God, Religion, Spirituality, and Humanity
I don’t know much about religions and have never been interested in worshipping with others in a group or associating my beliefs with anyone else’s. I was confirmed as a Catholic at age 12—way before I had enough experience or knowledge to make that choice on my own. They confirmed me, but I did not commit to them in a powerful way. I know a few basic facts about some of the major religions in the world, but I consider them to be common knowledge.
I am an expert about my own sense of Spirituality. This is something I think about quite a lot and I am comfortable in my own beliefs. I don’t teach what I believe and I don’t ask anyone to go along with it. What I believe can’t possibly harm anyone. What you believe has nothing to do with me. I might be interested in your beliefs at some level, but I think talking about religious beliefs is like talking about shoe size—we each have opinions, beliefs, attitudes, and inclinations that we did not consciously choose or adopt, yet here they are.
One of my beliefs is that God is an invention. I think we made up God as a way to find comfort in trying to explain unexplainable things, and understand unknowable things. I have seen no evidence of God. I have felt powerful emotions and thoughts and I associate them with profound learning and personal growth. If you insist that those things are evidence of God, I won’t argue with you. How can I? Lots of people have told me that the amazing natural beauty of the world, and Life itself, is proof that God exists.
God, to me, is the system of order in the Universe. Some people might call it Mother Nature, or The Way Things Are. It’s what is at play when we say All Things Happen For A Reason, or Everything Always Works Out For The Best. I agree with the previous two statements. We might not understand the reason or see that the best thing happened, but that’s because the Universe is vast and we can’t possibly comprehend the many workings from our earthly perspective.
I can’t prove that reincarnation exists, but it makes sense to me. I think it explains differences in native intelligence, natural capabilities, and déjà vu. I have conducted Past Life Regression sessions with clients, and it is always a powerful experience for them.
Regarding Spirituality and my profession of Hypnosis, my beliefs matter. It is my belief that I am at my best when I love my clients and have a high regard for them. I keep clients at a professional distance, but I still treat them with Love and caring, deference, and respect for their spiritual and religious beliefs. I get to know something about how they see the Universe, and we use that as leverage to help them change and improve and develop.
I believe in people, that people are basically good, and that I can find and attract goodness by being a good person and behaving in a loving way as much as I can. I believe that God (as I define it) acts upon me and that it’s up to me to pay attention and act accordingly and consciously to improve the world around me. I believe that the more I do this, the richer my Life becomes, and I improve my ability to inspire others. I believe I am getting better, and everyone can.
I believe that evil exists in human nature, and that we all have the potential to produce evil. I believe that human potential can go in any direction and all directions. I don’t believe evil exists anywhere else except among intelligent beings. I don’t believe there is good or evil in the food chain, animals preying upon other animals. I don’t believe that death is sad—I think loss is sad, and murder is sad. (Murder is a legal term; some forms of homicide are sad, but not all, depending on circumstances.)
I believe in a higher order, Universal Law, hierarchy of standards, and righteousness.
I believe in Universal Healing Energy and that it can’t be fully understood or explained, and to me it is God. God, the Universal system of order, energy, and healing is at work all the time, within us and around us.
I believe my views are extremely limited. There are so many things I have not experienced: famine, abject poverty, extreme losses and grief, acute or terminal diagnosis and illness, major surgery—how can I know what it’s like to have my faith tested when those things happen? When I hear people talking about their experience with such things, I realize that I am a novice in Life even at my mature age.
I believe that God is there for me at all times, and I can tap into that power at anytime, and that whatever I learn in this Life I will carry with me into the next one. I believe that I am carrying things from previous existences, and not all of those things are helpful or true.
I think we all have choices and we make choices, and the human condition is to make mistakes—lots of mistakes.
I believe in me, and I believe in you.
I believe that you become stronger whenever you consider your own Spirituality, or your decision to turn away from it, and the most natural thing in the world is to ignore it completely and behave as if there are no such things as miracles. I think it is up to us to grab onto optimism and cheerfulness, hope, forgiveness, patience and tolerance, compassion, understanding, faith, and everything else that goes under the heading of LOVE.
To me, all of those things are God, and God is Love.
James, this good thinking is completely your own, as it should be.
I love a quote from Hafiz, a Sufi poet:
“Since no one really knows about God, those who say they do are just troublemakers.”
Having quoted Hafiz, I will say that any idea of God or a god will have to blend tradition together with the newest ideas of physics and cosmology. The resulting combination might satisfy each individual thinker about the essence of the Supreme Being.