Do you believe in God?” – a simple enough question, right? I’m sure everybody reading this has been asked this at some point. It could have come from friends, family, classmates, strangers, coworkers, missionaries, preachers, teachers, or any of life’s creatures. Sometimes it’s asked in the spirit of searching; other times it’s asked with a pre-packaged agenda. In either case, it is a pretty profound inquiry. But what the heck does it mean?
In my opinion, “God” is a word that is thrown around all too easily and casually. A standard dictionary definition of God would be “the one Supreme Being, the creator and ruler of the universe.” Another (Christian Science style) could be “the one Supreme Being, understood as Life, Truth, Love, Mind, Soul, Sprit, Principle.” Pretty awesome concepts! But when a person goes through a single, standard day, references to this Supreme Being will abound in every sort of context and motive. Sometimes it seems like cramming the stars into a lantern. Sometimes it exhausts me.
Whether you believe in God or not (or are agnostic), I think it’s wise to at least pause every now and then and consider how awesome such a concept could be. It is beyond human understanding. Indeed, the simple world around us is way beyond human understanding. What really is before our eyes? Whatever it might be, it is a limited perspective. Our minds can only function by virtue of disregarding all the ‘unimportant’ stimuli around us. In other words, we sense the world through the tunnels of ‘ourselves’. We can see only a narrow range of electromagnetic radiation; we can hear only a narrow range of sound vibrations. Similarly, our intellectual concepts are just as limited and short-reaching. Yet we – us narrow, stupid, and wonderful creatures – embrace such rough ideas to high-heaven while we try to wrap them around the moon.
Do I believe in God? Yes, I do, but is your concept of “God” the same as mine? Or do we talk past each other more than we’d like to think? Surely when we talk about apples and aardvarks we have a general correspondence of what they are, but, dude, God ain’t no Orycteropus afer. You know what I’m saying? Ahem, anyway, what I’m trying to say here is that when entering the realm of ‘God’, we must understand that we are groping about a divine landscape with mere pinpoint flashlights of perspective. God is not just an idea, God is a wondrous journey!
As pilgrims of life, it is our birthright to embark on this journey for God. What coins of wisdom will you find in this pursuit? What fruits will they bear? What do the fountains of life in your soul draw to? For my part and in my humble way, I wish to spend the next few weeks struggling with written word to illuminate my perspectives of what God is. Many of my thoughts will be in a Christian direction (for what it’s worth, that is the journey I abide in), but I hope regardless of religion (or lack thereof) we can find some common ground and beauty. If you will, I invite you to share your perspectives too. Perhaps through our sincerity and expression we can enlighten our journeys for God together and give life to such a transcendent concept.
So, in the spirit of searching, I would like to ask: What is God to you?
10 Comments so far
Leave a comment
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <pre> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Thank you for your post. I discovered it when I searched wordpress for the word agnostic.
Comment by Scott February 6, 2009 @ 12:04 amWhat is “God” to me?
After 30 yrs of being a Christian, I’ve finally come to believe “God” is a “Rorschach test.”
“God” is a convoluted composite of the hopes , desires and feelings we have developed and projected into the foggy inner core of our mind. I believe “God” is a product of our culture, our parents, our experiences, our emotions and our biology.
I believe people can have profound thoughts and beliefs about “God” which may drive them to do many amazing and wonderful deeds. I believe a person’s beliefs about “God” has the potential to inspire him or her to utilize their minds, their bodies and their relationships for the betterment of the community.
I also believe many people have an impoverished perception of “God” that can do just the opposite. The extremes of religion-based violence aside, I have seen people distorted into fear-based, superficial, two-dimensional deviations from the grander ideals and visions for humanity that exist in our culture.
Myself, I am at a precipice. At 45 years old I have recently given up any notions of a literal Being out there, working for our benefit – - – rewarding our service to Him with the coveted blessings of peace, prosperity and health.
And the “hope of Heaven?” Trickery at worst. Dreaming at best. Heaven is the ultimate promise of reward for those who “straighten up and fly right.” “Heaven” is a comfort for those who have suffered the common indignities of life. Does it exist? I have no way of knowing.
The same goes for Hell. The idea of Hell is manipulation at worst. The struggle for a sense of final justice at its most noble. Does it exist? I have no way of knowing.
I don’t particularly like my new view of the world. This new viewpoint does not make me happy necessarily. But I am filled with the satisfaction that a new sense of clarity brings.
Like Fox Mulder on the TV Show X-Files, “I want to believe.” However, like Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men, “I want the truth!” And in order to face the world without the sickening knot of the knowledge of compromise in my gut, I must say to anyone who bothers to ask me my opinion of the matter: God is a dynamic mental construct that drives us sane or insane or somewhere in the middle. And we may not be in control of the outcome.
[...] By 2serious I commented on a post by a gentleman named Jerry Scott Fisher His question was ” What is God to [...]
Pingback by TheJourneyBeginsToContinue « One Perpetual Seeker’s Blog February 6, 2009 @ 10:55 amWow, what a nice surprise! Haha, I didn’t think anybody checked my blog ^^
Comment by fisher0978 February 6, 2009 @ 3:01 pmAnd thank you for your nicely written and thought-provoking comment. I agree with very much of it. Whether our concepts of “God” arise entirely out of our minds, they are certainly colored greatly by them. And, as you mentioned, the beliefs and behaviors surrounding this concept can cut both ways from being well-adapted and wholesome to superficial and strange. About heaven and hell, I hope to touch on these a bit in subsequent posts, and I’d greatly appreciate your input if you’re willing.
Also, thank you for sharing your personal beliefs. For what it’s worth, I believe you are still seeking God through your pursuit of truth. And the fact that you have the strength to let go of some long-held ideas that now jar with your intuition is to your credit. And as you mentioned in your blog, the journey of life takes a new direction.
I will add your weblog to my blogroll. I look forward to stopping by and reading your posts.
Well, Mr. Fisher, I like to think of God in the dorkiest way possible. To me, God is essentially the Star Wars view of the Force. It’s the invisible ties that bind the universe together.
I have a hard time believing that God, as a omnipotent deity, would make decisions effecting our lives based upon a moral code as simple as the ones relayed to us by most organized religions. If there is a conscious creator then he’s probably more like a young child with a pet ant farm. All we can really do as ants is to hope that God is a caring child, and doesn’t ever get the urge to shake our case.
Comment by Drew February 21, 2009 @ 3:01 amHey Drew, thanks for weighing in.
“I have a hard time believing that God, as a omnipotent deity, would make decisions effecting our lives based upon a moral code as simple as the ones relayed to us by most organized religions.”
- Mostly agree. And I would add that in most of the accounts of Jesus, he perplexed the old-school religious/moral authorities with his radical grace, forgiveness, empowerment, and sacrifice. He threw down the oversimplified, twisted legalism of his day through his direct communion with God (and consequently fulfilling the true law).
But would you agree that, sans the question of God’s existence, laws like the Ten Commandments have a practical purpose of keeping society from degenerating into destructive debauchery?
“If there is a conscious creator then he’s probably more like a young child with a pet ant farm. All we can really do as ants is to hope that God is a caring child, and doesn’t ever get the urge to shake our case.”
- Mostly disagree. Though one of my favorite scifi writers, Olaf Stapledon, wrote of a dispassionate, ‘immature’ creator that ‘matured’ through the experimentation of various dimensions and universes. I don’t think that way at all.
While I do feel that anthropomorphizing God as a smashing, finger-waiving patriarch is misleading, characterizing God as a potentially mischievous child is even more so. Polytheistic mythologies seem to have a lot of pettiness in the divine realm, but I wouldn’t feel that God as a supreme being/force is twisted like that.
Comment by fisher0978 February 21, 2009 @ 9:51 am[...] for God Series Searching for God (I) Searching for God (II) Searching for God [...]
Pingback by The Boon of Buddha « Jerry Scott Fisher’s Weblog February 21, 2009 @ 7:45 pmJohn Lennon said it best….”No heaven or hell below us…above us only sky…you may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you can join us, and in this world we can live as one.” Imagine.
Comment by Tammy Adams February 25, 2009 @ 7:53 amHi Tammy. In my case, I really don’t want to believe in the traditional sense of heaven and hell. It just seems horrible. But of course I have no idea about those things… just blog posts
I DO feel that life is very important and sacred, and that we should strive to be ‘awake’ for every moment. I fall asleep way too easily in myself and my illusions. I suspect we all do.
On earth, could glimmers of heaven be found in those beautiful moments of pure inspriation where we lose ourselves and seem to function and flow exactly as we were designed? Are they found in those beautiful moments where a helping hand is suddenly and unexpectedly found amidst a great darkness?
Comment by fisher0978 February 25, 2009 @ 2:21 pmHi Jerry,
I am your student, American named James.
Today is my first day to review your essay & photoes.
I have to back to works now, but next time, will try to eave my opinion regardless of my short of language.
See you soon in the class.
James
Comment by Ahn Jinmo March 9, 2009 @ 4:58 pmHey James, thanks for stopping by. I’d be very happy to hear your opinions. See you Thurdsay!
Comment by fisher0978 March 9, 2009 @ 8:30 pm