God

Most people in the world worship God daily by performing some ritual in the presence of a symbol of God. The ritual is generally a prayer, while the symbol is usually in the form of a statue, an image, a book, a cross, a stone, or just a space. This ritual is passed on from one generation to another.

The word God has a different connotation for each individual. For many people, God is an abstract entity that is mysterious and occult. Some people conceive it as a superhuman being, while others associate God with mythical deities. Also, some perceive it as pure consciousness, while others believe it is nature or a self-governing law. There are also a few who think that it cannot be defined. Additionally, a small minority of people imagine it with such unrealistic and mystic attributes that lead them to conclude that God does not exist.

Thousands of years ago, the creator of the universe was conceptualized as God with different names, such as the Absolute Truth, Brahman, Allah, and the ultimate reality. Moreover, there are vividly described attributes of God in ancient literature. To be specific, we will investigate the concept of God, starting with a definition.

We define God as the one from which the universe originates, sustains, and assimilates perpetually.

From this definition, it is clear that the universe is an expression of God. Thus, the ultimate reality is the basis of all that exists in the universe. In other words, the universe's existence is an expression of the ultimate reality or God itself. Also, we can deduce the various attributes of God from this definition. We can classify the different characteristics of God into three categories. These categories are physical, functional, and spiritual.

The physical attributes of God derive from its expression as the universe. All the existing matter and space constitute the universe. We know that the universe is expanding continuously. Thus, the universe has the dimensions of space and time. Whatever we see or observe everywhere is a part of the universe. Therefore, we conclude that God is omnipresent. Also, the universe appears to be infinite in space. Consequently, we describe God to be infinite.

Perpetual assimilation of the universe implies that the universe is originated, preserved, and absorbed by God again and again. It means that God is eternal. Further, it suggests that God is neither born nor dies. Thus, God exists forever in the time dimension.

The functional attributes of God are related to the creation, sustenance, and assimilation of the universe. Thus, God is the creator, preserver, and absorber of everything in the universe. All the matter in the universe is classified into two categories living and non-living. Despite the uncertainties in the universe, all living beings, including humans, are sustained continuously by God. Therefore, God is a universal preserver and omnibenevolent.

The power of God is evident in its expression as the universe. We know that in the core of the Sun, there is a nuclear reaction producing the power of more than a million atomic bombs. The Sun is one of the stars in the universe. There are trillions of stars in the universe. Thus, the Sun is a tiny part of the universe. The power of the Sun is a small part of the power of the universe. Therefore, we can imagine the power of the universe as approaching infinity. Also, the universe's total energy is always more than its components. Thus, God is omnipotent.

The universe is continuously changing and knows what path to take for the next state. Thus, only the universe knows what lies ahead for everything in it. Therefore, God is omniscient, encompassing knowledge about every aspect of the universe.

Modern scientific knowledge and methods help us explain the physical attributes of the universe. From the physical attributes, it is possible to understand the functional features of the universe. For living things, active elements are intertwined with consciousness. The biological basis of consciousness was not fully understood earlier, giving rise to several spirituality-related concepts. Modern science does not deal with spirituality; however, we can apply scientific methods to understand spiritual experiences. We will present a scientific basis of consciousness to illustrate its relationship to functional and spiritual attributes.

All the attributes mentioned and accepted universally follow God's definition. In brief, God is the creator, the preserver, and the absorber of the universe. In addition, we recognize God as omnipresent, omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omniscient, and eternal.