Sunday morning seems a good time for this discussion. What do you believe in? God? Sprit? The Universe? The Force? Yourself? Or even nothing? Does it matter?
I don’t believe in God the way God is often portrayed by others, for what it’s worth. I don’t believe God to be the entity the many varied and eclectic houses of worship portray. I don’t pray to God, because I honestly don’t believe that’s how it all works. “I ain’t looking for help from on high. That’s a long wait for a train don’t come,” to quote Captain Malcolm Reynolds, of the Starship Serenity (from the Firefly Series). Take prayer, in general, for instance. If two families, equal in every way on the outside, both have a child suffering with a deadly disease, and both pray to God equally fervently, why does one child live and one die? Is it the Sin Factor? Somewhere in someone’s life, or past lives, they had more sin than someone else? See, I just can’t get with that. A God who is loving and forgiving, omniscient and omnipotent, wouldn’t do that. Or how about natural disasters? I mean, ok, I get war. We have free will so we go out and shoot at each other. But Earthquakes? Tsunamis? Hurricanes? Tornados? What’s the point of God throwing all that stuff at us? Mad? Angry? Stuff happens? Oops, my bad? Just doesn’t feel right to me. Can’t believe that God’s will is to hurt his, or her, own creation.
What I do believe, is that we are an integral part of the Universe. We are star stuff. That is God. Everything and anything. It is the force. It is nature. By default then, we too, are God. We have the ability and the power to attract exactly what we want in life. Personally, no, I don’t pray (although if it fills a need, I absolutely endorse it!), but I do request things by sending out a message to the Universe detailing what I want. And then – here’s the kicker – I know I have to go out and do whatever it is I need to do to achieve that desire. Get it? Nothing is handed to you, but if you go out and work hard and keep taking steps in the direction of your desires, you will get there, and the Universe will provide stepping stones along the way you may not have noticed before. Stepping stones which might very well lead to the exact train station you were seeking. As the Buddhist proverb reminds us, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
This phenomenon has been described by many as The Secret, or the Law of Attraction, amongst other things. It has always existed and always will, because it is nothing more than vibrational energy. There is no right or wrong, good or evil. There is just energy. God-like energy. It is all around us, always, and if you ask for what you want, and go after it, it’s very likely you will get it. You get what you give. Even the stuff you don’t really want (like weight gain and disease), if you continually dwell on it, is provided to you. Because the Universe isn’t choosy. It answers all who ask, regardless of what they ask for. That is the God I know. That is the Universe at its best. That train does come.
~ jwb ~
I do think everyone has their own belief system that in their mind and heart is right. And they are. Whether it is God, Alla, Budda, the Bible, the Koran, or a universal flow of energy. No one is wrong, because it is what their heart believes. What is wrong, however, is thinking others are wrong because they don’t believe as you do. We could go on and on and on and we always will. In the end we will all know our truth.
This is so true, Bev. It’s when we try to impose our belief system on others that the trouble begins. Freedom of religion, or freedom of no religion, is so very important to everyone. Believe what works for you, and let others do the same. Unfortunately, as we’ve discovered so often recently, there are many who are just incapable of the “live and let live” philosophy.
I forgot to add that their is a very interesting book called “Spirit with a Smile” by Greg Sanderson that really sheds a light in this subject.