QR7.1.3 Dependence

The dependence premise is that the world we see depends on divinity to exist. In the Zend-Avesta, this dependence began when Ahura-Mazda filled the heavens with light:

He who in the beginning thus thought: Let the glorious heavens be clothed in light.(Yasna 31.7).

The Old Testament God, also filled the initial void with light:

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said: Let there be light; and there was light. (Genesis, 1.1).

In the New Testament, the “Word” (vibration) of God also made everything:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” (John, 1, 1-3).

Likewise in the Vedas, the unmanifested Brahman created the manifest world:

In the beginning all this was but the unmanifested (Brahman). From that emerged the manifested.” (Taittiriya Upanishad, II.vii.1).

In China, the hidden Tao created our universe in order for it to evolve:

The source of the universe (Tao) is hidden in non-existence; existence is only the mother of its evolution.” (Tao, 1).

Even Buddhism recognizes that the physical world depends on a primal essence:

“If we examine the origin of anything in all the universe, we find it is but a manifestation of some primal essence.” (Surangama, p126).

This essence isn’t a god or gods but the unseen “suchness” that is the only reality:

“This universal, undifferentiated, inscrutable ‘Suchness’ is the only reality but it is variously characterized as Truth, Mind-Essence, Transcendental Intelligence, Noble Wisdom, etc.” (Lankavatara, p299).

Finally, the Koran also confirms that:

“Unto Him (Allah) belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth, and whatsoever is between them, and whatsoever is beneath the sod.” (Koran 20.6).

Different scriptures take different approaches but all agree that the manifest world depends on an unmanifest divinity. Our universe doesn’t exist by itself because it was made, manifested, emerged, created, or is owned by divinity. There is agreement that physical reality requires divine support, which is the dependence principle.

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