Before Creation

Question:

Having read your book "How to know God" i found it interesting the extract where Dame Julian(pg 5) asks God why he created the world and God says that he created it out of love- I understand that but I would like to know, God having created the world out of love where do you think God himself comes from. The Bible doesn’t touch on it, Genesis begins with 'In the beginning, God created the heavens...' but what was happening before that?

Answer:

Before creation nothing was happening. There was no space and time, so there could be no space-time events. God didn’t come from anywhere either. The principle of creation is uncreated, eternal, unborn pure existence. We can infer an understanding of it, and through enlightenment, we can even allow our awareness to merge with it, but still it is very hard to talk about with any great clarity.

I’ve always loved that creation passage from the Rig Veda:

Who knows exactly, and who shall in this world declare, whence and why this creation took place? The gods are subsequent to the production of this world; then who can know whence it proceeded, or whence this varied world arose, or whether it upholds itself or not? He who in the highest heaven is the ruler of this universe, he knows, or does not know.

Love,
Deepak