Spiritual Deism

There are actually only three possible options regarding the question or claim of God’s existence.

Once we define God as Ultimate Reality, the claim that “Ultimate Reality exists” results in only three possible choices.

We can accept the claim that Ultimate Reality exists, reject the claim that Ultimate Reality exists, or suspend judgment about the claim that Ultimate Reality exists.

The atheist rejects the claim that Ultimate Reality exists. The deist and theist accept the claim that Ultimate Reality exists, while the agnostic suspends judgment about it.

It has become popular for atheists to claim that they withhold belief in God due to a lack of evidence. But this position is not atheism; it is agnosticism. Their zeal against anyone who believes in God shows that they actually reject the claim that God exists. But they cannot defend that claim, so they redefine their position to avoid the glaring irrationality.

The reason for suffering is that we need resistance in order to build character. Without resistance, you cannot build muscle; without temptation, you cannot build character.

We must understand the importance of suffering. We must recognize that we cannot be brought into Ultimate Reality until we have fully matured. We must become like Ultimate Reality.

Consider the egg. If you help a chick break free and prevent it from struggling, you will kill the bird. It needs that struggle to develop the strength required to survive. We are no different.

Or consider the caterpillar. It forms a chrysalis, and within that confinement it becomes a butterfly. If you break the chrysalis and release it too soon, it will die. We are the same.

We do not like struggle. We do not like suffering or temptation. Yet these are necessary for the formation of character, and character determines destiny. We must become like God, like Ultimate Reality, and the only way to do so is through suffering.

One of the older problems in religion is the problem of suffering: If there is a good God, why is there so much suffering?

The first thing we must realize is that the world was not created for our comfort. The human world is not intended to be a paradise. It is to be an incubator for the growth of consciousness.

Instead of regarding humans as having been created by God in a finished state, it makes more sense to understand that humanity is still in the process of creation. We were not created perfect; we were created as a seed.

Think of proto‑consciousness as the raw material from which an evolved human consciousness arises. The point is for us to grow and become, more and more, like Ultimate Reality. This maturity cannot be accomplished by the Divine alone. It requires the uncoerced responses and willing cooperation of each human individual, through their actions and reactions in the world in which we have been placed.

We need to look at this from a developmental viewpoint. Humankind is a process of becoming the perfected being that the One is seeking to create. The world is not the best possible world; it is the only possible world.

Sins are selfish acts—things we do or say that place our interests above those of others. These are sins of commission: actions we knowingly take.

But there is another side to this: sins of omission. These are the things we refuse to do, even when duty calls, because they would require us to put others before ourselves.

Some sins of omission are simply the things we avoid because they inconvenience us. We recognize the duty, yet we neglect it.

This does not mean we should be at everyone’s beck and call. It means we must discern our duty—what we are truly obligated to do—and act accordingly. It is often harder to recognize sins of omission than sins of commission.

It is easy to see when we cross a line; it is harder to see when we fail to do what we should have done. One helpful question to ask is: What would Gotama do? What would Plotinus do? What would Socrates do? What would Yeshua do?

Evil is knowingly causing harm—harm to humans, animals, or the environment. It is saying or doing something with the intention of hurting another.

We live in an age where evil people are no longer called evil; they are called sick. Serial killers are no longer evil—they are just sick. The child rapist is no longer evil—just sick.

We should not confuse the feeling of sickness we experience when witnessing evil with the nature of the act itself. Evil has not disappeared. It is still here, and changing the label does not change the reality.

And so, if no one is called evil anymore, we fail to recognize when we ourselves act in evil ways. And we do. Part of growing up is taking responsibility for the harm we cause. When we intentionally hurt others to get ahead, it is evil. We need to call it what it is.

These three words—Being, Consciousness, and Bliss—describe the subjective experience of Ultimate Reality, called Brahman in Vedantic philosophy. All three are considered inseparable from the nature of the One. Let’s look closer at each aspect.

First, the One is Being—not a being, but Being Itself. According to the Sufi master Ibn ʿArabī, Ultimate Reality alone has the “oneness of being.” In other words, the One is the only true Being. Everything else is less than Being; process philosophy calls these “events.” The One is Being; all else is becoming.

Second is consciousness. The One is pure consciousness. The One does not think; it knows. It is aware. This is spirit.

Third is bliss. Only one reality experiences pure, uninterrupted happiness and eternal joy, and that is Ultimate Reality.

Ultimate Reality is nondual; it is an absolute unity. That is why Plotinus calls it the One and Gotama calls it the Unconditioned. It is beyond anything we know. The closest we can come to describing it is by saying it is Being, Consciousness, and Bliss.