Why is the idea of a God so important to people? If we end up saying God has always existed or came from nothing, why not simplify it and just say the universe did… It would seem to me that with maybe a little correction most religions could survive without the idea of god(s).
You say, “correction”. Based on what? I’m not arguing fr religion. I personally don’t understand either side of that debate. But tell me what you mean when you say “correction”. I’m not following you.
God is the word virus. Standard timecube understanding.
I probably shouldn’t use the word correction but what i mean is that with a little change in the belif structure most religions could still be substantial without the idea of GOd.
what?
Some ideologies are like a virus. The whole thing is alive, and it spreads. “God” is a big part of that virus. Animals aren’t religious, but humans are, because they are suseptible to certain types of conditioning and self-spreading ideas.
What would change about the structure by substituting a label for another?
God is the ideal human.
A religion with God is a story about people while a religion without God is a technical manual.
I think God generally gives people a sense of purpose and/or meaning, whereas the universe more or less just provides a setting.
I have wrote elsewhere that the good gods are holders of meaning and purpose. If there is a higher mind, then there is a higher meaning too, because of the close relation between mind and meaning.
You can watch the difference ‘on the ground’ so to speak, as we each get classed as fully determined machines with no real selves
nothing vital - in the old sense of that word - is going to survive this ‘logical’ gaze.
I think it’s because God represents ultimacy. Ultimacy includes the highest value. By definition it’s the most important. The “pearl of great price” Jesus called it. He suggested we give everything for it. He did.
I’m proposing not just removing the label but the idea of God itself.
How does it differ structurally from the idea that you would substitute?
you can replace 'belife structure" in that sentence with religion. If you mean how would the religion be different without the idea of god then… IDK there are lots of ways…
Gimme a few.
I think alot that your right that God represents ultimacy… for example what is zeus but the ultimate of lightning or whatever…So it all ways comes to me to think that what is ultimate but surely The Everything as that includes all things and thus must be greater than any of the parts. Thus I conclude that the everything or the all, or the universe, whatever you want to call it, is god.
Christianity for example would not be focused on things like prayer as that is directed to God.
I imagine there would be more focus on being like jesus as he would then be seen as a man and thus his actions would be deemed those that can be done by other men themselves to some degree, more so then now…perhaps.
In hinduism there would probably be more focus on yoga and meditation then on traditions of praying, sacrificing, and whatnot to the gods.
The idea of someone watching over us or guiding us is very comforting. Most everyone with a brain wonders why we exist, what the purpose of this life is, what comes after it, etc. etc. God/religion gives pretty little answers to those questions.
I know a lot of people, especially around this place, think that this self-comfort is dishonest and ignorant, but I cannot begrudge people finding comfort where they will.
So it could be a complex arisen from the nature that we are taken care of as children by a greater power and hence we desire a greater power watching over us even when we are set free from child hood.