The Search for God Page 3.3.2
Here I sit alone at the computer typing. Some of my children reside in another room playing video games, another in her room, still another alone in the family room watching TV, each alone with their own distinct thoughts and location.
Every person has a one-to-one location
One-to-one location
Every person has a one-to-one location, a place where their thoughts reside. Even Marvel’s Multiple Man, who can produce hundreds of copies of himself, is limited in location. Some people claim to be able to expand their minds and “travel,” but are they everywhere all at once?
Let’s say they could be everywhere all at once. Could the information be processed and acted upon before the next moment arrived? To be omnipresent, to be everywhere at once is tied to another important trait, timelessness.
To be able to truly be present in every moment, in every place within the universe, a person must be able to reside outside of time. If you resided inside of time and were truly every place at one time, time would still have to flow differently for this being.
This being would have processing power far beyond any supercomputer. This being’s processing power would be beyond the speed of light. In effect, time would stop for this being, every nanosecond passing as a thousand years.
Possible beings
So we have two possible beings, one confined to this universe and time, unable to know the future, composed of some substance like dark matter or quarks or a pure mind. The second being, outside of the confines of time, would be able to scrutinize every moment like a picture.
We understand presence as residing in some physical location. We are space-bound creatures. We are time-bound creatures. The idea of a being who is omnipresent is a being who is not time-bound, and this being is not space-bound in our understanding.
Think about an author of a book. I create and craft a story. I write chapter one and then chapter two. When I realize that chapter one needs revisions, I go back to chapter one and change the character’s motivation and love interest. The author is not bound to the story timeline like the characters are.
The characters, when they get to chapter two, never realize that chapter one changed, chapter one is what it always has been to the characters, but to the author, there are numerous timelines and possibilities.
So, are we just characters in some being’s book?
No, but I am using this as an example to help some understand how time works differently for a being outside of time who views our timeline from a greater perspective. Isn’t that our fear though?
We are afraid of being manipulated. We are afraid that everything is determined and fated, that we have no real free will. This is the challenge of such a being. We could handle a being who is all-powerful and omnipresent bound to our universe who does not know the future, and who does not reside in the past.
We don’t want our timeline changed or to think we are being manipulated. An omnipresent being who is bound to the present, no matter how powerful, is more palatable to our sensibility of control and free will.
There is a third possibility
- God could be transcended outside of time
- Be omnipresent inside our universe
- But not omnipresent outside our universe.
This being would have some boundary to his being like we do, there would be something outside of this being like something outside our universe which would prompt the question of where God came from. What is outside God?
This lesser god would be omnipresent in our universe and timeless, would most likely know about the realm of death, but not be truly omnipresent and omniscient. Maybe this being has brothers and sisters, each the “god” of their own universe.
This lesser god should be able to answer the question I most want to be answered: “What happens after we die?” But would be unable to answer, “What is ultimate reality?” This being is easier to understand, sort of like a cosmic man, but not the greatest conceivable being.
What Next?
- What is the crucial concept?
- Possessing omnipresence has two facets. An omnipresent being could reside everywhere inside our universe but should also reside everywhere outside our universe to be considered truly omnipresent. In addition, an omnipresent being is either bound within the river of time or outside the river of time.
- Why is that significant?
- The level of knowledge that being possesses is tied to its omnipresent and timeless nature, so the information we obtain is impacted.
- If you agree, the next steps.
- If you disagree, please consider reading.