Robin Le Poidevin - Alternative Concepts of God

[@tunahelpa5433]

Thought-provoking, as usual. I didn't like any of the established versions of God, so I invented my own. When asked "Do you believe in God?" I can truthfully answer that I do, even though my conception of God is almost the diametric opposite of yours. I used to tell folks I was Buddhist, but that doesn't come near what my concept is. It doesn't matter. Everyone comes to God on their own terms, and I'm okay with that. As long as they allow ME to come to God on MY own terms.

[@timorean320]

Any "God" worth considering, would not be any God I could rationally explain, so please dont ask me to. If you have to ask, then ya wont understand anyway, thanks.

[@MichaelDembinski]

What's that blasted noise in the background? This is so fascinating, I'm struggling to focus on the words because of the slurping sounds

[@NiteTrain345]

Can't believe i had to scroll down this far to find a comment about background noise.

[@Bassotronics]

Prayer… I do the same prayer every day. Is it necessary? Why should I? Does God forget and I have to keep reminding “him” about my prayer? 🤔

[@jamesruscheinski8602]

is there water lapping or horses clopping in background?

[@petermartin5030]

Statements about God make much more sense if you replace every occurrence of "God" by "collective belief". Early theologians just personified collective belief to get their message across to regular folks.

[@brimantas]

God is ounly our mind, our structure of fealings

[@nikitakucherov5028]

His last comment is spot on, we can’t expand the definition too wide as doing so water’s down God and regardless of what religion you are that’s unacceptable, ironically also atheists don’t want a watered down definition either, so we finally come to a rare crossroad where believers and nonbelievers meet, if for only a mere moment.

[@mattsigl1426]

God is Being Itself. Not a Being. And yet Being Itself is a person. Pure Act is also Pure Personality. Possible ways to think about this: one thing God immediately and ineffably necessarily cognizes in his timeless I Am is that IF I were to incarnate in time I’d be THIS person (Christ), (necessarily!) and he knows too that he eternally chooses to do this. His identity is necessarily present to his timeless unchanging Being. And he knows too that in his Choice to do this (incarnate via a hypostatic union) he also chooses to create all that he draws to himself. It’s more subtle than that of course (this leaves out the trinitarian aspect, which is very important) but seeds of the Idea are here. Because God cannot be “a person” in this sense of a creature who has changing mental states and changing dispositions of the will, that he is a person is downright weird/profound. One God, One Choice, One Understanding. Given that God is so NOT LIKE a person, it’s really really interesting that He IS a Person, and also person-ness itself.

[@andreasplosky8516]

You have a great fantasy life.

[@udaykumar-lv4xo]

What can be explored and explained about God is recorded in the Vedas when consciousness was at its best in humans. We all are living and experiecing it in bits....

[@iain9821]

Some people say that, while not everyone *believes* in God, everyone *has* a God, God being the sum total of those ideal qualities that they consider it shameful or risible *not* to possess. Thus, everyone pursues a standard of divinity, some in a self-aware manner and others not. From this perspective, the current religious climate is fascinating.

[@Folkstone1957]

Factually incorrect, I have no god(s).

[@iain9821]

​@Folkstone1957 Then why care what other people think? If there exists no objective, integrated ideal of rationality, sanity or normalcy to which to aspire, there is nothing to be concerned about. But if there does exist such an ideal, why deny it?

[@TheUltimateSeeds]

The most natural and organic way of visualizing God is that God is simply the fully matured/fully developed "adult" version of what we are. I'm talking about a Panentheistic Entity who has created the universe out of the living fabric of its own mind, with us momentarily existing within God's mind as God's literal embryos, awaiting our second and final birth into "true reality" where our true and eternal form (the same form as God) will finally be revealed to us.

[@Folkstone1957]

Can you demonstrate that is true ?

[@TheUltimateSeeds]

@@Folkstone1957 No. I suggest that it cannot be allowed to be demonstrated as true. And that's because if humans knew - with absolute certainty - that all they had to do was to find a quick and painless way of crossing the threshold of death and they (their mind/soul/consciousness) will be birthed into a higher dimension of reality that will make our present reality seem like some kind of hell in comparison, what do you think they would do?

[@resurrectingand]

Quantum mechanics speaks about how waves only collapse into particles when observed. They transition from a superposition of possibilities into an actuality when conscious observation occurs. What if consciousness precedes material reality? What if consciousness is what collapses the wave function, turning it into a particle and thereby creating reality? But that begs the question: why was there anything to be superimposed in the first place? If all humans have consciousness, it’s almost as if consciousness itself creates everything. And if consciousness creates reality, then could it not be that a supreme consciousness created existence itself? What if the reason there was anything to collapse in the first place is because consciousness is all there is? Consciousness has always been, and it always will be. It interacts with itself-we know this to be true in human beings. Could it not be the same at a macro level? Could all of reality be part of the same substrate, the same mind? And what if that supreme intelligence is God? What if God really did send someone to die for us? What if that’s actually true? And what if the reason it’s true is because the wave function precedes material reality? In this view, the wave function could be consciousness itself, interacting with itself. As we’ve seen in human beings, consciousness interacts with and observes itself, collapsing into something tangible. What if the reason there was something to collapse in the first place is that consciousness is all there was, all there ever will be, and all there is? Consciousness as the wave function, observing and interacting with itself, collapses into a particle. It transforms from mind to physical-or perhaps not even physical, but rather a different layer of mind. Maybe the "physical" is only an illusion. It feels real, but consider a video game. The characters in the game would believe they’re not in a simulation because everything makes sense within their conceptual frame. Could our reality be similar? A construct within a grander, conscious design?

[@Bassotronics]

That means I am God. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I never committed adultery, nor I harm nor kill.

[@TheUltimateSeeds]

​@@resurrectingand "...What if consciousness is what collapses the wave function, turning it into a particle and thereby creating reality?..." Yes, that stems from the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, and it makes sense. However, I suggest that whatever the mechanism is that allows us to explicate the phenomenal features of the universe into 3-D existence from fields of quantum information when we direct our consciousness outward into the universe (into the arena of God's mind),... ...is the same mechanism that allows us to explicate our own thoughts and dreams into existence from similar fields of information when we direct our consciousness inward (into the inward arena of our own minds). "...And if consciousness creates reality, then could it not be that a supreme consciousness created existence itself?..." Absolutely yes! Along with creating (in its own image) its own offspring (us) with all of the implications and potential that comes with us being the literal (familial) progeny of the Creator of a universe. "...What if the reason there was anything to collapse in the first place is because consciousness is all there is?..." Well, there's consciousness, but there is also the infinitely malleable substance that consciousness uses to create what consciousness calls "reality." "...Maybe the "physical" is only an illusion. It feels real, but consider a video game. The characters in the game would believe they’re not in a simulation because everything makes sense within their conceptual frame. Could our reality be similar? A construct within a grander, conscious design?..." Again, absolutely yes! However, I suggest that the "grander design" is simply a "natural and organic" process taking place at the highest level of reality where the highest species of Beings in all of existence mentally conceive their own offspring "within themselves" (within their "spirit bodies," so to speak) in a way that is loosely similar to how mammals replicate themselves here on earth. "As Above, So Below" or more at "As Below, So Above."

[@er6619]

Interesting topic, but the audio needs to be cleaned up with audio mastering software such as Audacity, Adobe, etc.

[@sunyata4974]

We can't design God. People often make a category mistake. God is just the fundamental substance of the universe. Its laws can be derived empirically and logically. Everything comes from this substance. Therefore, multiplicity is an illusion. It can't be created or destroyed. Science and the major religions agree on this substance.

[@simonhibbs887]

What does calling this substance god add over not using that name for it?

[@infinitygame18]

THE ONE WHO MEDITATE AND KNOW THE BEST ART OF MEDITATION IS THE ONE WHO GIVE THE EXISTENCE THE BEST SYNCHRONIZATION AND REALITY REWARDS IT IN THE WAY OF RECOGNIZING ITS WORK IN MANY WAYS, AND ULTIMATE SYNCRONISER IS GOD FOR REST IN ANY SYSTEM OR PLACE

[@pvbreddy123]

Robert, Please have a discussion with Swami Tadatmananda, New Jersey based Arsha Bodha vidya nilayam about the existence of God. I'm hoping your consciousness will not allow you to ignore the wisdom revealed by swami ji 🙏

[@jamesruscheinski8602]

experience (consciousness) from causation of cosmos with future?

[@jamesruscheinski8602]

God as subjective free will present cause of both cosmos of space in past, and probability of time in future ?

[@johnpro2847]

like most religious discussions. All over the table with no convincing arguments other than pious platitudes. Amen

[@mattsigl1426]

@@johnpro2847 well, this video was about ways to conceptualize God, not axiomatic arguments for a divine necessary first cause. May I suggest the five ways if you’re interested.

[@librulcunspirisy]

​@@mattsigl1426 More gibberish.

[@librulcunspirisy]

Amen

[@georgegrubbs2966]

Most 2.3 billion Christians believe in a personal God, one that knows them personally and will answer their prayers. I think the best we can do, given the evidence or lack thereof, is posit a fundamental substrate from which all proceeds.

[@johnpro2847]

00:02 what is god like and does he exist.? .it is a concept ..an idea not based on any reality. Can we live forever.? The evidence is no. Can you wish we live forever...of course ,but only a wish.

[@michaelmckinney7240]

The problem with attempting a definition of God is partly in the premise that it's possible to provide an adequate definition to something that lies beyond the ken of common human experience. If we could go back two million years and if we could communicate with our hominid ancestors somehow and ask them about the theory of relativity, their response would be incoherent and the question would be pointless, not because relativity wasn't intellectually valid, but because our early ancestors lacked the conceptual ability to conceive such abstract ideas. Their brains were not yet large enough to ponder the abstruse concepts of higher thought. We are similarly disadvantaged in lacking the cerebral bandwidth needed to answer the ultimate question of Gods existence. All we can say, in my opinion is we don't know "what" he is, we only know "that" he is. As for the easy skepticism of Mr. Le Poidevin's agnosticism, it's a safe position to hold that explains nothing. It sees no need to offer any rationale to explain why we live in such a perfectly balanced cosmos or the formulaic precision in how matter and energy evolved to produce a long lived universe and the remarkable emergent complexity we see everywhere. All agnosticism has in its back pocket is to say "Well you can't prove it." The existence of God can never be proved or disproved for the same reason that our early hominid ancestors couldn't conceive of mathematics or the internet. These things were simply beyond their experience. How can we who are a mere three hundred thousand generations removed from when we first descended from the trees hope to fathom the ultimate mystery of what lies at the core of all reality? We cant. It will take perhaps another four or five million generations into the future before evolution provides the cerebral depth to adequately ponder what presently is for us ultimate mystery. This hardly means we shouldn't ask meaningful questions as the one posed here, because the deepest question can never be answered only continually explored.

[@newtonfinn164]

We either have no God who is good, or we have a God self-limited with regard to creation. One might argue that there could be no meaningful creation of something apart from God--Not-God, if you will--without such self-limitation. In such a scenario, evil arises in the absence of God's direct control, which would mean that the Gnostics were right at least about this, that creation necessarily, at least to some extent, is evil.

[@alfredsams9059]

With the chances of a third world war and the endless chaos caused by terrorism i think we need to know what is real human nature. Are human beings good or bad ?lots of books steven pinker, zimbardo febate this . The. Thing is how to trann transform the bad guys sso that bad thingd wont happen to good people. I think understanding human nature is crucial now.also how to change the negative people on the world stage especially the ideology of religious fundamentalism.

[@simonhibbs887]

We are all answerable for what we do here in our lives, and for the consequences here on our fellow human beings. No blaming it on imagined commands, or because some ancient prophet or book says this or that. We are responsible for the welfare of our fellow people of the world irrespective of ancestry, beliefs or nation and that responsibility is to each other. It is in our intrinsic human nature, when we see a stranger in need to want to help them, but we often find excuses for harming others or taking what they have. There are no excuses.

[@jamesruscheinski8602]

causation present confidence in God?

[@codymarch164]

Breaks down to 2 ways: the personal God and the impersonal God. Religions worship Hiranyagarbha(an emanation or modulation of nirguna Brahman), and in the mode of the personal God - the good in the world, the beauty, justice, wisdom, truth, harmony, majesty, creativity, wonder, order, etc. The impersonal God is everything the personal God is acknowledged as, except you remove all name, form, modulation and ideas. Apophatic and kataphatic are not differences but one. Via negativa and affirmation. The realization of the apophatic God is later on usually after further realization of the affirmative understanding of God. Only two alternatives - Affirmation and negation. Plato's Parmenides and Republic: Parmenides is about 'the one' the source of all. And is the apophatic realization. This is the highest, is indifferent, impassive, impervious. Republic is the affirmative understanding of God. The good that extends to all things and provides for all things life, sustenance, place, essence, nature etc. 1:1 God. Apophatic and Kataphatic. 1.

[@0-by-1_Publishing_LLC]

(3:40) *RLP: **_"It's almost as if God is some kind of abstract object - like a number."_* ... This is a great topic and excellent interview! In my book I have "Existence" represented as "1" and Nonexistence represented as "0." This abstract, primordial juxtaposition of 1 and 0 is how "Existence" managed to render itself conceivable. It was that very first logical computation that yielded self-conception - and what serves as the official "beginning of existence." Whereas most theistic versions of God surround an "all-knowing entity," my version has "Existence" starting out as the most minimalistic representation that conceivably will allow - and then "evolving" into higher complexity over time. No "first cause" was necessary. Only "logic" was necessary to pull this off. After 14 billion years, "Existence" has thusly evolved into self-aware human consciousness. Existence now categorizes and assesses everything that has emerged since the beginning by way of our unending streams of "value judgments." So, "Existence" found a way to facilitate what we call "outside observers" who can further define what it means to exist. It's easy to see how so many could mistake this ongoing "evolution of logic" for a standalone being that was all-knowing from the very start. In my version, we all end up at the same place. ... _We're simply taking a different route to get there._

[@aporist]

When I was 3 yrs old I wanted when I grow up to become the God. Not the God of architects, bankers, engineers, teachers, traders ... drug dealers, pickpockets, pimps... Not a sultan, king, tsar, maharajah, emperor, president of something... I wanted to become the GOD ITSELF. No blasphemy! I had an illuminated grandma, as illumination went on among the country grannies of her generation - she taught me to read at 3yrs, write at 4yrs, knew many myths, legends and old women's tales. However, she couldn't provide satisfying answers to, then, fundamental for me questions, as: - How the Sun drinks its milk, with salt or with honey? (I hate sweet, and horror!!!, I had to drink my milk since 3 to 6 with honey! Horror!!) - Where the wind sleeps - What are the stars - Which star we the humans came from? (For a long time I believed that humans came from the stars) To such, and similar questions granny answered: God knows! 'See, I said to myself, that god must be a very knowledgeable person, I want to be the god'. Another time I asked granny to read me a tale. Granny answered that she couldn't cuz she couldn't find her spectacles and only the devil knew where they are. 'See, I said to myself, there's another encyclopedist around! When I grow up I want to become both the god and the devil, 2 in 1, to know things about the things. Granny told me that if you pray, your wishes may come through. I begin to pray before falling asleep: God, god, devil, devil, make me like you to know things about the things! And the miracle happened - I had my first body exit at three and a half, though I realized that I'm out of my body at four. My first time travel was at 17 or 18. At 26 or 27 I already knew that WE ALL ARE BODY EXITERS AND 'TIME TRAVELERS' but it's subject of other vid.

[@Folkstone1957]

Theists, come up with something that you all agree on & believe is true that is “God” then let the rest of us know about what you came up with.

[@ronhudson3730]

We all define and get the God we need. The atheist scientist gets no God. The traditional believer gets the personal God. The “toe in the water” believer gets the Pantheistic God. Here, there, everywhere. The judgmental person gets the fire and brimstone punisher God. I get the listener quiet-type” God. There for me everyone but non-interventionist.

[@davenchop]

you mean the atheist gets to look in the mirror and realize hes not an idiot

[@antelopefreeway214]

I agree. I think many of us choose the conception we are most "comfortable" with, even if contradicts some things we know or even if we don't like some of qualities of it. We choose (or settle for) what we are offered and what we can live with and what seems to satisfy the emotional needs we have. Proof or reason has little to do with it. Some of us venture out and dare to question; risking pressure from peers and our own nagging inner thoughts.

[@100percentSNAFU]

​@@davenchopApparently, you are an atheist of punctuation as well. 😂😂😂

[@BengtBiceps-om8iw]

Is this channel all about God now? I subscribed for the science.

[@andreasplosky8516]

People like to fantasize now and then.

[@Robinson8491]

Didn't you know RLK was sent to us by God? He is making us believe by proxy ❤

[@RuneRelic]

Its only conflicting and incompatible, according to the definition you use. The christian doctrine is (although many refuse to accept it) a religion about duality and the struggle between those forces. If you consider that as the creative vs the detructive will, then that creative will is what fashions life, even to the notion of fashioning life out of clay. All life must then, by this very nature, be a part of that creative will, even if given its own autonomy when alive.

[@JamarvLarue-newstar]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@prestonbacchus4204]

Whether something called "God" is said to exist, may exist, or does not exist, depends on the definition of the ambiguous term that is relied on. Here is a religion's definition of "God": God=The Universe. This God governs life by natural selection. So let's see if this God exists. Does the Universe exist? Yes. Does it govern life by natural selection? That is a leading theory, yes. So by this definition, to a reasonable certainty, "God" exists.

[@mjsmcd]

God does not answer prayer Why

[@SaintMatthew-sj5yz]

Hallelujah!!!!! Your channel has been a big part of my transformation, God is good. I had a $37,000 loan from the bank for my son's(Bryan) brain surgery. I am now dept free after I invested $8,000 and got my payment of $25,500 each month. God bless Ms Kathleen Mary Vella.

[@KellyAndrew-id3ul]

God bless you more abundantly for your generosity

[@KellyAndrew-id3ul]

But then, what do you do? How do you come about that in that period?

[@SaintMatthew-sj5yz]

It is the digital market. That's been the secret to this wealth transfer. A lot of folks in the US amd abroad are getting so much from it, God has been good to my household Thank you Jesus

[@SaintMatthew-sj5yz]

Thanks to God, my daughter who introduced me into the digital market. Moreso, thanks to Ms *Kathleen Mary Vella*

[@SaintMatthew-sj5yz]

Big thanks to Ms *Kathleen Mary Vella*

[@ejazrasool7443]

There has to be a correct concept of 'God' otherwise whole universe is meaningless. The correct concept will be that whic acts as an objective standard for the human self... read the book The Human Self and Allah by G.A. Parwez... all explained in relation to the human self...

[@Paine137]

God is manmade, and tethering that god to meaning is manmade. Grow up.

[@ejazrasool7443]

@Paine137 thanks... I am grown up that is why quoted the book... do read it before leaving this world for ever... death has a purpose...

[@100percentSNAFU]

​@@Paine137Grown ups read books, children make childish comments like yours.

[@agcouper]

It seems to me that the idea of the Holy Trinity is so flexible that it can be stretched to encompass almost any alternative concept of God. Of course, this would be considered heresy by Christian doctrine, but still.

[@librulcunspirisy]

Gibberish 😅

[@johnpro2847]

you are talking about a god. Yet in the past everyone believed in multiple gods, including the Jews. Moses decided to make one god and he would represent that god...convenient. Amen

[@plato7771]

This is an old video recently posted to KZbin. The video is years old and that should have been stated but it was not. Closer to the truth???? LOL NOT

[@Maxwell-mv9rx]

Proposition about absolutetly God definitions It is consistency tautology . It means nothing. About this guys he God definitions are rubbish rambling. Wortheless rethoric and experiences. Iol

[@N.Y.C.FreddyBling-z9u]

Closer To Truth :: You want to know something Prof. Robert Lawrence Kuhn! :: (?) :: Me~! :: I've come to the conclusion that you are a prime example of what a ''money hungry'' usurper you truly are! :: ( *I'm not sleeping!) :: This is my opinion! :: (* Assessing you thoroughly! *) :: Bye! .,

[@johnpro2847]

do not ask praying class folk to explain scientific concepts.. they would not know and are biased toward the unknown supernatural. Amen

[@garethjohn4347]

You can call anything anything but unless by God you mean a person you have just changed the subject. But then no-one would be interested if you admitted you were waffling on about an abstract moral substrate to existence or something like that.

[@tedgrant2]

And we could also imagine that God is imaginary.

[@tomlee2651]

Stop speaking for God/gods. They're perfectly capable of speaking for Him/Her/Themselves.

[@MJ1]

We don’t need alternatives for concepts created by Stone Age people. The only alternative is rationality and science.

[@sujok-acupuncture9246]

This is not the stone age. This is the age where the priest appears in a coat, suit and tie.

[@keithwalmsley1830]

This guys talks about not personifying God but then constantly refers to God as Him!! 🤔

[@thesjkexperience]

You are god. You are not ready to see it.

[@LuuLuong-bn8iy]

😅😂😂😂😂😂

[@punkypinko2965]

I can't take all the religious videos lately. I thought this was a science channel. Unsubbed.

[@browngreen933]

If God had 1/10th of the Biblical attributes claimed for him, there would be no need for alternative concepts about him. We'd either be basking in his endless love (Jesus Christ God) or trembling in fear of his homicidal maniac personality (Yaweh God). Instead we get neither one. God's gone. 😂

[@andreasplosky8516]

I love to listen to fantasists.

[@100percentSNAFU]

I love to listen to heavy metal.

[@andreasplosky8516]

@@100percentSNAFU Are you trying to tell me that Heavy metal is fake, just like god?

[@lukeatmyas]

It's like alternative concepts of Batman or Superman. That's the beauty of fictional beings and concepts. Since they don't really exist, we don't really have real beings against which we can compare those alternatives to determine whether or not they're correct. It's all up to us to conceptualize and imagine how they can become more interesting and eliminate those concepts that we find unattractive.😂

[@callmeishmael3031]

The attempt to conceive of a god is such a desperate exercise.

[@evaadam3635]

"Alternative Concepts of GOD" .. or Why so many religions in this world ?.... The following light may help you understand why, hopefully : Stone-age people believed in the Almighty Creator by just witnessing the Awesome Wonders of Nature... and because of their faith, many of them received the heavenly light that made them understand GOD better.... they then share this light to their descendants .. .. the sharing of this light went on and on from generations to generations that finally were written on tablets, scrolls, bibles, etc.. being interpreted in many different ways due to the writer's language handicap in ancient times... ...the passage of this light from generations to generations being interpreted, or misinterpreted, had led to the development of many religions from all over the world ... this is why you have genesis, bible, koran, torah, etc etc... ... I believe I received the same light because of my sincere faith, but fortunate enough that I have enough available words today to interpret and convey this light much better, unlike ancient writers whose literacy was still in its infancy... this is why you find my interpretation somehow different but has many things in common with what you read from religious books.... ..nevertheless, it is your sincere faith in the existence of a Loving GOD that matters that can save your soul, and not how imperfect men interpreted the unknown GOD through the light they received... GOD understands it is all about HIM..

[@davenchop]

a whole minute of my life i cant get back...

[@100percentSNAFU]

​@@davenchopNobody held a gun to your head and made you read it 😂

[@evaadam3635]

​​@@davenchop..have sincere faith in a loving God... if you do, you may receive the same light to understand God better... no need to get back a second...