A Question of Spiritutality

DISCLAIMER: In this post I address issues of religion, G-d and faith. Nothing in here is meant to be a statement of aggression or negativity. I am simply exploring ideas and thoughts that I have had from time to time. While I am on what some may call a spiritual quest, that does not mean that I am in search of a particular religion or dogma. So, if you have interesting and constructive ideas to share, please do. HOWEVER Do not make any attempt to bring me to the life of g-d or any church in particular. I will completely ignore and disregard any attempt at ANY conversion. Religion and spirituality are extremely personal issues and as I try and respect the decisions others have made, I fully expect the same respect in return. Let me also add; the discussion and ideas I share in this post are not political but philosophical. I see a clear line between theology and politics and while I do spend quite a bit of time talking about the politics of religion, this is essay is written from a theological approach. This disclaimer applies for this post and any other posts on this Blog that deal with the exploration of religion.

In an attempt to work out some of my own philosophical and spiritual issues, I have decided to share some of my thoughts on G-d. A number of events recently have led me back to questioning what I believe and why I believe it. This posting is the first of what I hope to be several personal essays exploring the ideas of religion and spirituality. It is incomplete and not a polished piece of writing, so please bear with me.

Let me first begin by admitting most of what I know about G-d (I’ll explain later why I have chosen to use G-d) I learned from movies. I have always been drawn to the big picture battle between good and evil and how that battle is played out on and through man kind. I am fascinated by the “mystical” elements of religion and how those elements (angels, demons, saints… etc.) live among us in our every day world. I gain a lot of satisfaction from the idea that there is a whole other layer to the world that we live in that we do not understand or see.

I have seen and felt things that I know exist and to me denying their existence is pure naiveté. I have felt the power of meditation and magic. I have sensed the manipulation of energy, the force that I believe holds us all together. There are things that make sense to me because I can feel that they are real. This is not a blind faith of a deity but just something that comes from deep inside me that I know it is true.

Many have confused my lack of belief in the Christian G-d with a lack of belief in any higher power. I find that assumption to be absurd. I firmly believe in the existence of an entity that reaches beyond our present comprehension and our single plane of existence. I see this entity as being omniscient and omnipresent, not because it created life but because it is created of life. In fact not just life, but existence itself. Imagine Puff The Magic Dragon, Puff existed because the children believed in him, they invested time energy and life force to create an entity that would not exist without them. Once the children stopped believing, he stopped existing.

In this writing and others, I use the written form of G-d as G – d. This idea originally came from Orthodox Judaic Teachings that one must never write the name of G-d because if you were to have to erase or destroy the document that the name of G-d is written on, then you are in fact destroying G-d himself. While I found that idea fascinating at the time, the more I thought about it the more I realized that for me the idea of writing the name of G-d in this manner separates what is see as G-d and what others see as God. G-d throughout history has been called many different names. Every religion has placed a different label on what I believe to be the same exact thing.

I don’t see organized religion as a natural thing. I think that organized religion is an invention of mankind in an attempt to create something to explain what I see as G-d. I think that is why I never have felt comfortable with any religious institution. I don’t believe that knowledge and enlightenment should cost financially. I don’t believe that one should have to go to any single building or place to access the power that it is G-d through a single point person. I think that we all are and should be our own temples and our own gateway to this entity that is G-d. I see churches as being large organizations that have entirely too much power and wealth for their own good. I believe that G-d exists hot because of organized religion but in spite of it.