The Personhood Associated with the Word "God"

In his Spiritual Exercises, the Greek novelist Nikos Kazantzakis writes:

We have seen the highest circle of spiraling powers. We have named this circle God. We might have given it any other name we wished: Abyss, Mystery, Absolute Darkness, Absolute Light, Matter, Spirit, Ultimate Hope, Ultimate Despair, Silence. But we have named it God because only this name, for primordial reasons, can stir the heart profoundly. And this deeply felt emotion is indispensable if we are to touch, body with body, the dread essence beyond logic.

I have often quoted this passage in my various writings because it seems to capture profoundly the Deus absconditus of the mystics, the thing seen through a glass darkly, the mysterium tremendum et fascinans of the theologian Rudolph Otto, the numinous flame that burns in every atom, every flower, every grain of sand, every star-the hidden thing behind nature's veil. Can Dawkins be right and Kazantzakis wrong? Is "God" the wrong word for the "dread essence beyond logic"? Give Dawkins this: the word is indeed almost irretrievably burdened with personhood. It is our golden calf, our idol.

Notes:

While deists and others use it to mean a spiritual force, the word is so infused with the idea of a consciousness similar to human beings that it seems irretrievably corrupted for use by spiritual naturalists.

Folksonomies: spiritual naturalism nature religion god

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/religion and spirituality/judaism (0.497078)

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When God Is Gone, Everything Is Holy: The Making of a Religious Naturalist

Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Raymo , Chet (2008-09), When God Is Gone, Everything Is Holy: The Making of a Religious Naturalist, Sorin Books, Retrieved on 2011-05-29

Folksonomies: spiritual naturalism naturalism

Schemas

04 JUN 2011

The Scientist Takes No Position on God

Atheism is not a scientific position, just as belief in a God is not. Scientists find spiritual fulfillment in natural laws. It's interesting to note that the scientist taking no position on god bares a remarkable resemblance to not believing in god.

Folksonomies: science religion god