September 7, 2006
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We tend to think that we know what we’re talking about when the word God is use. And we use it with great conviction too. We argue with others as if we know what God is. Then we form our own beliefs and assert them into others. We say, “Our God is the only true God and your God is false. He-She-It is the absolute Truth. ” God has become a close concept, a mental idol. We have a mental image of what or who God is. Perhaps not the man with the white beard but still a mental representation of someone or something outside us and a male figure of someone or something. We judge, classify, condemn, and hurt others because they don’t share the same mental image of God like we do. We separate ourselves from those that are not in agreement with our beliefs.
Do you believe in God or do you know God? Is the mental concept of God a help or a hinderance in enabling you to experience that toward which it points? Where does God points?
Comments (11)
I do believe in Buhda.. and yes, I do believe in God !!
I believe in faith! Happy Thursday. =)
Yes, I believe there is a God; but our minds are limited to understand how. So that is where faith comes in ….
I believe in God….in the Catholic Mass that is the first line of the Creed we, as Catholics profess. Who is God? God is! He/She is a Spirit, not confined to be of human estate. Therefore, He is neither male or female, yet He is male or female. Make sense? Of course not, because although I believe in God, I don’t know Him. I will know Him one day, when I am called from this life to His life. God is all things to all people…as Nguyen Vy00 said, I believe in Buhda, I believe in God, I think they are one in the same. I think it’s like the McDonalds All Star Marching Band, the members of the band come from all different backrounds, but there is only on Drum Major. Trim Tab, I’m sorry for not visiting much anymore, I have been busy with some home projects and with Church also and I hardly get to come around and visit, but you are always in my prayers each day. God bless. +
I agree with the Deacon – God is! “Knowing” is a really loaded word. We only “know” what is in our experiences. So it is automatically colored by whatever lenses we use to view the world. I’m in favor of abandoning mental images and just work on experiencing God.
I think the word is a hinderance. I actually dislike when I have to use the term because it means so many different things to so many people and most of their definitions would never match with mine. So, when I say “God” it ends up that no one actually knows what it is that I am talking about. Unfortunately there is no other word, just vain attempts at words.
I feel there is a something that is eternal. It is us and we are it, yet we are seperate. (Sort of like the star-trek Borg, but not in a bad way, and not really that because it is physical and I don’t see this as a physical thing. That sounds horrid doesn’t it, but I don’t know how else to describe it. Even that is very inadequate.) Even saying this it is still not it and doesn’t fit. I just don’t think there is an image that can be conjured up that does it any justice.
Knowing: not in the same sense you would know another person. Like Ron said, more of an experiencing.
We can never know God he/she is spirit how does one know spirit? Judi
If there is a God then it represents all of the universe, and not a singular deity (IMHO). We are all God. Think about it…with our free will we all have god-like powers, and together we have the power to destroy and recreate anything we desire. We have unlimited potential. But otherwise I believe there is no singular deity or power ruling over us…I don’t think the existance of God should have a significant effect on someone’s life. Otherwise that would defeat the purpose. We are all self-guiding beings that should not need the guidance of an overruling being.
I have explained God in so many ways. I was brought up to believe in a God that just our church had and everybody else was fooled by the devil and we needed to carry the “true” message to those lost souls. My parents God did not work for me and I became agnositic and eventually atheist. I have come full circle due to meditation and service and I cannot define God today but I know it comes when I am quite and it compells me to be kind and I feel peaceful and with purpose. It is part of me and I am part of it. I am no longer religious but I do believe in whatever power I feel when meditate and become quiet.
Thanks, writing this post made me feel that feeling
Lenn
I’m not quite sure. If we talk about god as ultimate reality, then god pretty much has to exist, if anything does. Even if someone says there is no god and there’s nothing beyond the physical universe, since this universe is in some way “real” then that makes matter god – a stance known as hylotheism. So in that sense, we all inescapably believe in god, even if god presents godself as sunyata or impermance for a person.
But concepts about god might be detrimental, insofar as the holders of those concepts appeal to them as explanations for physical or experiential phenomena which might not be the case. If I say that god impressed upon me such-and-such, and could only appeal to my experience as proof, how can I communicate the reality of god meaningfully to someone who might have never had the experience? How can I know I was not mistaken, that I had not seized upon some concept of god and tried to fit that experience into that mold, or simply had no other words to fall back upon to describe it?
I don’t know how to approach people who say that their experience of god provides meaning and purpose for their lives; I’m just about as inclined to say that it’s an aspect of human nature (perhaps a fundamental one) to love, and the notion or experience of an outside force “calling” one to love is no different than a natural internal urge to do so.
But that itself is a concept as well, appealing to theoretical data of a concept of selfhood which may or may not be accurate. Are we distinct from love or hatred? Are we distinct from god? Hell if I know…
Hope everything is ok. I miss you.
Lenn