The Search for God Page 2.1.3.1.2
If you have ever done United States taxes, there is a box where you list your number of dependents. Ever since we were born, we have been dependent. In fact, in our mother’s womb, we were dependent.
As a one-year-old, we relied on our parents for nutrition, shelter, and protection. Even as adults, we rely on oxygen for our next breath. We rely on money to buy food to keep us alive.
We are dependent.
To be non-dependent, to rely on nothing outside of yourself for existence, is a difficult concept. Can you even imagine such an existence? I think many times why we find the idea of God so difficult is because of these concepts.
To be non-dependent you do not need the following:
- You do not need sustenance
- You do not need food
- You do not need water
- You do not need light
- You do not need oxygen
Matter is Dependent
Your life would be independent. We can imagine a single being able to live in any environment: underwater, out in space, or in the sun without getting incinerated.
We make these types of superhero movies, but even they have some corporal existence where some greater titan can kill them. These superheroes are still dependent upon their bodies for existence.
This consideration of matter would also suggest that matter is not the eternal non-dependent substance. Physical matter is quantifiable and reducible. It occupies a space that has limits and boundaries like the sun.
Even compressed matter in a gravity well occupies a space our minds can wrap around, but what is outside that matter? What lies between subatomic particles? So to be non-dependent, a being would not be able to be limited to a localized space or killed in our understanding.
There would be no place to be able to say, “God is here; let’s kill him,” because God would not be dependent upon a material body that could change form.
The substance of a non-dependent being, like God, would be like energy or some other substance, like pure soul. Maybe this being is like dark matter or gravity, like a force. Goodness, we speculate what a non-dependent God is like, but we don’t even completely know what dark matter or death is like.
There Can Be Only One
The question becomes, “Can a non-dependent being exist?” In theory, yes. Could there be multiple non-dependent beings? Sure. You could have multiple eternal non-dependent beings.
There could even be multiple non-dependent living, eternal beings, but there cannot be multiple non-dependent, all-knowing, timeless, omnipresent beings. Only one such being can exist.
One other interesting facet of possessing a non-dependent attribute, you wouldn’t change. Is an oxygen molecule non-dependent? No, it is dependent upon the subatomic particles. So,
- What is the substance of the universe that does not change?
- Is a quark dependent upon some deeper substance?
- Is a soul non-dependent?
Being non-dependent and unchanging are tightly linked. If a being is dependent upon a substance for existence that can be changed or destroyed, then there is dependence.
Really, what we are asking is,
- What is the eternal unchanging substance of the universe?
- What is non-dependent and unchanging?
- What exists?
God’s non-dependence is a sub-attribute of his essence (substance) and knowledge.
What Does This All Mean?
We are seeking an answer about physical death and ultimate reality (philosophical) and require a true answer. To achieve a true answer, we need a being who possesses all-knowledge. If something exists outside this being, this being would lack all-knowledge.
This being would have a dependency on something else. Since we seek a being with all-knowledge, we would require a being with no dependency. A non-dependent being is rational though difficult to comprehend. Only one non-dependent, all-knowing, omnipresent being can exist, who we term God.
What Next?
- What is the crucial concept?
- All-knowledge is a heavy burden to prove which requires a being to be non-dependent upon anything outside himself.
- Why is that significant?
- As dependent beings, we will always have to trust someone else for information.
- If you agree, the next steps.
- If you disagree, please consider reading.
References and Links
Aseity vs Necessity
- Aseity (Self existence and non-dependent)