God in the snowglobe

[Anelior]

Here is something to ponder, I am interested in seeing peoples' ideas on this one: If this entire universe was a slowglobe, how would God be related to it? For example, would it be on his bookshelf, would it be in his hand? would it be levitating ten feet in front of him? Whatever you answer is, justify it. After I see enough responses I will add my own.

[Scwigglie]

We're assuming that God exists, for the purpose of this question, right? Anyway, I think the snowglobe would be in his mind. I see God as one huge, limitless, eternal sort of brain. He is a part of absolutely everything.. trees, grass, air, insects, humans, all because they are a creation of his mind. If the snowglobe was sitting next to him, on the other hand, in my mind that would imply that both God and the universe had the same properties to a point, with the only difference being that God could wield some control over it. I hope I phrased that okay. It's sort of a complex view point to put into words. There's a lot of threads about God here, eh?

[Kaniaz]

I KNEW IT! The entire world was made in chin-ya!

[Anelior]

(Actually I am only using "god" for metaphorical purposes here)

[spairearhrke]

I think that God would have the snowglobe in his body around his heart. Then he could feel the pain of all.

[bradybaker]

Maybe the universe is just someone's (in this case "God's") lucid dream?

[MICcheck]

God would be every single aspect of the snowglobe, and even more so the energy that snow globe emanates.

[Lucius]

God is the snowglobe, and so are we.

[Anelior]

Well, looks like we all had fun with that one. I have to say, Lucius, you must have read my mind...or else we think the same way. Indeed, when asked that question some 5 months ago by a good friend that is how I answered and I yet hold to that. Not as some kind of fixed belief but because my life experience so far (including mystic experiences or whatever you want to call them) point toward it. Anyone got other ideas, feel free to post!

[dreamshadow]

I would say that what "God" really is defies any scope that we can define it by. To me, God is a state, the true state of being from which all existential locii emanate. To put a relationship between God and a snowglobe would be to, in a sense, bottle an endless ocean; you only get a fragment of what it truly is. Every description and depiction one can generate are but metaphors, grasping attempts for us to define the undefinable. By the way, Anelior, I LOVE your quote. Where is it from?

[spoon]

how would God be related to it?[/b] Shaking it vigourously? -spoon

[Anelior]

Wow! I find it absolutely bizarre that only a few days after I finally get back onto a computer you show up, and what's more, you live in the same city as I am right now. That's.....synchonistic! Anyway, to respond to your ideas there, you are profoundly right. A most impressive answer! It is indeed right that everything we use to "think" of something is confined to a definition in terms of the reality we know, therefore concepts of God are merely that: metaphors. Square pegs fit in round holes; they go in, but don't completely do the trick. To me, God is the vastness, the all-that-is, the state that makes this from a non-local reality where time and space don't exist. This is a confinement of that, and God is the process/state that does it. In a broader sense, getting more in our connection with God, the most permanent statement of existence is, "I am". I am, and that's that. If you think about it, what are you, and where did you come from? The answer is, I am and I always was. This entire reality is akin to a dream; except a whole new heirarchy in its masterful illusion. If you want to imagine a dream as a constructed illusion of the mind while we sleep in this realty, then in a metaphorical way, this reality is a "dream" of our higher mind, our true self, that is, God. That is the mystical view, the view from within. There is, of course, the view from without, which is the severly skeptical, scientific view. One must have both to properly check themselves! but not one without the other. You cannot ignore, by taking a purely scientific, nihilistic view of your existence, the deep-rooted paradox of origin. The big bang happened and created the universe, and since then the universe has been set in motion....but what created the big bang? What happened before the beginning? because if it did, then THAT was the beginning, and then, of course, something had to happen to put THAT there, and the thing before that then, must be the beginning.....and on and on and on... We are walking through on a journey which is like putting together a great puzzle. The completed image is who you are, how you got here, and why you're here. As you collect each piece in your initial fragmented state of knowing, you gain a bigger and broader picture of the real answer; and you gain asymptotically the ability to extrapolate what the real image just might be. That is the journey of learning what the self is; it involves stepping outside the door that defines the self as just you, the form you confined your perception to when you decided to co-exist with a spatiotemporal co-ordinate in the universe and realizing that it really is much more... That is why, metaphorically, it is right to say that God IS the snowglobe and so are we. We are all depictions of this one "thing", this one great, "I am"; each of us unique gems but fraught with the same light.

[Anelior]

Oops, sorry, Kyle! Forgot to tell you, my quote is something that came to me in a dream and I've since then written it down and kept it.

[Belisarius]

Originally posted by Anelior Well, looks like we all had fun with that one. I have to say, Lucius, you must have read my mind...or else we think the same way. Indeed, when asked that question some 5 months ago by a good friend that is how I answered and I yet hold to that. Not as some kind of fixed belief but because my life experience so far (including mystic experiences or whatever you want to call them) point toward it. Anyone got other ideas, feel free to post! Try not to confuse mystical experiences with acid trips. If I had to answer the question, I would say god is the snowglobe. I think for people god's most important aspect is his omniscience, even more so than his omnipotence and omniprescence, because if one entity KNOWS everything, then the universe is truly objective, real, and has morality and meaning(assigned by god).