(August 11, 2014 at 8:00 am)Michael Wrote: So you ask whether what I call 'God', or the numinous, could be within us; that we create God rather than vice versa. The short answer is 'yes' that could be the case. The Quakers sometimes talk of God as the 'Light within', which I think allows them more flexibility in allowing for God as either entirely internal or external. I have some sympathy with that view. But I don't go there myself.
Just to be clear, I don't mean that we consciously invent God or that God is the result of a choice we make. My idea is that God is prior to our sense of self and is responsible for the possibility of who we take ourselves to be. What I have in mind would be true whether or not one 'believes in' God or not; it isn't up to us any more than we decide during our time in the womb whether to go through transformations which cause us to resemble other creatures before finally emerging human.
I believe there is a totality of the 'self', for the lack of a better word, which includes our rational mind or ego but is not limited to that. One can live his entire life without regard to anything beneath the surface and either find satisfaction or not. But I also value the power of silence and an interest in what comes if I leave space for it. I have a high regard for the mystery that makes possible what we are and try to remain open to it. I just don't call it God and I don't anthropomorphize it.
