and other great sacred literature yet I can not believe that God is the way a Hindu believes in a four handed Vishnu.

I can not live without believe in the immortality of man and I can not satisfy myself without believing that there is a force that resource us with

[NikolaiI]

So you are an impersonalist, then?

[thom]

illusion or allusion? hmm :yawnb:

[blazeofglory]

Consciousness is something that links us together. I feel at one with the rest and even to the extent that I am the universal being. Or to put it differently I am and the mountain I live in are not a bit different at all, intrinsically speakiing notwithstanding the fact corporeally or superficially both are different entities. There is a thread that clandestinely string us together. That I feel strongly but I can not say staunchly that is a soul or something else.