Thursday 23 October 2014

The Guardian published me

My poem The Solar System Revealed got published by The Guardian :)


Or watch it on the Guardians Witness website HERE

What Is GOD?



I woke up recently with a question in my head. That question was, 'What is GOD?' I considered the question for a while as I was coming to full consciousness and then, in my conscious mind, I completely dismissed the question as an essentially pointless waste of time.

You see, it seemed to me that human beings had been proposing definitions and explanations for who or what GOD is/was since time began and as far as I could make out we were still no closer to really understanding the true nature of what that word actually means. While I accept that there is indeed some universal consensus about what GOD is, collectively we can't even seem to agree whether or not such a thing exists. And even if we consider only that subset of humanity who are believers, it doesn't take long to realise there are as many divisions in thought as there are flowers in a garden. As a precise descriptor therefore, the word seemed to me to be essentially redundant. I stopped thinking about it and got up to eat breakfast.

So, having put the question out of my conscious mind, you can probably imagine my surprise when, two hours later while taking a shower, an answer to that very question started to present itself. The manner in which this presenting occurred being identical to the process by which my poetry comes together. It sort of announces itself to my personal consciousness as being rather important and just a little bit alien. It feels like it's coming from somewhere outside of myself and I am being asked to take dictation. I then have a choice, I can either choose to ignore it or I can grab a pen or keyboard and start writing immediately. Failure to capture the flow straight away usually means it's gone forever. 

On this occasion however I was in the shower, wet and naked, with this thing impressing itself upon my conscious mind. For the first time ever I decided to push back against it, 'If this is really so important' I thought to myself (or it), 'then it can wait until I've finished my shower'. To my surprise it did actually wait and twenty minutes later I settled down with my mobile phone and recorded the following......

What is GOD?

What I am about to say is true but it is also not true and so it is confusing. What I am about to describe contains a paradox and yet there is also no paradox depending upon the observers point of view. It is a paradox because as human beings we occupy a very particular position or space which is also a point of intersection. This particular place is the intersection between the objective external world and our particular and highly subjective internal world.  

With that said here is my definition of GOD.

Objectively God (with a big G) is your environment it is everything external to you, from rocks and trees to birds and bees and consciousness, it is everything beyond you and extends on and into infinity. Subjectively you are the environment therefore you are god (small g) to everything within you, from atoms and molecules to cells and bacteria and consciousness. That is with the exception of the paradox. Because not only is God (big G) out with or without you, God (big G) is also within or in with you and so infinity is realised within a finite universal space (as with a Mobius strip (which incidentally self-replicates when one part is split off from itself))

This goes beyond three dimensional realities into the matrix that is the quantum. As an entity you the flesh and blood human being are merely an interface, a boundary condition, a division between the external and internal worlds that you occupy and that occupy you. 

GOD (all caps) is the entirety of everything. Be kind to your environment and everything within your environment. Be kind to yourself and everything within yourself and in doing so you honour and respect GOD and you will have a heavenly experience. Do the opposite and you will experience life as hellish. As above so below and as we sow so slow below we plant the seeds and feel'd the needs of our brethren.