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What is God? Who is the Christ?

What is God?

Warning: do not focus on this question. It is probably the most divisive, but certainly not the most interesting on this site.

First, let us note that no one has direct access to God. No one has seen Him or spoken to Him directly. At best, we seek Him.Therefore, let's approach the issue from the other side. Since we do not have direct access to God, what are the least indirect manifestations of Him that we can access?

The astonishing answer is: modern science, or more precisely, the laws it discovers in mathematics, physics, etc.Indeed, these are what most closely resemble the idea we have of God:they do not contradict themselves,and they are not influenced by human intrigues.

From this point of view, the search for God, a fundamental element of the monastic approach, should have been rethought following the emergence of the modern scientific method in the 16th or 17th century. More specifically, obedience, one of the three elements of monastic vows, becomes obedience to what is observed factually, as the most direct manifestation of God in the world, and not to dogma, which is merely a human construction.In this form, the equivalence with Buddhist non-duality is striking: holding to what is, and not to what one would like to be. That is to say, overcoming the ego. That is to say, getting rid of social ambition, which we have seen constitutes one of the two main elements of our problematic behaviors inherited from genetics. Through this approach, we free ourselves from the negative consequences of social ambition, namely social violence, and we thus recover the concept of love so dear to Christians.

Therefore, the sentence 'God created man in His image' must be understood as: God created man capable of problem-solving. Consequently, the struggle between good and evil must be understood as the struggle of man striving to practice problem-solving as opposed to giving in to his instincts—social ambition and associated violence through the game of alliances, and the blind application of social conventions (or laws, or professional standards) above facts.

However, beware: love is a consequence of mastering the ego. It cannot be the starting point, and in this sense, the famous saying of Christ, 'Love one another as I have loved you,' is a sterile injunction from a pedagogical standpoint.

Who is Jesus Christ?

Is Jesus Christ the one who unceasingly practices problem-solving, in a fully adultmanner?

The Gospel follows a literary form typical of its era, based on edifying anecdotes and not on precise, explicit concepts, as is done on this site.

The question of the existence of God

While the question 'What is God?' can present some interest, on the other hand, the question 'Does God exist?' is a rather poor one.Indeed, from a logical standpoint, the question of the existence of God belongs to the category of semi-provable propositions, exactly like the question of the existence of unicorns. If one day a unicorn is found, then we have proved that unicorns exist. Conversely, if one is not found, we cannot definitively prove that unicorns do not exist.Therefore, in the face of a semi-provable question, common sense recommends that we search thoroughly, and if we find nothing, we classify it among what does not exist until the contrary is proven. We do this very well with unicorns; we have more difficulty doing it with the existence of God; why? Because far more people have a strong interest in assuming the existence of God in order to speak in His name, than in assuming the existence of unicorns.

Pascal's Wager (see the Wikipedia article) provides an example of a response to a semi-provable question obtained by asking the question incorrectly. Indeed, he assumes that the consequences of reprehensible behavior are positive for the individual during their lifetime, and therefore that proper behavior in life is ultimately determined by our belief—or not—in the existence of God.

Finally, assuming the existence of God leads one to seek Him through prayer, and as shown by the question Putting an End to the Abusive Use of Psychotropics and Psychotherapy, this goes against the approach of defusion, as presented in ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy).

Go deeper

Our proposition is not very far from that of philosophers who equate God with causality.