So What's Not to Like?
Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 10:22 pm
On Earth there are currently a great number of people who cringe at the mention of the G-word. Mention God and you can see the emotional armoring of cynicism slam into place at near light speed. Their eyes glaze with disdain and the heavy weaponry of condescension is targeted on the unfortunate soul who had the temerity to suggest that there is a Creator. Well I have a question to ask. So what’s not to like about God?
A common reply is frequently something like, ‘there have been more people killed throughout history in the name of God than…’ But people do that, I think to myself, so you don’t like people. That’s understandable. If God liked or disliked I’m sure He would dislike a lot of people too. Maybe you’re one of them? Fortunately that isn’t the case. The essence of God is Love. If the field Love could be refracted into constituent elements the primary ones would be understanding, mercy, and forgiveness. The like-dislike spectrum is strictly human. Its lens is the solar plexus, the gut level response. Our lens of Love is the heart.
Another common indictment of the anti-God crowd is ‘there is no proof.’ The logical disconnect of demanding material proof of spiritual reality never quite dawns on the prove-it crowd. That’s about as profound as asking a fish to prove there is space. My question in response to such a stance would be, “have you ever conducted your own internal inquiry?” Any heart-felt question will be answered. Each person’s discovery of, connection to and subsequent knowledge of God is individual and unique. If you don’t try you can’t know. If you do try you will start a process of discovery that will be continually augmented by practice. The reality of God is not found in books, ideas or beliefs although they may be pointers. It is only discovered in the Heart.
“Doing God’s will” is another plank in the platform of disbelief and not without some good reasons to be honest. Often that phrase is used as a justification for horrible human behavior. If one looks at the evolution of most institutional religions it appears that the reality of God is incidental compared to the dominance of human desires. Hey you can’t blame God for man’s errors. We seem make them up as fast as we can.
So is there such a thing as ‘doing God’s will’? In a sense the answer is an unqualified and emphatic yes! Practically? Um, well everything is relative. In infinite and absolute terms he way things are done by the Creator is perfection. So ‘doing God’s will’ just means striving to perform that way because the Creator’s way of doing things is, by definition, the best possible way to do them.
The only way you can tell if you are doing so is by the values exhibited in the results. The qualities of our lives and actions are reflections of the underlying spirit we are expressing. You can be sure that to the degree the results of your actions exhibit beauty, truth and goodness that you are in alignment with the purpose of Creation. In my own personal experience, while I strive to do the best I can I often seem to end up ‘doing God’s won’t’ instead of ‘doing God’s will’. I still opt to strive for the expression of those positive characteristics in my actions because I feel contentment with even incremental successes. Oh well if I were perfect I wouldn’t be here, eh?
A PDF of this essay is available by clicking here.
Welles
A common reply is frequently something like, ‘there have been more people killed throughout history in the name of God than…’ But people do that, I think to myself, so you don’t like people. That’s understandable. If God liked or disliked I’m sure He would dislike a lot of people too. Maybe you’re one of them? Fortunately that isn’t the case. The essence of God is Love. If the field Love could be refracted into constituent elements the primary ones would be understanding, mercy, and forgiveness. The like-dislike spectrum is strictly human. Its lens is the solar plexus, the gut level response. Our lens of Love is the heart.
Another common indictment of the anti-God crowd is ‘there is no proof.’ The logical disconnect of demanding material proof of spiritual reality never quite dawns on the prove-it crowd. That’s about as profound as asking a fish to prove there is space. My question in response to such a stance would be, “have you ever conducted your own internal inquiry?” Any heart-felt question will be answered. Each person’s discovery of, connection to and subsequent knowledge of God is individual and unique. If you don’t try you can’t know. If you do try you will start a process of discovery that will be continually augmented by practice. The reality of God is not found in books, ideas or beliefs although they may be pointers. It is only discovered in the Heart.
“Doing God’s will” is another plank in the platform of disbelief and not without some good reasons to be honest. Often that phrase is used as a justification for horrible human behavior. If one looks at the evolution of most institutional religions it appears that the reality of God is incidental compared to the dominance of human desires. Hey you can’t blame God for man’s errors. We seem make them up as fast as we can.
So is there such a thing as ‘doing God’s will’? In a sense the answer is an unqualified and emphatic yes! Practically? Um, well everything is relative. In infinite and absolute terms he way things are done by the Creator is perfection. So ‘doing God’s will’ just means striving to perform that way because the Creator’s way of doing things is, by definition, the best possible way to do them.
The only way you can tell if you are doing so is by the values exhibited in the results. The qualities of our lives and actions are reflections of the underlying spirit we are expressing. You can be sure that to the degree the results of your actions exhibit beauty, truth and goodness that you are in alignment with the purpose of Creation. In my own personal experience, while I strive to do the best I can I often seem to end up ‘doing God’s won’t’ instead of ‘doing God’s will’. I still opt to strive for the expression of those positive characteristics in my actions because I feel contentment with even incremental successes. Oh well if I were perfect I wouldn’t be here, eh?
A PDF of this essay is available by clicking here.
Welles