This is a huge topic.

Is GODHEAD a Personal Being, or is "It" an Imperonal Absolute. Could it be both, and can you pick your preferred inclination? Such has been the dillema accross cultures for millenia.

The notion of a formless Source has gained importance in modern days. At first glance it doesn't seem logical that the origin of beauty be formless, just as the origin of sound or kindness isn't silent nor unkind. Hence, rather than creating a God in their physical image, human beings would logically find in God their natural model. Moreover, it's difficult not to notice the anatomic perfection in the human body. Hence, if the Divine has an eternal body, nothing's easier than to imagine it as an ideally formed man or woman. No wonder then that incarnations of the Divine Couple accross cultures, whether it is Asherah-Yahweh, Hera-Zeus, Juno Jupiter, Sita-Rama or Radha-Krishna, invariably appear as prime specimens of human beauty. Indeed such personal manifestations can serve to show that God's physical appearence and beauty is not fixed like ours ---it is multifarious and varigated according to diverse cultural lenses. As beauty is in the eye of the beholder, your Deity's face may take on a different hue for each one of us depending on their taste and religious persuasion. To use an example, my Krishna's face may be different from yours, regardless of the standard description of Krsna given in the Hindu scriptures.

The plot thickens when other personalists insist that God doesn't need to have a form at all to define His personhood. Many Christians believe that the Father does NOT have a humanlike form and that Jesus Christ IS God's form. Indeed, this may be seen as a very fair compromise.

At the other end of the spectrum let us now consider the impersonal view. That view stands to dismiss with a sweep of the hand the temptation to bring down the Divine to our anthropomorphic level. Impersonalists across cultures view this tendency as a human weakness ---forgivable perhaps, but a weakness nonetheless. For them, by definition, the formless Absolute cannot be seen ---much less be confined in a body. The human form is a temporary vessel from which our formless spirit is meant to free itself after death. In India one of the three major schools of Hinduism ---the Adwaita Vedanta school--- is a strong advocate of the impersonal view. Its followers consider even divine incarnations like Rama, Krishna, or Jesus Christ, as inferior manifestations of the Absolute Brahman. Likewise, the major currents of Buddhism never even mention a Supreme Person. Instead, they posit  Śūnyatā (emptiness, voidness) and Anatta (non-Self) as Supreme.

As stated at the opening of this website, GODHEAD stands for both personal and impersonal aspects of Divinity. We believe our readers are entitled to follow their hearts and intimate conviction on this thorny issue.