Tag: Eternal

Existence Is Not the Measure

The statement “God exists” sounds reverent, yet it quietly diminishes what it claims to honour. Existence is not a neutral category. It is a condition. To exist is to appear within time, to persist across duration, to occupy a framework where before and after apply. Existence implies location, sequence, and limit.

God, if the word is to mean anything absolute, cannot be confined to such a framework.

To say God exists already places God inside something else. Time becomes the container. Space becomes the stage. Existence becomes the rule God must obey. That framing does not exalt God; it reduces God to an object among other objects, distinguished only by scale or power.

A more precise statement unsettles most theists:
God does not exist.

Not because God is absent, unreal, or lacking. Quite the opposite. God is beyond the category of existence altogether. Existence belongs to the realm of manifestation. God is not a thing that manifests; God is that by which manifestation is possible at all.

Existence requires time. Something exists now, or then, or for a while. God, described as eternal, cannot be stretched across moments. Eternity is not infinite time; it is the absence of time. When time disappears, the verb “to exist” loses its footing.

Yet the paradox deepens further.

Non-existence seems to offer an escape. If God does not exist, perhaps God is non-existent. But non-existence remains a conceptual category. It can be named, contrasted, negated. It operates within the same logical field as existence. Both rely on distinction. Both appear only where something can be opposed to something else.

If non-existence is conceivable, it already participates in being. A possibility that is truly nothing cannot even be held in thought. The moment non-existence is entertained, it has already entered presence.

Here the framework collapses.

God, said to be beyond existence, must also be beyond non-existence. Whatever transcends both cannot be limited by either. Existence and non-existence become expressions rather than boundaries. Time and space arise as localized conditions within something that never enters them.

And this includes belief itself.

To hold a belief about God’s existence, to deny it, or even to question it, must occur within existence. Belief requires a thinker. Thought requires duration. Opinion requires perspective. Every stance taken for or against God is already operating inside the very field it attempts to define or negate. The debate itself belongs to manifestation.

The claim “God exists” is therefore not wrong ; it is partial. It refers only to the aspects of reality that appear within time and space: galaxies, minds, causes, effects, events. These are not separate from God, but they are not the whole either.

God is not an entity within existence. Existence is an activity within God.

Once this is seen, the opposition between theism and atheism dissolves. The atheist rejects a God who exists as an object. The theist defends that object. Both remain bound to the same assumption: that God must exist to be real.

Reality does not require existence as a predicate. Existence is something reality does, not something it is.

Nothing stands outside this. Nothing escapes it. Nothing contradicts it.

Existence is all there is; and what is cannot be reduced to existing.

Morgan O. Smith

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Aham Brahmasmi

The One Identity That Transcends All

In the labyrinth of identity, where the self is often lost amidst the numerous labels and societal constructs, “Aham Brahmasmi” emerges as a beacon of profound insight. Translated as “I am Brahman”, it’s a phrase from the Upanishads, the ancient philosophical texts of India, that redefines the very essence of selfhood. A bold assertion of unity with the Absolute, it declares the individual self as non-different from the ultimate reality or cosmic principle, Brahman.

The phrase posits a paradox: it is both a declaration of identity and a negation of it. While it identifies the self with Brahman, it simultaneously obliterates all other identities that are predicated on the dualistic perception of reality. It deciphers the enigma of existence by presenting a radical understanding of the self that transcends all conventional forms of identity-based on religion, ethnicity, gender, or nationality.

In the assertion of “Aham Brahmasmi”, the identity becomes the Universe itself, simultaneously making it ‘The One Identity’. Yet, by embracing the entirety of the cosmos, it becomes ‘No Identity’ – for it is no longer confined by the limitations of individuality. It surpasses the perceived boundaries of the self and ventures into the realm of absolute oneness, a non-dual reality beyond all bifurcations.

This concept embodies the pinnacle of self-realization, where the ego-self is annihilated and one awakens to the inherent divinity within. It’s a state where there is no ‘other’. The knower, the known, and the process of knowing merge into one seamless entity, eliminating the subject-object dichotomy. It is a proclamation of the undifferentiated consciousness that pervades all existence.

Understanding “Aham Brahmasmi” prompts us to question the notion of ‘identity’ as we ordinarily understand it. It urges us to look beyond the surface, to delve deep into the essence of who we truly are. It seeks to elevate our consciousness from the transitory, ephemeral identities towards the eternal, changeless Self. It encourages the shift from multiplicity to unity, from diversity to oneness, from illusion to reality.

To comprehend and embrace “Aham Brahmasmi” is to transcend the shackles of perceived identity. It is to immerse oneself into the boundless ocean of consciousness, realizing that the waves of individuality are but manifestations of the same, unified reality. It is to witness the grand cosmic dance of existence and to understand that we are not mere spectators, but the dance itself.

This timeless wisdom reminds us of our inherent potential to realize the ultimate truth. It is an invitation to journey inwards, into the core of our being, to discover our true nature. It is to affirm that we are more than our physical bodies, more than our thoughts, emotions, and experiences. “Aham Brahmasmi” is the realization that we are that – the boundless, the infinite, the eternal. It is the unlearning of all we thought we were, to understand who we truly are.

Morgan O. Smith

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