God And Logos—One

In The End All Questions About Self Are Religious Questions

Empty Self Continued

"Excuse me, but if God is freedom, then God is nothingness, and that
is just wacko," responded MV.

"Not if God is Logos," I said, "and that is just what much of Western
theological tradition used to believe."

"I don't understand?"

"Well, according to Tomas Aquinas," I replied, "being and thought are
one, and reason is divine. The very substance of reality is the
self-embodiment of God as Logos. Recall that Sartre's for-itself not
only implies knowledge and freedom, it also implies `a being other
than itself.' That being is not just the nothingness of the
for-itself, as Sartre believed, rather it is the affirmation of the
here and now, it is the Logos liberated, it is the `birth of the
divine' in each and every one of us—it is the `conscious presence' in
each and every one of us."

"I think it's time to leave," said MV, "Do you recall why we're here?
It's to amuse me! And I'm not amused. I'm not even smiling. Get the
picture?"

"Wait, I'm almost through," I replied. "Just give me a minute."

"Okay," responded MV, "but speed it up, or your God will end—in your
swan song."

"Where was I? Oh, I remember," I said. "The subject sets itself over
against itself in self-consciousness, thus objectifying itself. There
is a re-appropriation of the self's internal differences in
self-consciousness, and with differences identities unfold. God is
mirrored in the human consciousness of `identity and difference'. God
is identical with the self-referential totality of all there is while
at the same time God is different—God is God. `I am what I am' says
the divine in revelation. The connection between self and
consciousness-of-self is one of identity and difference. In God and
freedom the connection is also one of identity and difference. In both
cases, difference implies identity. Man is indeed made in God's image.
There would be no God realization without self-consciousness, and
further, God cannot become fully self-conscious in the here and now
until self-consciousness realizes itself to be the divine
incarnated—God's own consciousness-of-self. Religious consciousness,
in this view, is not mystical, its woven into the ordinary events of
everyday consciousness. In the end, all question's pertaining to self
are religious questions."

"Are you through?"

"Yes," I said. "But there's more."

"Oh, spare me," MV replied. "Just how long can this go on?"

"As long as you let it," I said. "But if it's any consolation, I gave
my last presentation shortly after I finished the paper I wrote for my
kids. That was really the end I guess. It was my best presentation,
but, of course, nobody knew what I was talking about."