Member-only story

Understanding God

The most complicated concept requires the most complicated analogy

Thomas St Thomas
6 min readDec 21, 2024
A map of the most complicated thing in the universe

St. Augustine of Hippo said that “If you understand God, it’s not God you understand.” What he meant is that the nature of what is described as God in the Christian Bible is beyond human comprehension. And that is also why we understand God, as much as we are able to, as a personality.

Relationships

I think of Neil deGrasse Tyson or Carl Sagan in awe of some celestial structure remarking at the inspiring and complicated nature of it. Pointing to it as that which we should be in awe of as opposed to some book and old rituals and myths. And that is a powerful argument. There are a lot of things we know about the universe and can see that should inspire awe. We should continue to reach for them.

But it’s also important to understand this:

The thing we are using to see and comprehend that awe inspiring universe is more complicated than that we are in awe of.

We create a sense of awe by observing that thing and creating a relationship with it. It projects its nature towards us and we recognize the beauty…

--

--

Thomas St Thomas
Thomas St Thomas

Written by Thomas St Thomas

I’ve got questions. Writing helps me find the answers. Husband, dad, Afghan vet, healthcare process consultant, former fitness guru.

Responses (3)