Comments on: The Human Nature of God

By: Donna Quesada

Donna Quesada — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:55:34 +0000

“I’m not a philosopher in real life, but I play one on TV.”
That philosopher might wonder about the assumption that humans live to be better. He’d say something like, “well…you’re presupposing this ideal and attributing it to humans.” Why for example, can’t it be that most people live for something totally non-virtuous, or a-virtuous, like their own happiness and or pleasure?

That annoying guy might also wonder what you mean by “faith in the existence of the formal good.” What and where is this “formal good?’ And who gets to define it?

By: Karim

Karim — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:16:44 +0000

Renee, I need to find myself one of you.

By: Renee

Renee — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:05:48 +0000

I enjoyed this. I find myself plagued by the similarities in popular religions that you mentioned above. If the ultimate good is in these religions, it seems to be masked by the absence of truth. And “good” can really only be measured by truth; if something never existed to begin with, how good can it be?
This is why I find myself distanced from Christianity. I read too much. Maybe I should reread Doctor Faustus and take a lesson.
Good post.

By: Karim

Karim — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:55:04 +0000

Yeah, I have faith in the metaphysical God, and I believe something exists outside of the physical world. But I think the epistemology of our metaphysical constructs is flawed in that we think we can have faith not only in the unseen but also in the form of the unseen: what it thinks, what it believes, how it looks, etc. It’s in our nature to define things, so I’m not knocking what we view as God, but I believe that our conception of God is closer to what we want to believe than what actually exists.

I think there’s a beauty in our anthropomorphic God, because the characteristics we’ve applied to him are mostly noble and enlightened, which in turn paints a pretty picture of what it is we hope to someday become.

I’m not arguing that God doesn’t exist, but that our depiction of him most likely has less to do with reality than an ideal we’ve created in order to follow. If we analyze all the world’s most popular religions we find similarities in what every culture sees as the ultimate good, and it is in this conception of good that we can find something true, perhaps regarding the qualities of God, but primarily (and more importantly, in my opinion) regarding the qualities of man.

By: Ethan Rocke

Ethan Rocke — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:32:54 +0000

Then again there’s always the possibility that God is God, existing externally of any human conceptions, and likely, His essential nature is such that it exists far beyond the capacity of mortal understanding.

But yeah, we try, and that’s our nature. I think you’re right about why we seek to know God (and more importantly, why we should), but I’m not one to reduce God’s essence to something attainable by humans — not by a long shot. You didn’t necessarily say that, but I would say the sentiment in this piece is generally humanistic.

Duh, right?