The Autobiography of “God”---
How Diverse Philosophy breaks out of old categories
Diverse Philosophy helps you break out of old categories. Its thinking is so different that it is difficult to label it. When for example we look at the theological issue of “God” we find that Diverse thinking cannot be contained in old terms, and we have to read a new version of The Autobiography of “God”.
There are some of us on this planet who have a different view of creation and the world. We perceive an existence full of change, evolution, complexity, diversity and contradiction. At first, it is hard to pin down what this thing or process is because its very nature is mobile and unstable. We cannot find any static or eternal “unmoved movers” from which all began. So we say: Creation is change and difference, and change and difference is creation.
Ordinary rational thought hates this idea, for this mindset thinks all is deduced from some original immutable source. Logic proceeds from a first thing which then creates a second thing and then an infinite line of products, all of which are predictable. The first original cause is static and eternal. So when reason shifts its focus from Human thought processes (from which it arose), it tries to understand the cosmos in terms of a university class in logic. It seeks some sort of initial source, an unmoved mover from which all subsequent movement arises. The rational mind thus can only accept an explanation of creation that proceeds from a certain kind of “god”. Diverse Philosophy abandons this thinking.
Others, however, have no problem with describing all of existence as something in flux and full of variety, which has always been in existence. In addition, this first source, if there is one, is not static at all. Big Bangs and other origins are not static things but full of variety and energy. And perhaps these initial conditions have been preceded by other states in the history of existence. And further, many cycles of existence may have occurred in the eternal story of creation, eternally forward and backward. And more, perhaps there are creative subsumes occurring in parallel simultaneously. And what if the initial condition arises from a complex combination of factors, and cannot be reduced to a singular cause? As of yet, we do not know the full The Autobiography of “God”.
This general type of initial condition is called a “Subsume”. It is one phase in a great cycle from a pregnant whole to elaboration and diversification. Subsumes produce variety and evolution. And eventually this process leads back to new Subsumes. What lies behind all of this is unknown. (See article: Returning to the Subsume)
These views are not expressed because we are trying to be evasive or “cute”. They follow from the ‘objective’ nature of the cosmos. It is hard to get a grip on it. Creation is complex and chaotic. But we can get a handle on it -- if we think in terms of a “Diverse” and not a “Universe”. A Diverse produces diversity, difference, and the drive of differentiation that produces infinite variety and constant change (and change is infinite variety over time). Also, the Diverse will at times collapse things back to an initial whole or produce new wholes side by side with the elaborated variety of the world.
This view of existence competes with others. Diverse Philosophy produces its own kind of theology. It fully accepts science but goes farther to ask some basic questions about creation and Humankind, and the relation between the two. Who are we? What is our fate? What are we evolving toward? What is the proper proportion of a Human in relation to all creation? Do we have a soul? Do we have a form of immortality? The Autobiography of “God” addresses these issues too.
Given this perspective, people might ask: Are we atheists? Monotheists? Agnostics? Polytheists? And so on...
Are we atheists? An atheist is someone who does not believe in “god”. By conventional definitions, we do not believe in a god, that is, a super-personality, a supreme being. We believe that the cosmos is a great collection of phenomena; it is driven by great forces. It is not conscious like a person. It does not have will, dreams, plans, opinions and so on.
The cosmos is a Diverse and this is its personality. It is simply behaves, acts, exists and manifests itself. Its differentiation and evolution is its core nature. So if god is a personality and not a force or condition or network, then we are “atheists”.
However, by other definitions of “god”, it could be said that we are not atheists. For some see “god” as a force or thing or cluster of forces or interconnected things.
Are we monotheists? Well, no, monotheism holds there is one “god” or one source, cause, law of all things. We believe in a cosmos that is diverse, we call it the ‘Diverse’, by its very nature it is pluralistic, complex, interconnected, chaotic, and constantly evolving. The cosmos cannot be reduced to a one. So, no, we are not monotheists in the usual sense.
The world is diverse, we call iso-think the outlook that reduces reality down to one cause or principle, because it isolates only one singular aspect of a complex thing and process and tosses out the rest of the complexity.
On the other hand, we do not see any other realm of existence except the Diverse. There are no other dimensions or universes or so on. There is one Diverse, though it may be very complex and layered, and may in the future reveal surprisingly new realms. Because we say there is one Diverse you may in a way consider us “monotheists”, in that we see one interconnected vast cosmos and not multiple ones. If a new world appears it is not because a realm outside the Diverse has appeared, it simply means a world within the Diverse but hidden to us due to our limited knowledge has appeared, and surprised us.
More, we do think that differentiation is the key force of creation, so you could say this is a “one” and so we are monotheists. The problem of course is that this one force is manifested in a large variety of ways --- as difference, individuation, duality, evolution, creativity, chaos and much more. So this diverse core force is diverse itself.
And then the manifestation of this force in each distinct thing or process is different, how the power of differentiation works in each realm of the cosmos, in each kind of entity or field of human sociology or psychology is different. This is because the Diverse has created a universal force but at the same time has created a diversity of phenomena from physics to biology to economics to emotions to art and more. This force of diversity meets another kind of diversity of different things and different conditions.
So at each point when we try to postulate a “one” and lean toward monotheism, we are driven back by diversity and differentiation itself.
Does that mean we are polytheists? No, not that either, polytheism refers to many gods. As said above, for each polytheist argument we can retort with a monotheist one of how the Diverse is also a one of sorts.
Given the conventional views of modern religion, some may conclude we are a kind of polytheist, but technically that is not true. Our views are far too complicated and dualistic for that. And we are not playing an intellectual game, we are reporting the facts as we see them. Creation transcends ordinary logic or “common sense”. Our “god” is far too smart to make a cosmos that is so simplistic, one-sided and absolute.
We do see the cosmos as being a great complexity, and you may refer to the major feature forces and laws of this cosmos as ‘gods’ if you wish. But at the same time, we see them as all related to the greater concept of diversity and differentiation. Some people will see us as polytheists just because we speak of a ‘many’ but our many is connected to a one also, so it is a little different.
But ultimately we do not care how we or how this philosophy is depicted. You cannot fit it into old categories or “anti-categories”, this viewpoint breaks out of them. As for the term “god”, some diverse thinkers may object to it, others may not. The author does not, as long as it is understood that god IS the Diverse and thus this god is diverse in nature. It is not worth arguing about mere words, it is the content that is important. And who is willing to say that some cultural tradition is ALL wrong. Transitions and mixes take place as Humanity evolves. This too is an example of differentiation and diversity.
Let’s ask some more questions:
Are we agnostics? No, that means that we are not sure if there is a god or not. We do not believe in ‘god’ in the conventional sense as said before. We use a revised definition of ‘god’ that includes forces, laws and things. We are quite sure that these exist. So we cannot be agnostics.
Some people use agnostic in another sense, not so much about belief in god, but about belief in a moral or spiritual codex. We are not agnostic in that sense either because we believe that a Diverse provides us with many spiritual ideas: Love of the different, respect of individuality and free will, respect of diversity, connection with Nature, the golden rule, faith in change, directness, returning to the Subsume and much more. These follow from the principles of difference and diversity.
When we apply the concepts that we see in objective reality to the subjective reality of Human beings, then we discover a host of moral, psychological and theological rules for living. So while the Diverse is not a super-personality it does provide big clues on how to live a proper life under its cosmic set of rules.
We are the conscious Diverse; Nature and the Cosmos are the unconscious Diverse. We can learn principles and axioms from our surroundings. Further, we are a species that is evolving out of Nature to a new state. This new behavior breaks out of the animal into new traits and virtues such as universal love and compassion, spirituality, immortality and more.
One who believes in a Diverse cannot be an agnostic about these issues. If you are not sure about a Diverse, then you are not sure what your own behavior should be. Some say that moral codes are purely arbitrary conventions. Some are, some are not. Many of the best and long-lasting codexes can be traced back to the Diverse. Subjective rules do have some basis in objective reality, they are not purely arbitrary. Behaviors that work in Nature will also work amongst Human beings, if we know how to translate them to our special circumstances.
Likewise, the cosmos is not some hostile place with laws completely against Human beings. There is wisdom in Nature; there are solutions in difference and diversity. We are not completely alone without a mentor. We are not a self-invention, only partly so.
Another question: Are we deists? A deist is someone who thinks that god created the cosmos then sat back and let it run itself, that is, he took the 7th day as his day of rest and he’s been resting ever since. Well, we think that the Diverse is open for business all the time. If you wish to call the Diverse “god”, it is not at rest. It is active in infinite ways over the entire cosmos and in constant change. This “god” is within you and all around you, it is the force and dynamic and life of all things.
This “god” not only “runs” present existence but it also subverts this existence with creativity, evolution and with returns to Subsumes both old and new. In the old deist model the cosmos was a clock – god made the clock, it began to run on its own, god took a hiatus. In the Diverse model, “god” makes a clock, then he tinkers with the clock, remakes the clock, creates new competing clocks, destroys clocks and starts all over with no clock in a Subsume. Diverse “god” is forever busy, unpredictable, radical, creative and a nihilist too.
Further, we would see “god” and creation and the present cosmos as the same phenomenon. “God” is the origin, all history and evolution, and the present, and all of the infinite future. We do not divide “god” up into parts or functions, “god” is everything, everywhere, in all epochs, in ourselves, in the world, throughout the cosmos and forever into the future, and forever into the past. It is that big.
And more, “god” keeps evolving, it keeps differentiation, for “god” is essentially a Diverse. “God” is the Diverse, Diverse is “god”. “God” is everything, everything is “god”. The Autobiography of “God” covers all things.
Are we “god’? No. But the force of the cosmos, the Diverse is within us, as it is in all things. “God” would be the origin and the totality of all things, we cannot claim to be that. We have a bit of cosmic magic within us, a bit of god, a bit of the Diverse “holy spirit” within us, that is the only claim we can make, but it is a profound claim. Within us, this Diverse spirit becomes conscious, it becomes a managed power.
Humans, of course, are flawed and imperfect beings, we are constantly struggling to higher levels of knowledge and skill. Our claim to divinity is thus only partial; this divinity represents only an ideal in us. It is the drive to evolve, it is a process. When you ignore the divine within you, then you have no impulse to change, you are content to stay in a fixed state and not evolve. This self satisfied state is all too common in our time.
Cage Innoye
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