Indicaspice
I believe in a higher power, so call it what you may.

Noncog
Higher? More powerful? Indeed there are many living things more powerful that you or I -- elephants and rhinoceroses, for example. If you include nonliving things, bulldozers and cranes are certainly more powerful. Are these what you mean by 'higher powers'?

Noncog, previously: If you include nonliving things, bulldozers and cranes are certainly more powerful

Indicaspice
These things are nothing without the person to make them work.

Noncog
I agree fully. That's why I put the qualifying words "IF you include nonliving things".

Indicaspice
And no that is not meant by a higher power.

Noncog
Are we playing a guessing game? Horses? Elephants? Rhinoceroses? I give up. What is meant by a higher power?

Indicaspice
I don't play guessing games. To me a higher power is something that isn't questioned,...

Noncog
I consider it mindless not to question anything. If I believed something 'gave' me my mind I would consider it blasphemous not to use it to question things with.

Indicaspice
it is just there,

Noncog
What "it" are you talking about? "Higher power"? What is a higher power?

Indicaspice
infinite,...

Noncog
"Infinite" is really a contradiction because it would have to mean "all of what there can be no 'all' of", or "the completion of what is always incomplete"

Indicaspice
...all knowing.

Noncog
What is all knowing? "Higher power"? What is a higher power?

Indicaspice
Does it need a body?

Noncog
Does what need a body? "Higher power"? What is a higher power?

Indicaspice
No I don't think so. Perhaps the higher power lives in all of us, we just haven't tapped into it.

Noncog
"Lives in us"? It sounds like you are talking about some disgusting sort of parasite, like a pinworm, stomach worm, tapeworm or liver fluke. You still haven't told me what you are talking about when you say "higher power". Do you even know of anything you could be talking about?

Indicaspice
While some people call a higher power god, jehova, muhammed, etc, I simply refer to it as a higher power, a higher being who's name to me could be any of those or none of those.

Noncog
If you will notice, I didn't ask "What do people call a higher power", or "What name could a higher power's name could be to you?" I asked "What do you claim to mean by "higher power"? I see you have added in the word "being". I thought I'd better consulted the dictionary.

Under "power", Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives:
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Main Entry: [1]pow·er
Pronunciation: 'pau(-&)r
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French poeir, from poeir to be able, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin potEre, alteration of Latin posse —more at POTENT
Date: 13th century
1 a (1) : ability to act or produce an effect (2) : ability to get extra-base hits (3) : capacity for being acted upon or undergoing an effect b : legal or official authority, capacity, or right
2 a : possession of control, authority, or influence over others b : one having such power; specifically : a sovereign state c : a controlling group : ESTABLISHMENT — often used in the phrase the powers that be d : archaic : a force of armed men e : chiefly dialect : a large number or quantity
3 a : physical might b : mental or moral efficacy c : political control or influence
4 : plural : an order of angels — see CELESTIAL HIERARCHY
5 a : the number of times as indicated by an exponent that a number occurs as a factor in a product; also : the product itself b : CARDINAL NUMBER 2
6 a : a source or means of supplying energy; especially : ELECTRICITY b : MOTIVE POWER c : the time rate at which work is done or energy emitted or transferred
7 : MAGNIFICATION 2b
8 : <sx>1scope 3
9 : the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis in a statistical test when a particular alternative hypothesis happens to be true
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Are you talking about any of these? Since you've now brought in the word "being", I looked that up, too. Under "being" we find:
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Main Entry: [1]be·ing
Pronunciation: 'bE(-i)[ng]
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1 a : the quality or state of having existence b (1) : something conceivable as existing (2) : something that actually exists (3) : the totality of existing things c : conscious existence : LIFE
2 : the qualities that constitute an existent thing : ESSENCE; especially : PERSONALITY
3 : a living thing; especially : PERSON
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Are you talking about any of these? While I'm accessing the dictionary, I thought I might as well look up "higher". They only list "high". However we can make the comparative form:
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Main Entry: [1]high
Pronunciation: 'hI
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hEah; akin to Old High German hOh high, Lithuanian kaukaras hill
Date: before 12th century
1 a : having large extension upward : taller than average, usual, or expected <a high wall> b : having a specified elevation : TALL <six feet high> — often used in combinations <sky-high> <waist-high>
2 a (1) : advanced toward the acme or culmination <high summer> (2) : advanced toward the most active or culminating period <on the Riviera during high season> (3) : constituting the late, most fully developed, or most creative stage or period <high Gothic> (4) : advanced in complexity, development, or elaboration <the higher apes> <higher mathematics> b : verging on lateness — usually used in the phrase high time c : long past : REMOTE <high antiquity>
3 : elevated in pitch <a high note>
4 : relatively far from the equator <high lat.>
5 : rich in quality : LUXURIOUS <high living>
6 : slightly tainted <high game>; also : MALODOROUS <smelled rather high>
7 : exalted in character : NOBLE <high purposes>
8 : of greater degree, amount, cost, value, or content than average, usual, or expected <high prices> <food high in iron> <the high bid>
9 : of relatively great importance: as a : foremost in rank, dignity, or standing <high officials> b : SERIOUS, GRAVE <high crimes> c : observed with the utmost solemnity <high religious observances> d : CRITICAL, CLIMACTIC <the high point of the novel> e : intellectually or artistically of the first order <high culture> f : marked by sublime, heroic, or stirring events or subject matter <high tragedy> <high adventure>
10 : FORCIBLE, STRONG <high winds>
11 : stressing matters of doctrine and ceremony; specifically : HIGH CHURCH
12 a : filled with or expressing great joy or excitement <high spirits> b : INTOXICATED; also : excited or stupefied by or as if by a drug
13 : articulated with some part of the tongue close to the palate <a high vowel>
- high on : enthusiastically in favor or support of
synonyms HIGH, TALL, LOFTY mean above the average in height. HIGH implies marked extension upward and is applied chiefly to things which rise from a base or foundation or are placed at a conspicuous height above a lower level <a high hill> <a high ceiling>. TALL applies to what grows or rises high by comparison with others of its kind and usually implies relative narrowness <a tall thin man>. LOFTY suggests great or imposing altitude <lofty mountain peaks>.
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Which of these definitions can I take the comparative form of so that it will refer to something you claim to be talking about when you say "higher power" or "higher being"?

Seriously, I cannot imagine anything you could be talking about when you say "higher power". You mentioned Muhammad. He was considered Islam's prophet and founder. Muhammad was born at Mecca in 570 and died in 634. I don't think you meant that man was what you call "higher power", did you? Muslims don't say "Allah" means Muhammad. They only claim that Muhammad was a prophet.

Really, Indicaspice, I'm only trying to get to the bottom of what you could be talking about when you say "higher power" or "higher being". Please sort through those definitions up there, or find some in another dictionary, and see if you can put together something I can understand for "higher power" or "higher being" to refer to.

Indicaspice
No entry found for noncogniti[VI]sm.
No spelling suggestions were found.
I guess that means noncogniti[VI]sm isn't a word.

Noncog
You did misspell it, as I have indicated above. But anyway, dictionaries do not include all specialized terms. This is a philosophical term. You have to do a Google-search to find it. Actually the complete term is 'theological noncognitivism'. Here is what one site has on the web:

Theological noncognitivism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Theological noncognitivism is the argument that religious language, and specifically words like "God" (capitalized), are not cognitively meaningful.

Lady Valar
Just copy and paste what you wish to quote, then hit the "quote" button on the left side of the screen.

Noncog
Thanks. However, I just copied and pasted the above from your message, then clicked "quote" on the left side of the screen and nothing happened.