This OP makes me feel a bit uncomfortable because of the conclusion, but like most of us here, I am in the pursuit of truth and I would value your thoughts. I am pursuing a line of reasoning that has sprung up since joining this site through my own ops and discussion with other members, and has come into sharper focus after reading StreetlightX's post on ‘A Sketch of the Present’ and debating the origin of life in ‘On the transition from non-life to life’ by Javra, as well as other discussions on creativity. It is not religious but attempts to use reason to offer one interpretation of an omnipotent God and its role in society.

The scientific theory of life begins with the atoms which form into molecules, then cycles and systems, then cell groups and so on until the entire organism is formed. The bottom up way of thinking is intuitive as we can see how constrained systems at a certain point might form new, higher order systems.

It is important to put God in at this level if we wish to express our beliefs and be consistent with the current state of scientific theory. For me, I would prefer to think of God as being innate to all matter: An inherent property (perhaps in the realm of physics not discovered yet) that allows atoms to spontaneously form. Other’s may think of it as a single guiding force in the universe, or a sentient being directing actions, but even so the conclusions when followed through become a little confronting.

If we create a God model that attempts to scientifically explain life step by step, like science does: When the atoms were only atoms and that was the highest order of life, God was forming them into molecules. He was the God of atoms. Once they were constrained as molecules, God was forming them into cycles and systems and so on. There was the God of cycles and systems and so on.

Each layer had an emergent layer put upon it that constrained it. Apokrisis talks a lot of this restraint, so I don't think I need to go too much into it. With the restraint came the loss of freedom - an entropic urge was constrained. Perhaps, if you believe in the 'Old Man' interpretation of God, you could you reason that God was no longer with the atoms and molecules, but had moved on to the next level, growing that into something even greater. (Or if he is still on the level of atoms and molecules, what does that imply?)

Humans became the highest level of order in this continuum, and inherently they sensed a higher order yet again. There was none- yet. Just as at one point there was none for molecules. This higher order notion was not a passing fancy – it arose because it was fundamental to who people were and how they came to be. It was the driving force that had created them, and had created the tiers below them, and so it was innate to them. The idea of God is worldwide.

The higher order people sensed made them believe that there was something that was looking over them, enclosing them from above, just as the cells had enclosed the systems and cycles and just as the systems and cycles had enclosed the molecules that had trapped the atoms. Each level of complexity had arisen from the work of the entities on the lower tier, and God was the driving force.

Humans hunted for the higher order, as they still do. It wasn’t hard to find candidates. When they were in nature, the higher order became the heavens, or nature itself. The idea that ‘what formed people is out there’ was perhaps the innate realisation that there was something out there – even though it had not materialised itself, yet. It was the same force that was acting on the molecules, or that is inside us all (depending on your view).

Sensing this higher order, and conforming to the principles that conceived them, people inadvertently, at local degrees of freedom, without realising the larger scheme into which their own actions played, began to create a higher order: A world larger than themselves, driven by the the directionality of life.

And for a while the new order suited their purposes, there was increased security from other entities (army) and a regular supply of reactants (food) as well as convenient waste removal systems and an immune system – police force. The system allowed communication (media) and central control (government). It was easy to flow through the system (major roads are called arteries), and people began to specialise their skills so that no longer could one person be a jack of all trades.

And so humans continued to build this new order, hardly noticing the constraint that now fell upon them, and certainly not equating it with God – instead, they counted their blessings and understood that security came at a price.

And the constraint continued to tighten. In today’s western society, people are in the grip of constraint by the layers of government and big business above them that they can no longer regulate with any great effect. They are losing their entropic energy of choice and creativity, just like the bound atom had its choices constrained. Compare lifestyles today to that of the 60s and 70s in terms of what we can and can’t do in the eyes of the law, for instance.

The people know it’s happening, that order is being imposed from above and that’s why, across the world, they are trying to choose different leaders and governments who might break the constraint. But, the layer has closed in above us. Is it too late?

So how could we look at this in terms of God, what does it all mean? If you can nod a 'maybe' at the contention so far, you can probably do better with its interpretation than me, but here are some ideas.

If you buy the assertion, then perhaps this is all happening like the building of the tower of Babel. Maybe it is the urge to reach God that is in all life, making it climb, and like the tower of Babel it may all collapse upon itself. Maybe that is God’s will. We will, as Apokrisis has reminded me, consume all the reactants in the bowl of earth.

Or, perhaps the idea of God is merely the sensation in life that there is a higher structure, as that is true of all lower tiers of life, and maybe the notion of God, the feeling of God being present only lasts for only long enough for the next layer to be built and then God moves into that. How are today’s beliefs fairing in western society, where hope is harder to come by? If so, where to next and what’s coming?

OR as a last thought - is society a false God?

Thoughts?