> I would personally want to avoid equating the material universe (or anything which is not pure God-self) with Satan. It's not even my original idea, in fact it's what the Bible says. I think a distinction can be made between "observable universe (of science)" and the (unseen) global scale of reality. The physical universe is the realm of Satan, and the only escape is "death", which is a metaphor for the realization of the Absolute, and even then you have to get to "heaven", which is analogous to "nirvana", also an allegory for the realization of the Absolute. Death, particularly when combined with resurrection, is a metaphor for the temporary cessation of volition (Karma). I suppose the cold, analytical description "cessation of volition" is virtually meaningless outside of its realization. >I have personally theorized the fundamental (Ain Soph) state of God as pure self-referential being. The self-reference of God by God is via sentient beings, up to and including the direct realization of the absolute via the suspension of volition. Realizing the Absolute is just the temporary suspension of volitional activity, but this also implies a meaning for life. The Absolute state is "just" a pure stasis, and the realization thereof is "just" the suspension of volition or karma. The realization thus requires volitional (fallen) beings such that volition could then be suspended. The Absolute is "pure stasis", "pure freedom", "boundlessness", or else in physical terms a "primordial, infinite mass". All of these descriptions are equivalent ways of describing an effectively infinite, unbound potential or else God. An infinite, primordial mass (qua God) is implied by an expanding universe and the "Big Bang" model, while the inverted conspansion model (CTMU) models the (contracting) observable universe "inside" the primordial mass, thereby coherently describing the notion of God's presence in all things as the syntactic distribution of God over all things as per a Venn diagram. My contention with the CTMU could be a matter of clarification. The "G.O.D." operator sounds like the Devil to me, while just by analytical definition alone, "God" couldn't be other than UBT, which is "pure stasis", or else "God's grace", "heaven", or "nirvana". The purpose of life is that "God's grace" isn't "fully" realized unless or until "fallen" beings can realize it, most particularly in the very midst of mass suffering and the rampant and systemic non-realization of "God's grace" by society in general. > YES! Hence, symbolic realism, ala my previous, longer comment. Symbolic realism isn't quite what I meant by a conscious awareness of the Absolute, but it's not unrelated. In the sense of a cessation of volition (karma), the Absolute (God's grace, Nirvana) is manifest by default in the mind of the perceiving subject. The realization of the Absolute IS equivalent to a conscious, perceiving human being ceasing and desisting with volitional activity (karma), at least temporarily. Given that reality = mind, and that Absolute reality is an eternally pure stasis, the non volitional mind defaults by necessity to its most fundamental, Absolute state. The Absolute can potentially be realized by anyone, yet it's not something anyone can do, since the "cessation of volition" is by definition not a goal which can be volitionally attained. Beyond what I've said is the realization that there's simply no identifiable "cause" (of reality) besides volition itself, meaning volition is the only form of causality. Volition is cause because "God's grace" must be concealed to be fully realized, while volition (cause) is the only thing which conceals an ever present, eternally pure stasis from its own self-perceiving mind. The Absolute by definition is an eternally pure stasis which can't be caused, yet which must be "fully" realized in the direct, non-volitional sense. The relative, physical universe is associated with causality up to a point, but never at the global scale. Because we must use "cause & effect" to think and perceive, we're naturally wired to presume a cause for reality, ie "God", yet the constraints of the physical world aren't fully compatible with God qua "pure freedom". > Evil just is the furthering of the creation. I agree, yet I'm suggesting there's ultimately no such thing as "creation", certainly not of the Absolute. Creation entails causality and causality is volition, which is our psychological baggage, not God's. If God is fully realized in the suspension of volition, God isn't volitional and has no reason to "create" what's already Absolute and eternal. On the other hand, God isn't "forbidden" to create, just not the Absolute God, so we get the Devil instead. The "creation" aspect of reality is the Devil, while volition is the very thing concealing God's eternal grace from the awareness. The Devil can be regarded as "furthering creation" in the sense that without volition there's no creation, yet nothing was actually "created" which wasn't eternally self-realized already. I suppose I need to actually watch rest of the video now to comment further.