# the i dont know god
**URL:** https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183
**Category:** Religion and Spirituality
**Created:** [April 20, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183 "2013-04-20T17:34:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Ierrellus](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Ierrellus)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2013, 1:20pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/21 "2013-04-22T13:20:33Z")
Experientially, there is no I don’t know God. God is either experienced or not.
---
### Author:  [@Hobbes\_Choice](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Hobbes_Choice)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/22 "2013-04-22T13:45:35Z")
> [@Ierrellus](#):
>
> Experientially, there is no I don’t know God. God is either experienced or not.
Experientially there is in fact no god.
But most people’s experience is nearer to “`I don’t know” than happy-clappy I know god exists.
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### Author:  [@Ierrellus](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Ierrellus)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/23 "2013-04-22T14:33:10Z")
HC, I don’t hear you. Carry on.
An ontology of awareness of wonder and awe exists. Is this simply a fluke in our evolutionary development? I think not.
Many people have expressed experiencing God as Nirvana, Bramin, Jesus, etc. The need for such expression would not have been part and parcel of our being if it had no possible resolution from anything outside the egocentric Self.
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### Author:  [@Kriswest](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Kriswest)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/24 "2013-04-22T14:59:57Z")
Hc, there is no god for you perhaps, but, that does not mean all people lack such a connection. If you have siblings or cousins do you all look and act identically?
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### Author:  [@Hobbes\_Choice](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Hobbes_Choice)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2013, 10:13pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/25 "2013-04-22T22:13:57Z")
> [@Kriswest](#):
>
> Hc, there is no god for you perhaps, but, that does not mean all people lack such a connection. If you have siblings or cousins do you all look and act identically?
I do not lack anything in this respect; i’ve been there and done that. It is others that lack. They lack discrimination and critical thinking.
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### Author:  [@Hobbes\_Choice](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Hobbes_Choice)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/26 "2013-04-22T22:21:07Z")
> [@Ierrellus](#):
>
> HC, I don’t hear you. Carry on.
> An ontology of awareness of wonder and awe exists. Is this simply a fluke in our evolutionary development? I think not.
> Many people have expressed experiencing God as Nirvana, Bramin, Jesus, etc. The need for such expression would not have been part and parcel of our being if it had no possible resolution from anything outside the egocentric Self.
I admire your subtle form of insult. It’s probably in your nature to avoid conflict, but you can’t resist gentle insults which inflame without you receiving sanctions of the type that you seem to want to direct at others. Congratulations. It’s a good skill.
But to me; “I don’t here you.” seems a sad admission.
I have an awareness and wonder of things you will never know. This does not warrant god. Your last sentence is an unfounded assertion with no merit and no basis. You simply have no other thing to compare. But it does seem to me that all you say about god is in fact egocentric and vain.
It takes a really selfless person to have the courage to say that awe is not a response to the thought that each of us are somehow the special creation of a sky-daddy that will come and save us all. Where is the humility in your view? Absent!
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### Author:  [@V-OutOfTheWilderness](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/V-OutOfTheWilderness)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2013, 11:02pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/27 "2013-04-22T23:02:48Z")
Hey Hobbes, I wish you worked in the insurance business. They’re always denying claims because of “acts of God.”
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### Author:  [@anon](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/anon)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/28 "2013-04-22T23:47:52Z")
> [@Hobbes Choice](#):
>
> > [@anon](#):
> >
> > > [@Hobbes Choice](#):
> > >
> > > I think it might need a lot more work if that is the case. What he has at the moment is belief I think.
> >
> > Fuse is right, I’m not talking about belief in a simplistic sense.
> >
> > Maybe I’ll start a thread on this topic someday.
>
> No fuse is not right. Fuse agrees with you. That does not mean that what you are after is either possible of meaningful in the sense, of conforming to any kind of sense in which we tend to separate belief and knowledge.
> As far as I can see, what you are offering as this modified species of knowledge is exactly what people mean when they say belief.
> People who believe a thing do not normally accept that the thing is not the case, but they hold it as a pseudo-knowledge.
> In fact they hold a belief in the same way you seem to be making the plea for a special type of knowledge. This just seems like obfuscating.
> How doe this wooly knowledge of your DIFFER from belief?
No idea what you’re saying here, to be honest. A great violinist knows his violin. He doesn’t “believe” in it.
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### Author:  [@Orbie](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Orbie)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/29 "2013-04-23T00:22:12Z")
> [@anon](#):
>
> Hmm, complicating it in a way, but I think simplifying it ultimately by changing paradigms completely. I don’t think there is a gap between mind and reality; therefore, belief, knowledge, etc. are actions. Believing is doing. So is knowing. Knowing “incorrectly” is still knowing. There is no magic “justified, true” belief.
```
Yes but what if the most probable action is justified . . There is no appearant gap. This justification is embedded, hence only appearant.?
```
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### Author:  [@Kriswest](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Kriswest)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/30 "2013-04-23T00:31:24Z")
> [@Hobbes Choice](#):
>
> > [@Kriswest](#):
> >
> > Hc, there is no god for you perhaps, but, that does not mean all people lack such a connection. If you have siblings or cousins do you all look and act identically?
>
> I do not lack anything in this respect; i’ve been there and done that. It is others that lack. They lack discrimination and critical thinking.
Your been there done that , shows prejudice not crritical thinking. Because something is false to you does
not mean it is to all. If you have A type blood will B type blood work for you if you need a transfusion?
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### Author:  [@Ierrellus](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Ierrellus)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/31 "2013-04-23T14:32:57Z")
Unfortunately, anyone with whom we disagree lacks critical thinking. 😃
There is an experience of God without names that has been known by mystics and spiritualists worldwide.
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### Author:  [@V-OutOfTheWilderness](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/V-OutOfTheWilderness)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2013, 3:30pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/32 "2013-04-23T15:30:57Z")
> [@Ierrellus](#):
>
> Unfortunately, anyone with whom we disagree lacks critical thinking. 😃
> There is an experience of God without names that has been known by mystics and spiritualists worldwide.
And we can quibble about the God aspect of these experiences, but they are experiences of some sort of “what is.” Which is what St, James defined as “THE god.”
---
### Author:  [@anon](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/anon)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/33 "2013-04-23T22:55:49Z")
> [@obe](#):
>
> > [@anon](#):
> >
> > Hmm, complicating it in a way, but I think simplifying it ultimately by changing paradigms completely. I don’t think there is a gap between mind and reality; therefore, belief, knowledge, etc. are actions. Believing is doing. So is knowing. Knowing “incorrectly” is still knowing. There is no magic “justified, true” belief.
>
> ```
> Yes but what if the most probable action is justified . . There is no appearant gap. This justification is embedded, hence only appearant.?
>
> ```
Hi obe. Can you maybe rephrase that? I’m not quite sure what you’re asking.
---
### Author:  [@Ierrellus](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Ierrellus)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/34 "2013-04-24T14:48:11Z")
> [@V-OutOfTheWilderness](#):
>
> > [@Ierrellus](#):
> >
> > Unfortunately, anyone with whom we disagree lacks critical thinking. 😃
> > There is an experience of God without names that has been known by mystics and spiritualists worldwide.
>
> And we can quibble about the God aspect of these experiences, but they are experiences of some sort of “what is.” Which is what St, James defined as “THE god.”
I’d agree with James. The God just might be reality.
---
### Author:  [@Hobbes\_Choice](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Hobbes_Choice)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2013, 12:00pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/35 "2013-05-17T12:00:07Z")
> [@Kriswest](#):
>
> > [@Hobbes Choice](#):
> >
> > > [@Kriswest](#):
> > >
> > > Hc, there is no god for you perhaps, but, that does not mean all people lack such a connection. If you have siblings or cousins do you all look and act identically?
> >
> > I do not lack anything in this respect; i’ve been there and done that. It is others that lack. They lack discrimination and critical thinking.
>
> Your been there done that , shows prejudice not crritical thinking. Because something is false to you does
> not mean it is to all. If you have A type blood will B type blood work for you if you need a transfusion?
Maybe I’m just older and much wiser than you?
A thing that is false is false for all, should they but know it.
My blood type is O, so just about good for everyone.
---
### Author:  [@Hobbes\_Choice](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Hobbes_Choice)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2013, 12:01pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/36 "2013-05-17T12:01:57Z")
> [@Ierrellus](#):
>
> > [@V-OutOfTheWilderness](#):
> >
> > > [@Ierrellus](#):
> > >
> > > Unfortunately, anyone with whom we disagree lacks critical thinking. 😃
> > > There is an experience of God without names that has been known by mystics and spiritualists worldwide.
> >
> > And we can quibble about the God aspect of these experiences, but they are experiences of some sort of “what is.” Which is what St, James defined as “THE god.”
>
> I’d agree with James. The God just might be reality.
And the FLying Spaghetti Monster too.
---
### Author:  [@V-OutOfTheWilderness](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/V-OutOfTheWilderness)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2013, 2:45pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/37 "2013-05-17T14:45:46Z")
> [@Hobbes Choice](#):
>
> And the FLying Spaghetti Monster too.
I like spaghetti. And the monster too. =D\> The FSM reminds me of God.
---
### Author:  [@Hobbes\_Choice](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Hobbes_Choice)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2013, 2:52pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/38 "2013-05-17T14:52:51Z")
> [@V-OutOfTheWilderness](#):
>
> > [@Hobbes Choice](#):
> >
> > And the FLying Spaghetti Monster too.
>
> I like spaghetti. And the monster too. =D\> The FSM reminds me of God.
It’s supposed to as the evidence and reason for each of their existences is identical.
---
### Author:  [@Rhinoboy](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Rhinoboy)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/39 "2013-05-17T19:56:26Z")
> [@Hobbes Choice](#):
>
> > [@V-OutOfTheWilderness](#):
> >
> > > [@Hobbes Choice](#):
> > >
> > > And the FLying Spaghetti Monster too.
> >
> > I like spaghetti. And the monster too. =D\> The FSM reminds me of God.
>
> It’s supposed to as the evidence and reason for each of their existences is identical.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that’s not strictly true, as we know the FSM was created to make the existence of God seem absurd, where as even if God is not real he was at least created for the reason of giving humans hope in a higher purpose. Additionally in many depictions the FSM actually creates the universe, making him God, just with a silly name. So there’s the difference for reason, as to evidence that’s a point that has been and will be debated for hundreds of years, and I will not presume to change anyone’s mind with a debate here. For all intensive purposes the FSM does not actually do anything except show that some atheists are bored of trying to rationally argue about the existence of God. Which is fair I think as I certainly go through long periods where it bores me to tears too. I learned a long time ago that everyone’s belief, or lack there of, has very little to do with their ability to reason and a lot more to do with their personality, ego and emotions. Or if not, that my personality, ego and emotions led me to this idea because I couldn’t be bothered to argue anymore.
---
### Author:  [@Rhinoboy](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Rhinoboy)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/the-i-dont-know-god/36183/40 "2013-05-17T20:06:39Z")
> [@turtle](#):
>
> i would like to discuss the concept of a (i dont know) god…i personally believe in a god not defined…
> there are so many useless problems with defining god…it turns into my god is better than your god…or my no-god is better than your god…all these different gods are human constructs…including the i dont know god…
>
> ```
> the IDK god
>
> ```
I think that knowing God is a spiritual journey that we all progress in (or choose not to) throughout our lives.
The reason why everyone has a different view of what God is is because we are finite creatures attempting to put the idea of an infinite being/state/truth. This does not detract from the ability to know God, but rather means that all have access to him, and can get to know him if they wish to. It was a long time ago on this board that an “atheist” had a very similar view to my idea of what God was at the time, he said that all things were connected and that consciousness could be considered in a universal sense. Amazing that an atheist and a christian could believe the same thing and call it something completely different.
As for my current definition of God, that’s largely irrelevant to anyone else’s current journey, as it is in a state of flux. Often after one of these periods I am left with more questions than answers, yet I feel closer to God. This in itself leads me to believe that the divines purpose for me is to cultivate this sense of open mindedness, forgiveness and acceptance. Its brought me back to university and to a new role in the mental health field. Amazing how letting go of your own conscious control can lead you to a more content way of living.
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