The God Theory

THE GOD THEORY
Universes, Zero-Point Fields, and What's Behind It All
by Bernard Haisch

I have just finished a slender-but-deep book that parallels some of my own thinking, and my own God Hypothesis. Since I was steered toward a Deist worldview by cutting-edge developments in Science, rather than ancient arguments in Philosophy, this book was right down my empirical alley. The author is an Astro-Physicist, who was raised as a Catholic, and considered going into the priesthood. But he later decided that the novelties of Science were more interesting than the certainties of Religion. Like me, he never completely rejected the idea of God or the necessity for some form of Spirituality, but he gradually grew apart from the rigid dogmas and empty rituals of staid Religiosity.

In this book he uses some examples of those leading-edge scientific discoveries and theories to support a novel, and yet ancient, concept of God. As the subtitle indicates, he covers Superstring & Multiverse theories, along with Zero-Point Energy & the Anthropic Principle to illustrate the deficiencies of the traditional Materialistic/Deterministic doctrines of modern science. However, he lays his cards on the table in the preface: "What I propose is an infinite conscious intelligence---so let's call it God---who has infinite potential, whose ideas become the laws of physics of our universe and others, and whose purpose in so doing is the transformation of potential into experience." He even speculates that, "God experiences the richness of his potential through us because we are the incarnations of him in the physical realm." However, he also offers this disclaimer: "What I present here is a theory that looks promising, not scientific proof."

Although he repudiates the self-imposed materialist limitations of science, he goes on to say, ". . . but I am pretty certain there is nothing within our modern corpus of scientific knowledge that contradicts the God Theory." In other words, it's unwarranted assumptions rather than specific facts that cause most modern scientists to repudiate any notion of non-material causes in this world. One example of his reinterpretation of the evidence is the idea of "Creation By Subtraction". I won't go into the details here, but he concludes: "By limiting the infinitely possible, you create the finitely real". He goes on to say, "Viewed this way, the process of creation is the exact opposite of making something out of nothing. It is, on the contrary, a filtering process that makes something out of everything." Can I get an amen from Stretmediq?

I may relate some additional ideas from the book later. But suffice it to say that I recommend The God Theory to anyone who feels that God and Science should be, not only compatible, but unified. The author claims to be an "independent Christian", but he seems to be on the road to Deism.

Amen, brother, amen!

Yes, I read that book a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. I especially liked the idea of creation through subtraction that you mentioned.

If I remember correctly the book did get kind of repetitive in places and I remember thinking that the theology was one of the weaker aspects of the book. I found is "zero point energy" theory quite fascinating. It'll be interesting to see if the mainstream scientific world eventually comes to accept it or not.

This is an excerpt from page 67 of “The God Theory”…

Quote :

In the God Theory, consciousness is the primary stuff of reality. Consciousness is able to shape and direct matter. Consciousness, in fact, has created this universe—the planets and stars, the plants and animals, and you and me. This is not accomplished by the kind of miraculous construction-out-of-nothing beloved by fundamentalists, but rather by an infinite intelligence dreaming up an infinite variety of laws and values for physical constants, and then letting those laws and values evolve into the stars and planets and life forms of an infinite number of universes. The Big Bang and evolution are just tools whereby our particular universe and its conscious life forms become actualized, in open-ended, novel, creative ways, not by detailed design.

Through creation, an infinite consciousness provides a kind of a playground for itself. Having done that, it incarnates as individual beings—plants, animals, human beings, extraterrestrials— thereby experiencing diversity and enormous ranges of complexity. In this view, we are all little pieces of the same consciousness that has deliberately fragmented itself so that you can be you and I can be me. Why? The initiating consciousness creates your whole world for its own evolution, its own growth, and, perhaps, its own amusement. This is the essence of the God Theory…

Victor J. Stenger (an Atheist) author of God: The Failed Hypothesis said the mathematics of the universe is the mathematics of zero. I agree with him on that but he then tries to extrapolate an Atheistic argument for why there is something instead of nothing from it. Personally for the reasons I laid out in my essay The Paradox Of Nothingness I think he fails because he confuses "nothing" meaning "without property" with "nothing" meaning "equilibrium". In other words he uses it in an ambiguous way.

stretmediq wrote:

Victor J. Stenger (an Atheist) author of God: The Failed Hypothesis said the mathematics of the universe is the mathematics of zero. I agree with him on that but he then tries to extrapolate an Atheistic argument for why there is something instead of nothing from it. Personally for the reasons I laid out in my essay The Paradox Of Nothingness I think he fails because he confuses "nothing" meaning "without property" with "nothing" meaning "equilibrium". In other words he uses it in an ambiguous way.

Yes I agree.

The author considers some fundamental religious and philosophical questions.

<< If the God Theory is correct, it has important implications for our everyday lives:

#1 The God of the theory cannot require anything from us for his own happiness.

#2 The God of the theory cannot dislike, and certainly cannot hate, anything that we do or are.

#3 The God of the theory will never punish us, because it would ultimately amount to self-punishment.

#4 There is no literal heaven or hell. >>


These conclusions are derived from a key inference from the God theory:
"The intelligence experiences itself through us because we are one with it."
So here are some of my corollaries and questions:

#1 The whole point of the creation exercise seems to be for God to experience a less-than-perfect existence.
Hence, we enjoy and suffer so that God can feel something . . . anything.

#2 Whatever we choose to do in this life, good or bad, is in accordance with God's ultimate purpose.
But we have no guarantee of achieving our personal purposes in this life. We must be content with less than complete fulfillment.

#3 Our choices are automatically rewarded & punished to some extent by our experience of good & evil in this life.
But our feedback still seems to be somewhat arbitrary and unpredictable, hence unjust.

#4 However, apparently, Justice is not meted-out individually, but perhaps collectively in some final resolution. Is that fair?
Most religions have concluded that this life is not fair and balanced, so restitution must wait for another life of some sort.
Be that as it may, after we are re-united with God, will we be able to sigh, and say, "on balance that was an enjoyable experience"?

The author says, " . . . the probable facts of spirituality are at odds with a great many of the claims of religion".


<< The logical consequences of the God Theory lead us to some inevitable corollaries:

# The purpose of life is experience, God wishes to experience life through you.

# God desires your partnership, not your servility. . . .

# . . . you create your own hell.

# Ultimately, your individual consciousness will be fully reunited with the infinite consciousness of God . . .

# The point of a created universe is to experience it. Life is God made manifest.

# It is in your own best interest to live a life worthy of the creating intelligence . . .

# Your consciousness can be transformed, but it can never die. Your body and mind are merely tools for experiencing physical existence.

# The pursuit of experience through physical life is how the infinite mind actualizes its infinite potential. >>


Are any of these "probable facts" at odds with your own personal beliefs?

Gnomon wrote:

The author says, " . . . the probable facts of spirituality are at odds with a great many of the claims of religion".


<< The logical consequences of the God Theory lead us to some inevitable corollaries:

# The purpose of life is experience, God wishes to experience life through you.

# God desires your partnership, not your servility. . . .

# . . . you create your own hell.

# Ultimately, your individual consciousness will be fully reunited with the infinite consciousness of God . . .

# The point of a created universe is to experience it. Life is God made manifest.

# It is in your own best interest to live a life worthy of the creating intelligence . . .

# Your consciousness can be transformed, but it can never die. Your body and mind are merely tools for experiencing physical existence.

# The pursuit of experience through physical life is how the infinite mind actualizes its infinite potential. >>


Are any of these "probable facts" at odds with your own personal beliefs?

No, some of those things like God experiencing life through me I already thought of.