The Natural Mind – Waking Up alan macmillan orr
God 1. Any supernatural being worshipped as controlling some part of the world or some aspect of life
or who is the personification of a force 2. A man of such superior qualities that he seems like a deity to other people 3. A material effigy that is worshipped 4. The supernatural being conceived as the perfect and omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe; the object of worship in monotheistic religions
Who do you think you are writing about god? What do you know about god? How dare you! Blasphemer!
I
ndeed, I have asked myself the same question, many a time. Who am I to write about god? What do I know about him? I have pondered over writing this topic for a long time now, but I feel I am now ready to open a dialogue with you. It may not be an easy dialogue, as we are dealing with conditioned minds: Minds that have been conditioned by parents, history, religious gurus and teachers. It will not be an easy path, but if we both open our minds, we may find out something incredible. What do you say? Are you ready to explore this most difficult of topics with me? Or do you want to skip reading this in case anything that is said here conflicts with the ideas that your mind has been imprinted with? Good, now we can begin. For many thousands of years there has been talk of god; an all powerful being, who created Man in his own image. Prophets (someone who speaks by divine inspiration; someone who is an interpreter of the will of god) have spoken to us, books have been written by disciples, in fact for the last several thousand years, god has been the one word on everybody’s lips. God is like all supernatural beings, invisible to the naked eye, but that’s not to say he doesn’t exist, after all, the wind is invisible to the naked eye, yet we can still feel its presence. Some have written that god is in fact in you, or that we are all god. One man recently published a book called “Conversations with god,” where he had an apparent dialogue with the man himself. We are obsessed with the divine. The idea that god could have created this world in seven days goes against all that the scientists have discovered about Man evolving from the apes. So who is right? Did god create the world, or did the world randomly evolve over a great length of time. I think to truly understand all this we will have to throw away such questions which after all have only lead to a lot of argument in the past (and the present), and start to ask different questions of ourselves. If no one had told you about god existing would you still believe in him? If you had not been given religious instruction in your various religions would you be so wholeheartedly defending god? But maybe you “found” god after a difficult period in your life and god helped you through it? Scientists are in a difficult position are they not? They try to find out the truth of things by doing experiments and measuring the results, but science has not found a way to prove or disprove that god exists. And even if they did come up with evidence, what do you think you would say, if you believed in god? “What utter nonsense! These scientists should be sacked at the very least for suggesting such a thing.” Science is interested in facts. But the only “facts” they have to hand about god’s existence, are the words which were written down many thousands of years ago. Occasionally, there will be “miracles,” or some effigy will weep in a remote mountain village, but there are no “hard” facts. “We don’t need hard facts,” say the believers, “we know god exists.” The scientists would say that yes, you can believe there is a god, but there is growing physical evidence that Man has evolved from the apes in africa several million years ago, and through the process of natural selection, and several million years, out pops homo sapiens, ready to tell anyone who will listen, that he in fact did not evolve from the apes; he was always a man, just as he is now, thanks to god creating the world in seven days... We seem to be constantly at war with each others minds, fighting each other psychologically and physically, to prove god is better than your god. Poor old god, if he did exist, would be sitting high in the heavens shaking his head, saying “no, no, no, this won’t do, they haven’t understood a thing. Why did I even bother!” And we have to ask ourselves that question as well. If god really exists, why did he create the world – what was he trying to achieve? Please forgive me if you think I am taking this a bit too far, but I feel we must “ask” god himself these questions, and have our own “conversation with god.” Let us begin. Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God:
So god, I just wanted to know one thing, if you do exist, then why did you create this world? Because I could. Is there any purpose behind it? No it just is. Is god your real name, or do you have another name I should call you? You can call me god or whatever else you want, it doesn’t really matter. Are you angry with Man for the trouble he has caused here, for all the misery and suffering he has caused himself and others? Man has caused the pain for himself and others because he does not understand.
Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God:
Understand what? What life is. And what is life exactly? You will find out, but you must open your mind. So how will I find out? You already know the answer. But I don’t, please tell me. All will be revealed. But when? When you find out. But I have so little time on earth, I need to know now. Why do you care about time, it is unimportant. Because one day I shall die, and I want to know before then. All of you want to know the answer, but that answer lies within yourselves. But god... Sorry, I’ve got to go.
So. I just had a conversation with god, right? Did I? Was I talking to the great man himself, or was it all in my mind? I am serious. I asked some serious questions, I wanted to know the answer to, and “god” replied. Was I communing with a higher power, or were those answers just coming out of my own mind? How can I know? How can I “prove” it? Can you prove I wasn’t in a dialogue with the entity that created the whole world? Can I prove I was? Actually it doesn’t matter. I wrote god’s answers without thought or preparation, they just flowed “through” me, and they ended up on this page. Have I just proved god’s existence, or have I deluded myself into thinking that there is more than there already is? I will never know. But the answers “god” gave me, enlightened me a little. The answers were not what I was expecting, although they are in line with my own thinking. Do you see? Perhaps the answers are all in me, and all I have to do is ask the right question until I reach the truth of it all. Go on, have a go yourselves; ask “god” a question and write down the first answer that comes into your mind. This does not require analysis, just an open mind. When you have finished, come back and we will restart our discussion. You see, I do not want to prove or disprove the existence of god to you, or to anybody; it serves you and I no purpose. I do not want to convert you to my way of thinking, whatever it may be, I just want to explore this deeply with you, so we both may be awoken.
God or god? Actually, it doesn’t matter if we give him a capital letter or a small letter, the only difference is how you think about it. If you think god is more important than any of us, then you should give him (it’s funny that god is always a man don’t you think?) a Capital letter, but if you are ready to explore something that is more than mere words can explain, then it makes no difference if it is a capital G or small g; after all, the alphabet was made by men, not god. I am now hooked into asking god questions, so forgive me while I ask a few more. Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me:
God, if you are a supreme being, do you look like a human? Why should I look like you? Do you look like a lion or a mouse? Then why do people say you made Man in your own image? Men say lots of things. Are you solid or are you a part of the universe? I am the universe. Ah, so your saying that you are everything, that you are everything that exists and has ever existed? That’s right. I see. So if you are everything, I am everything. Right again. Does that mean I am god also?
God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God:
Why would it? You decided to call me god. I didn’t tell you my name. So what is your name? It is unimportant. Ok, I understand. Last question. Should I be afraid of you? Are you afraid of yourself? But I thought you said I am not god. I keep telling you. You came up with the name, it means nothing. Ok, sorry. One final question, Why is everyone afraid of you? Because they cannot see me. And what they cannot see they do not understand. Then why do you punish people. I do not punish people, people punish people. I just am. Am I? Of course you are. I have to go.
I’m pretty impressed. Not only has god spoken to me, he has confirmed what I already thought. This is strange. I wonder if I ask the questions and try to answer them myself, if I will still get the same answers? Let us ask our questions. Me: Answer: Me: Answer:
Why am I miserable all the time, why is life not perfect. Life is perfect, you just think it isn’t. Then why do so many people suffer. (silence)
At this point I found it hard to answer. I couldn’t get the thought from my mind to the paper. Let’s ask god. It’s easier! Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me: God: Me:
God:
Then why do people suffer? Because they are lost, they do not know the path. What is the path? Do you not know? No. How can I find out? You already did. Did I? Yes, the path is the one you have chosen. But is it the right path to end suffering? Why do you keep going on about suffering? I have already told you that Man causes his own suffering; there is no purpose to it. The universe is the path. Is it? How do I know? How can I tell it is the path, I need some guidance here! From who? From you. Who am I? Me? Wrong. I am me. But you said... We are separate, but undivided. Does that make sense? Not at all. Why can’t you give me a straight answer? Why don’t you ask a straight question? I thought I did. Ok, I see that suffering is man-made, not by divine intervention, that I call you god, but that it not your name. I am the universe and so are you, but I am not god. I am separate but undivided, which means that there is individual consciousness as part of the whole which is everything. Goodbye.
That was seriously amazing. You probably won’t believe me that I couldn’t ask myself the question and answer it straight away, but when I asked god (whom I shall now call everything) what the answer was, I could keep going until I think I answered it from myself. I am now convinced, not that god is an entity, capable of great power and destruction if we displease him, but that what we call god is consciousness in the
universe. The consciousness is everywhere and is everything. We cannot answer the question ourselves, because we do not know the answer, because we are limited by thought, but by putting the question out into the universal consciousness, I come back with an answer. I’m impressed! But hold on, couldn’t this just be insight?