(Post #498)
The Ugly Swan asked me last week what I believe in. I had a hard time coming up with an answer because I'm in the process of figuring that out and because experience has taught me that what I believe today is not necessarily what I will believe tomorrow, so I'm hesitant to commit myself to any beliefs that can be nailed down with words.
As I listened to some more Eckhart Tolle at the gym today, though, it occurred to me that I should not be so afraid to own whatever beliefs I have right now. I don't identify with these beliefs--they are thoughts I have but they are not who I am--so there's no harm in acknowledging that they might be different tomorrow.
What I believe today, then, is this: God is not something outside of us. God is us. As we discussed the possibilities of God's existence last week, Ugly pointed out that for God to create the world and then sit idly behind the scenes while we thrash around in ignorance and misery, he would have to be a not-very-nice God (and I'm putting words in Ugly's mouth here, because I lack his ability to remember and recite everything I've ever heard). In my mind, at least, the God-is-us theory answers this question. God is not some uncaring being watching our lives as if they were some cosmic soap opera; rather God is life itself, and each of us is a manifestation of that life. The only thing keeping us from recognizing this truth is our own egos--that which convinces us that we are individual beings tied to the individual bodies in which our consciousness manifests itself. There is no all-powerful being who refuses to step in and tell us what's what--the only one refusing to do anything is us. I suppose this same logic can be applied to an external God, but it makes more sense to me this way.
So that's what I believe. Today. Take it for what it's worth.
normally, i shy away from theological discussions. i just don't understand them; my mind wanders and at the end i'm left thinking, what??
ReplyDeleteso when i hear, "god is us," or "god is life," i say, what?? it works for some people, buddhists, for example would probably have no objection to it, but for me, "what??"
I see you've taken it for what it's worth. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your beliefs. Mine are sometimes hard for me to articulate and, not unlike you, mine change from day to day. However, I love to hear what other people believe. That is, unless they believe something I think is Wrong. . .
ReplyDeleteThe idea that God is us is an interesting one. I'll have to let that stew around in my head for a while. Not a bad way of explaining why God doesn't get more involved.
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ReplyDeleteVery circular. Very pre-history (hyphen intentional).
I've heard that before, but I like the way you put it. It's a very optimistic belief. I like that. Rainbows and kittens and butterflies, amen!
ReplyDeleteI can't wrap my mind around the "God is us" mindset, because, while thinking on it, I get at some point to, "Since I am God, I want to smite someone or do something cool" and then I get the giggles and have to quit pondering.
ReplyDelete0_0
Tonight, my 6-year-old daughter did say that she's been praying to Heavenly Mother asking if doing Heavenly Father's laundry still seems like a "chore" since it's, you know, God's underpants.
And she tells me she prays to herself too, since she knows she's a child of God and thinks that in a pinch, she can pray to herself and that's close enough (the descriptions sound a lot like self-affirmations to me.) I don't completely understand her thought process on that one, so I suspect I'll be posting here in 10 years asking someone to please help me understand her.