Boethius, The Consolation 3.29

. . . “Now consider,” she continued, “where it lies. The universally accepted notion of men proves that God, the fountainhead of all things, is good. For nothing can be thought of better than God, and surely He, than whom there is nothing better, must without doubt be good.

“Now reason shows us that God is so good, that we are convinced that in Him lies also the perfect good. For if it is not so, He cannot be the fountainhead; for there must then be something more excellent, possessing that perfect good, which appears to be of older origin than God: for it has been proved that all perfections are of earlier origin than the imperfect specimens of the same.

“Wherefore, unless we are to prolong the series to infinity, we must allow that the highest Deity must be full of the highest, the perfect good. But as we have laid down that true happiness is perfect good, it must be that true happiness is situated in His Divinity.

''Yes, I accept that; it cannot be in any way contradicted.”. . .

—from Book 3, Prose 10

We are sometimes quite busy thinking about the conflicts between “our” God and the God of “another”. In the last century, the trend has even been to simply reject God completely, and thereby to make those who may trust in God yet another set of enemies. Notice what we have done. We have taken the false divisions between men to assume a division within the very order of Nature.

And I remind myself yet again, think bigger. Think about what is the biggest. Look to what is everything, not to this or that something. Look to the fountainhead.

If I think my version of God is better than yours, I do not understand the very idea, because there can be nothing better than God. There is only One, not many.

If I think there is no God at all, but I still see a meaning and order to the world, I do not understand the very idea, because there can be no effect without a cause. There is only the unity of things, not a separation.

If I think there is no meaning and order to begin with, you should just wish me the best, and turn your head with compassion. There is no reason in such a statement. Where there is action, it comes from somewhere, and it goes to somewhere. What we call chance is only in our own partial ignorance of grasping the nature of the source.

Strutting science, or narrow theology, or arrogant preferences do not change a simple fact of reason: if it has come to be, there must be a reason for why it has come to be.

As is so common, we confuse our own worries with deeper questions of being. I am fighting my neighbor, so his God must be false. I am not happy, so clearly my God has failed me. I am so miserable, so surely there is no God at all.

No, all that is clear is that I am absorbed in my own vanity. God hasn’t failed me. I have failed Him.

There can be no infinite regress of causes, since then we would have infinite effects, but still no cause. We are passing the buck on forever and ever.

But what caused God? Nothing at all, because only changing things require causes. What is infinite, eternal, complete, and unchanging demands no cause at all. It Is.

As they say, let me do the math. God is Himself perfection. Happiness can only be found in perfection. Pray tell, what does that say about what I am looking for?

Written in 9/2015