First Cause - Definition

First Cause is a phrase used alternately to refer to the Cosmological argument for the existence of God, or as an alternate noun for God itself among individuals uncomfortable with the historical and religious meanings associated with the term. Using "First cause" in replacement of "God" may also indicate that the writer has a different conception of God than what the popular definition entails. See also: Big bang, Creation myths.

A human being is part of the whole, called by us "universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences his thoughts and feeling as something separate from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal decisions and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
Albert Einstein

The Concept of First Cause in World Religions

Atheism

Science and Reason have not currently provided us with any specifics on the nature, if any, of a first cause for the universe. The Big bang is the only framework available for understanding the history of the universe.

Aztec

To be written...

Buddhism

Buddhism does not posit an eternal self or soul. Neither does it posit or assume an absolute first cause of all existence, such as a Creator God in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition.

Christianity

References to God in the New Testament vary, however, overall they demonstrate an incorporation of the first cause. It should be noted, however, that the Chrisitian conception of God, the holy trinity, is more complex. The following example(s) illustrate(s) this:

Revelation 1:8 - I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending... which is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

The Christian tradition, one might argue, sees the divine as both cause and effect.

Confucianism

To be written...

Egyptian

Nun.gif
Image:Nun.gif

• Nun and Nit were the father and mother of Ra (Atum).
• Atum was called a self-created god or the child of Nun.
• Apep -- the enemy of Ra had been created when the Goddess of Weaving, Nit spat into Nun -- her spittle turned into the water serpent -- demon.
• Atum created himself out of the (quantum?) chaos of Nun by an effort of will or by uttering his own name.
• Following his self - creation from Nun , Atum created his children Shu and Tefnut by masturbating.
• Geb was the son of Shu and Tefnut and the brother and husband of Nut.
• Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys were the children of Geb and Nut.
• Osiris is killed and dismembered by Seth, and then searched for and reassembled by Isis who then conceives and gives birth to Horos.
• Nephthys gave birth to a son named Anubis.

Anubis_name.gif
Image:Anubis_name.gif

Hinduism

"The Mahaa-Visnu, into whom all the innumerable universes enter and from whome they come forth again simply by His breathing process, is a plenary expansion of Krsna. Therefore I worship Govinda, Krsna, the cause of all causes." (Brahma-samhitaa 5.48)

Hopi

The Elders say that the first Hopi had chosen to live in this barren desert so that they would always need to pray for rain and thus not lose faith in their ceremonies which maintain their bond with the Mother nature and Creator. They said that the True Hopi people represents the Red race through the authority vested in them by the Creator, Maasaw.

Islam

In Islam all creation is attributed to Allah (the proper name for God in Arabic), the one and only God for Muslims. He is clearly identified as the "first cause" at numerous places in the Quran. Three instances follow:

13:16 …..Say: Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the One, the Supreme

57:3 He is the First and the Last and the Manifest and the Hidden, and He is Knower of all things

112:1 Say: He, Allah, is One

112:2 Allah is He on Whom all depend

Referring to the first cause argument the Quran addresses the non-believers:

52:35 Or were they created without a (creative) agency? Or are they the creators?

52:36 Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Nay, they are sure of nothing.

Judaism

The notion of "Tzim-tzum", or God's retraction to make way for space and time, is a core element to the Jewish approach to the First Cause notion, as explored by Rabbi Moses Maimonides.

To be completed...

Taoism

You can trace the causes of things infinitely, or else you come to a first cause. But is there a first cause - a creator - or is there not? Obviously if there is not than he can't create anything. And if there is, he himself is spontaneously self-created. Either way, all things emerge spontaneously. Stuff just keeps happening. Everything emerges in an uncontrolled improvisation, whether there is a creator or not. Nothing, therefore, is commanded by anything else. That's the truth.

Toltec

To be written...

Zen

Everything and nothing are all interconnected, inseparable, a made whole.
Zen denies that the person is the first cause. It says the Tao or ground of being is the real first cause.

Zoroastrianism

To be written...

Other Concepts of First Cause

Some philosophers like Hakim Bey and occultists like Peter Carroll think randomness, chaos or the Uncertainty principle is the prime mover according to science, and should accordingly be treated as divine.

Also, we must answer the question: "What is the origin of quantum randomness or Quantum_chaos?".