TED Conversations

• Denis Fitzpatrick
• Langley B.c.
• Canada

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It's not a fact that God is not...it's that God is not a fact. God is a symbol.

Many intellectuals argue for the existence of God ... others argue against.

But what if both types, the atheists (who usually emphasize the damage the word has done) and the theist (who often note the benefits) sometimes mistake a SYMBOL for a sign... as if the word were a signifier, meant to reference something specific.

Symbols, however, such as a favourite piece of music or poetry or other art-work, have a way of transforming and intensifying our ordinary awareness... even altering our perception at times... or inducing a deep sense of mystery in the moment. Who would ever claim that a symbol was true or false? Either it transforms consciousness or it doesn't. One would hardly claim that a piece of music points beyond itself... ?

And what of the insights and realizations that dawn on us when we are struck by a symbol ? Its as if we borrowed from the world of our senses, to capture and express inner realities, inaccessible to the senses. However, to demand that a spatial-temporal reference be given for a symbol, or else we won't consider it “true”, is analogous to demanding that we find the location of a specific idea in the brain, or we will not be able to claim that the idea truly exists ! Can't something be symbolically true, without ever being literally, historically, and factually true ? Examples: people don't get “struck” by symbols in a physical sense ! Truth doesn't actually “dawn” on us !


Soooo... what if God neither “is” nor “is not”... ?

I would love to hear different perspectives on this topic...