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Finding God by Faith and Reason -- Where religion meets reality -- |
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Life on Earth, If a significant number of Americans do not consciously and intentionally participate in the already-in-process, global-level, social, political, economic, religious, and environmental transformations, humanity, collectively, and you and I, personally, will pay a very heavy price. False beliefs about life, religion, reality, and God are at the core of all of our personal and collective problems. We must seek, find, and follow the truth, no matter where that truth leads, even when it challenges our most cherished beliefs. We must stop arguing and fighting over beliefs and start cooperating, NOW! To do otherwise is an act of suicide. This means each and every one of us is a critical crossroads in our lives and right now. Each and every one of us is pushing human kind either closer to oblivion or closer to a successful transformation into an age of self-awareness. The direction in which you push is determined by your beliefs. Here's why: Two points will clarify this, first by defining what we mean by the word "God," and second, by comparing the present, religious organizations with what future, spiritually-focused groups can and almost certainly will be. We
begin by asking: The leaders of huge, mind-dominating, religious organizations tell people divisive, destructive, and unprovable stories about God as if they actually knew something and billions of people buy the stories without question. Humans then use their beliefs about God to either ignore reality or in an attempt to control, dominate, damage or destroy those who have a different belief about God. We have reached a crisis point in human evolution where living as if fiction were fact is no longer an option. Why do we say that? Because of the unbridled population growth which has created a huge imbalance between the number of people and the goods and services required for all people to live healthy, fulfilling lives. And
as a result, The goal of this author is to ask some of the mostly ignored and unanswered questions regarding human beliefs about God. The Goal is NOT to destroy either religion or one's faith in God. Rather, it is to bringing religious thinking and religious social structures into the 21st century. Here's a brief excerpt from one of our website pages titled: "What Do you believe About God?" The False Face of God: When you ask, "Do you believe in God?", are you talking about a fickle, angry, jealous, vengeful, intolerant, displeased, needy, and violent super-human being sitting on a cloud somewhere? Are you talking about a God who can, at his whim and will, step outside the laws of the universe and do anything He chooses including acts of magic, doing you special favors, or destroying your life in a momentary fit of anger? Are you talking about a god with an ego so great that he demands our worship and a self-image so small that he demands our obedience -- a god so weak that he needs our help to punish the unfaithful and so weird that he murdered his own son as an expression of love -- a god so angry, hypocritical, and unforgiving that he preaches forgiveness and, at the same time, is still punishing people today because a long- dead ancestor (Eve) ate "fruit" from a forbidden tree? Are you talking about a needy, self-centered, brooding god who offers free will and then demands obedience to rules that completely escape human understanding -- a god who, with what seems like arbitrary unpredictability, heaps great good fortune onto some, horrendous misery onto others, and pretty much ignores everyone else? Are you talking about a masculine god who created women as sex slaves and servants -- a god so small he can fit inside of a single religion or into a single sacred text -- a god who demands that we murder people simply because they believe in a different religion? Are you talking about The Great God Money, the most revered deity on the planet today? If these characteristics define God, then the answer is definitely NO! I don't believe anything which fits that description could possibly be God. I'd sooner believe that the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny were living in my attic. The
Faceless Face of God:
When
you ask, "Do you believe in God?", If you are talking about the sum total of all that is -- the ever-flowing essence of everything -- the central cause of all creation, from the minutest to the greatest -- the source of everything we are and everything we experience, If you are talking about "An Infinite Source" who/which/that has created a set of invisible laws -- laws that are as immutable as the law of gravity, laws that we each can intentionally use to create our own personal experiences (or ignore at our own peril), If you are talking about a "God" that is unknown and unknowable -- a God that expresses itself in a mysterious form of consciousness-- a "God" that expresses itself as freedom, love, joy, and beauty -- a god that manifests itself as the sum total of everything we are aware of in what we call the physical universe -- a God that we are each an intimate part of -- a God which is that mysterious part of ourselves we refer to when we say "I' of "me," If that's your definition of God, then the answer is "DEFINITELY YES, I DO BELIEVE IN GOD!" . . The second point focuses on: "What Is" Versus "What Can Be" The second issue that needs addressing is the difference between the present-day, conservative, traditional, religious social structures and what spiritually-focused groups can be and almost certainly will be in the not-too-distant future if we don't, in the mean time, destroy the planet to the point that it can no longer sustain human life.° We say "not-too-distant future" because, as mentioned above, human life on Earth as we presently know it is simply not sustainable. Here's a description of the present-day, traditional, fundamentalist religions: Traditional fundamentalist religions create communities based upon dozens of unprovable beliefs such as: humans are inherently evil -- humans are separate from each other, separate from nature, and separate from God. Traditional religions create communities based upon fixed, ancient, immutable doctrines -- upon claims of exclusive access to God -- upon their side being being right and good -- upon all others being wrong and bad -- upon reward and punishment -- upon a black-or-white-only perspective on reality. Traditional religions create communities that deny reason, deny logic, deny reality, deny common sense, deny the physical evidence, and deny the mind's role in relating to God. Traditional religions create communities that consider questions about their beliefs to be the work of the devil. Traditional religions create communities that are run by people who claim to already know all their is to know about what God is and how God functions, about how the universe was created, about what life is, about when it begins and ends, and why humans are here on Earth. It's Wakeup Time: Obviously some people have woken up to the absurdity of blindly following antiquated, Medieval, beliefs and unprovable claims about God. Many newly-created or newly-revised groups, broadly categorized under the label "Spirituality," have added logic, reason, the evidence, and commons sense to their Christian roots and are becoming more and more popular. Here's an overview of the possible alternatives to traditional fundamentalist Christianity: As an alternative: What if we kept the kind, loving, generous, and open-hearted aspects of the followers of traditional religions and created spiritually oriented communities based on mutual support -- upon tolerance and allowing -- upon the unity of everything and everyone including God, nature, and each other -- and upon seeking the truth no matter where that truth leads. What if we created spiritually oriented communities that honor the mind's role in relating to God -- that bring reason, logic, reality, common sense, and the physical evidence into one's spiritual life. What If . . . What if everybody's truth is correct, but only within it's own context. What if all truths are only part truths? What if some of the additional and previously-missing pieces of information were to be added to each truth? How would that change the meaning of present-day religious beliefs? What if whatever it is that we call "God" is the ultimate mystery of life? What if we really don't know what God is, or how He/She/It functions. What if life doesn't begin and conception, at birth or at any other place? What if life simply changes form and moves into a different dimension of reality? What if there are dimensions where time and space, as we know them, don't exist? What if the universe is filled with mysteries about which we are profoundly ignorant? What if the origin of life and the consciousness behind that origin are unknown and unknowable? What if there actually is a difference between reality and what we believe about reality? What if we really don't know all those things we claim to know? What
if Then
you,
I, and everybody else have been (and still
are) Think about the above statement for a moment. Think about the profound implications of that statement. How does it make you feel?How are you going to be about this? Note the distinction between doing and being. Doing, by itself, accomplishes little or nothing. It's usually a form of symptom-treating or futile gesturing. Doing, in the context of being, produces phenomenal transformations. Who are you? What are you? How do you choose to be in your present Earthly circumstances? What will that lead you to do? Choose among the following four options:.
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