I noticed the above question, and article/video by Dr Michio Kaku, in the latest Big Think newsletter. My gut reply was a “yes” but then immediately my doubt kicked in following Richard Feynman‘s saying: “Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt.”
Then I remembered Albert Einstein once (allegedly) stating that he “would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and then five minutes solving it”. I decided to do just that.
Hence, before you can answer the question does God exist, you first need to define God. This is where the problem starts because no one knows. It’s safe to say that nearly everyone would come up with a different answer. Ultimately, your answer depends on your definition.
Moreover, defining God is complicated due to the belief system of Religion, which has its own views on God. Genesis 1:27: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them”. Hence, many people assume that God is a person – like us.
Once you believe that God is a person, the (above) question becomes weird. You then need to assume that God is some kind of Superman – or Superwoman. The more you (need to) assume, the weirder the question gets, and the more complicated the answer.
Genesis 1:27 could/would still apply once you ignore our physical attributes (eg, race, sex) and focus on personality. I don’t think, feel or believe that my physical attributes define my personality; my mind does.
Artificially Intelligent robotics may once be able to upload and then download our consciousness and personality to very different – and potentially everlasting – physical attributes, similar to sci-fi stories like Altered Carbon and Chappie.
Viewing God as universal consciousness is not a farfetched idea because that idea already exists for thousands of years, and has a name: panpsychism (see Wiki for details). A belief in panpsychism would also explain the relentless focus of ancient civilizations on astronomy and astrology.
Universal consciousness is only part of the answer to the question above. God is often associated with (white) light. Light equals Energy. Energy connects everything. This view has been adopted in movies (eg, Star Wars) and often named: the Force (of Good versus Evil).
I think, feel and believe that God is a conscious universal stream of Energy that connects everyone and everything. At all times, you can open or close this gateway. So my complicated answer is “yes”, albeit with lots of caveats.
One of Us (1995) by Joan Osborne
artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2
If God had a face, what would it look like?
And would you want to see
If seeing meant that you would have to believe
In things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints
And all the prophets?
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless stated otherwise
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