Heathens. Godless ones. Terms that didn’t so much scare me when I was a Christian but saddened me. My God was such an important, constant presence in my life that I could not imagine how one could live without God, any god. I knew that God was always with me, beside me, inside me. I could speak with God any time I wished. I could listen for God speaking to me. Wouldn’t people who didn’t believe in God be completely lost, alone, forsaken?
When I stopped going to church several years ago, and even after I recognized that I had become Buddhist, that sense of Presence didn’t just go away. Though I wasn’t quite sure what it was anymore, I still felt it, and was glad, comforted, safe. I had ceased praying to this lifetime companion—well, let me rephrase that. Intercessory prayer, seeking the intervention of that Presence in my life and others, had ceased. But I was still enjoying it, benefiting from having the Presence around me. In other ways, I was still speaking to it, still praying as I understood it, which was a vastly more multifaceted form of communication than simply asking for things. And I was still offering prayers for those in needs, for guidance in my own life, though I no longer had any idea who I was sending those prayers to.
I can’t say for certain that I’ve figured out what is going on with me in this regard, but I have had a hunch lately. I think that what I am sensing, what I previously referred to as God, is the universal interconnectedness of all beings. The constant Presence is the sense of my connection with everyone, of being one with all and leaving me and them behind. I believe that when I am feeling down, solitary, that I am slipping into dualism and sensing a disconnection from the universal whole. And the prayers that I offer now are not seeking an omnipotent being to swoop in on a fiery chariot and act on my behalf or for another’s sake. They are a sharing of concern, of need, of a particular kind of energy that resonates with the universal whole and calls on it to heal, aid, support its constituent parts.
Clearly, I have a lot more thinking and meditating to do on this subject, but I put these newborn thoughts out there in the hope that it will help lead me further along the path. Thanks for reading and walking with me for the past few minutes. Peace and love and wholeness be yours.
P.S. If “trading in” god for the new-agey universe thingy makes me a heathen, then light a bonfire so I can strip down and start dancing. I embrace it.
Dharma Beginner 
You asked for our thoughts… here’s an interesting perspective.
“God” Isn’t Dead”
(You just have to know what you’re looking for.) by Michael Galileo
“God” exists. The real god that is. The one that everyone has been talking about and looking for for ages. The ultimate “god” of this universe is all around us as it was before we started to affect things via complex thought, which makes it hard to see this god, and therefore to follow, but It’s still here, regardless.
To understand what I mean, you must first understand what a god is, and why would you want to pursue the knowing of a god anyway?
What is a god? A god is defined one way as “One that is worshipped, idealized, or followed.” The obvious reason that one would “worship, idolize, or follow” something or anything would be that one would think that association with or imitation of the actions of, or following the teachings of said god would, in some way, benefit themselves or their circumstances. When ancient civilizations and religions prayed to, sacrificed to, or petitioned a god, it was either to fall into favor with, or to avoid the wrath of, said god.
Either way, it was considered to be to the practitioners benefit to be honoring whatever god if he wanted things to work out for himself.
Right concept, wrong gods. The truth is that the most important god that exists within our Universal Dynamic, is Truth, period. There’s no need for the capitalization of the “g” in the word god. The word god is not god, only a word chosen to express Its importance. If anything gets the capital letter, it should be It, the Force, the Truth, and the Universal Dynamic of evolution that creates its power and importance. A god is a god, a “thing” to follow, that’s all. Something to help you on your way. Anything that can most help you accomplish your desired goal would be the thing or “god” that you would want to follow; the “way” to your destination, or more appropriately in our universe, for your desired outcome to come to you.
In this universe there is one thing that is most important in all decision-making processes. That thing is the truth. Knowing the truth in any decision will always help one to make the most proper decision to affect a desired outcome. Therefore the Truth would be the “god” for any choice or decision that one would have to make. This understanding is important because of the way this universe works.
The dynamic of this universe provides for each existing moment to become subsequent moments, one by one. The way that a moment becomes the next moment is by the existing moment, which is a combination of circumstances and conditions, being affected by the electromagnetically based evolutionary force of this universe, causing each moment to become the next moment. Since the first moment in this universe, each next moment has become what it is by being what it was before it became what it is, and because of its response to the applicable forces of the universe as they exist at any moment, becoming what it has to become because of those conditions and responses and therefore occurring as the “next” moment, or changed state of conditions. As the conditions are affected differently through their interaction, each next moment becomes different than it was, and will be different as the next. What’s contained in the last moment and this moment, (and the next, if the universe continues as it has for every moment of its entire history) is choice. Choice and decision. Within each moment a choice is offered from among all the possibility that exists in this universe, and a decision and response to that choice is always made. A choice is always chosen, a decision is always made, and the most probable possibility is realized as the next moment, unfailingly. Mathematically this equates formulaically as Un = Un-1 + Un-2, a 13th century evolutionary realization by Leonardo of Pisa, wherein Un represents the current state of any reality, which is equal to the collective elemental components of the two prior “moments” (Un-1, Un-2) or states of the entities evolution, including their realized choices, cognizant or otherwise. Although originally conceived as a progression of whole numbers, it’s application equates directly to “whole” seconds in the evolution of any entity or “thing’s” existence in this universe.
The problem is that most of those moment to moment decisions occur with out most of us paying enough attention to the decisions that are being made, and the undeniable truth: that regardless of intention or non intention, those decisions create each moment and the subsequent “future” of our individual and collective reality.
This is where the value of understanding the power of the choice of each moment becomes a benefit; to begin to help one understand the control over ones destiny that one effects, either consciously or unconsciously, every moment of their life.
Life is a succession of moments, each becoming the next by virtue of the conditions of the prior moment and the effect of the force of electro-magnetically stimulated evolution exerted upon it, as it becomes the next moment. The decisions or non-decisions being made at the time are having their resulting effects, causing the following moment to become what it must.
Each moment brings a choice into each reality or universe. Everything is relative. No thing exists in this universe that is not relative or related to everything else in the universe, and it’s the center of it’s own relationship with everything else, and therefore the center of its own “universe” or reality. From the center of its universe, it then perceives or experiences its existence based on the affecting and effecting of all the elements within its perceivable universe. This is its existence, it’s world, and it’s life. Whether it’s a single atomic particle of a chemical compound, or a large collective body of complex chemical compounds that operate in concert to walk around, like a person, this truth still holds. And each of the realities or universes that exist within our collective universe is faced with the question of choice and deciding a course of action or non-action, as each moment within its world becomes the next. The choice to act or not to act, to respond or not respond, which is a response in itself. This is how lives, or futures get created.
Each moment demands choice. Each moment requires a decision for a response. The moment doesn’t care if the decision is voluntary or not, cognizant or otherwise. It seizes the results of the decision or non-decision and becomes the next with its results. If one is awake to this truth, then one takes more seriously the responsibility for the decision part of the response to the demand of the choice of each moment.
We are all metaphysicians affecting change in our realities and others every moment of our lives. Some are more aware than others of this truth. To those that are aware and persist to affect their circumstances and create their reality in a particular way, the decision of response is of paramount importance. They know that it affects all subsequent moments and therefore their eventual and continuous reality.
If one is not cognizant of, or aware of the decisions that one is making to affect the moments of their existence, it is not likely that they will attain their goals or become as they would like to become, but certainly as they’ve chosen.
The decision of response to possibility in each moment is of ultimate consequence in the outcome of subsequent moments, and as we’ve deduced, Truth is the most important element in cognizant decision.
The power of Truth goes beyond its ability to guide one while making decisions that affect ones own and other realities. The Truth and Its reflection are crucial elements in the helping of others to reach their true destiny, or self-actualization. This “god” can help you find your “true” way.
But how does one find truth in each moment? It has gotten much more difficult these days, since man began the process of complex thought and began to alter this reality by virtue of the thoughts and responses to the choices available to him. Truth is still all around us, but the labyrinth of illusion that the effect of complex thought creating this reality has affected makes it difficult for humans to discern. Without knowing Truth, decision making in each moment becomes a “shot in the dark” so to speak, and the real outcome of the resultant decision and response more often creates circumstances and conditions that are not truly desired. To avoid that, one should pursue Truth, and put no “false gods” before it, if they are truly to increase the probability of making the correct decisions in the choices of each moment that becomes their reality. Only when the Truth is known can one cognizantly get the decisions required by each moment correct, their response to the choice appropriate, and truly be helped to find their way to ascend into their own personal heaven.
Isn’t that what a good “god” is supposed to do?
Wow, Michael. That’s just phenomenal. I think I’ll need to re-read that a few times. Thank you so much for sharing it. Peace.
Peace to you as well…
When we speak of “Interconnectedness”, are we trying to tap into what I think Buddha and Jesus were speaking about. Aren’t Twitter, Facebook, and the like our human efforts to achieve “Interconnectedness”, at least on a certain level?
Yes, Robert! In fact, I just saw this morning an article in Huffington Post on the spirituality of Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Fdennis-merritt-jones%2Fspirit_b_1198358.html%3Fref%3Dfb%26src%3Dsp%26comm_ref%3Dfalse%23sb%3D1856812%2Cb%3Dfacebook&h=KAQHFJvdgAQHPqU1XsR3gRKhBpaIKV5y3kzeNsy6cFbyZKQ. Wow, that’s a long URL, I hope it works. If not, I posted a link on the Dharma Beginner page on Facebook as well. That neat little virtual sangha is nearly 15,000-strong now. How cool is that?
very well said,
Wow, you nailed exactly, exactly what I have evolved to as well. thanks for putting in words exactly my journey.
Ab~SOUL~utly AGREE!