The Essence of God
by Eduardo del Buey
Hello Readers, today we present The Essence of God, and Bettina Clark and I will discuss the article in the podcast at the end of the article.
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The Essence of God
French painter Henri Rousseau once said that God had created man in his image and man, being a gentleman, returned the compliment.
And therein lies one of the fundamental problems that has faced humanity since the dawn of time.
We have given a deity that we can never hope to understand human qualities that also include human deficiencies.
We live in a time in which different interpretations of God are leading us to kill or imprison each other physically or mentally.
The creation of God in man’s image has led to countless wars, oppression, suffering and deaths.
Many of the problems we are seeing today stem from religious differences, and these will continue until we begin to realize the true essence of God and understand the consequences of our folly in ascribing human qualities to a deity that lives far beyond our ability to comprehend its very nature.
God is neither good nor bad, vengeful nor generous, angry nor happy, strong nor weak, masculine nor feminine. God does not require worship nor adulation. God is the perfect creative energy of the universe and as such, is beyond human foibles.
God Is neither in heaven nor in hell.
Rather, God is in all creation, from the smallest cell to the largest mammal. God is not in our hearts, but, rather, the God we can know is that spark of life and consciousness that constitutes our being and dwells inside each one of us.
Some of us need the sense of community that a church, mosque, or synagogue provide. My experience tells me that God is to be found within ourselves and can only be experienced personally and not through the intermediary of a priest, imam, or rabbi.
Religious rituals can be a way to find God within us. But theologies and dogmas restrict rather than liberate us to find our truths and are often used by unscrupulous leaders to control us and manipulate our behavior and our very beliefs.
Religion led to the crusades, the Inquisition, the religious wars in Europe, the Holocaust, the cruel conquest of the Americas, and the Islamic invasions of Africa and parts of Europe, to name a few instances.
More recently, Islamic extremism calling for the deaths of all non-Muslims and the victory over the globe of Sharia and Islam has underscored the evil committed in God’s name. Russia’s supreme religious leader has called for the destruction of Ukraine, supporting President Putin in his war that has killed tens of thousands and destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure.
The Christian nationalists in the United States who have taken over the Republican Party use God to divide the nation and try to use the bible in the same way that Islamic fundamentalists use the Koran – to divide and conquer.
India’s Hindu nationalists, led by Prime Minister Modi, believe in the supremacy of Hinduism and seek to eliminate the hundreds of millions of non-Hindus from the sub-continent.
Throughout the ages, men have used God to control others. Political deism has been fundamental in the politics of all human societies, with the priestly class tasked with interpreting the will of God and forcing others to follow – often against the pain of imprisonment or death.
God is not human, but humans are part of God. The spark of energy that gives us life and consciousness it the manifestation of God at our level of existence.
So, what is the essence of God?
In my experience, God exists beyond our comprehension.
A fly can land on my arm; we are both living beings, but the ability of the fly to comprehend human nature or the essence of humanity is nil.
God and humans exist, but we are like the flies trying to comprehend the eternal.
We can connect with the creative energy of the universe that is the manifestation of God by using certain tools we can all access. Different spiritual schools use meditation, dance, ritual, or music to allow us to hear the voice of God within ourselves and achieve a certain wisdom and understanding of the divine.
Should we teach our children these techniques and let them experience the results, we could slowly put an end to the organized religions that divide us and begin to personally feel the God that unites.
Truth cannot be imposed. It must be achieved through personal experience, as must God.
Many masters of spiritualism insist that we should not believe a word that they say. Rather, they suggest that we use the tools available to us to explore the divine connection first-hand and come to our own conclusions. As sentient beings, this is the only way to arrive at our own truth naturally.
This is my truth, and I am sharing it with readers because we face a terrible future if we allow religious fanatics to not only eliminate our freedom of choice but, actually, eliminate us in their quest for religious supremacy.
But don’t believe me. Follow your own intuition and find the truth by yourselves.
It is there waiting for you.
Podcast:
I am impressed. You have the courage to deal with a subject that many are unwilling to do. Bravo!
Un numero pequeño de teólogos compartimos básicamente los sabios pensamientos aquí expresados. Los distintos mesías, como Jesús, Mahoma, Buda han intentado con mejor o peor fortuna acercarse al concepto de Dios. Incluso alguno proclamándose según sus seguidores como Hijo suyo y no él. Pero el cuerpo doctrinal que ellos no se propusieron fundar lo ha venido tergiversando y apropiándose. Pero "Dios" es un concepto inalcanzable para la mente humana. Sus definiciones no dejan de tener un sesgo de antropomorfismo. Las distintas religiones entre las que se encuentra la mal llamada católica, apostólica y lamentablemente romana han intentado apropiarse ese concepto como propio. Muy interesante el comentario de Hugh Smiley y su cita de Baha´úllah.