God

as 'that which creates'

Morphological analysis

• Etymon: God from Old English via Old Norse gōd: 'good'
• Morpheme breakdown: gōd meaning 'good'
• Functional cognate: creator: 'that which creates'

Essential definition

'that which creates'

Semantic context

• Conventional sense: A single divine being, creator and ruler of the universe. (Note: Semantic drift from essential meaning)
• Essential meaning (my usage): 'that which creates'

Philosophical significance

This definition shifts God from a supreme being to the fundamental process of reality itself—the constant expression that is the conference of difference. It resolves the metaphysical problem of a first cause by identifying God not as a separate entity, but as the irreducible process primitive that transforms the 'condition of being' that is existence.

Usage in this lexicon

When I use the word god in my work, I mean exactly 'that which creates'. This definition:

• avoids anthropomorphism by removing human-like attributes such as will and emotion and personality that limit and distort the concept of a first cause;
• ensures logical primacy by establishing the principle as truly metaphysical or originating behind existence rather than a contingent being within it;
• focuses on function by defining the divine by its operative role as the process that creates and transforms rather than by static or moral qualities;
• unifies science and metaphysics by providing a philosophical ground for universal processes like change and relation and evolution that science observes;
• resolves paradoxes of intervention by eliminating contradictions inherent in a personal deity intervening in a natural order as the principle is the natural order's generative aspect;
• clarifies immanence and transcendence by describing the principle as transcendent as not-being or principal to existence yet immanent as the very process operating within all existence;
• demystifies creation by presenting creation as the observable and constant transformation of all things via the conference of difference and not a miraculous event;
• provides a coherent basis for divine attributes by showing that attributes like omnipotence and omnipresence become necessary descriptions of a fundamental process primitive and not mysterious properties of a mind;
• establishes a non-competitive relationship by clarifying that the principle does not compete with natural causes as it is the enabling ground from which all causal chains emerge;
• enables interfaith and philosophical dialogue by offering a conceptual definition that can be engaged without requiring specific cultural or theological narratives;
• centers a dynamic reality by correctly modeling ultimate reality as active and generative and processual which aligns with an evolving universe.

Sources

• Wiktionary

*This definition follows morphological essentialism principles. See the Methodology for details.