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If God Exists, Where is He to be Found?


Guyver

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That's my question. 

To add.....is God to be found in this life, or what we think of God to be found?  Some people think we are God (or a part of  his essence) and this can be known if we become enlightened....but isn't this potentially what I just asked about us finding what we think of God?

The mind is quite something, probably more than we know.  Anyway, I'd like to hear your thoughts about coming to know God.  It seems to me that if God is to be found in this life, if He can be known.....then there wouldn't be any doubt about it.  Your thoughts?

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Quiet the mind and find Guyver is God. Per the Hindu Bhagavad Gita: I separate Myself from Myself and return Myself to Myself. It's all a play/drama of the Divine!

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Everyone is "God". 

"God" is alone and lonely, so he imagined what we perceive as the physical universe. He inhabits one body at a time. When that body dies, he inhabits another at a different place and time. Every time he inhabits a new body, he forgets the past life and the fact that he is "God" so that he can deceive himself into believing that he is not alone. When he/you/we die, he is just waking from the dream. He remembers how lonely and sad he is, so quickly goes back to the dream by inhabiting another body.

Opposite to most popular religious beliefs, God is neither good nor evil. Like two sides of the same coin, he is both. Sometimes you get heads, sometimes tails.

...or something like that. :D

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You can know, Guyver, but it takes enough faith up front to sit down alone and pray and send it out there to God that you want to know Him for yourself, and need help to find your way to that point. Ask Him for your eyes to be opened in the way they need to perceive Him and find Him. Then trust that it will become clear to you. I pray every night and morning, usually a simple stilling of my mind and worries and focusing on Him and saying "Hi God" and just being quiet until I feel that still small voice which does not always speak but it does love. 

Whatever your feelings about the bible, there is a lot of wisdom in it. Not all of it, but there are some gems in there. One of the main parts is that his logic is not of this world. Another is the verse, "Be still and know that I am God."

I don't see Him in the debates here, much, but, I have come to know Him inside pretty well and I trust in that love and go from there. The proofs are everywhere, but not easy to see without Him. Without Him, all of it fades into the background of our free will and gets rationalized away. 

It takes enough faith to ask and believe and accept, and it will come, then. Sometimes slowly and sometimes real fast.

Just how it is for me. To me, "enlightenment" is just waking up to my need for Him. He responds to need like that. Spirit to spirit and when He did touch me, it is as if mine came to life for the first time. It was a transformative moment that I cannot deny. That is the real deal, when you feel that quickening, and know you have changed in some way there are not words for. 

I hope this helps express it in some small way. I am a lot of things but I do love God.

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One of the following statements must be true: 

1. If God exists and wants to be found then it would (will) be found.

2. If God exists and doesn't want to be found then it will not be found.

3. If God doesn't exist then you cannot find it.

So the argument could be made that seeking or asking where God is turns out to be a fruitless exercise, either it will reveal itself to you, at a time of it's choosing, or it will not. 

We can say for certain that if number 1 is true then God is very selective in who and how it reveals itself and just following a religion, a set of beliefs or simply making a prayer definitely doesn't work for all people.  If fact there appears to be no obvious correlation at all between those who claim visitation and those who do not.  We could also say that God is not of any particular religious denomination as it appears to visit many people of different faiths.  If 2 is true then all of the searching, questioning and believing will not help you attain your goal, in fact nothing will.  If 3 is true then obviously it's a pointless exercise to begin with.

It seems all roads lead to a similar conclusion, at least for me.

 

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2 hours ago, I'mConvinced said:

One of the following statements must be true: 

1. If God exists and wants to be found then it would (will) be found.

2. If God exists and doesn't want to be found then it will not be found.

3. If God doesn't exist then you cannot find it.

 

But doesn't all three make the assumption that you understand what you are looking for?

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2 minutes ago, papageorge1 said:

But doesn't all three make the assumption that you understand what you are looking for?

Not really,  if God wanted to be found it would leave an obvious path or method for doing so and you would require no understanding of what you were looking for.  If it doesn't want to be found then it doesn't matter what you look for and in the 3rd scenario it doesn't exist at all. 

Seeing as God supposedly appears to people of all faiths then, if true, we can say he doesn't care which path you follow.  In fact God apparently appears to non-believers as well and so people can't even claim you need to 'be open' to God in order to find it.  

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1 minute ago, I'mConvinced said:

Not really,  if God wanted to be found it would leave an obvious path or method for doing so and you would require no understanding of what you were looking for.  If it doesn't want to be found then it doesn't matter what you look for and in the 3rd scenario it doesn't exist at all. 

Seeing as God supposedly appears to people of all faiths then, if true, we can say he doesn't care which path you follow.  In fact God apparently appears to non-believers as well and so people can't even claim you need to 'be open' to God in order to find it.  

You are even making the assumption that God is an external separate entity. It  may not be so simple. I am a pantheist/Advaita myself.

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4 hours ago, Lilly said:

God is not corporeal. You can't *find* something that's literally everywhere. 

You can find churches, bibles, religious idols and his servants everywhere on this planet.

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59 minutes ago, papageorge1 said:

You are even making the assumption that God is an external separate entity. It  may not be so simple. I am a pantheist/Advaita myself.

Nope, even if God is within, or one and the same, you still don't need to look and the same logic applies.

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In my view, God or something like it can only be found when we loose our personal identity. What we identify as our self separates us from everything else, including what we may call God. If God is something to be looked for, we are keeping this separation from God, God is out there somewhere separate from us.

What we may call God is already here within us, we're just not quiet enough to hear it. It's like listening intently. So, it's not where to look, it's how to look. Actually, it's not an act of looking at all, it's an allowing to receive an internal awareness without effort.

Usually, all we hear is static. If we're quiet enough we may experience something unexpected. 

 

 

 

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Anything anyone believes about God is based on faith. There's no getting around this. Since God is not part of the physical world there's no manner in which anything but faith can be implemented. 

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10 hours ago, Guyver said:

That's my question. 

To add.....is God to be found in this life, or what we think of God to be found?  Some people think we are God (or a part of  his essence) and this can be known if we become enlightened....but isn't this potentially what I just asked about us finding what we think of God?

Well, I think that is a very good question. And the fact that it is a good question, even a question at all, seems to show how maybe the answer is no, it looks like, looks to me at least, that God cannot be found. In the literal sense, yes, for there have been no defining characteristics to show as proof. And to what you pointed out, the varying levels of God, of his perception individually and by differing experiences. If each situation has to be questionable of whether he's found there or not, then maybe it could be an answer of no. 

Or yes, but even then, is this going to be a good question with either a yes or no? To me, no, because of what I have noticed. 

 

Quote

The mind is quite something, probably more than we know.  Anyway, I'd like to hear your thoughts about coming to know God.  It seems to me that if God is to be found in this life, if He can be known.....then there wouldn't be any doubt about it.  Your thoughts?

And bringing up how the mind can even be more perplexing, what if the answer is just the mind and it's tricks characteristics. One side can says it's the mind, the other side can say what if it's God? Again, I don't see a clear defining answer. 

I think, what can be more disappointing to a particular side, is that the side with the increasing ability to study, experiment, and come to find out more about the world around us, can probably bring a more no to that answer to even show the yes side. (I'm just saying that as a possibility, in a sense.)

And if this is, again, a good question, doesn't that mean it can be something other than the label, God? If he can be found, despite the ambiguity, then maybe the real identity can be ambiguous as well, right? 

And here's a deeper thought, (well, to me at least) what if there is a strong, ( and probably intense debate ) in either yes or no, because it's all in the end, subjective?

From my subjective outlook, I would think the answer is no. That is on the question of whether 'God' can be found. I think that since the God I see in how others and the works and traditions see it, doesn't seem to have a defining conclusion of being true. I would think, that something that is paranormal, and more than likely labeled in various subjective outlooks, (like mine) would make me think, that can be found. Then I think, it would be a yes. But a subjective yes. 

In the end, it's subjective. (And I don't think we would get anywhere with this.)

Objectively, I would guess as a no. He hasn't been found objectively yet, so I would think he wouldn't be period. 

6 hours ago, seanjo said:

He is God...âMacGyverâ Remake? Donât Blame the Moonâs Gravitational ...

Well, I would say Carol Burnett, but I digress........................... :D    :devil:   

Actually, I would label him the Saint of resourceful things.............

5 hours ago, Lilly said:

God is not corporeal. You can't *find* something that's literally everywhere. 

I apologize Lilly, but I myself find that a big confusing. If you can't find something that's literally everywhere, than how is it literally everywhere? if you can't find it? I would think, one would at least bump into something and then see it is what it is. 

Maybe like oxygen, where it seems literally everywhere, but we found it, didn't we? 

2 hours ago, papageorge1 said:
4 hours ago, I'mConvinced said:

One of the following statements must be true: 

1. If God exists and wants to be found then it would (will) be found.

2. If God exists and doesn't want to be found then it will not be found.

3. If God doesn't exist then you cannot find it.

 

But doesn't all three make the assumption that you understand what you are looking for?

Despite that I think this might make a good question as well, but a lot of things could fall into this category. 

2 hours ago, papageorge1 said:
2 hours ago, I'mConvinced said:

Not really,  if God wanted to be found it would leave an obvious path or method for doing so and you would require no understanding of what you were looking for.  If it doesn't want to be found then it doesn't matter what you look for and in the 3rd scenario it doesn't exist at all. 

Seeing as God supposedly appears to people of all faiths then, if true, we can say he doesn't care which path you follow.  In fact God apparently appears to non-believers as well and so people can't even claim you need to 'be open' to God in order to find it.  

You are even making the assumption that God is an external separate entity. It  may not be so simple. I am a pantheist/Advaita myself.

Then it wouldn't be just I'mConvinced, making an assumption. Considering you worded it as, 'It may not be so simple' shows an assumption right there, in my thinkings. 

But, I think, I'mConvinced is very concise in wording it in three basic understandings. 

1 hour ago, StarMountainKid said:

In my view, God or something like it can only be found when we loose our personal identity. What we identify as our self separates us from everything else, including what we may call God. If God is something to be looked for, we are keeping this separation from God, God is out there somewhere separate from us.

What we may call God is already here within us, we're just not quiet enough to hear it. It's like listening intently. So, it's not where to look, it's how to look. Actually, it's not an act of looking at all, it's an allowing to receive an internal awareness without effort.

Usually, all we hear is static. If we're quiet enough we may experience something unexpected. 

I am finding some of this post confusing. I can't see how you can link God to our loss of our personal identity. How is losing our personal identity linked to finding God? 

For me, there are times, I have felt like I lost my personal identity, half the time, I get nothing. And when I found or been found, by something, to me it's called a higher power. And a lot of it doesn't match up to what you said. IN fact, quite the opposite. 

Though, I do feel, my belief system is closely related to what you have said about our internal awareness finding it. But I didn't find God, I found something else. So, based on my personal experience, I don't see that as being totally true. 

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7 minutes ago, Lilly said:

Anything anyone believes about God is based on faith. There's no getting around this. Since God is not part of the physical world there's no manner in which anything but faith can be implemented. 

I don't think faith alone can prove objectively that it's everywhere. It's a probability, an assumption, if you will. And because, in my thinking at least, that it's something based on faith, than how is that proof? 

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4 minutes ago, Stubbly_Dooright said:

I am finding some of this post confusing. I can't see how you can link God to our loss of our personal identity. How is losing our personal identity linked to finding God? 

For me, there are times, I have felt like I lost my personal identity, half the time, I get nothing. And when I found or been found, by something, to me it's called a higher power. And a lot of it doesn't match up to what you said. IN fact, quite the opposite. 

Though, I do feel, my belief system is closely related to what you have said about our internal awareness finding it. But I didn't find God, I found something else. So, based on my personal experience, I don't see that as being totally true. 

Well, since this thread is about God, I'm using the term God as a metaphor for our fundamental experience as a human being. I would characterize this as being separate from our conditioning, experiences, thought, knowledge, memories, what we usually identify as  our selves. this is what I mean my our personal identity.

If this is all we are, then so be it. But I think there is a more fundamental aspect to us, a core awareness that is not touched by these superficial identities.

But I think if we can set aside all these learned attributes I mention, we may return to some pure awareness undisturbed. This kind of awareness is what I would consider closest to experiencing God, if I may use that term again as metaphor. 

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40 minutes ago, Stubbly_Dooright said:

I don't think faith alone can prove objectively that it's everywhere. It's a probability, an assumption, if you will. And because, in my thinking at least, that it's something based on faith, than how is that proof? 

Uh..I just said this is all matter of faith. One doesn't prove faith. The existence or non-existence of God isn't something that can be proven. 

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22 minutes ago, StarMountainKid said:
58 minutes ago, Stubbly_Dooright said:

I am finding some of this post confusing. I can't see how you can link God to our loss of our personal identity. How is losing our personal identity linked to finding God? 

For me, there are times, I have felt like I lost my personal identity, half the time, I get nothing. And when I found or been found, by something, to me it's called a higher power. And a lot of it doesn't match up to what you said. IN fact, quite the opposite. 

Though, I do feel, my belief system is closely related to what you have said about our internal awareness finding it. But I didn't find God, I found something else. So, based on my personal experience, I don't see that as being totally true. 

Well, since this thread is about God, I'm using the term God as a metaphor for our fundamental experience as a human being. I would characterize this as being separate from our conditioning, experiences, thought, knowledge, memories, what we usually identify as  our selves. this is what I mean my our personal identity.

If this is all we are, then so be it. But I think there is a more fundamental aspect to us, a core awareness that is not touched by these superficial identities.

But I think if we can set aside all these learned attributes I mention, we may return to some pure awareness undisturbed. This kind of awareness is what I would consider closest to experiencing God, if I may use that term again as metaphor. 

Ah, yes, I can see how you would look at it that way. But, would you consider be close to experience God due to the loss you speak of, be seen objectively? I ask, because, I saw something else, not God. Do you know what I mean?

6 minutes ago, Lilly said:
50 minutes ago, Stubbly_Dooright said:

I don't think faith alone can prove objectively that it's everywhere. It's a probability, an assumption, if you will. And because, in my thinking at least, that it's something based on faith, than how is that proof? 

Uh..I just said this is all matter of faith. One doesn't prove faith. The existence or non-existence of God isn't something that can be proven. 

I do understand or at least, I know you know that is what it is. I'm reflecting on this previous post of yours: 

Quote

God is not corporeal. You can't *find* something that's literally everywhere. 

I think, it's the fact that yes, it's something based on faith, so how is it 'stated' literally everywhere? It's like looking at the term, 'waking up dead'. Almost kind of seeing it as one thing cancelling out the other thing. 

I would think then, in a majority outlook, the answer for the OP, would be no. Right? 

 

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6 minutes ago, Stubbly_Dooright said:

 

I do understand or at least, I know you know that is what it is. I'm reflecting on this previous post of yours: 

 

That's called a personal opinion...we all have them. 

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7 minutes ago, Lilly said:
14 minutes ago, Stubbly_Dooright said:

 

I do understand or at least, I know you know that is what it is. I'm reflecting on this previous post of yours: 

 

That's called a personal opinion...we all have them. 

I know it is. I understand it as it is. I am just trying to understand why you said it. I'm just trying to figure out how one can't find something that one normally cannot see, to be stated to be everywhere. I'm wondering how you think it's everywhere. 

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5 minutes ago, Stubbly_Dooright said:

I know it is. I understand it as it is. I am just trying to understand why you said it. I'm just trying to figure out how one can't find something that one normally cannot see, to be stated to be everywhere. I'm wondering how you think it's everywhere. 

Seems reasonable to me. 

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11 minutes ago, Stubbly_Dooright said:

Ah, yes, I can see how you would look at it that way. But, would you consider be close to experience God due to the loss you speak of, be seen objectively? I ask, because, I saw something else, not God. Do you know what I mean?

Yes, I don't think you see God objectively. It's more a feeling of oneness for me. We are our environment which includes us. We usually feel separate from everything else, but that's a created illusion. Our environment determines who we are more than we may realize. 

When we understand we and everything else are not separate but a unity, I think we come closer to an awareness of a more fundamental reality. Maybe this is as close as we can become to God or whatever we wish to name it. It actually has no name, as it is not a mental concept, it just becomes a more true identity. 

Easy to say, of course.

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I wrote a little story once about a man who is looking for something that has not been lost from the very beginning. He says, when you're looking for something that has been lost, it's easy to find, but when you are looking for something that you have not lost, it is more difficult to discover. 

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3 minutes ago, StarMountainKid said:
31 minutes ago, Stubbly_Dooright said:

Ah, yes, I can see how you would look at it that way. But, would you consider be close to experience God due to the loss you speak of, be seen objectively? I ask, because, I saw something else, not God. Do you know what I mean?

Yes, I don't think you see God objectively.

Here's the thing. I don't think I see God subjectively either. Now, this is God, of the usual orthodox faiths. 

Quote

It's more a feeling of oneness for me.

Well, that's cool for you feel it that way. :D But, for me, it's not always like that. So, I'm also in the confusion, and if I could be a bit perplexed about it, having things explaining away for all of us, when everything feels things differently. Like how this is said: 

Quote

We are our environment which includes us. We usually feel separate from everything else, but that's a created illusion. Our environment determines who we are more than we may realize. 

I'm also in the boat about our environment being there around us. It shaping us. And even then, that depends on each individual and how they want it to define us. 

Though, I'm not so sure I'm understanding your point about how we are separate from everything else. 

Quote

When we understand we and everything else are not separate but a unity, I think we come closer to an awareness of a more fundamental reality. Maybe this is as close as we can become to God or whatever we wish to name it. It actually has no name, as it is not a mental concept, it just becomes a more true identity. 

Easy to say, of course.

I guess, I could agree to that, but would you think this happens to everyone? Isn't experiences differ from person to person, that you cannot really say this happens all of the time? 

Plus, as I have mentioned before: 

Quote

I am finding some of this post confusing. I can't see how you can link God to our loss of our personal identity. How is losing our personal identity linked to finding God? 

For me, there are times, I have felt like I lost my personal identity, half the time, I get nothing. And when I found or been found, by something, to me it's called a higher power. And a lot of it doesn't match up to what you said. IN fact, quite the opposite. 

Things are different. It hasn't been, I found a higher power, because I loss everything else. And when I did, my version, I still had all the rest. 

 

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7 minutes ago, Stubbly_Dooright said:

Well, that's cool for you feel it that way. :D But, for me, it's not always like that. So, I'm also in the confusion, and if I could be a bit perplexed about it, having things explaining away for all of us, when everything feels things differently. Like how this is said: 

Yes, everyone feels things differently. But don't you think there is something within us that is the same for all of us?

9 minutes ago, Stubbly_Dooright said:

I'm also in the boat about our environment being there around us. It shaping us. And even then, that depends on each individual and how they want it to define us. 

Though, I'm not so sure I'm understanding your point about how we are separate from everything else. 

We usually feel what is me and what is not me. This is the separation. And yes, our environment affects us depending on each individual and how we want it to define us. Maybe if we just become aware of ourselves and our environment without wanting a certain definition for us, we may see more clearly. 

 

17 minutes ago, Stubbly_Dooright said:

I guess, I could agree to that, but would you think this happens to everyone? Isn't experiences differ from person to person, that you cannot really say this happens all of the time? 

This kind of inner awareness may not happen every time, of course. It's like learning a new skill. Everyone has their own preconditioned state of mind to overcome, to free themselves of. But I think one's true nature is the same for everyone.

 

30 minutes ago, Stubbly_Dooright said:

Things are different. It hasn't been, I found a higher power, because I loss everything else. And when I did, my version, I still had all the rest. 

I think looking for something to happen interferes with what may happen without the looking. When we expect something or have some ideal of what it should be or what we'd like it to be, then we experience this expectation. Then we experience our version which includes all the rest. 

The perceiver of thought is not thought. Our version is still thought thinking about thoughts. 

It's like,if we think we hear a sound, and we listen intently with all other mental processes shut down. There is only the silent listening. 

 

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