Thread: What a "god"?
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Old 08-01-2013, 09:45 PM   #39
tantric
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Athens, GA
Default Re: What a "god"?

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That said, if the question is "which came first, the gods or the worshipers, and someone says Nopeti, they're either copping out, saying 'no one knows, its the way things work', or saying 'there was no beggining', or 'they were created at the exact same time'. (you can use 'came to be' instead of created).
Imagine a universe that is completely devoid of sentient life. Where is the only place it can exist? Your imagination. It is by definition unknowable. Now, imagine a sentient being with no universe or external input - also impossible. Thus it is possible that sentience and the universe create each other in a process of interdependent co-origination, because neither one can exist meaningfully without the other.

I'm being whimsical again, because, like the Buddha, I regard such questions as inane. On the other hand, the above is the real answer to such a question as in a koan. The actual logic is nonsense, but if you force yourself to think about it long enough, you'll have a flash of satori, of standing outside of logic and just being, which the actual answer. When a tree falls in an empty forest does it make a sound? The question forces you to think about what perception means without a perceiver and the indefinable difference between subjective and objective reality. Yes, we know that objectivity is a very useful assumption, but it's only that. So is subjectivity, though less useful. What is hard to understand is that there is a third option, which is non-duality. YMMV. Namaste.

On the gaming side, if you're players ask you silly questions, give them the parable of the arrow. If they get something out of it, you've created RPG-do and are eligible for sainthood. In the real world, you have a choice between this kind of double think and divine revelation. Which do you prefer? 'Nopeti' is an acceptable answer ;-)

Last edited by tantric; 08-01-2013 at 09:50 PM.
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