My philosophy on god
Since I said I would write something like this, I thought I finally would. And not because I'm feeling particularly eloquent or philosophic, but because I'm not. Practice, y'see. Or sommat. Patience, practice and follow-through are all things I need to work on very much. Hence, the journal entries.
Anyway. God. Okay, here goes. I don't believe in what I will refer to as a "Christian" god, or any other religious god. I think those guys are made up by mankind to fill in the blanks of our lives, such as answers to the ubiquitous "why", and because we are afraid of most things. When I say we are afraid, I mean since tribal days, so we're talking about instinctual, I'll kill you first so you can't kill me type of reactions. Also, god fills in for the function of "loving", and I put that in quotes because of the feeling of the aforementioned fears. We do not, in general, feel loved by others or by life. Others can hurt us, and life is really really hard, to the point where both things can kill us. So, in order for us to feel "safe" and not worry so much about these things and get on with daily living, we invent an all-loving, all-powerful god that will take care of us in times of hardship. This is a very human need, and one that I do not dismiss out of hand. I believe it is just misplaced. If we want love and to feel loved, we need to look to others for it, but primarily and above all from ourselves. The love we feel for others can only extend as far as we love ourselves.
But this is getting a little off track. What I think of as "god" would be taking all life and matter that is in the universe and squishing it all together to form a ball. That ball would be "God". But since the universe is scattered about, the next best thing to call "god" would be Nature. ALL Nature. The life force, but not just what propels the living, but the dirt and rocks and the gases and everything. And why I think it's misplaced to put your love in god, or even this version of god, is because it's not capable of loving you back. Well, that's not exactly true, because I think it is created out of pure love, but not the squooshy stuff we call love. It is beyond that. It is all emotions and beyond emotions. It is the most dispassionate and most compassionate love there is. But we have such a hard time comprehending that because we have personalities that act as filters for all things, our thoughts and feelings. "God", Nature, whatever, doesn't have that filter, so there is no limit. It encompasses all things. It IS all things, and is beyond all things.
To go back to a more religious bent, and a mostly Christian one, and try to stick with me on this: I believe Jesus existed. Was he God? No. Was he a piece of God? Yes. We all are. (I also think he addressed the issues of his own time, which, since there has been a slight paradigm shift since then, they no longer adequately apply. Though the bare bones still do, because Love is eternal and always True.) However, I think the bible is obviously written by people who were, at best, trying to figure out what the hell Jesus meant. If Jesus had written the bible, I think it would've said, "Love yourself the way you love others. Love others the way you love yourself. The End." But since life is really more complicated than that, people ask questions. "How can one love a murderer as one loves oneself?" "How can you love yourself if you've done something really bad?" The questions are so complicated and have so many permutations, because life is that way. But the answer is so simple. Now, don't get me wrong here; it's not an EASY answer. It is merely SIMPLE. Two entirely different things. But we mostly forget that. We've come to believe and expect that hard questions will have hard answers. But I don't think that's how the universe works.
Which brings me to another beautiful word I love: Elegance. That is the word I use to describe life. Elegance to me is simplicity in a very complex form, and vice versa. It is Beauty. The way things in nature move in such diverse harmony. It is the most stunning thing. Love is Elegance. It's another one of those concepts that are so vast and encompassing that it is truly mind-boggling. Whenever I'm feeling a little lost and un-anchored, I think of this aspect of Life, and it helps me see that I am not just a microcosmic speck among stars. I am a part of the stars themselves, and that helps to center me.
Hopefully, this covered everything I wanted to say about this, though I'm sure there's lots more. (I'm a bit of an armchair philosopher.) But I just wanted to get this out there (finally).
Anyway. God. Okay, here goes. I don't believe in what I will refer to as a "Christian" god, or any other religious god. I think those guys are made up by mankind to fill in the blanks of our lives, such as answers to the ubiquitous "why", and because we are afraid of most things. When I say we are afraid, I mean since tribal days, so we're talking about instinctual, I'll kill you first so you can't kill me type of reactions. Also, god fills in for the function of "loving", and I put that in quotes because of the feeling of the aforementioned fears. We do not, in general, feel loved by others or by life. Others can hurt us, and life is really really hard, to the point where both things can kill us. So, in order for us to feel "safe" and not worry so much about these things and get on with daily living, we invent an all-loving, all-powerful god that will take care of us in times of hardship. This is a very human need, and one that I do not dismiss out of hand. I believe it is just misplaced. If we want love and to feel loved, we need to look to others for it, but primarily and above all from ourselves. The love we feel for others can only extend as far as we love ourselves.
But this is getting a little off track. What I think of as "god" would be taking all life and matter that is in the universe and squishing it all together to form a ball. That ball would be "God". But since the universe is scattered about, the next best thing to call "god" would be Nature. ALL Nature. The life force, but not just what propels the living, but the dirt and rocks and the gases and everything. And why I think it's misplaced to put your love in god, or even this version of god, is because it's not capable of loving you back. Well, that's not exactly true, because I think it is created out of pure love, but not the squooshy stuff we call love. It is beyond that. It is all emotions and beyond emotions. It is the most dispassionate and most compassionate love there is. But we have such a hard time comprehending that because we have personalities that act as filters for all things, our thoughts and feelings. "God", Nature, whatever, doesn't have that filter, so there is no limit. It encompasses all things. It IS all things, and is beyond all things.
To go back to a more religious bent, and a mostly Christian one, and try to stick with me on this: I believe Jesus existed. Was he God? No. Was he a piece of God? Yes. We all are. (I also think he addressed the issues of his own time, which, since there has been a slight paradigm shift since then, they no longer adequately apply. Though the bare bones still do, because Love is eternal and always True.) However, I think the bible is obviously written by people who were, at best, trying to figure out what the hell Jesus meant. If Jesus had written the bible, I think it would've said, "Love yourself the way you love others. Love others the way you love yourself. The End." But since life is really more complicated than that, people ask questions. "How can one love a murderer as one loves oneself?" "How can you love yourself if you've done something really bad?" The questions are so complicated and have so many permutations, because life is that way. But the answer is so simple. Now, don't get me wrong here; it's not an EASY answer. It is merely SIMPLE. Two entirely different things. But we mostly forget that. We've come to believe and expect that hard questions will have hard answers. But I don't think that's how the universe works.
Which brings me to another beautiful word I love: Elegance. That is the word I use to describe life. Elegance to me is simplicity in a very complex form, and vice versa. It is Beauty. The way things in nature move in such diverse harmony. It is the most stunning thing. Love is Elegance. It's another one of those concepts that are so vast and encompassing that it is truly mind-boggling. Whenever I'm feeling a little lost and un-anchored, I think of this aspect of Life, and it helps me see that I am not just a microcosmic speck among stars. I am a part of the stars themselves, and that helps to center me.
Hopefully, this covered everything I wanted to say about this, though I'm sure there's lots more. (I'm a bit of an armchair philosopher.) But I just wanted to get this out there (finally).