Recently I have been reading the book "Tomorrow's God" by Neale Donald Walsh. In this book he both says we will (need to) move into a new spiritual renaissance if we are to save the planet and that it will include a new understanding of God which he calls Tomorrow's God. He says we will (or suggests we should) stop using the word God (or Allah, or any similar words) because of the huge amount of misunderstandings and baggage we have attached to that word. Instead he suggests we use the word LIFE.
Notice how this does shift some misunderstandings. I for one think the ideas that God as vengeful, punishing, jealous or only blessing the US are distorted understanding of the Divine Being. So in his schema of substituting the word Life you get:
A punishing God = A punishing Life. Well that sort of clears up that Life does not punish us. Sometimes other people do, but that is based upon their will, beliefs, or values. They were not directed by the Life force to punish anyone.
A vengeful God = a vengeful Life. Again there is no evidence of Life creating vengeance. Some animals eat others but it is not vengeance. Some people are vengeful to other people but again out of their emotions, or beliefs. But the Life force does not make them vengeful. In fact it is easier to notice that when a group acts vengefully towards another that the life force does not direct them to do so....they may call on beliefs to explain their actions, especially religious beliefs or as Walsh would say "the Old God".
A jealous God = a jealous Life. Now it starts to seem rather absurd doesn't it? How can life be jealous?
God Bless America = Life Bless America. Well Life does bless America, and every other country too. While certainly some have far less material goods or sometimes less useful natural resources, none are without laughter, kindness, creativity, etc....in other words the blessings of life.
And then there is the other side of this:
A Loving God = A Loving Life. Yes indeed as we look around we see all kinds of evidence of Life providing love, and love coming through all aspects of life and in fact creating life.
God the Creator = Life the Creator. Well that one is fairly obvious huh?
God as my refuge = Life as my refuge. Here I notice that if I use the word Life it helps me to notice how I should be approaching life. Rather than trying to run to God as a refuge against life!
God the Provider = Life the Provider. Certainly life provides many things, but what we want? In the old way of turning to God and praying for things to be provided we were always like helpless children and what we wanted may or may not be provided. (Some religions claiming that only if you were virtuous or hard working did God provide.) But life seems to provide in no predictable pattern....or does it provide what our intentions are? What we co-create in alignment with life's energy?
This also syncs up very well with what both Walsh and Wayne Dyer (and countless others) say about manifesting. Dyer refers to The Universe (instead of God) and both talk about the Universe or Life as being neutral about what is created or provided. Ask for sorrow or anger and that can be provided. Ask for Love and joy and that can be provided. We need therefore to be conscious about what we ask for and where we put our attention because what we dwell upon Dyer says is what we manifest. Think endlessly "Oh I have so many bills to pay" and sure enough more bills will show up. Think endlessly "Oh my life is blessed" and sure enough more blessings will show up. So I would like to put my attention on the goodness of life and the love that is abundant in life. I think if I put my attention on love and goodness I'm liking to live Life more deeply, more consciously.
When we pray to God this often evokes a sense of receiving or being denied, of a "power over" or a parent or "the Santa Claus God" who I have written about in a previous blog. It is also to get mad at God for what we decide God has done. If we call this energy Life, it is I think still possible to pray to it, but it does sort of change the interaction. There is wonder, awe, gratitude and joy, and there is the attempt to perceive the Life Energy and to align with it. But any appealing to it...well you just have to go more into that co-creation or aligning the life energy with the bigger life energy. From my point of view that keeps me more true to how I want to pray anyway.
Joanna Macy talks about how in systems theory you have living parts that make up bigger living parts. So for example we have cells that make up organs (also parts of our life) which make up our live bodies and then our bodies join with other bodies to make up living communities, etc. She points out that these parts at each level cooperate to make the larger level function. But something much more profound is able to happen when any level has self-reflection upon itself as a separate living being and ALSO part of a living being. So if I engage in being consciously aware (mindfulness) of being a part of Life/God this is different than living as part of Life with no awareness of anything beyond my own self. It centers us into life itself.
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