They tell me that God is unscientific. They tell me that He is unreasonable. They tell me that we have become better and wiser, and that we no longer need superstition to help us. We need humanity, they say, and only humanity, to help us along our way.
And that does not make me angry, or make me want to fight anyone else, or to puff up my chest in the face of another view. It makes me sad, because it means that mankind now views itself only for itself, and not in the context of what is Universal.
I have always understood science, and any worldly knowledge at all, as a commitment to theory based upon evidence. It is not simply an assertion, but an assertion that has been rightly inferred. Now what can be any more scientific than the principle of causality? No effect exists without a cause. Logic itself demands that. No proximate effect can exist without an ultimate cause.
I have always understood what is reasonable, and any thinking at all, as a commitment to valid and sound arguments. It is not simply a claim, but a claim that has been proven. Now what can be more reasonable than recognizing that a degree only exists in reference to its absolute? "More" or "less" are real by reference to the maximum. If there is no absolute, there can be nothing relative.
I have always understood religion as an extension of reason, and never in opposition to reason. It is not simply a blind belief, but a trust based upon what is entirely reasonable. When I know of a man who has never done me wrong, there is good cause for me to rely on him again. I can hardly prove that he will do me right the next time, because that is beyond my power, but my faith is not unreasonable.
I will suggest that our concept of God is far too small and narrow. He is not a big fellow, or a big gal, up in the sky. He is not a boss. He is not your best buddy. He is not something you choose to hate. He is not the manager of your own cult or creed. He is Being, He is Existence, He is Beauty. He is Truth, He is Love.
God, however you wish to understand Him, is not just bigger than you or me. He is everything. What has been, what is, and what will be, are simply His presence. He is all that is, and beyond him, there is nothing. We are all extensions of that.
Does the gender bother you? Remove the gender. There is no sex in God, because God is beyond sex. Classical thinking only uses that as an analogy.
Does the idea of power bother you? There is indeed power in God, but a power without limit, and without any conflict, and without hatred. His power, with fullness of love, is not the power of your human abusers, with their fullness of selfishness.
Does the idea of perfection bother you? Stop assuming that God's perfection is the same as your own perfection. He is all that Is, while you are but a part of what Is. You exist only from Him.
And that last bit is what really rubs us all the wrong way. "It isn't all about ME?"
No. The biggest, and only real objection to an acceptance of what is Absolute, whatever you may wish to name it, is egoism.
Let's stop fighting about the labels and all of the divisions, and let's stop fighting about whether or not the Absolute is on our side. It only matters if we are on the side of the Absolute.
We have our wires crossed. When you confidently tell me that you do not believe in God, I can only shrug my shoulders. You have told me that you, quite literally, believe in nothing at all, because you have denied the totality of Being.
Written in 8/1992
IMAGE: Paul Gauguin, Where Do We Come from? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1897)
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