God Is A Concept

...by which we measure our pain.

John Lennon wrote that about 40 years ago. For many, many years I thought that was pretty cynical. I mean, isn't God supposed to be about Joy and Love and all that groovy stuff?

You have to look into what Lennon was going through when he penned those immortal words. At the time he was facing the loss of his part in the world's most successful musical enterprise, which he helped start in order to get away from an extremely dysfunctional upbringing. If anyone knew pain, it was John Lennon.

John eventually learned that in order to be at peace with God, you need to be at peace with yourself first. (It seemed to work for him; when he re-surfaced from his self-imposed exile with 'Double Fantasy' in 1980, he seemed to be much happier.) I think the Bible says something like that: Let peace begin with me. Look it up. Bibles are easy to find.

There are all sorts of people all over the world who claim to speak for God. They tell you, "God wants this, God wants that, etc." Really? How do you know this for sure? God told you? Oh. Okay. Let's think about that.

I'm about halfway through a book called 'The God Delusion' by the British scientist and author Richard Dawkins. He tries to explain how unlikely it really is that God exists, using the argument that it's pretty darn unlikely that the being that created a universe that we can't even comprehend the limits of is constantly vigilant of our innermost thoughts, dreams, and mortal temptations.

I suspect Dawkins is really saying that the people who actually believe all this unlikeliness have got a short-sighted agenda that they're trying to exert over the rest of us in order to gain some type of authority, or worse yet, control.

Do I think he has a point? Well, yeah. I'll try to explain.

When I went through my divorce, I went through a psychoanalytical regimen that included a thorough period of self-evaluation. The idea was to face the pain so I could deal with it, accept it, and learn and grow from it. This included a stint with Alcoholics/Narcotics Anonymous, which basically works on the same premise. You search, you accept, and you ask God for forgiveness and guidance. The thing I really loved about AA was that their definition of God was left to one's own conception; "however you perceive him to be". I called him God because of my strict Catholic upbringing. Others called him Spirit, or HP (for Higher Power; now when I hear computer people discuss HP I have to chuckle.)

Here's what I learned.

There is a spiritual power within each one of us, a power that we don't understand. A lot of people like to call it God. Dr. M. Scott Peck, in his book "The Road Less Traveled", suggests our unconscious is God. It's worth thinking about, at least. Anyway, this power does all sorts of things for us, many of which are really weird. Things like ESP, communicating with the dead, creating works of art. You could think of all sorts of stuff. In addition to providing us with a moral compass to guide our daily lives, this spirit also heals us.

But you have to work at it; it doesn't just pop up out of the sky one day. The 4th step in AA says to conduct 'a searching and fearless moral inventory'. I will tell you flat out that is probably the hardest thing I have ever done. Pain, serious fucking pain, folks. Lennon was right on.

But you know what? When you finally feel like you really can't take any more and you're so fucking desperate you'll try anything, you go to a meeting (or therapy session) and finally heed the advice you've been hearing so much about and surrender to that spirit so it can heal you. And that is when you begin to understand God. The God you have been looking for is right there within you. And it is absolutely marvelous. It is worth all the trouble.

I am not comfortable putting myself in a position to judge people who claim to be agents of God (I could probably think of a better term, but I think you catch my drift). The Bible, as well as common sense, tells us that's God's job. Well, at least that's a good way of passing that buck.

But I can tell within a short period of time which people are using their God-given strengths for the right reasons.

This is probably a good time to bring in Jesus. When you look at what He taught, you can justify the connection between himself and His Righteous Father. Too bad so many people lose sight of that. Assuming they had sight of that in the first place.

Does God know the innermost depths of your soul? He doesn't need to; you already do. Does God know the answers to all your troubles? He doesn't need to do that, either, for the same reason.

God isn't into guilt, or fear, or emotional manipulation. The part of your soul that houses those things just hasn't had the light shone on it yet. The light you possess. The light you can turn on right now. Stop your whining, stop your bitching, stop your accusing, and get to work on yourself. Because the honest truth is that when you make peace with your own soul, every reason for worrying about what everyone else does flies right out the window.

Is God in heaven? Who knows? Does it matter? Maybe. Too bad we don't find out for sure until it's too late to change it. In fairness to the Heaven People, it probably doesn't hurt us to live a life that will assure us entrance to that glorious afterlife. That would also mean that you are following Jesus' words in the true sense, and loving your neighbor as yourself. No guilt, no fear, no cheating, no violence, no crime. Oh, don't panic. There's still lots of fun to be had. Jesus liked his wine, too. And there's got to be a reason why marijuana grows on this earth (but that's for another time).

Peace.