Do You Believe In God? ...

Your question is short, but it is not small. It is an interesting question, and of obvious importance to you. Uncertain times carry uncertainty into almost every area of life, creeping into the deeper recesses of one's thoughts and challenging even those things and thoughts that have been accepted at face value for eons of time. But may I engage you peacefully and politely by suggesting that your question is a challenge designed to confront the science that enables channeling, the channel who is now veiled behind these words, and your own doubts and beliefs about the subject? No matter! It is simply best to state the known in one's search for the unknown. With this is mind, let's begin with what is known about God versus what is believed.

Interesting telling points distinguish philosophers, scientists, followers of religious faith, and other lay people. One of these is the use of the terms belief and knowledge, because while some people make a distinction between what they know and what they believe, others do not. It is human nature to accept a belief as a known fact, particularly when exploring a subject or statement that is considered accurate, true, or justified. A belief in God, or a higher power/authority is a perfect example of a concept appropriately named justified true belief, which describes a traditional relationship in which a belief is also considered knowledge if the belief is true, and if the believer has a justification (a necessarily plausible assertion that may or may not include evidence). False beliefs, even if true and sincere, would not be justified under this concept, because they are not necessary and plausible to a large enough percentage of the population.

Beliefs are assumptions that humanity makes about itself, about others, and about how it expects things are or will one day be. Beliefs are also definitive ideas about how individuals and groups think things really are. When a large group or segment of the population thinks similarly, it often believes similarly as well. A justified belief sees other beliefs as less than just. Most beliefs presume a subject and an object of belief, which requires a subjective and objective God, an internal and external relationship with God. Beliefs are further divided into core beliefs, those that you might actively consider, dispositional beliefs, those that you simply choose to believe or disbelieve, and occurent beliefs, those that you are currently considering based upon stored knowledge or unconcluded wisdom. Based upon the foregoing, do you know what part of your being believes in God? It may be more likely that a part of your being knows God, so let's explore further.

Just as with beliefs there are many different forms of knowledge, each one important in its own way. Scientific knowledge, for instance, is a method of inquiry that focuses upon gathering empirical, observable and measurable evidence. It is subject to specific principles of reasoning, the collection of data, experimentation, and formulation and testing of hypotheses. Partial knowledge acknowledges that in most realistic cases it is not possible to have an extensive or exhaustive understanding of a subject, and that most real problems can be solved by combining a partial understanding with the proper context and other data. Situational knowledge as the name implies, applies to a specific situations and is often embedded in language, culture and tradition. Other forms of knowledge include trial and error, learning from direct experience, secondhand knowledge, and discovery. Do you know how you know what you know, or do you believe deeply in what you believe that you know about God?

Knowledge about God and belief in God are supported by faith. Faith is the confidence and trust that one places upon truth; it is the trustworthiness of a person, thing or idea. Faith has a special advantage in that it involves a concept of past events and future outcomes. Faith does not require logical proof or material evidence. Informally, faith and trust are similar, but in this regard faith would more appropriately connote a context of religion or spirituality, where a transcendent reality in a Supreme Being is implied. Faith is the point of view of the mind that a certain statement or belief is true. The mind accedes (accepts) belief based upon declarations by accepted forms of authority including people, books, doctrine and scripture. Faith encourages the acquisition of knowledge and growth. Those who believe and also know God have faith in their beliefs.

Although you may not agree that faith is within your field of concern, I would tell you otherwise. Faith, like its counterpart hope, rises and falls during seasons of discontent. Faith is also affected by economic conditions, changes in lifestyle and living situation, sickness, and especially when others in one's family or community experience a change of heart in regard to their spiritual beliefs. When faith and hope waver the individual and the collective mind of humanity suffers a kind of stroke, paralyzing some thoughts and exaggerating others. A spiritual stroke is like a great divide between mountain ranges - there is no clear path between here and there. One must pick one's way in roundabout ways and up and over rocky crags. I will tell you what I know and believe about God, but only some of it will meet with your approval, because your mind and your heart currently wander the great divide between what you believe, what you know, what you hope, and the direction that members in your immediate family are beginning to take.

The God you reference in your question is a deity. A deity is a supernatural immortal being who is holy, divine, sacred and worthy of great respect. God is the sole deity in insofar as many world religions are concerned and the principal deity in many belief systems. God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omnibenevolent. He is eternal and necessary to human existence. The modern concept of God is one in which He is personal and active in the organization and governance of the universe and the world you live in. God is invisible, but is thought to dwell in holy places such as Heaven, supernatural planes and celestial spheres. God is made manifest to humanity through the effects of His omnipresence. Although immortal, God is assumed to have a personality that is perfect, pure and free of defect. I know this God because it is one of the versions of God that humanity prefers and has a close bond with.

Another version of God assumes immortality, consciousness, intellect, desire and emotion. Natural phenomena in the form of floods, lighting and earthquakes are attributable to God as are miracles and other wonderful acts. God is the controlling authority in the various aspects of human life and afterlife. He is the director of fate, the giver of law and the moderator of moral obligation. The ultimate judge of human worth, he is also the creator of earth and heaven. I know this God too, because humanity studies Him, lives and is guided by His hand.

I know another God too. He is divine and infinite simplicity, perfection and goodness. This God is whole and without parts. He and his attributes are one. He is the God of truth and goodness, which is also identical to his being. This Simple Being is indivisible rather than composite - his characteristics are not made up of thing upon thing. His properties are also His being, which is not true of any created being. He is complete in all ways and He is the cause of all that exists. He is the greatest in all things and the least of all too, and this without exception. This God is also mine -- because He is your God, he is also mine.

Aside from the God of religion, I know the god of philosophy. His essence is inexpressible. He is concerned with ideas that are incomprehensible to most. These cannot be expressed in general terms or in common language for they would render that which is ineffable mundane. This abstract god is complex and his nature is paradoxical. He is symbolic gesture, illogical statement, principle and reason, and intrinsically impossible to understand. I have attended the schools of thought that uphold this version of god and bear witness to the existence of an existential god. This version of God is as real as the other versions.

My favorite version is not as popular as the others because it exists beyond humanity's capacity to conceive. This inconceivable Beingness is the light that gives meaning to the darkness of being. This Being and Nothingness are closely related. Nothingness and All That Is are One in this Beingness. All That Is cannot be comprehended by human senses - not today, tomorrow or yesterday. It is unknowable, indefinable, eternal, invisible and formless. It is Living Mind. No language can describe or define the All. It's being is so still as to be indistinguishable from non-being. I do not know this God/Being/All That Is, and to believe in that which exists without need of existence is folly. I do not believe in this Being either for its existence does not require my belief or that of any other being. To do so would limit my relationship with It, an injustice to say the least. This All is a substantial part of the reality that underlies all appearances and manifestations that are called Life, including matter and non-matter, energy and non-energy, thought and no-thought. And there is that which exists beyond this.

As your life continues to unfold your beliefs will change, shaped by the thoughts and experiences that you draw to you. Your individual existence that currently believes you are a human being also believes that it must fight for itself in this world. This part of you has a sense of "doership" that must establish a purpose for its existence, but it is ultimately unaware and unconscious of its own true nature. Human nature and the mind that occupies its time compulsively thinks, and then thinks about what it is thinking. It does so in order to assure its own future existence, because it does not know that the present moment and the eternal self are one and the same. The human self does not know that it is made of nothingness and believes in error that it is made of something. This is because the human mind dwells within the Living Mind and is subject to the laws of created things. As one of your mystics once said, you are the eternal principle and the temporal process; you are the impressure of nothingness into something.

Do not think for a moment that Gaia hopes to challenge or change your life stance on God, religion or the nature of your being. Your worldview, values and viewpoints are preserved by your own will and by approval of All That Is. Your way of life is well guided and moved by the same forces of nature that pilot these words. Know that I am one with your thoughts and with your beliefs too. They are no strangers to me and I find no provocation in your attitudes and convictions. Let quarrel be with those who object for all is at rest here. The same principles and ideas that created the earth also created the moment we now share, and ideas beyond ours will inspire the future we will both share. New concepts will present fodder to philosophers, thinkers, logicians, academicians, theorists, truth-seekers and dreamers. And the One that was in first place before a place was made will yet Be.