God Beyond Religion: Eclectic Spirituality, Theodicy, and Cognitive Science

One of the benefits of social media is that one can easily get a glimpse of how people think about certain things. I participate in several Facebook groups that draw people who are deconstructing their Christianity. A topic that often comes up is theodicy, the problem with evil. In embracing eclectic spirituality, and exploring cognitive science and consciousness, I find that the problem of evil and vindication of the creative source, proposes challenges. What I mean is there is a variety of things that need to be taken into consideration when thinking about the existence of evil. My point of departure for entering into the discussion is that there is a collective consciousness, or a mind at large at work in what we call material reality. I have come to view it as the universal field of divine consciousness. I believe it to be the source of all matter and substance in the material plane which of course includes we humans. Some call it the Akashic Field, the quantum field but what ever the name it is but one primal source of the universe.

I have come to this idea based upon study of several scientific and philosophical works by several different people. I also base it on the explanations of spirit and matter in all of the ancient religions and philosophies. In that, I see a common thread that has energy and thought as central. To be more specific I have included in my conclusions the work of Dr. Bernardo Kastrup, Dr. Donald Hoffman, Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, and Dr. Carl Jung.  Information about each of these individuals and their contribution to cognitive science and the field of consciousness is readily available on the internet, and one can find out all one needs to know about them on YouTube. I see a common thread in all of their studies and theories. 

Adding to the above paragraph of cognitive scientists, I also include the premises of the ancient religions and philosophies. Egyptian Hermeticism, Greek Hermeticism, Greek Philosophy, Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Kabbalah Judaism, and Christianity. All either suggest or insist that material reality is a mental construct. My point here is that there is a mounting preponderance of evidence that the universe is indeed mental, and consciousness is the creative source. The question becomes, how does one view God, and what is the spiritual realm? This is where eclectic spirituality comes into play. In Christianity and Judaism you have a heavenly realm that is spiritual. Certainly, Taosim, Buddhism, and Hinduism speak of a spiritual realm.

Yet, the reality of evil is ever apparent in our world. It is constantly in the news. This is true of the evil that is caused by humanity against itself, and the suffering that is caused by natural events. These natural events include pandemics, earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, predatory animals. While our planet is a wondrously beautiful place it is likewise extremely dangerous for some. So, the problem of evil and suffering is very real. Juxtaposed against the overriding view of most religions which in some way insist that God, the creative source, is “love” it creates the problem of suffering and evil for sure.

Christianity blames it on the fall of humanity when humans chose to have the knowledge of good and evil over innocence. But atheists and agnostics claim, and I believe rightly so, that even if humanity chose to fall, the ultimate responsibility lies with the creator and creation. While I believe that Paul received a ton of mystical revelation from Source, he missed the boat with his question does the clay have the right to question the potter? Comparing pottery to an individual soul is a lousy comparison. Especially when this same Paul received the mystical revelation that defines love and therefore defines God and insisted that one of God’s attributes was to not keep records of wrongs.

So how can we vindicate God? How can one relieve the Source from the responsibility of evil? The only way that I can see is if one begins to accept a view closer to what some of the cognitive scientists mentioned above are beginning to find in their psychological studies. Likewise, what Dr. Hoffman is discovering with his experiments with the mathematical model results of evolution as it relates to consciousness and conscious agents. When you add to this the understanding of Rupert Sheldrake in morphic resonance and the existence of morphic fields. This is piling on but necessary. Add to this the concept of Carl Jung and the collective unconsciousness, and the quantum fields of quantum mechanics and a picture emerges that the source is in fact a divine field of creative consciousness. This is the description of the spiritual world. This is what Christianity calls heavenly places. It is the realm of the Logos and the Tao.

One of the key teachings of Jesus was that we are an integral part of the divine matrix. As he was the word incarnate so are we. What else could John have meant by saying that as he is in the world so are we? What else could inspire Peter to claim that we are partakers of the divine nature? What else could Jesus mean when he stated that he was in the father and the father was in him, and subsequently we humans were in the father and in him and he and the father were in us? The point of this is that we are co-creators in this cosmic dance where the spiritual realm births the material.

Imagine if you will a field of conscious energy that is likely two dimensional and we are all points of individual expressions of divine consciousness. Dr. Bernardo Kastrup has theorized that we are dissociative personalities (split personalities) of the grand divine consciousness. Also imagine that without material reality it is a field of thought only. Imagine that with geometry the source can create more dimensions. Imagine that in creating dimensions there are interesting problems. Imagine that entropy and atrophy are an example of the many problems created. Imagine if you will the freedom that is felt from choosing to participate in this divine creative dance. However, also imagine that the nature of the divine field of consciousness is love and peace. Finally, imagine that every soul that has lived, every animal, every tree, flower, and rock is an integral part of this divine field of creative consciousness.

Each soul in the creative act realizes and knows that it is eternal and cannot be destroyed. Each soul at the basic level has no concept of time and is only and always in the present now. To that soul, the real us, there is no actual harm or pain that can affect us. After all, we are indeed eternal. However, the challenges of material reality are exciting and invigorating. The problems of this existence, no matter how difficult, are the driving force of our existential happiness and satisfaction. While it is true that solving these problems can be exhausting, we have the ability to choose when to dance, and when to rest in the dance of life. Does this resonate with your soul at all?

I am suggesting that one of the problems that we have chosen to solve is the problem with evil. However, we are all in it. We are all Hitler, and we are all Mother Theresa. This dance is not unlike a drama. The poets among us have told us that all the world is a stage. Our goal in the drama is to solve the problem of evil with love and peace. All of the mystical revelation points toward this end. This drama includes reincarnation and karma and on and on. People often ask or say, this life is so tough, why would anyone choose to do it again? The answer should be obvious. Why do we not get tired of playing games to win, and if we do get tired why do we get the urge to take the game up another day, hoping for a better result?

If this is the case, and intuitively I believe it is, then it is not incompatible with the best parts of all the great world religions. Jesus, the father, the holy spirit are all compatible with this idea. The only thing that is not compatible with it is orthodoxy in the form of unchangeable dogma. In this view, God, the source is completely vindicated!