Saintly_Jinn23, on 11 January 2012 - 06:40 PM, said:
Well by "pure consciousness" I am speaking of a consciousness that is absent of form. Pure from form, basically.
Our consciousness is different. Our consciousness is bound to a form ... whereas God's is not.
So, I have a further question:
Are we a composite of 2 elements: pure consciousness + form?
Or are we 1 element: formed consciousness?
If the former, then it makes no sense to speak of God as pure consciousness, since this is one element in our identity and one predicate of our subjecthood.
If the latter, then I have a further question: is this "formed consciousness" the only thing we mean when we say, "so and so partakes in consciousness"? That is, when we use the word "consciousness" and understand it, don't we merely understand our own immediately experienced consciousness, which is in fact "formed consciousness"? Can we understand anything else, but our own "formed consciousness", from the word
consciousness?
I suggest we cannot, since we understand only "forms", and therefore, when we use and understand the word 'consciousness', we only understand a "form" of consciousness - a created, limited experience.
Therefore, if you agree that we cannot understand anything from the word "consciousness" except this created, limited "formed consciousness", how can we even apply this word "consciousness" to God who is essentially uncreated, unlimited, non-experiential and non-formal?
Step by step, it becomes clear that literally speaking, God cannot be said to be consciousness, even pure. Because the only consciousness we understand is, so to speak, impure. Therefore, to speak of pure consciousness is to speak of pure+impure consciousness, which is a contradiction.
The error now is to suspect that by saying "pure", we negate the impurity of our concept of consciousness. But, granted that we do negate this impurity, what remains of our understanding of the concept of 'consciousness'?
My response is that nothing remains. We no longer have consciousness, or its concept. We are left with no words, no understanding. Only silence. This silence is not the silence of nothingness, but the silence of a mystery - like the personification of the deep, dark abyss, like the reality when there is no reality. Illogical, perhaps. But logic has it that a thing either is or is not a predicate, and cannot be neither. But the heart has it that prior to and beyond all predicates, there is - and that is God.
What can I say that I have no hope in saying anything clearly about God, and all my efforts are just to dismantle your theories and models erected by concepts and words, and reduce them to a deep, and awe-filled silence. To see, that really really really, in all great and perfect honesty, we cannot say anything, absolutely anything, about God. We can't say He exists; we can't say He doesn't exist; although, He appears to us as existing.
We can't say He sees; we can't say He doesn't see; although, He appears to us as seeing.
We can't say He loves; we can't say He doesn't love; although, He appears to us as loving.
We have a concept representing Him, but the concept is empty, because we don't understand Him.
God is Greater than to fall in description.
This seeming nothingness from which this world emerged, ebbing and flowing, is God. Can you understand what it was like before the world emerged? Can you imagine it? Can you fathom it? Can you see it? Yet do you doubt that this world rises and declines upon the bedrock of a seeming nothingness, from which it fluctuates in and out? Why shouldn't I fall to the earth, gaze in awe at the heavens, feel the tremours of the rocks, bear the brunt of the heavy tidal waves, and cry out: Magnificent are these wonders, and Magnificent are these eyes, ears and hands, which open up to these wondrous things! And why shouldn't I tremble in awe at the Incomprehensible Dark Mother, which begat the world, the source of all that I see, all that I am, and all that I will be? Who was before and beyond Time, and stretched the infinite expanse of the fleeting moments. Who was before and beyond Place, and expanded from nothingness the wealth of the world, the nebulous skies, the bright stars, the thunderous clouds, the red of the sunset, the gold of sunrise, the colourful garments of the flowers, the amazing patterns of the animals, the intricacy of the body, the perfection of the spider's web. From nothing, came herding and farming, civilisation and art, religion and science, economy and politics, and friendship and love. I worship that nothing which brought forth the world. I call it Allāh, Lord of the Worlds.
Edited by Jebreil, 11 January 2012 - 08:01 PM.
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long sermon where he said this following statement "...Hence, whatever is found in creation is not found in the Creator..."
