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What is God? Who is 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.

Let us first note that no one has direct access to God. No one has seen him or conversed directly with him. At best, one seeks him. No one can reasonably say 'God said...'.
Let us therefore approach the problem from the opposite direction. Since we have no direct access to God, what are the least indirect manifestations of him that we do have access to?

The surprising answer is: modern science, or more precisely, the laws it establishes in mathematics, physics, etc.
Indeed, these are what come closest to the idea we have of God:
. does not contradict itself,
. is not influenced by human machinations.

From this point, the search for God, a fundamental element of the monastic path, 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, effectively becomes obedience to what is observed at the factual level, as the most direct manifestation of God in the world, and not to dogma, a mere human construction.
In this form, the equivalence with Buddhist non-duality becomes striking: adhering to what is, and not to what one would wish to be. This means overcoming the ego. This means freeing oneself from social ambition, which we have seen constitutes one of the two main elements of our problematic behaviors inherited from genetics. Through this approach, one frees oneself from the negative consequences of social ambition, namely social violence, and thus recovers the notion of love so dear to Christians.

The phrase 'God created man in his image' must therefore be understood as: God created man capable of practicing problem-solving. Consequently, the struggle between good and evil must be understood as the struggle of man raising himself to the practice of problem-solving, as opposed to letting himself succumb to his instincts, which are social ambition and the associated violence through the play of alliances, and the blind application of social conventions (or laws, or professional state-of-the-art) above the facts.

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

Who is Jesus Christ?

Is Jesus Christ the one who tirelessly practices problem-solving, in a fully adultmanner.

The Gospel follows a literary form of its time, based on edifying anecdotes, and not on concepts explicitly clarified with precision, as this site does.

The question of the existence of God

If 'What is God?' is a question that can present a certain interest, on the other hand 'Does God exist?' is a rather poor question.
Indeed, from the standpoint of logic, the question of the existence of God belongs to the category of semi-demonstrable propositions, exactly like the question of the existence of unicorns. If one day a unicorn is found, then it is demonstrated that unicorns exist. On the other hand, if none are found, then it cannot be definitively demonstrated that unicorns do not exist.
However, facing a semi-demonstrable question, common sense recommends searching seriously, and if nothing is found, to classify it among what does not exist until proven otherwise. We do this very well for unicorns; we have more difficulty doing it for 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 people have a strong interest in assuming the existence of unicorns.

Pascal's Wager (see Wikipedia article) gives us an example of an answer to a semi-demonstrable question obtained by posing the question incorrectly. Indeed, it assumes that the consequences of reprehensible conduct are positive for the individual during their life, and therefore that the right conduct of our life is ultimately dictated by our belief or disbelief in the existence of God.

Finally, assuming the existence of God leads to seeking him through prayer, and as the question Putting an end to the abusive use of psychotropics and psychotherapiesshows, this goes against the approach of defusion as presented in ACT psychotherapy.

Deepen

Our proposal is not very far from those of philosophers who equate God with causality.