This podcast explores the enduring human inquiry into "God" by employing a unique "triangulation" method, investigating the concept through three distinct yet complementary lenses: religion, history, and quantum science. It posits that while religion offers a direct, personal investigation through revelation and experience, history analyzes the profound societal impact of the God-concept over time. Crucially, the text delves into how modern science, particularly Quantum Field Theory (QFT), surprisingly resonates with ancient mystical insights, revealing a universe characterized by fundamental unity, potentiality, and interconnectedness. Ultimately, the essay suggests that a more complete understanding of the divine emerges from the convergence and dialogue among these diverse modes of inquiry, rather than from any single perspective.
The Triangulation of the Divine.mp3
000. The Triangulation of Reality.pdf
The question of God is arguably the most enduring and profound inquiry in human history. It is a query that predates formal philosophy, written history, and empirical science, residing in the deepest strata of human consciousness. To investigate "God" is not to place a deity under a microscope, for such an object of inquiry, by its very definition, transcends empirical capture. Rather, it is to investigate the ultimate nature of reality, consciousness, meaning, and origin through the diverse lenses of human experience and understanding. This essay will speculate on how God, or the concept of God, can be investigated through three distinct yet potentially complementary domains: the revelatory framework of religion, the documentary record of history, and the foundational description of reality offered by science, with a special focus on the mind-bending implications of Quantum Field Theory.
Religion is the most ancient and direct methodology for investigating God. It operates not through detached observation but through participatory engagement, built upon the pillars of revelation, tradition, and personal experience. In the Abrahamic faiths, God is investigated through sacred texts believed to be divinely inspired, revealing a personal, willful, and transcendent being. The "data" in this investigation is the narrative of God's interaction with humanity, the moral laws He provides, and the covenantal relationship He offers. The process of inquiry is one of faith, prayer, scriptural study, and communal worship, designed to align the individual soul with the divine will.
In Eastern traditions like Hinduism and Buddhism, the investigation takes a more introspective turn. Here, "God" is often conceptualized not as a separate creator-figure but as the ultimate, undifferentiated reality—Brahman or the Void (Śūnyatā). The methodology is not primarily textual fealty but the rigorous practice of meditation and mindfulness. The goal is to strip away the illusions of the ego and the fragmented self (maya) to directly experience the fundamental unity of consciousness and existence. The mystics of all traditions, from the Sufis of Islam to the Christian contemplatives and Zen masters, report similar findings from their inward journeys: a sense of timelessness, profound interconnectedness, and the dissolution of the self into a boundless, luminous reality. While subjective and ineffable, the remarkable consistency of these mystical accounts across disparate cultures and eras constitutes a compelling, if non-empirical, body of evidence about a potential dimension of reality accessible through disciplined consciousness.
Thus, religion investigates God by providing a language and a toolkit for a first-person exploration of the divine. It posits that the primary instrument of investigation is not a telescope or a particle accelerator, but the human consciousness itself, refined and focused.