paganism and the new age in australia, page-69

the phrase "in the beginning" seeks to assert a fundamental & inherent principle

for example, in the beginning, the earth was round and orbited the sun but men believed otherwise. so when the truth was discovered about the earth & its orbit, this truth existed "in the beginning"

similarly, the jews regarded god as angry, vengeful, jealous & fearful. but when jesus redefined god as loving & forgiving, this is held to have existed "in the beginning"

when the Buddha revelled certain natural truths, he said they have always existed, even though they remained undiscovered

in China, the equivalent to the Greek logos was Tao. Tao is the primal balance of the universe, what the pagan James Lovelock in the video called homeostatis. This homeostatis, logos & tao establishes order in the universe, as can be seen with natural forces such as gravity, the seasons or the immune system

the chinese Tao states "the tao is older than god"

what this means is "god" is the personification of natural forces

this personification is called animism, such as when ancient superstitious people believed in spirits in the trees, rocks, etc

so "god" is a form of animism, projecting human personality view upon the natural orderliness in nature

but the distinction is irrelevent

whether it is called tao, logos, niyama, homeostatis or god, it is merely refering to the same thing

you are invoking division where it is not required

the one god is a useful concept but it is merely the personifcation of natural forces which the modern pagans discuss

when the video said James Lovelock developed the theory of gaia and mother earth that can retaliate and punish humanity, this is exactly the same as the god of the old testament

you divide about nothing

your understanding is "self" based rather than about the larger reality