The word "God". . is often used as a symbol of a wholeness of the Spirit . . both in the cosmic sense . . and also when it concerns the collective inner Spirit of Mankind.
Furthermore. . the word "God" is also used as a symbol of the wholeness of all things in the Thomas Gospel.
If we don't employ a symbol. . such as "God" to indicate a concept of a universal. . inner and outer. . wholeness. . that performs dynamically. Then. . what might we use instead. . ?
How could we speak of "wholeness" in the sense of the relationship between consciousness and matter. . between spirit and nature, etc ? ? ?
How else can we describe our concepts of both the qualities and the quantities of life ?
If we happen to possess such concepts. . that is.
The only means is to represent them. . in the form of a unifying symbol. . . G O D
A symbol differs from a noun insomuch as that a symbol represents either a simple or a complex idea.. whereas a noun only represents the naming of something which is mostly perceived objectively.
The idea of God is highly complex. . and impossible for us to perceive in its entirety. . but by means of our. . presently. . very limited understanding. . we can grasp the more simple ideas; that the symbol "God" is representative of the underlying wholeness of all things. . and. . that when manifest in the human spirit. . . . GOD IS LOVE .
The knowledge of God. . comes to us by means of learning. . and understanding. . the presence of God is not something that can be detected merely by the senses. . and because of this . . there are many who believe that God does not exist. . but this is due only to their own limited understanding of the idea of God in the first place.
The problem of God's existence. . really. . is often nothing more than a problem of semantics.
To sum up. . the idea of GOD is. . basically. . that the WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS. . and . . therefore. . God is the SUPREME STATE OF BEING. In fact.. God is EVERYTHING.
Note : By my use of the word. . "universal" I do not mean merely the physical stars and galaxies. I also use it to include our inner experiences. . our consciousness. . our feelings. . and our dreams too.
Personally I believe that our own physical universe is not alone and unique . . and that within the matrix of the Primary Field. . universes are being born and are dying all the time. our universe is probably only one of a possibly infinite number.
The idea of GOD. . (or archetype). . encompasses everything. . both the physical dimension of existence.. and our internal mental world.
In fact. . it encompasses the. . . ALL.
"It is only through the psyche that we can distinguish whether God and the unconscious are two different entities. Both are border line concepts for the transcendental contents. But empirically it can be established, with sufficient degree of probability, that there is in the unconscious an archetype of wholeness which manifests itself spontaneously in dreams, etc, and a tendency, independent of the conscious will, to relate to other archetypes to this center. Consequently, it does not seem improbable that the archetype produces a symbolism which has always been characterized and expressed the Deity.... The God-image does not coincide with the unconscious as such, but with a special content of it, namely the archetype of the Self. It is this archetype from which we can no longer distinguish the God-image empirically."
Psychology and Religion: West and East - Carl Jung
"I am the one who comes from what is whole. I was given from the things of my Father. For this reason I say, if one is whole, one will be filled with light, but if one is divided, one will be filled with darkness."
Jesus - Gospel of Thomas
