Is there proof God exists?

I completely disagree.

I disagree. The Buddha said... sometimes it's best to keep noble silence...

Precisely.

And god is not? A mindset I mean...

You will probably not believe this, but even you are just an illusory personality that arises from the conglomerate of like minded people.

I have said this all along, that it is within every humane person's capability and birth right to discover the truth for themselves. Meditate, find the peace and realize the truth. The way is simple but not easy, you need determination and one pointedness of mind, but it is achievable. I can vouch for that as I know many others can too. ~Thine Own Self!

This implies that if you meditate you can know that it is true that God exists... do you know this to be true and if so how do you know this to be true? If you do not know, how do you know that it will be true... if you meditate... that you will know that God exists?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_gene

Thought I'd throw this into the mix...

Nah..note that "optimism" is predicated on the human concept of "time".
As implied in the article the creationists can swiftly counter with the catch-all clause of "who do you think created such genes and for what purpose ?"
It is much more logical to see "theism" as an answer to our human fear of "the void"...of a cognitive regression to the state of "the child being protected by the father that gave it life".
Certainly, there is a good argument for an "empathy gene" since social activities are central to the "success" of humans as a collaborative species, but such a gene would appear somewhat weaker than the "altruism gene" which might be hypothesized for insects such as ants.

Yes indeed if you meditate and do so with determination to attain enlightenment you will arrive at proof of God. And yes I have had such experience as a result of meditation, although the most profound mystical experience that I had was spontaneous, albeit after years of daily meditation.

I want to elaborate on two points here. I have said "you will arrive at proof of God" but this "you" is not the personal self (ego self). If you persist in meditation you will begin to realize thoughts/ideas give rise to somatic changes, ie the emotions and other states as well. Emotions are not some stuff on a virtual hard drive/your brain but changes to whole body function. These changes means the body is moved away from rest. Allowing the thoughts to rise and fall without becoming hooked by them allows the body to remain at rest. This takes arduous practice. When this happens the self vanishes. You begin to realize that the personal self is ephemeral, it comes into being with the many and varied thoughts and the associated modification to body function. It is difficult at this point to discuss because our language and the way we talk is through the personal self. So who begins to realize? What happens is that with extinction (of the personal self) there is not complete extinction, that is there is not nothing at that point. Rather the identity shifts and there are stages. One of the earlier stages is that the meditator identifies self with everything around them. They identify with other people but not on a personal level. It is hard to explain this. You have to get there yourself to understand. At a later stage the identification is one of the Impersonal or Universal Self knows /experiences Itself. The "only I alone and sacred". Again it is very hard to explain. Enlightenment is about grasping an understanding of reality, true nature, the truth of "I am That I am".

The other point I want to make is that there is a huge difference between spiritual experience and mystical experience. In spiritual experience the personal self or at least some remnant of it is still there. I had a number of spiritual experiences before I had the first mystical or enlightenment experience and it was a fleeting one at that time. Looking back now I can see that the spiritual experiences were experiences of encouragement. Some I had in childhood but the more significant ones come just before and during the time that I studied with my guru in Sydney. In all spiritual experiences you still have the sense of yourself as an observer. In the mystical experience the observer is gone.

I am not by any means unique or special in having had enlightenment / mystical experiences. It is the birth right of everyone. The inhumane or evil people have throw this away for the sake of the personal self, which dies in the death of the body. They are fools. They live for some kicks but they will never know supreme bliss. Those who are humane, regardless of their sins (missing the mark or getting it wrong sometimes) are all capable of finding this state of supreme bliss and cheat death. It is this reason that I believe we need a new reformation. Reading the holy texts is not good enough, it is only hearsay and many holy books have been corrupted for socio-political and economic reasons. It is of vital importance that everyone find the way themselves and know the truth themselves through first hand experience.

Scientists want to be able to explain everything and anything that they can't explain they explain away! In the first instance I think there is a great deal wrong even with the experiments that they do regarding brain function or ordinary events. They look at brain scans and make little or no effort to correlate it with the activities that take place in the body during the scan time. I suspect this is a key reason why they talk about areas of the brain as being emotional centres. If we consider the activity in the body we find that these areas help bring about changes, especially with respect to the heart.

Next genes are the master copies that make proteins, at least from my understanding. They help bring the hardware, the brain structures into being but how much do they influence how the brain functions? Experience affects brain activity and function far more than the structures because experience appears to help formulate and organize the structures, especially at the neuron to neuron level. Furthermore we can do experiments that show direct mental perception or ESP. Scientists are refuting ESP but they are also double blinding all experiments which means at the close personal level where ESP is strongest it is not being tested. If you do the experiments for yourself you will realize that we do perceive thoughts and ideas as presented by others. The questions then arise how does this work. There has to be a common ground that is not physical. This is really the mind. Biomedical scientists claim that the mind is somehow created in the brain. But again they don't have sufficient evidence to claim this and at the same time they are denying evidence that would be seen clearly if they did the experiments on ESP properly. So we also have to ask what role does the brain play in making mental perceptions conscious? Rather they are trying to say that there is no non-physical aspect so they interpret everything to one or other brain activity, and again without looking at what is going on in the body.
In modern physics they plainly see that subatomic particles oscillate between the physical and what they call nothingness. This nothingness is the non-physical realm, which they can't see or measure. And if they can't see or measure then they want to say it is nothing. They are happy to say that nothing exists and is highly unstable so that spontaneously something appears out of the nothing. I hear this and think wow how far they are willing to stretch themselves to stay within their comfort zone!

In my opinion the fear of the void has to do with the personal self and it's extinction as the natural progression of fullfilment in life, which is found in mystical/ religious experience. Letting go of personal self generates fear in the first instance but eventually extinction happens and the void is entered and within it God is found or the Universal/ Impersonal self.

God exists? Depends on how we define it. If we define it as inevitable present moment, then God exists. If you define it as love, and a force that holds us and entire cosmos together, God exists. If you define it as awareness that pervades from the sub atomic particles to the most complex organisms, yes IT exists

And there are plenty of definitions that can lead to atheistic or agnostics conclusions...so proof is in the definition.

how would you know you found "IT"?

Definitions are all heady stuff. Definitions are, in lay person's terms "let's say that" and sure we can then launch into some sort of logical argument but that is intellectual and interesting and fun but not the real thing. If you went to a some exotic restaurant for some genetically engineered dinosaur roast and the waitress told you to just sit down and I'll define it for you what would you get? A heady trip but nothing real! You got to get the dish before you and get the meat between your jaws, get your teeth into it, taste it on your tongue, smell it with your nose etc. Then you can say you've tasted it and know that it's for real.

I understand the diff between merely talking about it VS "experiencing" it.
But my question to you was about your claim of experiencing God in meditation. Would you know for sure if your mediation too was just another head trip? if yes, how?

I'll go along with what you've said about your spiritual journey. I won't take your word for it that a non-personal self can arrive at a 'proof of God' any more than an ego can. I of course wish you well with that journey.

I don't believe that a spiritual journey to an unconditioned Enlightenment (one that isn't impermanent) should have the idea of 'God' I believe this will be 'temporary' due to the notion of God as a condition.

Do you have your Guru's name, his tradition and who his Guru was? These are normal questions for people to ask in the East where the lineage of the Guru is usually sought.

My guru was Sivananda Rita. she is no longer in this life. Her guru was Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh in Northern India.

The Impersonal Self is God.
When one can, at the time of death enter into this state, which in yoga is called Union (seen as the yoking of the two selves, actually it is identifying as the Impersonal self and when that happens the personal self is naturally forsaken), then the superconscious state is reached. Death is the loss of consciousness, although there is still mental perception active. However if the superconscious state is reached then there is no loss. Consciousness is tied up with the personal self but the superconscious state is that of the Impersonal Self or God.

You need to begin to meditate and then you'll understand. Meditation is not about thinking. Thoughts might arise in the mind but if they are given no attention and there is no reaction to them then they just fall away again. A state is reached that is often depicted as the lake whose waters are so calm one can see the bottom of the lake. When we enter into this state we enter into a superconscious state. You got to go there yourself to realize what it is all about.

If you know what "a void with something in it" means, I don't !

You hope meditational experience of death of "little self" in which there is an emergent "something" is equivalent to "actual death", but the evidence is against you. For example, I can attest, as can others, experience of anaesthesia is a total void....there is absolutely nothing "experienced" during the period of unconsciousness, to the extent that you are surprised that any medical procedure has even taken place. This is very different from the experience of holistic consciousness/universal love and harmony which is an aspect of meditational "self- transcendence".

But then, what is "evidence" against the springs of hope ?

I recognize your path and wish you all the best on your chosen journey...