Yes, I'm going back to talking about the big guy in the sky. But more so than me discussing my annoyance with those that refuse to believe in anything spiritual, I'm going to divulge a little something I just read from The World's Religions by Huston Smith.
First and foremost, an idea that I find most intriguing is that God can be found by any one person simply by figuring out what God is not. Neti, neti is what they call this activity in Hinduism. Literally translated as "not this, not this." The concept of simply deciphering what God is not in order to find out what he is intrigues me so much.
And what I love quite a bit is the idea that God is not some omniscient being that created all and can destroy all, but an infinite Being inside each of us. Our spirit is God. The way you become close to this infinite being is by getting rid of all finite things in your life that thicken the walls between the physical you and the infinite you.
Next to that is the idea which Hinduism teaches that all religions are equally valid. As there are 4 paths in Hinduism to find God (through Knowledge, Love, Work, and Psychophysical Exercises) there must also be other paths as well. Different religions are simply different paths to find the same God. The Hindu book Vedas says "Truth is one; sages call it by different names." Now how bout that? A holy book that doesn't try breaking down other people's beliefs. There's even this story about how Shiva approached a man who hated all deities but Shiva. He told him that he would never be pleased with the man while he hates. The man was stubborn so Shiva had to visit him many times. On the final time, Shiva arrived in the form of half Vishnu and half Shiva. The man took his offering and placed it towards the half that was Shiva. Shiva gave up, saying, "this man's bigotry is incorrigible." The point Shiva was trying to make was that He was all of the other Gods. They are one and the same.
Then there's the question as to Why we exist in the world? Response to that being: You have the choice of withdrawing from the game of life. The only answer that can be given is that the game is its own reward.
Regardless of your religious affiliations, these views are quite admirable.
Try being grateful for the world you live in because it is a reward to be living after all.
And start believing in yourself...in doing so, you may find that you do believe in God after all.
2 comments:
Responding with love and respect from my own faith perspective;
I think that discovering God by thinking about what he is not is brilliant. (what a better example christians would be if the whole world thought like that).
(here are a list of things that I believe do NOT belong to God's attributes)
Deciet, that is not God.
Spite, that is not God.
Single mindedness, that is not God.
So God is truth,
God is Love,
God is CREATIVE and OPEN MINDED. (I especially like the creative bit).
I also can see the benefit of searching out the bad and good within ourselves. What a difficult excersize it is, and it takes place our entire lives (if we try).
However, if I were my own god, I would die. What do I know about life? I don't even fully know myself, so how can I invest such power and faith in such a finite being as myself?
I don't think I'll ever be able to weave all of the evil out of me (call it evil, or bad karma, or negative vibes, or whatever). I will always have selfish impulses, I will always have a judge in the back of my mind encouraging me to put myself above those around me. Thankfully, I've learned to ignore these impulses, to turn away, to choose another path. But they are still there and they still come from within me. At my core I am good and evil. I will always be capable of evil. God is not evil. With relief I put my faith in God. Not myself.
Perhaps what I'm coming to is that deep down inside of ourselves we cannot separate ourselves from the evil that dwels there.
Alas, this is the point you and probably disagree on. :-)
I commend your writting, Adi. I think you are very brave for writting so honestly. I respond because I care about you and I value your thoughts and insight.
I love that you comment on my writing and I love your faith.
I want to point out however, that if God made all then God made evil. Evil exists in the world because he put it there.
I understand that God himself is good, yes. And all that he created was good. Which means there must be some good in even the evil things he created. He created man after all, capable of goodness and evil.
I put my faith in me as my own God because I know that the decisions I make today will affect my tomorrow. I know that I control my own life and I know that some external being does not have a say in how things pan out for me.
I know that you will disagree with my views, but I don't need God if I have myself. The only thing you can ever truly be certain of is yourself. I'd much rather put faith in that than something others before me have codified as their idea of "God."
Human potential is limitless, regardless of who we think gave us that power. But in a world where so many different ideas of where "we" came from exist, then how hard is it to believe that we each are in fact our own god. Unique to our own needs...
I like that idea. Maybe I'm the only one.
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