Paul,
)========= Now dave,...lets get real. lol.
I was being real. This is an important issue.
Let me put it to you another way. How have you established, with your own thinking, that God is actually real? In other words, how have you proven that the entire Universe is not, say, purely the creation of the devil? Or of a borg-like malovalent force? Simply saying "I Am" doesn't mean anything in this context. It doesn't negate the argument I am putting forth.
I get the feeling you are repeating ideas you have read in religious textbooks and haven't properly assessed them with your own rational faculties. I'm not trying to put you down here. I can see that you have already given these matters a lot of thought, but nonetheless, I am of the opinion that the scope of your analysis can be deepened a lot more. It is still hovering harmlessly above an array of unchallenged assumptions.
It could be that all of these textbooks, and all of the so-called "wise people" in the past, are totally on the wrong track. They might be completely misleading you! How have you established that they aren't?
DQ: If God is really One, then why do we see all sorts of diversity and contrasting phenomena in the world? How does the One split up into the many?
P: the diversity, duality, multiplicities are the manifestation of the One Mind creating infinite forms and varities thru-out the totality of the All. God however...is the primal Mind or Ground of Being which is before, behind and beyond all form...being the all-pervading ONE. So 'oneness' is more of a conceptual understanding of Deity in a contextual perception...as far as what is Absolute (this being Mind, Space, Spirit, Light, Intelligence, etc - the Undifferentiated Original Mind-Light, the I AM Self).
Well, you're not really saying anything here. You are simply reiterating your belief that the Many are manifestations of the One.
Diversity naturally exists in creation as forms are created, conceived, perceived by Mind and for Minds own pleasure.
Why is it "natural" for such a Mind to create forms? Why does creating forms give it pleasure? Why does it even need to experience pleasure? How do you know there is even a Mind in the first place?
Too many unfounded assumptions .....
The quandary of the One and the Many has been addressed by some teachers....as such a dilemma can be resolved with contextual understanding metaphysically. If God is All as our original thesis posits....this 'includes' all that is,....all relativities, variety, multiplicities in existence exist in the One Mind/Being that IS. These diversities do not compromise or nullify the integral Unity of Consciousness that these expressions appear in...for there is no other ground or soil in which these things could appear in apart from Consciousness Itself. I see this Mind as being One...manifesting the Many.
Again, all you're doing here is reiterating your belief in the existence of the One.
From all appearances, we are living in a materialistic universe filled with countless solid and discrete objects. Where is this Oneness exactly? Where is this Mind?
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