Can Spirituality be exclusive of the concept of God? Yes as TRUTH IS GOD
First principles say that God is defined in the dictionary in different ways. There are broadly two main connotations of the word. GOD spelt always in capital is a supreme power or entity mainly abstract and even if concrete an entity all powerful, all knowing but which does not have an actual face. The second concept is one of ruler, an all pervading entity and a director who is in charge with an actual face.
This concept evolved in human history over many ages and based on the ability of the human mind to comprehend, anything large, incomprehensible, unexplainable became akin to God. The nomadic prehistoric man objectified God as in whatever helped him survive and overcome his adversaries.So a large tree, rocks, walls and dense forests or even storms, rivers, lightering and thunder which created a favourable outcome with respect to survival against animals enemies became God. As he got domesticated and started keeping animals and made agriculture and food production a part of his life the concept of God changed quite a lot. The ruler and King entity saw the advantage of positioning humans as all powerful Gods, the Gods became objects of fear. They were posed as a counter to the forces of evil which could only be overcome by God. But when these powerful Gods were unable to win over evil every time then there arose a lot of confusion and therefore more and more Gods came in who in turn led to utter chaos and ruin.
At such times, in different eras and different geographical zones there arose great men and thinkers who organised religion and tried to explain God as a divine entity different from human beings yet in some respects the same. Eerily or coincidentally almost all religions have a similar story to tell that of prophets who had some kind of divine birth, then some story of natural disaster rescue or slaying of demons. This was followed by some divine revelations a voice of something supernatural which is in the form of revelations which get collected in the form of scriptures or a body of knowledge either as prayers of a devotional kind or dialogues between seeker and the revealer. Some parables, epics and miracles get added. Finally the persecution and suffering of the Prophet with the end of life. A legacy is left behind only for followers to quarrel, interpret misinterpret and create a concept of God.
The problem at this stage lies in the human understanding of the physical state of consciousness which is gross, the dream state which is subtle and the deep sleep state which is causal. So organized religion gets divided into ritualistic practices, devotional chanting, selfless activity and philosophical knowledge for the different kinds of personalities. So the evolution of understanding is based on a blind surrender to a divine power outside oneself and call it God only to slowly become one with the power and realise the Self. For the extroverted to realise the futility of selfish actions and start acting unselfishly for the immediate family and finally to act selflessly and see the same Self in the Universe as the individual. But the realisation that amidst the various states of consciousness and experiences there is only You the consciousness which is present all through is the fourth stage or turiya relative to the other three false stages. In fact the realised person recognizes only one stage that is the Self he knows it.
So, after the above analysis, one thing is clear, that there a distinction between physical and the spiritual dimensions of God both at the individual and the universal level. So now comes the concept of God at the highest philosophical level which satisfies everyone. This is the concept of an incomprehensible, permanent and non objectifiable entity. But then can my words be used to describe this entity? The real answer is no, but the religions which conclude there is only one God arrive at this conclusion by negating the multiple Gods. But to arrive at this conclusion the means used are the analysis of the states of consciousness and negating them one after another on the grounds of the fact that all are objects of experience during which the one permanent entity is you the subject of experience. That is ness the Truth, Brahman, Allah, Ahura or whatever name is the real God. So in the most simplistic language I say Truth is God and this is t highest of spirituality which is exclusive of any and every concept of God as it exists today. So if the polytheist has multiple Gods or the atheist has no God it still cannot negate the Truth which is permanent, indestructible, all pervasive and beyond our conscious gross, subtle and causal states. Therefore multiple Gods and religions who divinize all of God's creations are perfectly fine as long as they understand that these are means to the end of Self Realisation.
Conclusion:
- Live a life based on the concept of Truth is God.
- See the divinity in all of God's creation.
- Universe is a manifestation of name, form and experience coming forth from Brahman and dissolving in Brahman
- God is not to be feared and is not a punisher but a friend guide and philosopher revealed to us and available to the true seekers as an ever present entity within us.
- Since Truth is God there can be one essence which can unify humanity and end strife and conflict in the name of Religion.
- Spirituality is the highest form of non objective knowledge which is and will always be available to us.
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