The Unknowable God

Hinduism
He truly knows Brahman who knows him as beyond knowledge; he who thinks that he knows, knows not. The ignorant think that Brahman is known, but the wise know him to be beyond knowledge. (Kena Upanishad 2.3)

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55.8-9)

Buddhism
Who sees Me by form, who seeks Me in sound, perverted are his footsteps upon the Way; for he cannot perceive the Tathagata. (Diamond Sutra 26)

Jainism
There exists no simile to comprehend him. He is formless existence. He is what baffles all terminology. There is no word to comprehend him. He is neither sound nor form nor odor nor taste nor touch. (Acarangasutra 5.140)

Taoism
The way that can be spoken of is not the eternal Way. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. (Tao Te Ching 1)

Islam No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision. He is above all comprehension, yet is acquainted with all things. (Qur'an 6.103)

Have you seen him who makes his desire his god, and God sends him astray purposely, and seals up his hearing and his heart, and sets on his sight a covering? Who, then, will lead him after God [has condemned him]? Will you not then heed? (Qur'an 45.23)

Baha'i Faith
To every discerning and illuminated heart it is evident that God, the unknowable Essence, the Divine Being, is immensely exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and regress. Far be it from His glory that human tongue should adequately recount His fathomless mystery. He is, and hath ever been, veiled in the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men. (Gleanings 46-47)

This people, all of them, have pictured a god in the realm of the mind, and worship that image which they have made for themselves…. Consider then, how all the peoples of the world are bowing the knee to a fancy of their own contriving, how they have created a creator within their own minds, and they call it the Fashioner of all that is - whereas in truth it is but an illusion. Thus are the people worshipping only an error of perception. (Selections from the Writings of Abdul'Baha 53-54)

In the movie version of Carl Sagan's book, Contact, the theologian and the scientist address the existence of God. The scientist refers to Occam's Razor - a supposition that all things being equal, the simplest explanation tends to be closest to the truth. The scientist asks if it is more likely that God created human beings and the universe and then hid any trace of Himself or that God simply does not exist and human beings created the concept of God to feel more secure and comfortable in an otherwise mostly enigmatic reality. In the book, God plants an explicit message about His existence in the ranges of the calculation of pi that can only be reached by extremely powerful computers. The mechanism is a clever resolution of the conflict between science and religion in the story. As scientific explanations outstrip the utility of religious cosmological explanations concerning the workings of physical reality, the plot of the story allows God to provide unquestionable scientific evidence of His existence. Given the unlikely resolution of the question of God's existence in this manner, modern humans must seek the answer as it has been sought in the past, through His Messengers - His presence.

All of the world's religions present God as beyond human understanding. God is essentially unknowable. Human beings can no more understand the workings of the author of reality than an ant can understand human society. Fewer than half a billion years of evolution separate humans and ants. The distance between humans and the primal cause is infinite. God is the most hidden of the hidden - the primary mystery of the universe. The search to know and understand God is therefore unlimited. There can never be an end to the search. God will always be unattainable. No one can observe God independently of the way in which He makes Himself known.

The scriptures of the world's religions refer to the unknowable and therefore indescribable essence of God and to the tendency of humans, nevertheless, to create descriptions of God that are mistaken for His reality. The Qur'an instructs us to "Invent not similitudes for God; for God knows, and you know not" (Islam. Qur'an 16.74). The first part of the statement is similar to the statement from the Ten Commandmants - "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Judaism. Exodus 20:1-2). It is also similar to texts from Jainism and Buddhism. "There exists no simile to comprehend him. He is formless existence. He is what baffles all terminology. There is no word to comprehend him. He is neither sound nor form nor odor nor taste nor touch" (Jainism. Acarangasutra 5.140). "Who sees Me by form, who seeks Me in sound, perverted are his footsteps upon the Way; for he cannot perceive the Tathagata" (Buddhism. Diamond Sutra 26). An image or likeness of God, whether physical or intellectual, is not to be confused with God.

The confusion is nevertheless the norm for most of us most of the time. Our approach to God through this life is intimately related to how we conceive of God. For most of us our religious education involves how we are to think about God. We are taught theology. I remember being told in grade school religion class that the pagans ignorantly bowed down before statues that they had carved and worshiped as God. The statues, I was instructed, were just stone. They were not God and could not fulfill the prayers of their suppliants. I was then instructed in the concept of the Trinity, which, I was assured, was the correct concept of God.

A representative statement from Hinduism teaches, "He truly knows Brahman who knows him as beyond knowledge; he who thinks that he knows, knows not. The ignorant think that Brahman is known, but the wise know him to be beyond knowledge" (Hinduism. Kena Upanishad 2. 1-3). The passage admonishes us not to confuse the concept or image of God with the reality of God. This is not to say that having an understanding of God is not acceptable. Apart from His presence and His revelation of Himself to us, all we have are our images and concepts. Discussing God, particularly in pursuit of a closer relationship with Him, is reasonable for us. The above passage of scripture refers to the difference between two human conditions with respect to the images we hold. Some think of the image as God. Some understand that it is not. The scriptures admonish us to understand the difference. The last chapter referred to the opening line of the Tao concerning the unknowable nature of God. Its reiteration is appropriate as one of the most elegant expressions of the concept. "The way that can be spoken of is not the eternal Way. The name that can be named is not the eternal name" (Taoism. Tao Te Ching 1). Or, as I have heard it expressed, "if you understand the Tao, it is not the Tao."

The following two passages from the scriptures of the Baha'i Faith, speak directly to the unknowable nature of God and to our tendency to, nevertheless, worship the concepts we hold of God.

To every discerning and illuminated heart it is evident that God, the unknowable Essence, the Divine Being, is immensely exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and regress. Far be it from His glory that human tongue should adequately recount His fathomless mystery. He is, and hath ever been, veiled in the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men. (Baha'i Faith. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, 46-47)

This people, all of them, have pictured a god in the realm of the mind, and worship that image which they have made for themselves…. Consider then, how all the peoples of the world are bowing the knee to a fancy of their own contriving, how they have created a creator within their own minds, and they call it the Fashioner of all that is - whereas in truth it is but an illusion. Thus are the people worshipping only an error of perception. (Baha'i Faith. Selections from the Writings of Abdul'Baha, 53-54)

The dichotomy presented by having to know an unknowable God is an essential aspect of the relationship between man and God. The scriptures tell us of God and that the purpose of our existence is to know God. The theme is reiterated throughout the scriptures. The following is an example from the Baha'i scriptures. "The purpose of God in creating man hath been, and will ever be, to enable him to know his Creator and to attain His Presence" (Baha'i Faith. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, 71).

Yet the scriptures also tell us that God is beyond human comprehension. A resolution to the paradox can be glimpsed through examining the verse in Isaiah that refers to God as One "who hidest thyself" (Judaism. Isaiah 45.15). God hides Himself to protect us from His overwhelming presence. None can stand or exist in the presence of God. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Judaism. Isaiah 55.8-9). Free will, or the choice to turn to God, is the measured capacity He gives us to stand in His presence. There is no way to overview God. He cannot be "seen" or "heard" except as He makes Himself known. Implicit in the human situation is the requirement of submission of our view to His view if we are to know Him as other than our image of Him. Finding God is conditioned on both His will and our will.

The capacity of human beings to recognize the excellence of their Creator pivots on their freedom to reject or accept the view. Our freedom of choice is an essential aspect of our capacity to know God. The author of reality makes Himself known to human beings through the mechanism of free will, the independent approach to His presence. God reveals His own Self as the most obvious of the obvious to those who are willing to forgo the primacy of their own view and let God speak for Himself. In order to attain the presence of God, we must willingly accept the primacy of God's view over our own.

Christianity
For many… live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. (Philippians 3:18-19)

Hinduism
Fools misjudge me when I take a human form, because they do not know my supreme state as Lord of Beings. Unconscious, they fall prey to beguiling nature such as belongs to ogres and demons, for their hopes [ascribing to God human motives] are vain, and so are their rituals and their search for wisdom. (Bhagavad Gita 9.11-12)

Have you seen him who makes his desire his god, and God sends him astray purposely, and seals up his hearing and his heart, and sets on his sight a covering? Who, then, will lead him after God [has condemned him]? Will you not then heed? (Islam. Qur'an 45.23)

Buddhism
Who sees Me by form, who seeks Me in sound, perverted are his footsteps upon the Way; for he cannot perceive the Tathagata. (Diamond Sutra 26)

All acquisitions [i.e., grasping] as well as play of concepts [i.e., symbolic representations] are basically in the nature of cessation and quiescence. Any factor of experience with regards to anyone at any place was never taught by the Buddha. (Nagarjuna, Mulamadhyamaka Karika 25)

Intrinsically our transcendental nature is void and not a single thing can be attained. It is the same with the Essence of Mind, which is a state of Absolute Void. (Sutra of Hui Neng 2)

The world's scriptures are replete with warnings against the worship of false gods. "Verily We have raised in every nation a messenger, proclaiming, 'Serve God and shun false gods'" (Islam. Qur'an 16.36). "There shall be in you no strange god and you shall not worship a foreign god" (Judaism. Psalm 81.10). Idolatry is the worship of something other than God. "The law against idolatry outweighs all other commandments" (Judaism. Mekilta Exodus 12:6).

The most readily available idols are the objects of our desires. "What is the 'foreign god' within a man's body? It is the evil impulse" (Judaism. Shabbat 105b). When our desires conflict with the way of God, we often choose our way - "the evil impulse." Idolatry is submission to our will when we suspect that it conflicts with the will of God. It is the preference for the ways of the world over the ways of heaven. "For many… live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things" (Christianity. Philippians 3:18-19). Another term for submission to our selfish instincts is covetousness - "Covetousness, which is idolatry" (Christianity. Colossians 3:5).

The injunction not to worship a false god pertains primarily to our selfishness and our preference for our will as opposed to the will of God. The warning in the scriptures is directed at our malevolent inclinations. It is not a warning against entrapment by inaccurate theology. Idolatry is submission to our limited desires for our own ends, the worship of things subject to corruption. Some concepts of God might be more sophisticated and inclusive than others; however, the injunction to follow the one true God concerns a choice between our will and God's will. It is not a directive to fight over which concept of God is the "right" one. "Have you seen him who makes his desire his god, and God sends him astray purposely, and seals up his hearing and his heart, and sets on his sight a covering? Who, then, will lead him after God [has condemned him]? Will you not then heed?" (Islam. Qur'an 45.23). God knows our disposition with respect to Him and has the final word about our relationship with Him. The relative accuracy of our theology is no substitute for His presence, which cannot be attained without submission to His will over our desires. "Through the abandonment of desire the Deathless is realized" (Buddhism. Samyutta Nikaya xlvii.37).