God

I’m no expert on God, but I do believe there is a higher power.  Some kind of order to the universe.  Some kind of greater force for right and wrong, for good and bad, for growth and death.

Do I think it was one man, a prophet, or another man, a saviour?  No, that doesn’t make sense to me.

Lets start with a fundamental question: Why is the prophet always a man?  The women I know are just as wise, even more caring, and much more insightful than most of the men I know.  So how does that make any sense?

So if I don’t believe in prophets, what do I believe?  The one thing I do believe is God is life, and people just need to try to define that in a way that makes sense to them.  Let me expand a little on that thought.

God is life because everything around us is a gift, and in it’s own way a miracle.  Sure, there are scientific explanations for some things, and there are many unknowns for others, but not everything can be explained.  So if it can’t be explained, we try to simplify.  We try to dumb things down, separate things into definable buckets that we can talk about so we can share things through stories.

That’s a good thing.  Stories make up the fabric of our culture, our shared beliefs and existence.  Stories about why seasons change, why drought and famine happen, and what is good versus evil.  People look for leaders to explain these things, to give them something to do about them, and to provide hope.  All good things.

What doesn’t makes sense to me is why we should take something someone said a thousand years ago, that was written down a hundred years later, and those statements should govern our lives today.  We are more advanced than that.  We have new knowledge they didn’t have back then, and while those old lessons served their purpose at the time, we should question them today.  There might be a better answer, a better approach, a better way to do something.

That said, we shouldn’t dismiss all the lessons from a thousand years ago out of hand.  There is tremendous value in what those lessons hold about God and behaviour, and refined into different religions.  Those stories were told to those who were poor, illiterate, and needed guidance.  They helped create order, provided meaning, and gave structure to people’s lives.  They helped form the societies we live in, tell us what is right and wrong, and who is good and bad.

From that point of view, God and religion served a great purpose.  We should take from the past the lessons that matter and bring them forward to today.  There are amazing lessons to be learned in all religions, whether that is Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, or even science.  Whatever it is, every one of those religions has something of value, but not at the exclusion of others.

But drawing conclusions from religion and saying one way to do something is right, one way is wrong, may be drawing conclusions between relationships that aren’t really there.  The best example I can think of for not drawing conclusions and relationships between things is as follows: God is love.  Love is blind.  Ray Charles is blind… but that does not make him God.  Just ask yourself what other conclusions are you drawing about God and religion, and do they really make sense when you put them in a perspective like that.

One of the biggest lessons about God I’ve learned was articulated by a most unlikely of people, Jim Carey.  At a commencement speech he gave he talks about his childhood, and how he asked for bike that his family couldn’t afford.  The next week, that bike appeared for him.  A friend put his name in a draw, and he won the bike.  That was the first of many things he manifested in his life.  Another example is he wrote himself a check for 10 million dollars with a date 5 years in the future, and carried it around with him in his wallet.  Just before the date on the check came due, he got paid 10 million dollars for a role in a film.  He gives simple examples about working hard, manifesting what he wanted, and how life gave it to him.

It’s amazing, by asking for what you want, and putting it out into the world, the world will align to get you what you want.

It’s so strange, but it’s worked for me too!  For example, when we were frustrated by the home-buying process in 2011, I narrowed it down to a particular street, and even more narrow to one of 20 houses on that street.  Because of the type of houses on the street, on average only one comes up for sale a year and there had already been 2 sales in the year I finally figured this out.  I resigned myself that I was going to have to wait for a year, maybe two, before something became available.  I was shocked and surprised when one of the 20 houses I’d selected came up for sale less than 2 weeks later and we were fortunate enough to buy it.

Another example was in January of 2016, after I was diagnosed with glaucoma, had come down with shingles, and had a cholesterol level so high they couldn’t measure it, I asked the universe for help.  The amazing thing is I found Warren, my mentor, the next month, and he in turn helped me turn my life around.  I did the work, but he showed me there was a better way, even to the point where I’m sharing this with you so you can learn from my journey.

The most interesting thing I’ve also learned, whether it’s a particular God you believe in, or the thought we’re living in a simulation, is the lessons you need to learn will be presented to you over and over again until you learn them.  Some people catch on quickly, and move on to the next lesson.  Some people get stuck in a rut and never move on.  So if you pay attention, learn the lesson, and internalize it, before you know it you’ve made it to where you want to go.  That is the true power of God.

If you have faith, if you have religion, if you have belief, then you have your rituals of prayer and sacrifice.  But if you don’t, if you’re not sure what faith to have or what to believe, let me give you something you can reach out to, something you can say in the moments when you feel the need to ask for something more:

“Oh divine providence, I ask not for more riches, but more wisdom for which to accept and use wisely the riches I received at birth, in the form of the power to control and direct my mind to whatever ends I desire.”

No matter what you believe, I hope it serves you well and may God bring you all the joy and happiness in the world.