the seven faces of God

[ArmsMerchant]

"if you don't make yourself equal to God, you can't perceive God." -- anonymous third-century Christian heretic

It has been noted here numerous times that we have different perceptions of God. We create our own reality--as the Veda puts it, "We are not in the world, the world is in us." Same thing with God.

Deepak Chopra posits that there are seven faces, or levels of God. If your God is first-level, you will not communicate well with someone whose God is seventh-level, for instance. Since God is infinite, he/she/it/them/whatever can manifest to us with equal validity at any level, depending on our own level of spiritual development--no one is any "better' than any other.

Level one -- God the protector --this is best recognized as the God of the Old Testament, the God which AF ( I think) and I both reject. This god is vengeful, capricious, quick to anger, jealous, judgemental, unfathomable and (sometimes) merciful.

Level two -- God the almighty --this is, I think, the God of Catholicism in general and the Jesuits in particular, being soverign, omnipotent, just, the answerer of prayers, impartial, rational, organized into rules.

Level three -- God of Peace -- This God is maybe a little more Hindu than Christian--as an Indian guru once said "You believe that you were created to serve God, but in the end you may discover tha God was created to serve you." This god is detached, calm, offering consolation, undemanding, conciliatory, silent, meditative.

Level four -- God the redeemer -- this God leans more toward the pagan conception of Goddess, having strong qualities we typically associate with the feminine. This God is understanding, tolerant, forgiving, nonjudgemental, inclusive and accepting.

Level five -- God the creator --One finds this god when intuition becomes so powerful that it must manifest physically. This is the level at which shamans and psychics typically work. This god is of unlimited creative potential, has control over space and time, abundant, open, generous, willing to be known, and
inspired.

Level six -- god of miracles -- This is the level of some saints, among the dozens of whom who could levitate, be in two places at once, emit light from their bodies at prayer, and do healings. This god is transformative, mystical, enlightened, beyond all causes, existing, magical, healing--an alchemist. Words can only convey a hint of this Being.

Level seven -- the god of pure being. This is the god who can only be experienced by going beyond experience. This God is unborn, undying, unchanging, umoving, unmanifest, immeasurable, invisible, intangible and infinite. This is the god spoken of by Sufi and Hindu sages. As Rumi wrote "There is someone who looks after us/ From behind the curtain./In truth we are not here/This is our shadow."

[Railroad Opticon]

That feels like it has some basis.

[Rolloffle]

Originally Posted by Railroad Opticon

That feels like it has some basis.

lol wut?

[Xerxes35]

Originally Posted by ArmsMerchant

"if you don't make yourself equal to God, you can't perceive God." -- anonymous third-century Christian heretic

It has been noted here numerous times that we have different perceptions of God. We create our own reality--as the Veda puts it, "We are not in the world, the world is in us." Same thing with God.

Deepak Chopra posits that there are seven faces, or levels of God. If your God is first-level, you will not communicate well with someone whose God is seventh-level, for instance. Since God is infinite, he/she/it/them/whatever can manifest to us with equal validity at any level, depending on our own level of spiritual development--no one is any "better' than any other.

Level one -- God the protector --this is best recognized as the God of the Old Testament, the God which AF ( I think) and I both reject. This god is vengeful, capricious, quick to anger, jealous, judgemental, unfathomable and (sometimes) merciful.

Level two -- God the almighty --this is, I think, the God of Catholicism in general and the Jesuits in particular, being soverign, omnipotent, just, the answerer of prayers, impartial, rational, organized into rules.

Level three -- God of Peace -- This God is maybe a little more Hindu than Christian--as an Indian guru once said "You believe that you were created to serve God, but in the end you may discover tha God was created to serve you." This god is detached, calm, offering consolation, undemanding, conciliatory, silent, meditative.

Level four -- God the redeemer -- this God leans more toward the pagan conception of Goddess, having strong qualities we typically associate with the feminine. This God is understanding, tolerant, forgiving, nonjudgemental, inclusive and accepting.

Level five -- God the creator --One finds this god when intuition becomes so powerful that it must manifest physically. This is the level at which shamans and psychics typically work. This god is of unlimited creative potential, has control over space and time, abundant, open, generous, willing to be known, and
inspired.

Level six -- god of miracles -- This is the level of some saints, among the dozens of whom who could levitate, be in two places at once, emit light from their bodies at prayer, and do healings. This god is transformative, mystical, enlightened, beyond all causes, existing, magical, healing--an alchemist. Words can only convey a hint of this Being.

Level seven -- the god of pure being. This is the god who can only be experienced by going beyond experience. This God is unborn, undying, unchanging, umoving, unmanifest, immeasurable, invisible, intangible and infinite. This is the god spoken of by Sufi and Hindu sages. As Rumi wrote "There is someone who looks after us/ From behind the curtain./In truth we are not here/This is our shadow."

And can you demonstrate this with any evidence? You certainly would win the nobel prize if you can.

[-ScreamingElectron-]

AM was not the originator of the idea, or so I read in his post.

But you also have to see that, even with solid proof, people would ignore it.

This doesn't seem to be a scientific fact, it is not a compound with a definate atomic weight.

I see some truth in the classification, There is rarely a single god who pools from all the elevels, or even two.

Now fo a asshole/religion classification table!

[Masero]

Why couldn't your God be a collection of all seven, just at different times in your walk of faith?

I think we too often try to humanize God or put him in a box. I'm quite sure that God is above human logic and classification, and ultimately above our ability to understand him completely.

[ArmsMerchant]

Originally Posted by Masero

Why couldn't your God be a collection of all seven, just at different times in your walk of faith?

I think we too often try to humanize God or put him in a box. I'm quite sure that God is above human logic and classification, and ultimately above our ability to understand him completely.

Point made. I think most people agree that God is infinite. Thing is, our comprehension is not, so we try to put God in human terms--which often does God a great disservice..

But those of us who commune with God on a day to day basis usually relate to him/her/it/them/whatever on one of those seven levels at a time. Mostly I'm at the third or fourth level, sometimes at the fifth, and at the seventh only a few times and not for long at that.

[HatterMaxwell]

Originally Posted by Masero

Why couldn't your God be a collection of all seven, just at different times in your walk of faith?

I think we too often try to humanize God or put him in a box. I'm quite sure that God is above human logic and classification, and ultimately above our ability to understand him completely.

I disagree.
I don't feel like god would want to imperceptible.
Or create a being that can't understand its (god's) role in the creature's life.
No, god wants us to see it in everything we do, I enjoy a relationship with the god that I hope to meet in the afterlife.
The only thing that angers me is that it's a one way relationship.
I'm sure it has a reason, but I would really like to know why it won't speak to me.

[Masero]

Originally Posted by HatterMaxwell

I disagree.
I don't feel like god would want to imperceptible.
Or create a being that can't understand its (god's) role in the creature's life.
No, god wants us to see it in everything we do, I enjoy a relationship with the god that I hope to meet in the afterlife.
The only thing that angers me is that it's a one way relationship.
I'm sure it has a reason, but I would really like to know why it won't speak to me.

See that's not a relationship. I've heard God speak to me before, but not verbally.

I don't believe that God desires a personal relationship sometimes because it sometimes feels like he's only helping us b/c the nagging gets irritating. Others I know say they talk to God all the time and he listens.

I think when you pray, your subconscious is telling you what it wants you to hear, not God saying "go down this road" but your gut feeling either A. Putting Logic first or B. Putting Emotion first.

But then at other times it feels like God is there every step of the way... it's confusing. But it really all boils back to the tenant of faith.

If God really wanted us to rely on faith, then possibly he doesn't speak to us because he wants us to REALLY use faith to believe that the actions corresponding to your prayers are his way of saying yes or no or maybe later.

It sounds like a cop-out to some, but maybe they're just over-thinking the situation. Sometimes we let Logic rule our lives far too much and it ends up putting us in this wretched closed up box that really doesn't allow us any freedom of choice. Alternatively, some people over-use emotion too much to do the exact same thing. We need to find a happy balance.

[ArmsMerchant]

Originally Posted by Xerxes35

And can you demonstrate this with any evidence? You certainly would win the nobel prize if you can.

The "evidence" chimera rears its ugly head once more.

As I have stated many times before in various contexts, my only "evidence" is personal experience.

I have read, and accept as true, that it is the soul's intention to know itself experientially--and thus to know God. The soul understands that We and God are One--that at the Highest Reality, we are All One--even as the mind denies this truth, and the body acts out this denial.

The soul understands what the mind cannot conceive.