The phrase “ground of being” (popularized by Paul Tillich, but with roots in older philosophy) means that God isn’t thought of as a being among beings — not a person who intervenes sometimes and ignores other times — but as the underlying reality that makes existence possible at all.Excellent post, William. It covers a lot of key points.Each answer depends on what you already think God is. If God is “the ground of being” rather than a cosmic parent, the question morphs entirely.
I am curious about the concept of God being the "ground of being".
What does this mean and how does it relate to morality? Does it resolve the problem of evil or make it a non-issue?
So instead of picturing God as a cosmic agent with super-powers, “ground of being” frames God as:
- the depth or foundation of existence,
- the condition that allows anything to be,
- Being itself, rather than one more being within the universe.
How this shifts morality
- Morality doesn’t come from arbitrary divine commands (like rules imposed by a super-sovereign).
- Instead, morality is tied to alignment with reality-as-such. To live in truth, love, or justice is to live in harmony with the very ground from which being arises.
- “Good” then means participating more fully in being (flourishing, integration, wholeness), while “evil” is distortion, fragmentation, or diminishment of being.
Does this resolve the problem of evil?
- Yes, partly: If God is not a personal overseer, then it makes no sense to ask, Why didn’t God stop that earthquake or that assassination attempt? The “ground of being” doesn’t intervene in that way. Evil and suffering exist as part of a finite existence experience, not as a puzzle about divine inaction.
- But not fully: It still leaves the existential sting of suffering - people still ask (and can answer) why reality itself is structured with so much pain. But it removes the logical contradiction, because God isn’t defined as both all-powerful and micromanaging creation.
Seeing God as the ground of being removes the logical contradiction of the Problem of Evil. God isn’t a micromanager who withholds intervention; rather, God is the reality that makes existence possible. Evil and suffering remain part of finite existence, but the question shifts: not “why does God allow this?” but “how do we live meaningfully within a world where these conditions exist alongside love, truth, and flourishing?”