Decided to pose this question since 95% of JSP'ers are white Anglicans who only know of the "Abrahamic God".

The reason this question is used in philosophy is because up until you study the formless you will always hold a formed image of God in your minds eye.

The Abrahamic faith as a whole uses the "imagery" to facilitate change/action. The reason their scripture is powerful is because it pushes you to act a certain way and also teaches you the underlying principles of human nature itself and how it's your responsibility as a human being with the capacity of human intellect to do "Good" or try to do good. This is the "gospel" of the Lord. Gospel meaning "good news".

The Eastern faiths say "good and bad" does not exist and is a consequence of the ego itself. Thus only in our minds can something be "good" or "evil". This is more of a Buddhist notion. With the goal of "Nirvana" "spiritual liberation" being to rid ourselves of the ego and merge into whatever that formless existence is. Total liberation comes when you eliminate the ego entirely and silence it for long periods of time. Allowing you to commune with the "silent grace of God".

I believe in God with form. This is because not only was I raised Catholic with the imagery of the Bible but even after I studied the Eastern faiths I still preferred to meditate/dwell on the formed image of God. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Armed with the understanding of both I was able to better my relationship with Christ by using the philosophy present in the East.

To the people on this forum who make the excuse that "god does not exist because I'm just smart" and "free will does not exist because of (x) (y) (z). You are using an incomplete formula made by man to try and understand and measure the work of God. No scientist that will ever live. No mathematician that will ever live. None will ever know the totality of existence itself or even remotely be able to understand it.

Why does the atheistic scientist believe in God in the end?? He realizes the relationship with the observer and the observed. You are looking for an answer that was always only present in your heart. You have to admit that you and what you observe are the SAME thing made of the SAME material present at the "big bang". A great example of this is putting a flashlight from your chest outward. You can identify EVERY thing around you with that light but you CANNOT turn the light back on yourself and identify yourself. Such is the nature of God. Knows all things externally outward but cannot know "himself" any other way then the human form.

Free will exists because even after you eliminate your ego and are sitting dwelling with God alone you have to make a decision. To act or not to act. This is karma. "The action" "The happening" "Spontaneous existence".

The reason I say they both exist and someone can believe one/both/neither is because the questions arise simultaneously and one can only answer that question for themselves.

You can believe free will/god exists or doesn't exist it doesn't change the underlying truths of existence itself. Man can never ascertain God and its delusional to think that the "product" of the "universe" can understand the "totality" of the process reponsible for their very existence.

There is no separation only the ego makes it so. All things vary in degree and not of kind. That's the "oneness" present in all things.

Therefore the EGO dissolves into God not the other way around. The more you know.

This post was edited by SwamiVivekananda on Aug 11 2025 07:27am

If God we can only use our own imagination to describe God not your God or my God but how we decide to describe a God..Who knows maybe God Then what is God? Something we can only try to describe.. A higher being or beings Maybe a far off A.I from a long ago civilization that destroyed itself ... no option for my imagination of God did not vote

Very true and in the etymology of words we know words/phrases such as "MA" and "DA" which stand for "measure" and "that" in Sanskrit actually show that when a child is born they have no EGO and a name must be given and even a child points at all things around it and says DA DA DA "that that that". A child must be taught what a tree is just like a child is taught what God is. That is why it is up to you/the human being to decide how you will view such things. This is where are bias/culture/traditions/pre programmed models/methods of thinking creep in. It then becomes a choice to all human beings. Will I study the worldly things or the "otherworldly". It is next to impossible to do both simultaneously and this is why Hindus break down people into two types. Householders(married or bachelor) and Monk(spiritual seeker). I've seen it in both Catholicism and Hinduism that it is very difficult for someone with children/family to study God intensely. They have to identify even more with the Ego in order to "make a living" for their family they must become their "name" even more so. Whereas the monk eliminates their name all together.

This post was edited by SwamiVivekananda on Aug 11 2025 07:54am

Says that god is past all understanding and to let go of our ego and then types seven paragraphs anyway.

I was raised religious too then all the abuse and corruption happened. God must real into that shit going down in his house on his watch. Thats the last nail in the coffin for god, people love to get on grand golden stages and talk about how wrathful, spiteful, vengeful he is, but at the end of the day with all that power he does nothing. Pussy ass bitch.

Sounds like a YOU problem. Hope you can get through it buddy.

edit: Once again a person who only ascribes to the magic man in the sky theory then goes on to say he hates that god for not doing anything when I just said in the paragraphs of text the answer to that very question.

Very lazy of you and intellectually dishonest. Your "battle" is with a "formed image of God" that doesn't actually even exist and is just a fragment of our collective imagination. Your frustration with "God" is a result of your inability to see the "magic man in the sky" "Abrahamic centric worldview" you have blinds you from the total truth. Very powerful how a religion you hate so much has so much control over your emotions.

Let it go.

Most the posts I see you make are Trump bashing and God bashing. What is that actually a reflection of buddy? Just curious btw

This post was edited by SwamiVivekananda on Aug 11 2025 08:27am

Oh no even more paragraphs that dont really boil down to anything. What'll we do. Guess it was my fault god didnt exist for thousands of years.

There should be consequences for being this purposefully dishonest to people.

There is no god

Can you admit you have an Abrahamic centric world view? Guess not.



True

We live in a computer simulation