People have been trying to do this for thousands of years, haven’t they?
People have even gone to war and killed one another based on their ideas about the existence of God and what he wants.
Still, to this day, no one has been able to definitively say that they’ve come up with proof that God exists in the first place, and there’s been some pretty smart people over the years. Scriptures, miracles, messiahs, imagination… the mind can take all of these and use them as a evidence to both prove or disprove the existence of God, to say he is or isn’t real.
Let’s take a look at how we (as intelligent human beings) would traditionally define something to be real or not.
1. The physical and tangible is real.
If I can hold it in my hand and touch it, it’s real.
A cup, a person, a bird. These are all real. I can play with this physical thing and thus it must be real.
But wait, some things are a little more abstract, like color, and even though I can’t hold color in my hand, it’s still real.
2. That which I can scientifically measure is real.
Wind may not be as tangible as a solid physical object, nor electricity or gravity, but I can still feel the effects of it. It certainly influences my life. I can measure how strong the wind is blowing, the current and voltage of electricity, or the pull of gravity.
So even if I can’t hold it in my hand, like color, I can still devise a tool to quantify the amount of something.
This is the level of today’s scientific world. It’s the level of reason, the dominance of the intellect.
What happens when one tries to measure something such as Happiness, Peace, or Love? Can you really measure Love?
When two people are madly in Love with another, we could measure their heart rate, perspiration levels, pupil dilation, how much time they spend together.
But these things aren’t actually Love. They’re something we could measure when Love is or isn’t present. They are the objective characteristics that may change in the presence of Love, but they are not the subjective experience of Love. There’s a difference between a direct experience of the actual thing and a measurement of the results that happen in the presence of that thing.
Not only that, but trying to scientifically ANALyze Love in this way really takes a lot of the magic out of it, don’t you think?
You see, feelings and states of being are not experienced through the mind, can not be adequately described through the mind, or measured by any physical tool.
Thus we can not use the mind or any tool to prove or disprove Love.
It’s like trying to measure the speed of a racecar using a thermometer. A thermometer measures temperature, not velocity. It’s simply the wrong tool for the job. It’s in the wrong domain.
The mind is the wrong tool for the job when it comes to knowing God.
Does Love exist? Sure. We can all experience it in our own Lives and verify it through our own personal experience.
Experience is necessary. The feeling of it is necessary. Words are empty and pale in comparison to direct experience.
When a little child asks his parents what Love is, often times the answer is something along the lines of, “When you experience Love, you’ll know. I can’t tell you and make you understand.”
You can read every book on the subject and listen to every poem and song inspired by or talking about Love, yet until you experience it, it’s all a poor substitute and will never lead to true knowingness.
God, Peace, Love, and Joy are all the same way. They can be experienced and felt, but never proven through the mind, through simply reading about or talking about.
People have been trying to prove or disprove the presence of God for thousands of years and to this day people still quarrel.
So how do we know something not provable through conventionally accepted means?
The other day I was in a discussion among friends and the question was raised, “What is God?”
There were many good responses including God is good, energy, the creator, love, and so on, but none of them quite fit for me. Sure they all pointed to one itty bitty portion of that which we call God, but how do we know ALL of God? If I told you my name is Ariel, I’m male, and I like mangoes, would that be sufficient for you to truly know all of me? How could I learn all about you?
There’s gotta be more to the story… what is God?
What was my response to the question? Take off my shoe and set it down before us all.
“What is God? Let’s start with something simpler. What is this?”
“It’s a shoe.”
“Right, now what is a shoe?”
“It’s an article of clothing that we wear on our feet. It protects our feet and gives us style.”
“Okay, so that’s its role, yet to be worn is not what it is. To look good is not what it is.”
“It’s a stitched collection of material such as leather and rubber.”
“That’s what it’s made up of, but that’s not what it is.”
“It’s just a bunch of atoms. The atoms are made up of pure energy.”
“You’re right, but so is everything else. Those are just the building blocks. That’s not a shoe, but what makes up the shoe. What is a shoe?”
“A ‘shoe’ is a label that we apply to an item which meets certain criteria, like the ones discussed earlier.”
“That’s true. Is a mental label all it is though, or is there something more physical and tangible to ‘shoe’ than just a label and a set of criteria?”
We can go on and on, but what we’d find is that the best we can do is describe qualities and attributes about the shoe. We can point towards what the shoe is, but we can’t actually say what the shoe is.
We can give a whole collection of descriptions and stories about God, but that’s not what God is. God is not a story or a description to the same degree that you are more than just your story and descriptions. Read More …
Do you also appreciate God in everyday life, or mostly alone time in prayer or meditation?
I’m wondering if I’m on the right path to connecting with God. Here’s what I’ve been doing and hopefully you can tell me what you think about this…
I’ve been appreciating God when I look into the eyes of a baby, or a dog. I appreciate God when I hear my favorite music. This is especially confusing to me if I should think of God because I love bands like Nine Inch Nails and Korn which are quite dark but I really love it.
Basically everyone I come into face to face contact with, I try and silently acknowledge them as God, even if they are being rude.
Am I on the right path, or should it be more an inward journey of meditation and in solitude?
And also is it right to appreciate God in things which are dark, or should the acknowledgment be exclusive to things which are light?
Thanks a lot!
J
My response:
Great question.
We could say that at a certain level, God is generally found more through the light than the dark, yet God is in all that is so truly seeing things as they are would mean one sees the God in even the darkness. There is NOTHING but God. God is truly beyond the duality of good and evil or light and dark.
The easiest way to find God, however, is to look without mentation. To see without labeling, categorizing, or any of that other mental farting action. This is generally what happens when you look a baby in the eye or sit back and enjoy the presence of the music. You allow the energy to flow through you without mentally chattering about it.
Just be truly in the moment no matter what you’re doing and endeavor to see beyond what the veil of the mind covers.
It seems that it’s only by going beyond the mind that one can truly see God in everything, including even what is created through the mind. Otherwise one gets pissed, angry, and judgmental at things like rape, murder, stupidity, and so on.
The journey inward to experience things totally as they are is definitely a helpful part of the path.
The meditation in solitude can be good practice for allowing yourself to experience without the ego pasting its interpretation on top of what is, but it’s not the only time one can do this. The exercise of meditation gives you practice in adopting a new way of life, a lifestyle that you can incorporate into every moment of your day-to-day life.
That which we call God is truly available in All That Is so yes, it is appropriate to acknowledge God in all that is. Just keep in mind that the ego itself and all activity sourced in it is directly designed to deny or somehow replace God. Acknowledging the presence of and the power of God will help you see through the illusion of existence without God, of being disconnected from and separate from God.
What is the opposite of sin? Does anyone have know?
What you focus on expands so if one wants to transcend sin, certainly one would need to focus on whatever is beyond sin. It’s interesting that Christianity focuses so much on sin, but it’s not clear as to what exactly is its opposite.
According to some quick research, people are suggesting innocence, righteousness, holiness, faith, virtue, or simply being a good person and doing the right thing.
Some even suggest that sin doesn’t have an opposite. Everything you do is sinful because you are a sinner and thus everything is a sin It’s just a matter of degree.
Talk about pessimism!
My definition would be to be in alignment with and to come from the higher self, unconditional love, your christ consciousness, your buddha nature, and an open heart… but that’s a bit wordy.
It’s not so much about finding the opposite of sin as it is transcending the realm of duality altogether and rising up into a place where only nonduality exists, where only Love exists. Love is all there is and sin is an illusion. Sin would therefore be choosing anything other than Love, an action sponsored by the lower self, the false self, and the ego mind.
If we looked at a building, sin would be a brick on the second floor. Love would be a brick on the ninth floor. The higher brick is not opposite to the lower brick, nor is it better or worse. It’s simply on another level entirely.
You don’t solve a problem with the same level of consciousness that created it. To go beyond sin, you must raise yourself up to a level that transcends the possibility of it entirely.
If sin has an opposite, what is it and how would we compress it into a single word? Love? Oneness? God?
What say ye? What single word represents the opposite of sin?
Spiritual Truth is something to know, to experience, not something to believe in. The joy and love and peace of God can be actually experienced once you know how to access it.
Do you need a belief system to know how many heads are sticking up out of your neck? If I told you you had 18 heads sticking out of your neck, would a debate even be necessary? No.
You know you have only one physical head. You experience it. You know it. No belief system or opinion is necessary.
It’s when you lack the complete knowingness and experience that the weaker substitute of belief or opinion (which only exist in the mind, not in reality) is necessary.
Whether or not Jesus turned water into wine, or whether Adam and Eve actually existed, it’s not something we can actually experience. Thus, it’s basically a question of whether you believe in it or not. Since there’s no way of proving it one way or another, all you have are people arguing and defending their belief systems which is essentially a big house of cards. People are terrified of what will happen if their cards come tumbling down.
What are some spiritual truths that can be experienced and that really make a DIFFERENCE in your life? Read More …
It is literally impossible for anything other than Love to exist. Yet, if Love is all you experience, you will never truly be able to appreciate it.
In the same way that your favorite food grows tiresome if you eat it consistently, it is necessary to experience the opposite of that which you enjoy in order to fully understand and appreciate that which you enjoy.
Because Love is all there is and it’s impossible to experience anything other than Love, the next best thing is to forget and create the illusion of fear. You are given the tremendous gift of being able to believe fear is real in order to fully appreciate Love.
In the absence of that which you are NOT, that which you ARE is NOT.
In this lifetime and in all your other lifetimes, you have the ability to create whatever it is you wish. You get to create fear. You get to create Love. With enough trial and error, you’ll start to come to the conclusion that Love simply feels better. It’s a more enjoyable place to be. Fear may feel good to the ego, but it’s ultimately a destructive energy. What may feel righteous or justified in the short term will never bring long term happiness.
If fear doesn’t exist, how is it that we can experience it?
Let’s take a look at several pairs of opposites. Read More …
Imagine you live in the world of the Absolute, where everything is perfect, loving, whole, united, connected, and wonderful.
That’s great and all, but you can’t really understand or appreciate anything because you’ve never experienced its opposite.
So you’re God and you decide you want to blow yourself up into an infinite number of smaller versions of yourself, all of whom can experience the universe from every possible angle and vantage point.
Now, there’s no way to not be who you are. The next best thing you can do is to forget.
What’s a great way of doing this? Give these little pieces of yourself an ego.
The ego is basically what allows you to create the illusion of and thus experience the exact opposite of who you are. You choose to do this because it allows you to experience BOTH who you are and who you are not.
With this new gift of the ego, you can experience fear. Now you will be able to fully appreciate love. Read More …
You Are Truly Loved features content designed to guide people towards enlightenment, unconditional love, and living a life of joy through Self-realization and proper application of the Law of Attraction.
People have been trying to do this for thousands of years, haven’t they?
What was my response to the question? Take off my shoe and set it down before us all.
My response:
What is the opposite of sin? Does anyone have know?
Spiritual Truth is something to know, to experience, not something to believe in. The joy and love and peace of God can be actually experienced once you know how to access it.
Love is all there is.