dhw: That is the danger of making intelligence or consciousness sound like a single mind. You, David, think BBella's concept is close to yours, whereas I see it as completely open - and therefore close to mine! The difference between an all-knowing and a learning “IT” still conjures up the image of intelligence as a single mind (I think process theology favours a learning God). The concept of intelligence being present in all things and linking all things allows for a single mind but, as I understand it, also allows for an infinite number of different minds without - and this is the crucial distinction - any central “authority”. But I hope BBella will clarify this for us. - It is possible to have a single universal consciousness from which we draw our individual consciousnesses but are independent in our free will of action and thought. Process theology is not an unreasonable theory.