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Does God exist? Does God have a beginning like the Universe? What is God? Is my God superior to another’s? How many gods are there and what are their names? Whether knowledge of God is attainable or not is beyond the scope of debate. This is only because writing cannot express words completely. We cannot express thoughts completely with words [Confucius 550 B.C.E.]. No matter how colorful or wordy, language often falls short of the mark. Let us try, however.
The first line of the Hebrew scriptures says, “At first, began Elohym, the Heavens and the Earth,” [Genesis 1.1]. Theoretical physicists suggest the Universe originated with an infinitesimally small, infinitely dense singularity. Under such conditions, none of the known laws of science, time, and space are practical. So, what happens before the expansion of this singularity is unknowable, indescribable and ineffectual to us in this present, [Hawking 1988]. We could say the same about God before that beginning. Yet, if we describe eternity as outside the time continuum — that is, absolute present with no past and no future [Augustinus Aurelius, 4th Century B.C.E.] — then can it also be true that God, whom we describe as eternal, has no beginning.
Hermetic Law teaches, “All truths are but half-truths, and all gods are but half-gods. All paradoxes may be reconciled, [Kybalion p149].” The answer to this is simple. If we perceive a paradox, we may reveal the truth from a different perspective. Both poles of an answer may be aspects of the same answer. We may, However, be so close to one pole as to not see the other as part of the same answer.
The God that began with creation may only be a temporal shadow of the eternal God. Can it be true that god is both eternal and temporal?
The human mind requires a definition so that our conscious and subconscious mind — as well as our selves and others — can communicate on this subject. Therefore, the mind creates an archetypal being who is a nexus between the eternal deity and our perception of the shadow deity. To this archetype, we give titles, names, and characteristics similar to an ideal. We then grant powers that we perceive as greater than our own. This, we may remember as deity, and what that label means to us.
Often, we choose symbols that are familiar to ourselves, our peers, and teachers in our daily lives to describe this divine role. It is like a lover whose love has parted. Going to familiar cafés, listening to shared music, and visiting with other persons can evoke memories in the lover’s mind. The lover may even share these memories with friends. Yet, this reminiscence is not quite the same as sharing these memories with the one whom we have loved. So, it is that we gather to share our memories of our deity. The problem with this habit is that at times we forget that although we may commune together, our communion must be personally real.
Through cultural similarities a society’s deities will be of a common nature and description, even if there is a difference in the accent of expression. Two children will not see the same mother quite the same way. So, it is with two German Lutherans looking to the same God as transcendent and immanent. These differences become more marked as time and space become greater. Cousins and friends looking to that same mother will not see quite the same woman. This is the sort of difference between the perspective of the Christian, Jew, or Muslim. In two cultures that are separated by kilometers or centuries then the expressions of a deity will be notably different. This is the way it is with a language or language usage will differ in the same conditions.
When we give a name or definition to our deity, we identify with the temporal, shadow god. To give a name or definition to that god risks putting limits upon that deity. When the gods become defined and catalogued there becomes a risk for problems. When one knows whom or what one’s gods are — packaging them into neat boundaries of specific words and images — then three errors can develop.
First, God can become less. By defining God, God may be nothing unless it fits within those definitions. Any time God is more than this, then either we must create a new god or the extra gets ignored. If God is a God of love and peace, then when God should ever display fear or war it is the Devils doing, or the God of war, is at fault.
This then leads into the risk of another sorrow. We may begin the creation of a new religion. At times this new religion may declare itself a reform movement within the traditions of the old religion. At other times this religion may become either passively or aggressively polemic. Passive and they may segregate themselves mentally or physically from the culture of faith they live in. Aggressively, they may attempt to proselytize others into their culture.
This then introduces the third, more dangerous, problem. Reformers often compare all other Gods (or perspective of God) unfavorably to his own. We know that belief psychologically tie up the faithful into their gods, so the worshiper can also suffer from the weight of this judgment. This is the way the Jews have suffered under the prejudice of the Muslims and Christians.
There are two names for God. One is the true name. Soundless, formless, and boundless, the faithful can only call upon this name in the sanctified circle of their heart. That we may commune together reasonably within this world, however, we use the second name that is false and variable. This name has sound, has form, and has boundaries. We must hospitably receive, and treat the report of reason with respect. This is why we have the myriad of sounds and images and gestures that form and bind gods into our minds.
Realize this, and all gods become one god; all goddesses become one goddess. Even the great Mother and Father of Heaven and Earth are simply harmonious principles of a transcendent and eminent singularity of being. All are valid and alive, while someone remembers them. When we forget them, they fade away.
In the end, we cannot truly know God. We cannot clearly know that God even exists. All we can really know is our perspective and experiences. By comparing our experiences with others’ we may have a reasonable certainty about what we define as “God.” Until science can develop the proper questions, definitions, and tools, we probably cannot prove "God." Until that day, it is not worth any life to prove that God does or does not exist, or that any one definition is the correct one. This is not a matter of Life or Death, just of personal contemplation.