God has been described as a “power greater than ourselves”. So is everything around us – the physical and spiritual. God can be understood as the Universal Spirit, the creative energy, which pervades everything - like a body of water for all beings organic and inorganic to be immersed in. ***
The life force present within every living being – I call that God. The energy inside the atom, which eternally moves subatomic particles - I call that God. The emotional energy vibrating between us, which we experience on an instinctual level – I call that energy God. The consciousness within us, which enables the thought “I am” – I call that God. The “collective unconscious”, shared by people across time and space – I call that God. The vicissitudes of life, which bring about events that direct our fate, I call that God, too. Everything is connected energetically - God is within us and around us, the energy of visible and invisible reality. ***
Endowing God with human characteristics, such as judgments or punitive intentions leads to erroneous conclusions such as: “How can God allow pain and suffering to happen?” But God doesn’t tell us what to do. Humans come equipped with consciousness and freedom to bring into existence the soul’s concerns. The universe is orchestrated to bring things about, such as the movement of the planets and all events that come into our lives. The Divine Spirit manifests as the rainbow of all possibilities between the extremes of joy and pain, light and darkness, fire and ice, birth and death – as the world. Our desires and needs guide us - so we can evolve through seeking to fulfill them. Challenges motivate us to feel and learn, think about solutions, and act on our choices. Pain is meant to indicate that something is wrong, some danger to protect ourselves from. Our brain is wired for time-limited happiness – to keep us from staying in complacent passivity. The spiritual path is about seeking God, not about having found Him. ***
Consider the possibility that souls decide to incarnate in order to have experiences in this world. We cannot selectively choose to have only good ones. Life presents us with events so that we can weave our spirit into the fabric of life – as we make our innumerable decisions and live with the consequences of our actions. Prayer has the power to manifest what we think and verbalize (“And the word became flesh”). As we clarify our purpose and surrender to fate (“Thy will be done”) we align ourselves with the Divine Forces. ***
The meaning of life can be summarized like this: We have some experiences, sensations, feelings, and thoughts. We do something. We have some experiences, sensations, feelings, and thoughts about what we have done. ***
Some people say the existence of God cannot be proven. However, the absence of God cannot be proven, either. Although certain things cannot be tested and explained, they may still exist. Should we limit our thinking to the confines of organized religion, atheist beliefs, or past scientific research? We may never know the exact nature of our connection to a Higher Power, or whether the Creative Spirit of the universe actively and consciously partakes in our own little life events. We are meant to live the mystery and find a belief that helps us make it through the night…