Ideally (ha ha!) philosophy is a motion, a process and not a product.

If philosophy is done without an open mind, then it's simply the creation of rhetoric in favor of x or y.

I'm not a big proponent of the God theory myself. I think that Augustine for example has something worthwhile with his "first cause" arguments, but don't follow him on the conclusion that this cause is the equivalent of the Christian God.

Perhaps to get away from doctrinal issues we should refer to this entity simply as the "being-in-itself-for-itself"

Devious, have you ever looked into hermetic law? (as philosophy...)