Spirituality, Religion, Nature

Our Final End: “Oneness” With God

The End: a “New” Identity

There is no better conclusion, in my opinion, for this work about the intimacy with God, than some reflections about our “oneness” with God, and the eternal life. “Oneness” and “identity” in quotation marks are just analogies of a reality which has no explanatory words. The consummation of everything in God that must be certain under any consideration is beyond our comprehension; these reflections are just a remote idea of what the reality itself is.

Ideas Are not The Thing Itself. Idea is a Greek word, ἰδέα, in Latin forma. Things that exist, and their ideas, are two different things; the idea is the form of the thing; it is like its mental “representation,” or like the “definition” of what the thing is. As we are going to speak about the ideas in the mind of God, we must clarify two points: one, there no plurality in God; God is the most simple, without multiplicity or division; two, everything we’ll say here is analogical; the words we’ll use are only analogies or similarities of the reality itself.

It is supposed that the mind of God (which is not different from God himself) has ideas of everything that exists, or could exist; of all the possibilities, existing or no. There must be in the divine mind a form or idea, of what each thing of the world is. The forms are the principle of the knowledge of the thing.

The idea of what a thing is, is in the likeness of the divine essence; all things of creation are made to the likeness of God, and therefore any idea in God (no plurality) is identical with his essence. God’s knowledge is not formed by a plurality of images; there is a simple glance. God knows that his essence is capable of being imitated by creatures, and he knows the particular type and idea of any creature. It is clear then that God understands many particular types of things, and that there are “many” ideas; in fact, only one!

Thomas Aquinas says that “So far as the idea is the principle of the making of things, it may be called an ‘exemplar,’ and belongs to practical knowledge. But so far as it is a principle of knowledge, it is properly called a ‘type,’ and may belong to speculative knowledge also.” [1]

Plato thought—and today some atheists think—that the ideas exist by themselves, independently of God. This is wrong; what exists by itself and always exists is God; that is his “definition.”

Spinoza’ Stance. In Spinoza’s words, all bodies, all creatures are conceptions or ideas of God. What am I? Very simple: an idea of God. “God’s essence is the cause of the essence of all bodies, and the mind expresses the essence of the body… In God there is necessarily a conception, or idea, which expresses the essence of the human body.” [2]

· All bodies of creation are ideas of God.

· All human thoughts are ideas of God.

· All movements in creation are ideas of God.

· All processes of evolution are ideas of God.

· All physical and non-physical effects are ideas of God.

· We, and all creation, are God’s verba, [3] God’s words.

We might think that being just an idea, or word of God is something insignificant; however, that is not true. An idea of God is as real and great as his own being: infinite.

If we compare the traditional belief of the “resurrected bodies,” with being an idea of God after death, there is no comparison among them; it is as comparing the finite with the infinite, viz. that to be an idea of God is the greatest form of being and the greatest form of “resurrection” or immortal life that can be imagined.

This means also that—if we compare the reality of any physical or non-physical being or action, with the reality of an idea begotten in the mind of God of each being or action—there is no comparison of reality either, because what is real in the mind of God is infinitely greater than that which we now know as “created reality.”

The greatest thing of our existence is not what we are here, but—speaking temporally—what we have been and what we will be in God’s mind for eternity.

The Force of Existing. “The force by which each thing—each idea of God — persists in existing follows from the eternal necessity of God’s nature.” [4]

· The force that makes our beings and bodies to persist existing comes from the same force and the very essential necessity of God to exist.

· The reason why I exist here is because there is an idea of me “there.”

· Our existence in time is like the development and process of an idea of God.

· We are like ideas of God “floating” in space by necessity.

· The whole universe is no other than ideas of God evolving in space and time.

“Individual things do not exist except in so far as they are comprehended in the attributes of God; their beings are objects of thought”—that is, God’s mind is “entertained” thinking about us, I’d say—“so they do not exist except in so far as the infinite idea of God exists …” [5]

These Ideas of God Are Eternal. “Their ideas—of all things that exist—involve the eternal and infinite essence of God.” [6]

· God’s ideas are eternal in his essence.

· They are “parts” of the infinite essence of God—we are “parts” of the infinite essence of God.

· His ideas must exist forever, as they were begotten in the mind of God; rather, as they are “constantly” begetting without succession in the now of God.

· Thus, “Anything conceived through God’s essence will be eternal,” [7] is eternal (no future).

· “Duration is assigned to mind only while the body endures,” [8] during time, not after death.

The Eternal Idea and The Temporal Being Are The Same. There is not one Jairo [my name] here, and one eternal idea of God “there,” but the Jairo who is here is the same eternal idea in God. There is not a temporal Jairo and one eternal idea, but Jairo’s idea in God’s mind comprehends, simultaneously, my temporal being and my eternal existence, or existences; my contingent and my immutable life, or lives. The ideas of God are not just “ideas,” but facts: they are the very reality of God.

Our Eternity in God. “We realize our oneness with God, or God is expressing himself in us. And this means that in our clear and adequate consciousness we are eternal: we have attained to the kind of eternity which characterizes human nature;” [9] the whole creation for that matter. I may say: “God has an idea of me, and that idea is eternal.”

This interpretation opens the door to explain the continuity of our personal identity, because if nothing remains, we wouldn’t be eternal. Something must subsist, and this is the idea of us in the mind of God. My ego, now, is nothing but an idea of God which will be the same—temporally speaking—forever. I’ll “continue” existing, not as a successive being, but as an eternal being. My temporal existence will change, but God’s idea of me won’t change.

However, the existence as an eternal idea in God is not as our existence in time. We must accept that the total and simultaneous now of God is essentially different from our singular and changing now. We do not have a minimal idea of what a total and simultaneous being or existence is.

According to Spinoza, “our thoughts and memories will not survive after death”—with which I do not agree—“but there will still be something of me that will remain … without any diminution or loss of individuality in the infinite intellect of God.” [10] (Emphasis is mine.)

Each infinitesimal fraction of our temporal now identifies with the total and simultaneous now of God. Our existence is a kind of an uninterrupted “repetition” of that divine now by which we exist, which is temporal and eternal at the same time. Our existence is—speaking humanly—one of God’s eternal now living in time. And the same of all creatures of the universe.

First Cause’ Simultaneous Action. There is a constant “interaction” God-us and we-God. Everything that happens at the present time is the effect of an immediate, secondary cause, or causes, and at the same time is the immediate effect of the First Cause.

But—as there is no past or future for God—this action of the First Cause is not something that happened far away in time or space, or that was preordained or “decreed” in a distant past, or that will happen in the future, but it is an immediate and simultaneous action presently present, acting together with the secondary causes. God’s only one action, To Be, acts simultaneously and immediately, with the secondary causes at any temporal moment.

Our “Oneness” With God. We used to see God as a subject “there,” as Somebody different and separated from us, and thus we missed seeing that the Deity is precisely the fullness of Existence, and that we, and the world around us, are just “parts” of the Deity: we are “expressions” of God. In fact, creation wasn’t an act of the past but—speaking temporally—creation hasn’t ceased and will not cease forever.

God has not anything physical; he, and the world, are different in the physical and temporal world, but not in God’s mind, because in his mind, and in his total now, everything is identical with his essence, with no division, distinction or composition. Distinctions are for us, for our understanding, but not in God.

God may see us individually, not generically, during our temporal existence, because each being has its own individual “characteristics” in God’s mind.

The Most Profound Metaphysical Focus. I can exclaim: “I am God!” not in the sense that I am the Divinity, but in the sense that my existing, together with All-That-Is, with all existing, is existence of God—not as a component of God but as its own essence. We, human beings, are a kind of “compositum” (composite or composition): on one hand our existence itself, (an alive conscious existence, awareness), and this one with the total Existence; on the other hand, our physical body. We shouldn’t look at God elsewhere: he is not there; we wouldn’t find him “there,” because he is “here.”

No more looking at God as being in front of me or anywhere else, because God—my God—is no more, no less, than the totality of existing, of which I am like a little “part.” My being, all being, is God. When we sharpen the focus of our mind with the most profound metaphysical focus, and look at what is, we won’t find there anything but God: All-That-Is.

Topic II. Death and The “Beyond”

The question is: is there something beyond the earthly existence? What is that “beyond?” That is the point at which our human reason fails thoroughly and is powerless, because the “beyond”—God’s “world”—is far away from our comprehension; it is essentially different from the physical world.

God is nothing of what we know, except that he is; but even his mode of existing is essentially different from what we understand as existent; we are unable to have a clear idea about how God is; we have only analogies based in our experience of what existence means, and this experience that we have is essentially different from what God’s existence is.

We may thus understand how limited, even false, our ideas about God are, since the concept that we have about existence is unavoidably tied and associated with time and space, and that is precisely what God is not; as there is no time nor space for God, our concept of existing is far apart from what God’s existence is: it is what God is not.

Every time that we try to make God understandable we deviate and withdraw from what God is. The opposite way is the correct way: to see him as the Incomprehensible. All we can say of God is, in one sense, meaningless, because any idea that we have or any word that we use, is limited, and infinitely different from what God really is.

In order to have a less inadequate concept of God—since we are unable to have an adequate concept—we must remove from the concept of God everything that has limitation, because any limitation is a defect, something that is missing; and God is by definition the One who lacks nothing, in whom nothing is missed, the Unlimited: God is All-That-Is.

Afterlife. Is there an afterlife? We do not have proof that there is, but we do not have proof that there is not either. So, the center position is that it is possible.

However, there is something else that we have for certain: that the idea or conception that God has in his mind, or intelligence, or wisdom, of each one of us, will subsist after death, unchangeable; and that we’ll be—speaking temporally—as we have been in his mind, forever. This is the great thing: something of me will remain, forever. Only God’s idea of our human being will subsist, and this will be forever.

A New Consciousness. We know nothing about that beyond. Gospel words regarding the afterlife are metaphorical, because there are no words to say how it might be. John Paul II called the beyond a “status,” that is—in my view— a change of status in the being; [11] it is to be in a way which is essentially different from our existing, here.

And, although we know nothing about the beyond, there are also some uncontestable facts:

· the body that I have will be corrupted;

· my whole human nature as it is now will not be any more;

· my bodily and temporal living status will end;

· the Jairo who is today won’t be any more;

· the current consciousness that I have of my existence and my ego will end, to give place to the awareness of a new consciousness in the mind of God: it is an awareness of being that we are not able to have now.

Death is an end; this human, bodily and rational thinking of today, will finish its existence; a total end will come to our human nature. At that point, everything that we have been temporally will end, and won’t be any more.

All that is temporal and contingent will cease; and the being “there” is not as the being here. Our individuality “there,” is essentially different from our individuality here; our consciousness there is not as our consciousness here. It is a total change; in fact, it is a new “creation,” as if we would have a new identity; rather, it is no other than the very eternal idea of us in the mind of God which perpetuates its existence.

It is, in fact, as if we’d have had from the beginning—speaking temporally—“two” existences, “two” identities: one temporal and limited, and another one eternal and comprehensive; and that is what the ideas of God—analogically speaking—have been, or are, forever.

And, as we won’t have “there” the same kind of consciousness as we have here, we do not have recollection of that consciousness “before” creation in the mind of God, because our temporal consciousness is unable to perceive that eternal consciousness in the mind of God. We, as ideas of God, have been eternal, not temporal.

Our eternal identity is something that we cannot say, or explain, because human, temporal words cannot say or explain the infinite.

The New “Creation”. When we came to exist in time from the eternal Creator-Begetter, we came in a limited form; that form of existence is essentially temporal and will end; the “beyond” on the other hand is the opposite.

Everything that I am now will end; it won’t be any more. The idea of God that he has of me, and that has ever existed, will “continue” existing in his mind. And, if God “was” as wise and powerful as to design the universe, and to give us the temporal and successive existence that we have now, he is also wise enough and powerful enough as to give us new existences and lives—temporal or eternal—as many as he wants. We don’t know.

Our selfishness doesn’t want that our humanity ceases existing, and thus it creates an eternal life of fantasy after death, a kind of “continuation” or extension of this temporal life; a successive and unending life which would last forever and would be intolerable. This won’t happen; by entropy our human life will end, irremediably; all we are now will come to an end, and only our ego in God—his ideas of each of us—will subsist. He is powerful enough as to make these ideas to exist in as many forms as possible. This is what we do not know; only guess or imagine.

The Final End. Death is the time of truth. It is the hour when, what I say in my prayers, comes to be an absolute reality and fact. This is what I pray:

Lord, you are the only one who counts; the rest are trifles.

The only thing that counts at the end is your glory, not us. The only thing that counts is that you are!

My God! You are all for me; your glory is my gladness and happiness. That you be is my gladness and happiness.

What I have prayed is done: I’ll not be; the ego that I am now will cease existing. God will be! Nothing of this human being will last, but God will be: God may be all in all; God may be all in me, in God’s idea of me (1 Cor. 15:28); he will be—speaking temporally—the only one to be as “before” creation.

The Greatest Gift: to Live Forever. Oh eternal Generator of all ideas that exist in the universe! How could I not praise and thank your infinite Wisdom that let me understand this marvelous fact of existing forever, unchangeably, in your mind, under your constant knowing and willing, doing and giving! This is marvelous: to see what you have begotten in the whole creation, and in this humble existence: Fecit mihi magna qui potens est! “The Mighty One has done great things for me” (Luc. 1:49).

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HTM NATURE / ONENESS 04-15-11

[2] Richard Masson, The God of Spinoza. (London: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 241. In future references TGS.

[3] Verba is the plural of verbum in Latin (“word” in English, and “logos” in Greek); and Logos is the word used by John at the beginning of his gospel in reference to the “Son of God.” As the line says: “We, and all creation are God’s verba.”

[11] Pope John Paul II. Audience of July 27, 1999.