“Do you believe in God?” is one of the most ambiguous questions one could ask.

It seems to me that no matter if the answer is positive or negative, there’s almost no way the asking and replying person would absolutely agree on what the word “God” means to them. Even within the realm of the same denomination of the same religion, people going to the same temple on the same day might have very different views on what “God” is supposed to represent to them personally. Someone would envision a very specific picture of a bearded man on a throne in the sky, single-handedly deciding the fates of every single living being. And someone standing next to them would think of God as a methaphor of some higher consciousness that permeates everything in the Universe. While someone else would insist that neither of these things can possibly exist at all.

Thinking about it, I wasn’t surprised to realize that an abstract word would represent different things for different people. Mostly, I was surprised to discover how abstract this concept is in the first place, even despite all the attempts of various religions to standardize and unify thinking around its meaning.

One thing that can be implied, however, is the singularity of the God in this specific question. It’s not saying “gods”, hence the one asking the question is presuming that God is a singular unique entity and not a member of a pantheon. Despite this, I think it’s actually by looking at polytheistic gods that I could find some kind of the lowest common denominator which unites the meaning of all gods.

For example, ancient vikings thought of Thor as a human-like figure wielding a hammer which could be used to produce lightnings. It sounds like a ridiculous idea today, because we know that lightnings are an electric discharge between clouds and the ground. However, understanding this requries knowledge of what electric charge is. Vikings had no idea about how electricity worked, yet they observed it in action. So how could they possibly explain to themselves what was going on without learning about the nature of electricity?

One way for them would be to try to find something similar, yet easier to understand. For example, a blacksmith hitting a hammer against heated metal would often produce sparks that look like little lightnings. These sparks could set things on fire, the same way lightning would sometimes light up a tree. Comparing the two, it’s only natural to imagine a huge blacksmith hitting his enormous hammer somewhere up in the sky.

Similar thunder-hammer connection can be seen in neighboring Finnish god Ukko wielding his Ukonvasara. Going a bit further, Slavic Perun, however, was imagined to be throwing stones and shooting arrows from his bow to produce lightnings. He also was believed to be able to throw “golden apples”, which might have represented rare, but destructive ball lightning. Shintoist Raijin produced lightnings by hitting his drums with hammers. Vedic Indra shot them from his Vajra, somewhat similarly to Mesoamerican Tlāloc who used a scepter-like device. Ancient Greek Zeus had thunderbolts as separate things that he could throw from the sky. Very often, lightnings were associated with weapons and were seen as a way in which gods could punish humans.

What unites all of these thunder gods? Firstly, they are imagined as conscious man-like beings who are producing lightnings deliberately. Secondly, none of the explanations of how they produce them involves accurate description of what electricity is. In the same way, most other gods depict various aspects of nature that couldn’t be explained at the time. Gods and goddesses were responsible for sending floods, droughts, diseases, rains, presiding over seasons, love, childbirths and harvests. Just as a toddler might think that wind is actually a giant blowing air from their mouth, adults similary attributed forces of nature to imaginary sentient beings who all had their own reasons to use magic powers.

Even as monotheistic religions replaced polytheistic beliefs in many places, the idea stayed the same: God represents a conscious being which acts as a placeholder for something that is not fully understood, and often feared. And even if we understand the underlying physical mechanisms, God is still being invoked as someone who personifies chaos. From winning in a lottery to successfully landing an airplane in a storm, assuming that there is someone conscious who pulls the strings behind the wall of unpredictability provides people with emotional relief. Humans have very strong sense of fairness, so it seems that explaining random events as being obscure yet intrinsically fair helps to suppress the sense of discomfort with the idea of chaotic unfair world and existential angst in general.

As we discover more and more about the nature of reality and learn to deal with its forces, the area in which the concept of God might potentially reside seems to be shrinking. However, we don’t even know how large this area of unknown is in the first place. We don’t know how much we still don’t know. And even among known questions, there’s still too much that can’t be easily explained. Why were each of us born in a certain family, place and time? What was before birth and what happens after death to consciousness? How many levels deep is the simulation (it is at least one level deep for sure)? Why does even anything exist at all?

As long as at least some mysteries about the nature of reality still remain unsolved, there will be a place for humans to imagine a sentient being as a possible explanation. Most probably, many such mysteries will dissolve in the same way as explaining lightning with electricity left no place for a fearsome bearded guy with a hammer. So far, there’s just no hard evidence of any sentient beings besides life forms inhabiting Earth. But the honest answer is that none of us knows for sure if at some point we might actually discover consciousness-derived explanation of a previously misunderstood phenomenon. And while the mechanical part of the lightning is well understood, one might still imagine some kind of conscious entity being responsible for hitting some specific person with it. Even if only to suppress the uncomfortable feeling of chaotic nature of such unlikely, yet real event.

The common sense would tell us that if we can predict the outcome of any given process by applying known laws of nature, then such process doesn’t require consciousness to operate. However, on one hand even human behavior is very often predictable under controlled circumstances. On the other hand, quantum mechanics is fundamentally unpredictable.

Could we one day discover that some of the processes we already observed have actually been orchestrated by alien lifeforms who had already undergone billions of years of scientific progress? Or would we prove one day that matter is derived from consciousness and not vice versa? I know for sure that I’m conscious and assume that many other living beings are too. Yet it is still scientifically impossible to prove that even any given human being is definitely conscious. So I’m not opposed to the idea that a lot more consciousness is hiding in plain sight than I could possibly imagine. As long as we can’t formally separate conscious and unconscious entities, we can’t really assume how much of the Universe is sentient.

So, do I believe in God myself? Define “God”, then I will answer.