Submitted by Adam on
In philosophy God is generally referred to as the One thing that exists, infinite and eternal, that causes and connects the many things we all commonly experience.
The following quotes from Aristotle, Spinoza, Bruno and Leibniz are useful;
For God is thought to be among the causes for all things and to be a kind of principle ... (Aristotle)
Except God no substance can be granted or conceived. ... Hence it distinctly follows that God is one alone, ... in the nature of things only one substance can be granted, and that is absolutely infinite. ... extended substance is one of the infinite attributes of God ... God and all the attributes of God are eternal. (Spinoza, 1673)
Nature is none other than God in things... Animals and plants are living effects of Nature; Whence all of God is in all things. ... All things are in the Universe, and the universe is in all things: we in it, and it in us; in this way everything concurs in a perfect unity. ... Before anything else the One must exist eternally; from his power derives everything that always is or will ever be. (Giordano Bruno, 1585)
God alone is the primary Unity, or original simple substance, from which all monads, created and derived, are produced. (Gottfried Leibniz, 1670)
Our unity and connection with God is also stated in the bible;
I myself have said, 'You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High. (Psalms 82:5)
And likewise in the Qur'an;
Learn to know thyself! He who has understood himself has understood God (The Prophet Muhammad )
Modern physics (both quantum physics and Einstein's relatvity) confirm this unity of reality;
When forced to summarize the general theory of relativity in one sentence: Time and space and gravitation have no separate existence from matter. ...
Physical objects are not in space, but these objects are spatially extended. In this way the concept 'empty space' loses its meaning. (Albert Einstein)
A careful analysis of the process of observation in atomic physics has shown that the subatomic particles have no meaning as isolated entities, but can only be understood as interconnections between the preparation of an experiment and the subsequent measurement. Quantum theory thus reveals a basic oneness of the universe. It shows that we cannot decompose the world into independently existing smallest units. As we penetrate into matter, nature does not show us any isolated ‘basic building blocks’, but rather appears as a complicated web of relations between the various parts of the whole. (Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics, On Quantum Theory)
Read more at:http://www.spaceandmotion.com/theology-morality-god-world-religions.htm
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