"God, the Universe, whatever name you might call God by."
In our culture, it has become "hip" to call God "the Universe" - you will see it time and again when people claim the Universe is "aligning with them" (specifically when something "good" happens in their life - but don't ask what good means!), or that the Universe has a personal relationship with everyone.
Well, friend, I am here to tell you that God is not, and cannot be "the Universe".
"Josh you're just arguing semantics".
No, I am not.
It is perhaps the single most important paradigm shift in my thinking that led me away from the "New Age" or "spiritual but not religious" track towards Christianity and ultimately Catholicism.
I will discuss why this matters both philosophically and theologically, and why it is one of the greatest hangups for conversion.
Preface
Let me preface this piece with this: at one point in the not too distant past, this is what I believed, too - it is tremendously common in the modern world to think that the "Universe is God".
This is because by this logic
- You and I are a part of the Universe, and as such, we are then a little, infinitesimal portion of God. And,
- The religion of the day is self worship - so this fits the narrative perfectly. If I am a piece of God, then I am Him, too is the dangerous thought pattern one gets into when taking this worldview to its ultimate conclusion. It allows one to find spirituality (which all humans are), but in a narcissistic way that aligns with the ideology du jour.
This has been tried before, by the way, there is nothing new under the Sun - it is a worldview called "pantheism". Pagans and stoics were not exclusively pantheist, but do espouse many of its core tenants. And while the Creation very much points to God, and is in itself sacramental and a Thomistic "Transcendental" (in "The Beautiful") - the Universe is not the transcendent God that we are looking for.
Why God is not the Universe
The reason that God is not the Universe is twofold: 1. God is infinite - the universe is finite and 2. if He were "everything" as He would be were He the universe, then love would be impossible.
The universe is finite
The universe had a starting point. Most say the universe will have an end point. God is infinite in His nature, is outside the confines of space and time, and the universe is not outside these confines. We can't really fathom the vastness of the universe, but it is still a finite - so theoretically, we can.
We can absolutely not fathom the vastness, the timelessness, the grandness of God.
Love of self and my falling out with this idea
"But I can love myself!"
Yeah, well, that is what everyone is telling us, isn't it?
I'm not convinced that one can die for himself as Christ laid His life down for the World. In fact, in wrestling with the idea, I come to find that self love is not actually a phenomenon at all. For, if oneself is everything, one cannot sacrifice oneself for anything.
This is a subtle misdirection that is playing out in our culture today, and leads us to Hell: It leads us to think that we can create Heaven on Earth - and many have tried to do so. All have made this Earth a little more like Hell in the process.
If pantheism were true, Love would be impossible.
Because one cannot love himself - he can only love another.
It's why the Trinity makes sense - if God is love, then that love is something one can participate in, revel in, grow in. If God is everything, love is not possible.
I know love to be possible - nay - necessary, even most atheists do, too.
Note: one can have "self regard" or "self esteem" - but love of self doesn't make sense - it is a nonsensical statement.
The Creator is not the Creation
Just as the painter exists independent of his painting, so too, does God of the Universe.
I spent my summer on Vancouver Island, and the nature is absolutely breathtaking. So much so that many people find themselves worshipping the objective beauty of it all. This is not part of God, but of His Creation - now imagine if nature is so transcendantly beautiful, think about how Our Creator must be, or what Heaven must be like. Hint: we cannot even fathom it.
The Gaia worship phenomenon is easy to fall into: look at the ocean, a mountain, the trees, a flower, and we are engulfed in beauty. But, this beauty points beyond itself - it points to it's Origin. When one realizes this we come to find all is a mirror - not of the self (remember that self worship phenomenon?) - but of God.
That means that each of us is this mirror, too.
God is both in and outside of time and space
God is everywhere and fillest all things.
We come to find that the Trinity is the proper representation of God - very simplistically and attempting to avoid heresy here:
- God above us and outside all of this dimensionality that we as humans believe to be reality and existing in actual reality (Father)
- God beside us - pulling us toward that True Reality and helping us in all of our stumblings (The Son - Christ)
- God within us - some say our "conscience" telling us what is right and wrong, that little voice inside that if we allow ourselves to hear it, becomes our entire life's compass (The Holy Spirit).
So, God is not "the Universe" - He is outside it, inside it, and inside of you, too.
God is way bigger than the Universe.
As He should be - He is God afterall.
The Universal Purpose of "all this"
In a sentence? To praise and glorify God.
In a paragraph? Every human's ultimate potential is identical - this ultimate potential is found in Christ. Each and every single person is created in God's image - not to become Him, but to become like Him. This is the paradoxical nature of Truth - it is not "either - or" but more often "both - and". While we are created to be like Him, we are continually falling away from this potential - and even Herculean effort cannot bring us to be the person God intended us to be. But, through His grace, we struggle against the pull of non-being (evil) and reach out to the hand that is extended to us in Christ. For, without Him, we can do nothing.
To "become god" many men have tried and failed to do, and so many more will before the Second Coming. This is the peak of hubris, the ultimate "swimming against the current."
But to become like God is quite literally fulfillment of human purpose, it is swimming with the current, it is deep humility.
It is in this that we find we cannot save ourselves. We cannot save anyone else.
We can only be saved.
It is only by becoming the least that we can become anything at all.
God is not the universe. He is inexplicably more.
As always, God bless, and until next time.
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