Description
No God or Only God
by W. H. S. Gebel
W. H. Suhrawardi Gebel examines atheism and non-duality and the practice of making God a reality through loving absorption in one’s own God ideal. This book describes a method of seeking Self-realization passed down by mystics in the Sufi tradition. One takes responsibility to create one’s own God ideal. This is a conception of God that comes from within. It comes from one’s inherent values and ideals. By making this ideal alive, one awakens something that has been dormant in one’s inner life. Through the power of love and imagination, one brings to life in oneself what was waiting and wanting to emerge.
Reviews for No God or Only God:
“In this gentle but robust tour de force of theological detective work, W.H.S. Gebel sifts through centuries of debates, spanning multiple cultures, on the subject of God’s existence and nature. Gebel is as closely conversant with scientific and philosophical theories as he is with religious teachings, and his survey is never polemical or doctrinaire. But in these pages Gebel is not merely documenting intellectual history; he is illuminating the central theme of human life, the relation in which we stand to the Absolute. By a process of alchemical solve et coagula, Gebel first relativizes the reifications by which God is conventionally conceived: this is the via negativa of ‘no God.’ But Gebel does not leave the reader in the abyss of nihilism. In an enlightening turn, he shows how the very mind that adjudicates God’s existence is a condition of the cascading revelation of reality that is the Divine self-disclosure: and here we are brought to the via positiva of ‘only God.’”
—Pir Zia Inayat Khan, spiritual leader of the Inayatiyya and author of Immortality: A Traveler’s Guide
“W. H. S. Gebel’s brilliant new book is not only an in-depth exploration of whether or not God exists; it is a scientific and philosophical study into the nature of reality. The author brings extraordinary insights and clarity when addressing one of the most important questions of humankind. Gebel, a scientist, scholar, philosopher, psychologist, theologian, and mystic is uniquely qualified to tackle this mammoth topic and dive deep into an age-old debate. I discovered so much about my larger self in relation to the cosmos after reading this book.”
—Michael Harrison, composer and educator
“No God or Only God is a journey through and beyond the most enlightened concepts of philosophy and science to the living Reality of illuminated Being. With clarity and skill, it opens us deeply to unlearning, grace and the sacred transformation of the God ideal. Rooted throughout in the magic of love, No God or Only God culminates in practical guidance toward curiosity and the fullest expression of all the potentialities of the Soul.”
—Felicia Norton and Charles Smith, authors of An Emerald Earth: Cultivating a Natural Spirituality, and
Serving Creative Beauty in Our World
“Atheism, Western philosophy, and neurotheology attempt to refute the notion of a dualistic God. Understanding hidden dimensions of reality and the nature of consciousness appears to be beyond the scope of objective approaches. W. H. S. Gebel describes the approach of Sufism to God, in which ‘Creating our own God Ideal based on what is inherent in our psyche is a catalyst for a process that, once set in motion, leads to realization of the true self and ultimately to Self-realization.’”
—Donald E. Weiner, Ph.D., psychologist and senior teacher in the Inayatiyya. Author of Upgrading the Operating System of the Soul: A Manual of Quantum Sufism, and co-author with Diane Weiner of Awakening as a Human*Divine Being, and Beyond the Wonderful.
