"Regarding the argument for the existence of God; holding that the existence of the concept of God entails the existence of God" (or any other subject matter) Does the idea of something manifest the existence of that thing? Where then is causality?
by 
Macmedic and yet ... here I am
ANSWERS: 4
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An idea "manifesting" something is a misperception. It's more accurate to say that, until the concept of a thing existing is resident in our minds, it's unlikely we will percieve it as being a thing differentiated from its own environment. Humans do not "create" their own reality, they simply "specify" one from the masses of information available in the universe.
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One problem is that we create hypotheses to make sense of our world. Each child does this and then refines his hypotheses when he sees exceptions. Imagine that a volcano erupts in Indonesia and creates climatic chaos for ancient Sumerians. The Sumerians and the various other people around them each generate hypotheses to explain the chaos. Their ideas don't make their answers true. In the same way, the concept of God doesn't make God true. If God is a being that exists within our spacetime framework and we can see evidence of him at work, we can refine our hypotheses about him. Otherwise our concepts of him are just a random stab in the dark randomly explaining facts that we have no knowledge of why they are so. Thus the concept of God, per se, proves nothing about whether or not God exists. There is another possibility. God exists outside our spacetime. Then he is completely unknowable. Two religions handle this well. The Taoists say (He) is completely unknowable. The Christians say He is completely unknowable by our efforts, but He made himself known.
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Nothing. Is. It is impossible for anything to exist, yet here we are. Causality is only possible in the realm of time and space. God is outside of time and space yet God permeates all. So even the manifest realm of time and space in a sense, exists within something not of time and space. Time and space arise in the eternity of Mind. Not only God's existence, but all existence is an impossible miracle. Causality is a game we play while asleep. I can manifest something just by thinking about it when I'm dreaming, but In real life things are more rigid than that. In my little dream universe, I am big. But in the world, I am very small and limited. It's not as remarkable for me to manifest something in a dream because I can create things based on what I've seen, felt, and experienced in waking life, but for God to manifest the universe is damn remarkable indeed, yeah? Interesting question Macmedic!
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This is Anselm's ontological argument, which Guanilo refutes reductio ad absurdum (by reducing it to an absurdity): "In essence, think of the most perfectly island, its beautiful, filled with anything you want, and in your back yard. Is there an island in your backyard? No." Immanuel Kant also rejects this argument in saying "existence is not a predicate." When I describe my mom, I don't say, "she's short, brunette, oh and she exists, too."
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