The Free Radical

God

I think, today, I’d like to tackle God… so to speak.

Of all the words in the English language— and its correlates in all others— the word “God” certainly has the most diverse meaning. In fact, it may very well be that “God” means something uniquely different to each and every individual on the planet.

It is also one of the most emotionally charged words available, conjuring a spectrum of responses ranging from ridicule and outrage to fawning love and devotion.

There was a time, in my youth, when any serious mention of god was immediately met with a brick wall of denial and a clear view of my backside hurrying away. I was somewhat less than sympathetic to the god hypothesis, which I had dismissively branded as hopelessly delusional.

Finally, as I grew up— and continue to do so— I realized that the actual viability of the god hypothesis was solely and unreasonably dependent upon how “God” was defined.

And here we are.

Now, when someone, anyone, explains some crucial aspect of life, the universe and everything to me utilizing the word “god,” I just automatically substitute my own personalized definition for the term. I should point out that I am now perfectly accepting of the god hypothesis if you allow me this one smidgeon of leeway.

My definition of “God”— the one with which I am perfectly happy— is that God is the intelligence of the universe. This intelligence is both imminent and transcendent. We, as willful sovereigns, are able to freely choose to align and partner with this divine intelligence (its imminent aspect), or we can choose to oppose (or deny) it.

That the universe is intelligent seems rather obvious to me. The contrary notion that a complex system characterized by unconscious randomness, haphazard differentiation, developmental willy-nilliness, can and will produce the genius we witness among biological expression on Earth seems to be an untenable and illogical break with any reasonable notion of what intelligence is in the first place. I submit that the genius of say a William Shakespeare is due to more than the repeated smashings of rocks together in the accidental casino of universal conniptions lasting billions of years.

Human— and all biological— intelligence is a reflection of the inherent intelligence of the system which allegedly produced (created) it.

That’s how I see it.

(A Murder of Crows by Good God, a UK prog-jazz-fusion band, from their 1972 self-titled album)

(The Revealing Science of God – Dance of the Dawn by Yes from their album Tales from Topographic Oceans)

(My God by Jethro Tull from their 1971 album Aqualung)

(God Won’t Mind by my band Missing Peace from our 2016 album Second Thoughts)