Originally Posted By: Bill S.

To a great extent this supports my long held belief that God is defined by the pre-conceptions of individuals and groups; many of whom then decide that their beliefs are the only right ones.

I think so. Which is why it's not reality. It's just people's imaginations. Some people believe the earth is round, and they have evidence to support it. Some people believe God created the Earth. That one is distinctly different because there isn't any evidence to support it. Some people believe in an undefined GOD. That too has no evidence to support it. There's a clear distinction between beliefs based on some possiblity of being correct and beliefs based on nothing outside of our own minds.


Quote:

The cosmos has consciousness because we are conscious; it makes decisions because we make decisions; it influences

Strangely, that might actually be something you can prove! Just from the definitions of the words. But it doesn't lead to anything that we didn't already know. Even if it turns out the cosmos is just a little shell around the earth, it still contains people who have consciousness and are, by definition, part of it.

And yes, that is what I was trying to get at with Rev. I have a feeling that that's what his idea really is, but somehow he keeps connecting it with all sorts of social issues and morals and stuff which no more depend on that GOD-nature duality than they depend on the existance of humans to have feelings in the first place.