The Idea of God

The idea of God in Western philosophies can be traced back to two historical roots: the Bible and Greek philosophy.

When Jeremiah saw that all he had worked for in his life had collapsed, when his people turned away from Yahweh, there was one thing that comforted him: it was enough that God exists. It doesn't matter whether immortality exists, it is irrelevant whether God forgives, and there is no goal left to be achieved in the world. If everything is lost, one thing, God, remains. Even if this worldly life—together with the faith in divine providence—is lost, one thing remains: God, the victorious reality. This single reality is not expressed abstractly but descends into earthly existence.

The Greek philosophers said similar things, but with different words. They knew that polytheism was sustained only by custom because, in nature, there is only one God. This God is invisible, unlike anyone else. They conceived of God as the world principle, cosmic law, fate, providence, or the demiurge. However, the God of the Greek thinkers was an intellectual construct, not the living God of Jeremiah. Essentially, the two are identical. From this dual source, Western theology and philosophy have derived countless varying concepts of God.

Contemporary philosophers avoid the question of God's existence. They do not assert that God exists, but they do not deny it either. However, philosophical thought is obliged to take a stance on this issue. The question of God is usually debated in terms of propositions and counter-propositions.

Let us examine these propositions:

The theological proposition: We know God because He revealed Himself to certain people, from the prophets to Jesus. Without revelation, God has no reality for humans and cannot be approached through thought. However, even without biblical revelation, there was certainty about the reality of God.

The counter-proposition: Since every proof of God's existence can be refuted, God does not exist. This conclusion is also false. For the non-existence of God is just as unprovable as His existence. The arguments for the existence of God are essentially different from scientific proofs. These are human attempts to express, through thought, the experience of rising to God. God cannot be the subject of compulsory knowledge. He cannot be experienced by our senses. He is invisible. One cannot see Him; one can only believe in Him.

But where does this belief come from? Its source is not within the boundaries of worldly experiences but in human freedom. The person who is aware of their freedom finds proof of God. Freedom and God are inseparable. Why? I do not achieve freedom through myself; I receive it. And if I do not receive it, I cannot demand it. The greatest freedom is experienced in independence from the world, and this freedom is deeply connected to transcendence. Freedom is the existence of man, and its power is my certainty of God. If my certainty of freedom coincides with my certainty of God's existence, then there must be a connection between the denial of freedom and the denial of God. If I have not experienced the miracle of my own existence, I do not need a connection to God. I am satisfied with the concrete existence of nature, with many gods, with demons. On the other hand, there is a certain connection between the belief in freedom without God and the deification of man. This is an illusory, self-made freedom in which man wishes to feel absolute and independent. I entrust myself to the power of my will and the acceptance of death's challenge. The self-deception that I am by myself transforms my freedom into something aimless and empty. God exists for me to the extent that I become my true self in my freedom. He is not present as content in my knowledge, but as something that can only be approached through my existence. The enlightenment of our existence as freedom does not prove the concrete existence of God but points to the domain where one can be certain of Him. Thinking that seeks compulsory, binding certainty will not achieve its goal with any proof of God's existence. God will never be a tangible object in the world. In our freedom, we must not obey tangibilities and worldly powers. If God's wisdom were always shining before us in all its majesty, if He were an absolute authority that would tolerate no contradiction in the world, we would be nothing but puppets of His will. However, God wants us to be free. Instead of a science about God, philosophy leads us to a comprehensive, substantial consciousness of God. "God is." We cannot fully grasp this reality, for it means nothing to our reason or sensory experience. Its meaning can only be experienced when we "transcend," when we penetrate behind the object world. We achieve the purpose of our life when we discover the true reality, God. This faith rejects all forms of mediation; this faith is not confined to dogmas, nor is it bound to historical reality. Man is always directly, independently related to God. What matters is not our knowledge of God but our relationship with Him. Our attitude toward God is described by three commandments: "You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness!" "You shall have no other gods before me!" "Your will be done!" The God of faith is a distant God, a mysterious God, an unprovable God. Philosophy does not give us this knowledge; it can only awaken us to it, remind us of it. In philosophy, we understand what we already know.

Karl Jaspers "Bevezetés a filozófiába" Európa Könyvkiadó, Budapest, 1989