The Evolution of The God Consciousness

Abstract: God is one of the puzzles the cosmos has foisted upon human mind. As a reflective animal, man is by nature saddled with the responsibility of providing meaningful explanations for his own existence and existence in general. The God factor is not just a phenomenon man must contemplate; it is an enigma man must live. For man, there is no opting out from the God question. The existence or otherwise of God is not just an intellectual question; it is an existential condition that demands compulsory response from man. No matter how it is confronted, the God question exerts ramifications on the character, choices, ideology and personal philosophy of man. It is significantly in confronting this question that man gives meaning to his life. Outcomes of the question inform man’s conception of his destiny. The question of God is inexorably intermingled with the facticity of the cosmos. It is at the heart of existence and meaning. It challenges our philosophy and science of causes and effect. The God question stretches human epistemology to elastic limits. What is God? Who is God? Is it God, god, gods or Gods? In confronting these questions this work, using detailed philosophical analyses, traces the evolution of the god consciousness in the history of human existence. The methodological approaches are existential, metaphysical, epistemological, psychological and even religious in dimensions. Man confronts the God-vacuum in his ever-widening consciousness of existence. The more aware he becomes of the dimensions of the cosmos, the more sophisticated the God question.