Thoughts on God
The first question I hear about God is "Do you believe God exists?" or "Do you believe in God?" For me, I can't give a simple yes or no to this. Truthfully, I believe in God the same way I believe in calculus. The evidence suggests that it doesn't exist except in our minds, but the metaphor is far too useful to be abandoned. (What evidence, you ask? For God, the lack of any solid evidence for God is a valid argument against ey's existence. For calculus, quantum physics teaches that everything in the universe is discrete, and calculus only applies continuous systems.)

So I don't really know if there is a God, but I act as if I believe there is one. That way of acting is important enough for me to say I believe in God.

But what is God? There are certainly many views of this. I see three distinct views which I sometimes use.

1) God as the intellectual creator and ruler of the universe. This God has some plan for why everything happens, although this plan may have some leeway for humans to make their own decisions. I typically think of this God as the personification of the universe. I use the words Universe and God interchangeably when making observations like "God/the Universe is quite fond of beetles." I find this way of thinking about God most useful when I am trying to understand.

2) God as love, a sense of wonder and the spirit in everything. This God inspires us, leading us to care and compassion, and give us soul. I find this way of thinking about God most useful when I need to remember the beauty and wonder.

3) Deities of concept. These Gods rule supreme over a single or small set of subject matter. I find this way of thinking about Gods useful for personal identification. For instance, you gain a lot of information about me if I say I am a follower of the God of mathematics.

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