Saturday, May 19, 2012

My Continued Search for God: FINAL THOUGHTS

FINAL POST - END OF THIS SERIES. Will he find God or not? Read this!

This is a hard one, but let me end my resent "Search for God" postings by saying that I believe there is more to death then nothingness. I believe that we came from some source and will return to that source. I certainly do not understand the nature of that source. I believe that we may come back again, in a different form, to again be part of life and then to return once again to that source. I believe that we may do this to continue to "learn lessons" about this thing called life or Spirit or Karma.

I believe that there is a purpose to my life, if only to love and to be loved. I believe that I can be spiritual without being religious. I believe that I can be a good, moral, kind person without being religious. I believe that I do not have to believe in a God but that doesn't necessarily mean I am an atheist. I just don't know and my studies have not led me any closer to a conclusion. Just because something cannot be proven to exist, does not mean that it doesn't exist. Perhaps God is the search in itself.

I believe that I haven't found a plausable definition or description God. I have not had a personal experienced with God. I just know for sure, that any way any religion might describe God (him or her,) and any way that I might think about or picture God ... that image is NOT God. Descriptions or experiences of God come from thinking human beings and therefore are not close to being able to describe God, if he/she exists.

Here are some hard thoughts on religion that I have culled from The Angel’s Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafòn, 2010. I have come across these thoughts in many different forms but Mr. Zafón, as quoted below, sums it up for me. If you are a believer, or a religious person, I respect you and your beliefs ... but as for me, I choose to live by my beliefs. I do not find Mr. Zafón's comments to be comforting and I do not find them to provide peace of mind for me, but they seem to make sense for me ... like your religion and/or your God might for you. I would so love to have someplace to go or someone to talk to that would make everything in my life seem OK. But I do not find this place or this person to exist for me. The Faith and Solace that I do have is in myself and in the knowledge that I will be able to continue to make good decisions about how to live my life.

The Angel's Game

“... a religion is really a moral code that is expressed through legends, myths, or any type of literary device in order to establish a system of beliefs, values, and rules with which to regulate a culture or a society. As in literature or any other act of communications, what confers effectiveness on it is the form and not the content. Everything is a tale. What we believe, what we know, what we remember, even what we dream. Everything is a story, a narrative, a sequence of events with characters communications an emotional content. We only accept as true what can be narrated. … a story for which men and women would live and die, for which they would be capable of killing and allowing themselves to be killed, of sacrificing and condemning themselves, of handing over their souls? .... a story so powerful that it transcends fiction and becomes a revealed truth? (p. 145)

... faith, the act of believing in myths, ideologies, or supernatural legends, is the consequence of biology ...

“It is part of our nature to survive. Faith is an instinctive response to aspects of existence what we cannot explain by any other means, be it the moral void we perceive in the universe, the certainty of death, the mystery of the origin of things, the meaning of our lives, or the absence of meaning. These are basic and extremely simple aspects of existence, but our limitations prevent us from responding in an unequivocal way and for the reason we generate an emotional response, as a defense mechanism. It’s pure biology.

“.... beliefs arise from an event or character that may or may not be authentic and rapidly evolve into social movements that are conditioned and shaped by the political, economic, and societal circumstances of the group that accepts them.

“A large part of the mythology that develops around each of these doctrines, from its liturgy to its rules and taboos, comes from the bureaucracy, generated as they develop and not from the supposed supernatural act that originated them. Most of the simple, well-intentioned anecdotes are a mixture of common sense and folklore, and all the belligerent force they eventually develop comes from a subsequent interpretation of those principles, or even their distortion, at the hands of the bureaucrats. 

“.... The administrative and hierarchic aspects seems to be crucial in the evolution of belief systems. The truth is first revealed to all men but very quickly individuals appear claiming sole authority and a duty to interpret, administer, and if need be, alter this truth in the name of the common good. To this end they establish a powerful and potentially repressive organization. This phenomenon, which biology shows us is common to any social group, soon transforms the doctrine into a means of achieving control and political power. Divisions, wars, and break ups become inevitable, Sooner or later, the word becomes flesh and the flesh bleeds. (p. 222)




2 comments:

  1. Finality. Bold choice, sir.
    -Chris.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I must say that this post makes your photo look like you are wearing a priests's clerical collar. Really.

    Powerful words...

    ReplyDelete

Comments are always welcome. You are appreciated! If you do not have a sign in to any of the accounts below ... use ANONYMOUS. Thanks.

PLEASE leave a comment or some acknowledgment that you have been here. It can be totally anonymous. You do not have to leave your name. You could use your first name only, your initials, or nothing.

Under each new post you will find the word COMMENT. Click on it and a window will open where you can leave your comments.

It asks you to SIGN IN, but you can also click on ANONYMOUS.