Where and What Is God? [Continuation]

February 10, 2023

I have written multiple times about this subject. With time, and a lot of thinking and discussion, it has become increasingly crystallized in my mind, so I decided to write an update. I look forward to your comments.

Time and space started with the Big Bang. This is what the physicists tell us. So, what existed before the BB? There must have been something not bounded by time and space which, as we have been told, started with the BB.

So, what is not bounded by time and space? Energy. But energy alone cannot create. It is a necessary component of creation, but not sufficient to cause it.

Other ingredients that are necessary for creation are also not limited by time and space. They are water, air, and earth. Read the first chapter of the Old Testament. God‘s spirit over the water ….. water was there….. God separated earth from the water…..earth was there. And if you do not believe in the Bible, protons electrons, and neutrons were there ………

God did not create these elements. (Who created them we will discuss them later.) The creation was in putting an order by which this planet as a system is run. The creation provided a formula, a value system.

The Values System

For a healthy system to operate well, it needs to be synergetic, constantly reinventing itself and growing, and symbiotic so the system's ingredients cooperate to create synergy. (I call it symbergetic )

I suggest that the following conditions for synergy are necessary: complementary diversity so that cross-fertilization of information will occur, and it will happen only if there is mutual recognition of each other's boundaries so that diversity is honored. If diversity disappears, cross-fertilization disappears, and so does synergy. 

Synergy itself is a necessary condition for creation, but not sufficient.  There must also be symbiosis, which means that each ingredient contributes to the system it pertains to and benefits from what the others contribute. And for this to happen, there must be trust in the system. Trust exists when there is a perception or belief that there is a common interest. 

If we look around, we see that nature is a symbiotic and synergetic system based on complementary diversified components that share and benefit from their interaction. 

To me, then, God is not a father in Heaven. Rather, God is everywhere where there is synergy and symbiosis. God is in any place where diverse components are interacting with mutual respect for each other's differences, trusting that there is a common interest and thus, contributing to the system they belong to.

To me, God is energy with values.

And where is God? Everywhere there is symbiosis and synergy, everywhere there is diversity, common interest, mutual trust, and respect.

God is not in Heaven any more than Zeus was on Mount Olympus...

Take out mutual trust and respect and what is left is destructive conflict. That is the Devil. The Devil is energy without mutual trust and respect. All we need to do to bring on the Devil is to stop honoring each other's differences and with exclusive self-interest corrupting the system not to be trusted.

The Devil is not a guy in a red cape. The Devil is energy without values.

The Bible says God made us in his image. What does it mean? Not that we look like God. It means that God delegated to us the role of bringing mutual trust and respect into this world. God appointed us to continue His work.

Why? Because of change? Life is change. Time is changing. And change causes disintegration. And disintegration is manifested in what we call problems. So, unless we repair what has broken down because of change, problems will only get worse and become a crisis. Maybe irreversible crises. And how should we repair the world?  Following God’s work.  Honoring diversity, developing common interest, and nurturing mutual trust, and respect. 

A Jewish prayer says that we are the chosen people. If you keep reading the prayer you will see that we are not just chosen to be some kind of elite. We are chosen to follow God's commandments to repair the world. To make it a better one. Tikkun Olam. For kosher food, we slaughter and treat animals with respect. And read the ten commandments and all the other ones.  They are all about mutual trust and respect.  But this does not apply just to the Jewish people. We all must work to stop disintegration and bring mutual trust and respect to a world that, due to change and the problems change brings, is losing this critical essential element. A loss that gives space to the Devil to run the show rather than God. 

There are religions and political ideologies that reject diversity. Some companies and countries only take care of their interests and ignore the common good. Take the open seas. Since no one owns it, everyone pollutes it. I would claim they are all serving the Devil, and some do it, in the name of God.

God neither blesses nor punishes us. It is we who bless ourselves or punish ourselves by having or not having respect for diversity and a trustworthy system for the common good.

The earthquakes, the fires, the heat domes, and the bomb cyclones are not God punishing us. We broke the value system, we violated it, so no wonder the ecosystem does not work.

Look at the human body. The kidneys respect all the other organs in the body. They do not try to perform the role of the heart. They contribute to and benefit from having a healthy, functioning body. It is a symbiotic synergetic system 

The cell that does not honor other cells—takes them over, is cancer. I suggest that humanity is cancerous to the ecosystem we belong to. We violate the rights of nature. We exploit nature, destroy our ecosystem, and then claim God punishes us.  God is not there wherever that is. It is in us. In how we behave. In what we do to others.

I do not believe in praying to God. To whom are we praying? There is no one there. God is energy with values. We should pray to ourselves to have the strength to accept diversity, respect differences, and learn from them. Pray not to fear differences and to build a system for the common good we can trust.

Diversity operating on a basis of recognizing each other's right to exist (so-called mutual respect) creates growth. It is the capitalist system. Free market to compete but with respect with no monopolies etc.

A system that promotes contributing to the system for the benefit of all is socialism.

Capitalism is synergetic. Socialism is symbiotic.  But as Churchill said: “Capitalism is the unequal distribution of wealth. Socialism is the equal distribution of poverty.”  What is needed is a symbergetic system—or what is now called “Conscious Capitalism” or Ricardo Salinas Pliego calls and practices, prosperidad incluyente , inclusive prosperity.

But who created water, earth, or the neutrons, protons, electrons and energy?

Asking this question is like claiming the earth is flat. It’s like insisting that there must be a beginning and an end. But we know there is no beginning and no end as we traverse the earth. There is no beginning and end to the universe. There is no beginning and end to energy.  There is no young or old energy. It was always there. No one created it. I know this is hard to accept because our minds cannot truly conceive of eternity, but I repeat, the earth is not flat. And there is no birth and thereafter death either. I believe that when we die, we continue to “live,” but differently. Not physically, but spiritually.

God is eternal. God has no beginning and no end. Energy and constructive values are eternal. And what constitutes absolute mutual trust and respect, total integration? Love. God is love.  Love is eternal. Love has no boundaries of time and space. That is God. Energy with values.  And there is no love if there is no mutual respect and trust. So, by practicing MT&R we give chance to love to reign the world.

Serve God with love: love for other people, nature, and everything. Do not pray and expect it to happen because you prayed so well. Praying to God to make the world better, is like abdicating responsibility for your actions. And asking God for forgiveness? Ask yourself to forgive yourself and be a better human being, serving God by practicing love.

Written by
Dr. Ichak Adizes