1. The Cause of All Existence

World Scripture

I am the nucleus of every creature, Arjuna; for without me nothing can exist, neither animate nor inanimate… Wherever you find strength, or beauty, or spiritual power, you may be sure that these have sprung from a spark of my essence.
Bhagavad-Gita 10.39, 41 (Hinduism)

There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist.
1 Corinthians 8.6

The loving sage beholds that Mysterious Existence wherein the universe comes to have one home; Therein unites and therefrom issues the whole: The Lord is the warp and woof in created beings.
White Yajur Veda 32.8 (Hinduism)

Surely it is He who originates, and brings again, and He is the All-forgiving, the All-loving, Lord of the Throne, the All-glorious, Performer of what He desires.
Qur’an 85.13-16

Eternally He doles out gifts; Those receiving them at last can receive no more. Infinitely the creation receives from Him sustenance. He is the Ordainer; By His Ordinance the universe He runs. Says Nanak, Ever is He in bliss, Ever fulfilled.
Adi Granth, Japuji 3, M.1, p. 2 (Sikhism)

If God removed His hand the world would end.
Proverb (African Traditional Religions)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

Before we were born, God designed our eyes, ears, mouth, etc., so that they might perceive and know all that exists in this world. Could human beings have known beforehand everything they needed to live? There must be a Being, omniscient and transcendent of human beings, who knew everything.
That Being is God. (Way of God’s Will)

God is the Causal Being of the universe. He is the Causal Being of all faculties. He is the Causal Being who adds energy. He is the Causal Being who gives direction and purpose… He presents a purpose with a direction always centered on His deep motivation, and He keeps this position without wavering. That is why, if we begin from the Cause and fix on His direction, we can move to the world that fulfills His purpose.
(89:75-76, July 11, 1976)

Everything about human beings—alive with consciousness, pursuing goodness and higher value, and having a sense of sorrow and sadness—began from their Origin, not from themselves. In this resultant human life, we are going through the process of connecting with the original Cause.
(140:123, February 9, 1986)

For anything on this earth to exist, there must be a cause that enables it to exist. The community in which we live, our nation and the entire visible world are each different levels of effect. The complexity of connections that form each of these environments must have developed from a cause. Human beings create societies, nations and the world. Yet, the fundamental cause that formed human beings does not lie within us. Without a doubt, we are resultant beings. We were formed from some preexisting motivation and content. We came from a cause. God is the First Cause. How do you think He created human beings? God made us in His image, like Himself. That means the Father resembles us just as we resemble the Father. So when someone asks you, “What kind of being is God?” you can answer, “He is someone like me.” This answer will hit the mark.
(127:233)

Every individual has unlimited hope, unlimited ambition, and unlimited ideals. For we resultant beings to be this way, there first had to be a causal being that possesses these qualities. The causal being is a real existence. We call it God. God is a personal God; therefore, God can be the total motivation and cause for us human beings. Because God, the Cause, possesses such a nature, human beings, who are the effect, must necessarily possess the same nature. It stands to reason that one day, God—the cause—and we human beings—the effect—will become so inseparable that nothing can tear us apart. That day of reunion must appear in the human world. God has kept this cherished desire as He sought for humanity.
(28:282-83, February 11, 1970)