The Existential God

By Victor Meyer

An "Existential God" follows three themes similar to modern existentialism. We are each unique individuals. We are free to develop our own beliefs about God. And, we live our lives according to our beliefs.

After introducing the concept of the Existential God, the author presents his personal Existential God. This new paradigm of God is the result of a life-long search by the author to reconcile the dogmas of his Catholic faith with what he has been taught about modern science.

Many authors, who try to bridge the gap between religion and science, start with a blind acceptance of Christian doctrine, and then show how pieces of science support these traditional beliefs. In this book, the author uses the opposite approach. Rather than blind acceptance of traditional religious beliefs, the author accepts, as true, the physical laws of our universe. From that basis, the author looks for an understanding of God in what we know to be true, but which the physical laws of science cannot explain.

Philosophers have argued whether human consciousness can be explained by the laws of physics, or whether it represents a reality separate from the physical universe. Modern science still cannot explain what consciousness is. The author builds his new paradigm about God on the thesis that the brain is really an interface mechanism between our physical bodies and a mental world that is God. Our consciousness represents our personal oneness with God while we live our lives.

Building on this view of God, the author expands on how it applies to the concept of “self” and presents his interpretations of heaven and hell. The author also presents his views on such diverse topics as natural law, miracles, evolution, sex, and marriage. The book concludes with a discussion of how the author can still call himself a Catholic even though his views do not follow the traditional interpretation of Christian beliefs.

This book is not for those who unquestionably accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Similarly, it is not for those who profess to Allah, and Mohammed as the messenger of God. Nor is it for devout followers of Hinduism, Buddhism, or any other “ism”. For these people, their religion is their personal Existential God. Rather, this book presents a new view of God that is consistent with what we know about our universe. It is for atheists, agnostics, and open minded individuals who ask how God can still exist in the face of modern scientific discoveries.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Victor Meyer
• Release date: Aug 6, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465806215

Victor Meyer

Victor A Meyer is the founder of ExistentialGod.org, a website dedicated to understanding God in a scientific world. He was born a cradle Catholic in Monroe, Michigan, and was educated in the local Catholic school system. His degrees include a B.S. in Mathematics, an M.A. in Mathematics, and an M.A. in Computer Science, all from the University of Detroit, a Jesuit institution. Following his graduation from college, Victor served as a Captain in the United States Air Force at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Upon receiving his Honorable Discharge, he joined the faculty of Saint Mary College in Leavenworth and eventually served as the Chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. It was during his twelve year tenure at Saint Mary College that Victor met and married his wife Georgette. In addition to raising their children, they were active in the Charismatic movement as well as the music ministry at their local Catholic church where Victor served as the Folk Group Director. In order to better afford a Catholic education for their children, Victor and Georgette moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where Victor went to work for First Command Financial Services as an IT Specialist, and later as a Business Intelligence Analyst. It was during these years that his wife, Georgette, battled breast cancer and eventually died leaving Victor to finish raising their four children. Victor continues to be active in the music ministry at his local Catholic church. As his children reached adulthood, Victor became increasingly aware of a calling by God to spread to the rest of the world his new paradigm for God in this Scientific Age. The writing of "The Existential God" and the founding of ExistentialGod.org were the first steps toward answering this calling.

Book preview

The Existential God

By Victor A Meyer

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 Victor A Meyer

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Biblical quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New American Bible, copyright 1970 by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Koran quotations are from the Penguin Classics translation.

Cover image: Spiral Galaxy in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field; Picture hs-2004-07-f-full_jpg; Credit NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScl) and the HUDF Team.

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This book is dedicated to the memory of my wife,

Georgette.

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Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1: The Existential God

Chapter 2: My Early Existential God

Chapter 3: The Essence of God

Chapter 4: The Human Mind

Chapter 5: Being One with God

Chapter 6: Time vs. Eternity

Chapter 7: The Self, Heaven, and Hell

Chapter 8: Natural Law

Chapter 9: Miracles and the Unexplainable

Chapter 10: Evolution

Chapter 11: Sex and Marriage

Chapter 12: My Religion Is Catholic

Chapter 13: My Faith Is My Own

Postscript

About the Author

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Preface

(back to Table of Contents)

This book has two main objectives. First, it talks about the concept of the Existential God. However, this is a relatively small part of the book. The majority of it talks about my personal Existential God. In this book, I make no claim to know the absolute truth about God. However, the second objective of this book is to present my personal beliefs about God. I offer my ideas and beliefs about God and our world to anyone with an open mind and willing to consider other paradigms of God beyond those presented by traditional religions.

Since religion is a volatile subject to many people, there are those who probably should not read this book. One such group is devout Catholics and Christians who firmly believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. If you are passionate about Jesus Christ being the only way to salvation, then you have no need for this book. Your personal Existential God is the traditional view of Christianity as presented in the Gospels. Reading this book will do little for you, except to give you reasons to call me a blasphemer.

Likewise, if you profess to Allah, and Mohammed as the messenger of God, you probably should not read this book. Your personal Existential God is laid down in the Quran and Shariah Law. Similarly, devout followers of rabbinic Judaism should not read this book as it is not for you.

As you may guess, devotees of any organized religion ending in -ism (e.g. Hinduism, Buddhism), also should not read this book. Their Existential God is based on the precepts of their religion. Also, those who believe that books, such as the Bible and the Quran, are the divine literal word of God should not read this book. Their Existential God is defined by these books.

This exclusionary list is not limited to just followers of specific religions. The poor, the oppressed, and those looking for relief from the misery of their lives will not necessarily find comfort in the words of this book. For these people, I recommend they seek out one of the organized religions.

Who, then, is this book for? This book is for atheists – those who feel that God is dead, or cannot exist, because science explains everything and leaves no room for God. In this book, you will discover that science very much leaves the door open for the existence of God.

This book is for agnostics who feel that God is unknowable. In this book, you will discover a simple paradigm of God that makes sense and provides a way for you to develop a very personal relationship with God.

This book is for those who do not practice their religion (e.g. fallen away Catholics). People stop practicing their religions for a variety of reasons including the feeling that religion is behind the times, or they cannot accept as true the dogmas of their religion. In this book, I will discuss how I can still call myself a strong Catholic even though I do not blindly accept every doctrine of the Church as interpreted by the Church Fathers.

This book is for educated people who are seeking ways to believe in God even though they see everything in the world as cause and effect based on their education. In this book, you will see how science and faith can and should work in harmony with each other.

Finally, this book is for open minded individuals, who seek to explore alternative views of God in order to understand their own basic beliefs. These are the people who will benefit most from this book.

This book is about my journey to develop my own personal Existential God amongst the conflicting views between science and my Catholic upbringing. I invite you to reflect on what I have to say to determine if any of it makes sense to you on your own spiritual journey. If you find something of value in reading this book, share that thought with others.

We are all seeking the truth. Collectively, we can help each other develop our own unique beliefs about God. By defining our personal beliefs in God, we become passionate about our beliefs. By being passionate about our beliefs, we live our lives according to our beliefs. And, hopefully, the world will become a better place in which to live.

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Chapter 1: The Existential God

(back to Table of Contents)

My religion is Catholic, but my faith is my own. This is a statement I have often said. But, it is also a statement one was forbidden to utter not too many years ago.

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit a museum which featured mechanisms of torture and death. One instrument of torture, for example, was known as the Pear. The Pear could be put into any orifice of the human body, depending on the offense, and then gradually opened by turning the screw. In the case of heresy, the Pear would be inserted into the mouth. As it was opened, it would apply pressure to the jaws causing intense pain. If the victim did not recant their heresy, the continued opening of the pear would break the victim’s jaw and rupture the oral cavity ultimately leading to the victim’s death.

The Choke Pear

CC BY 3.0 License

Klaus D. Peter, Wiehl, Germany

What is particularly disturbing is that the Roman Catholic Church condoned the use of torture to control religious orthodoxy. Between the 12th and the 19th century CE, anyone who did not subscribe to the orthodox doctrine of the Church was branded as a heretic and subjected to the inquisition. Basically, the inquisition was a religious court which brought charges against the heretics, conducted trials to determine guilt, and then punished those found guilty.

In 1184 CE, Pope Lucius III wrote the papal bull Ad abolendam which created the first ecclesiastical inquisition. His goal was to completely eliminate Christian heresy. Later, in 1252 CE, Pope Innocent IV issued the papal bull Ad extirpanda that authorized the use of torture by the Papal Inquisition as a means to force heretics to confess. Initially, it was forbidden for this torture to result in bloodshed or mutilation.

The most famous of the inquisitions was the Spanish Inquisition. It was started in 1478 CE by King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. They wanted to maintain Roman Catholic Church orthodoxy in what is present day Spain. The Spanish Inquisition lasted for more than 350 years until it was finally abolished in 1834 CE. Many of the mechanisms of torture on display in the museum I visited were attributed to the time of the Spanish Inquisition. Whether or not they were actually used in this inquisition is subject to debate by historians. During the Spanish Inquisition, most unrepentant heretics were burned at the stake. But the fact that these instruments of torture existed indicates they were used somewhere, and they were used to control heresy.

In 1542 CE, Pope Paul III established the Congregation of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. This Holy Office became a permanent department of the Roman Catholic Church staffed by cardinals. Even after the end of the Spanish Inquisition, the Roman Inquisition continued to prosecute heresy in the Papal States. In 1908, the name of the Congregation was changed to The Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office so that the Roman Catholic Church could start distancing itself from the reputation of the inquisitions. This Congregation still exists today. In 1965, the name was again changed to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Prior to his election as Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was the Prefect of this Congregation

I personally consider the use of torture by the inquisitions one of the darkest moments in Roman Catholic Church history. It was a time when any free thinking that varied the least from the set doctrine of the Church was absolutely not tolerated and was punishable by the execution of the heretic. How did the Roman Catholic Church become so set in its doctrine?

After Jesus Christ died on the cross, rose from the dead, and then ascended into heaven, his apostles went out to preach the message of Jesus Christ to the surrounding nations. Here is a brief synopsis of where they may have travelled by either written accounts or by tradition:

Peter – together with Paul, founded the Church in Rome,

Andrew – preached in Asia Minor and Cythia,

James, the Son of Zebedee – preached in what is present day Spain,

John – preached in Asia Minor around Ephesus,

Philip – preached in Greece,

Bartholomew – preached in India and Armenia,

Matthew – unknown,

Thomas – preached in Persia and India

James, the Son of Alphaeus – preached in Egypt

Thaddeus – preached in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Libya

Simon, the Zealot – preached in Egypt, Persia, and Armenia

Each of these apostles was free to preach his own interpretation of the message of Jesus Christ. There was no set doctrine during the first century of Christianity.

Over time, the Church in Rome became recognized as the de facto head of the young Christian Church. There were three reasons for this. First, Peter was the spokesman for the twelve original apostles. It was natural for the other apostles to look to Peter for guidance. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus Christ named Peter as the rock upon which his church would be built. As the first Bishop of Rome, Peter was recognized as the early leader of the Christian Church.

Second, Rome was the administrative capital of the Roman Empire. Rome had the facilities to govern a large area. For example, the lines of communication were controlled by Rome. It was much easier for the apostles in the far reaches of the Roman Empire to stay in communication with the Bishop of Rome than with each other.

The third reason Rome became the de facto head of the Christian Church was the dominance of Saint Paul who co-founded the Church in Rome with Peter. Paul was not one of the original twelve apostles, and it is not known whether he personally met Jesus before Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Bible states that Paul was an early persecutor of the followers of Jesus Christ. However, one day Paul had a vision of the resurrected Jesus and converted to his teachings. Paul believed the risen Jesus Christ personally gave him revelations of what to preach. Paul proclaimed himself as Apostle to the Gentiles. He wrote extensively to the other Christian communities of the Roman Empire and was always willing to insert his own personal views to settle disputes in the early Church. Over time, he attracted a great following.

When the Roman Emperor Constantine I convened the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, it was the followers of the Apostle Paul that dominated the council. These church elders established the Nicene Creed which listed the basic set doctrines to be believed by all Christians. All other doctrines were declared to be heresies. Paul’s influence over the early Roman Catholic Church can also be seen in the set of books that became the canon of the Church and are now present in the New Testament.

Once Emperor Constantine I ended the persecution of the Christians through his Edict of Milan in 313 CE, the Roman Catholic Church began to flourish. Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire to the eastern city of Constantinople. In the fifth century, the Western Roman Empire collapsed and was taken over by invading Germanic tribes. These tribes were Christian and gave allegiance to the Bishops of Rome (i.e. the Popes). Europe became very much controlled by the Roman Catholic Church which was instrumental in getting them through the Middle Ages that followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The Germanic tribes that settled in Europe were not as civilized as the citizens of the earlier Roman Empire. These tribes were very warlike and enjoyed inflicting pain and torture on their victims. It was in this environment that we saw the rise of the inquisitions.

So what brought about the end of the inquisitions? A recent event in Church history that I consider significant was the unification of Italy under King Victor Emmanuel (1820-1878 CE) prior to World War I. This event was significant in that it finally put an end to the idea that a Pope should be a temporal ruler. Where the papacy once controlled the Western Roman Empire and later the Holy Roman Empire, the extent of the Pope’s temporal power by the end of the nineteenth century had been reduced to the Papal States on the Iberian Peninsula. When Victor Emmanuel finally unified modern day Italy, the Pope’s temporal authority was reduced to only that of Vatican City. Once the popes could no longer control the emerging nations, they also lost their ability to control free thinking by means of torture and death. Instead, they were limited to just being the leader of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church.

Without this heavy hand to force submission to the Roman Catholic Church’s doctrine, individuals became free to develop their own interpretation of Christian doctrine. This is not to say that Christians have not exercised their own interpretations in the past. When Martin Luther (1483-1546 CE) hammered his statement of reform to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg to start the Protestant Reformation, he was following his own beliefs. Today there are many denominations (e.g. Baptists, Lutherans, Anglicans, Presbyterians, etc.) of Christianity throughout the world that came into being as a result of free interpretation of sacred scriptures and doctrines of Christianity. However, in each of these religions, there was still an attempt to indoctrinate their own members into the specific interpretations that distinguishes their religions.

And speaking of diversity, we should not exclude the other world religions including Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. Each of these religions has also experienced their share of different interpretations of the original teachings. In Islam, for example, you have the Shiites and the Sunnis. The Shiites believe in an Islamic state ruled by religious leaders whereas the Sunnis believe in an Islamic state ruled by more qualified statesmen. In the Hindu tradition, you have the followers of Siva or the followers of Vishnu. In Buddhism, you have the older Theraveda tradition and the newer Mahayana tradition.

While it is good to have diversity of the various religions, this diversity has caused its share of problems. A study of the history of mankind shows that many wars have been the result of differences over religious beliefs. The Thirty Years War, which started as a war between Catholics and Protestants in the sixteenth century, decimated the population of the Germanic states. More recently, the violence in Northern Ireland was caused by hatred between Catholics and Protestants. The conflicts of the Middle East are caused, not only by religious differences between Judaism and Islam, but also differences between Shiites and Sunnis.

One of the biggest issues contributing to these conflicts is religious intolerance. Every religion thinks their religion is the true religion and the followers of all other religions are wrong. Just as the Roman Catholic Church is no longer burning heretics at the stake, all religions need to allow greater freedom of interpretation of their respective faiths without resorting to suppression and violence.

We cannot complete a discussion of religious intolerance without talking about fundamentalists. All the Religions of the Book (i.e. the Judaic/Christian/Islamic traditions) have fundamentalists. The fundamentalist believes in the strict, literal interpretation of Sacred Scriptures. Hence, the world was created in exactly seven days. As a result, there is no such thing as evolution. Also, God is male. This tenant has caused women throughout the ages, and even today, to be held as second class members of the human race in certain parts of the world.

Fundamentalists, by nature, are specifically intolerant to free interpretation of sacred scripture. If you find yourself debating your religious beliefs with a fundamentalist, they will always argue that scriptures are not open to interpretation, and all their arguments will always be based on scriptural passages.

My favorite argument when I am up against a Christian fundamentalist is the story of man’s fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. In my personal beliefs, there is no Devil. Of course, the fundamentalist will always point out how it was the Devil that tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. The problem with this story is that there is no mention of a devil in the story at all. Instead, the serpent is described as the most cunning of all the animals that the Lord God had made (Genesis 3:1). The fundamentalist will then claim that it was the Devil in the form of a serpent. This is where I then point out to the fundamentalist that they are making their own interpretation of the story of Adam and Eve. It then follows that, since they can interpret of the story of Adam and Eve, so can I.

This principle of being free to interpret one’s own belief in God in a manner that makes sense to each one of us is the basis for the Existential God. Existentialism is a philosophical movement that has taken root over the last couple hundred years. Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855 CE) was the first person to expound upon the concepts of existentialism - although it wasn’t called existentialism at the time. It was Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980 CE) who first used the term existentialism.

Existentialism does not describe a doctrine. It doesn’t take a stand on religious beliefs. In fact, some existentialist philosophers were markedly atheistic, like Friedrich Nietzche (1844-1900 CE). Others were very pious Christians, like Søren Kierkegaard. Existentialism is not even a school of thought. What defines existentialism is a set of three themes.

Themes of Existentialism

Human freedom

Sense of individuality

Live life passionately

The first theme of existentialism is human freedom. Within the context of The Existential God, we are talking about the freedom to interpret religious doctrine in whatever fashion makes sense to us. It is important that political and religious leaders not be allowed to force us to subscribe to any specific set of religious beliefs.

It is during a child’s teenage years that the human mind develops the capability for philosophical thought. From that point on, until one dies, the human mind grapples with the meaning and purpose of life and whether or not there is a God. The purpose of religion should be to form a basis upon which one can develop one’s own personal philosophy on life and understanding of God. But, while religion may form the basis of our personal philosophy, it must not force us to accept the specific doctrines and beliefs that define that religion. Each individual must be free to develop their own individual beliefs.

This brings us to the second theme of existentialism which is a sense of individuality. Each of us is different. We each come from a different hereditary background, we live in different environments, and we each have lived a different set of experiences. Hence, our brains, and subsequently our minds, have developed uniquely from one another.

Within the context of The Existential God, this sense of individuality means that we each need to come to our own personal belief, or non-belief, in God. So, if Nietzche believes that God is dead, then that is his own personal belief. He is free to develop that belief, and he is to be respected for that belief. If Kierkegaard believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, then that also is his own personal belief. He is free to develop that belief, and he also should be respected for his beliefs. A belief is not personal until one has thought it through thoroughly and personally accepts it as making sense to oneself.

The third theme of existentialism is to live life passionately. Kierkegaard gave us the concept of passionate commitment where, in whatever we do or in whatever we commit ourselves, we do so passionately using both reasoning and emotions. Within the concept of The Existential God, this means that we live our lives according to our beliefs.

When a certain set of beliefs and doctrines is forced upon us, we take no ownership in it. We may try to follow the precepts of our religion out of a sense of duty or because of peer pressure, but we can easily falter because we do not internally own these beliefs. However, when we are allowed to develop our own personal set of beliefs, then we are more apt to take ownership of those beliefs and to live our lives passionately according to those beliefs.

Themes of The Existential God

Freedom of religious thought

Individual beliefs regarding God

Live your life according to your beliefs

The Existential God, then, is not defined by a set of doctrine. It is not defined by sacred scripture. It is not defined by ritual. It is not defined by anything anyone says we must believe. Instead, it is defined by our own meditative thoughts. Those thoughts may be influenced by religious doctrine, sacred scripture, and religious rituals. But, until each individual reflects and decides their own personal beliefs and then lives their life according to those personal beliefs, they have not found their own personal Existential God.

The hallmark of The Existential God is religious tolerance. Not only does it require religious tolerance on the part of others to allow you to develop your own personal beliefs, but it also requires religious tolerance on your part to respect the personal beliefs of others. In addition, The Existential God also requires us to commit ourselves to helping others discover their own personal beliefs. Let us examine each of these concepts.

We have already discussed the need for world religions to tolerate individual interpretations of their doctrines and sacred scriptures. Let us take this concept down to the local level of the family. When a man and a woman enter into marriage, they are bringing together possibly quite different sets of beliefs. While they may respect each other’s beliefs and allow each other to practice their faith in the way they choose, there is still the problem of how to spiritually raise their children. It is the responsibility of parents to provide for the spiritual nurturing of their children. Often, it will be decided that children will be raised in the faith of one or the other parent. For the sake of simplicity, let us assume this has been decided.

Organized religions provide an excellent framework for raising children and getting them started on their lifelong spiritual journey. Most religions provide some rite of initiation to welcome children into the religion. For Christianity, baptism is that rite of initiation. After this initiation, parents bring their child to weekly religious services. This causes the child to become accustomed to the rituals of their religion. At some point, parents may start their child on a program of religious education either through their local church or a parochial school. This is an excellent approach for families since young children do not yet have the

Reviews for The Existential God

[Lillie Joylene · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I didn't read the whole book. I was only interested in reading the author's thoughts on creation and evolution....I stopped reading when the author stated a depressed brain is lower in evolution....that is absurd. Anybody can become depressed under certain circumstances and depression may remit over time. I couldn't take this book seriously.