God Is Dead – Long Live God

Most of the Universe is black and empty – a glance at the clear night sky will verify that. But quantum physicists would have us believe that all that blackness is pregnant with possibility – that there is a constant dance going on between existence and non-existence. It's like the void of space is maniacally fiddling with itself in random bursts of creation and annihilation as it awaits inspiration.

Apparently, everything that exists, was formed out of this blackness and is sustained by thought. But whose thought?

I avoid the word “God.” That is a word with so many meanings attached to it as to render it meaningless. An appropriate fate in my reckoning and here's why I think so.

Bad things happen to good people and bad people get away with all manner of nastiness. Not all bad people – sometimes justice is served, or at least it would seem so. And good things happen to good people, too, but, there sure is a lot of crap going on in the world.

If there is a God, wouldn't He/She/It put a stop to all of the insanity? Wouldn't God being all powerful and on the side of righteousness (otherwise, wouldn't we be talking about Satan?) be smiting evil and rewarding good until peace reigns pure in the Universe?

It sure seems like an argument in favor of the non-existence of God, or the death thereof. Maybe God took a vacation. I mean, for God, isn't a couple of weeks more like billions of years to us? One way to resolve the discrepancy between the Creationist's belief that it took seven days to make the Universe and the scientific stance that billions of years were involved is to consider context in the measure of a “Day.”

But, what if God is merely the possibility of creation? Like building blocks strewn willy-nilly across a floor. They remain a mess for a mom to yell about as long as no one arranges them into prideful structures. What they become is totally up to the builder. The blocks don't give a flop how they are used – their only ambition is to hold their shape so they can be relied on to function throughout time into whatever purpose they are applied.

That would explain why so many prayers go unanswered and why I so often hear the phrase, “It wasn't meant to be.” More like, “It wasn't made to be.” And what about those prayers that, apparently, are answered? Could it be in the asking?

Back in my Unity days, I joined the prayer team and was trained as a Prayer Minister. During that training a distinction was made between what was termed “Begging Prayer” and what could be called “Proactive Prayer.” Begging prayer goes something like this:

“Oh Heavenly Father, please, don't let anything happen to little Stevie, and make us strong and resourceful as we face the challenges to come, and hey, how about that Mercedes-Benz -- amen”

The same prayer in the style I was taught would go like this:

“Heavenly Father, from the knowing that we are co-creators and through the oneness of all things, I know, for little Stevie, that he is safe, secure, and surrounded by the love of his family and friends and by your infinite love and compassion. We recognize, within ourselves, the boundless source of strength and creativity which we will apply, without abandon, to the tasks at hand. And, hey, we see that Mercedes-Benz materializing in our near future from the wealth of your abundance – amen!”

Based on the testimonies, gleefully delivered on many a Sunday morning, our way of praying worked pretty good. The difference is simple – being active in the process, rather than passive. By accepting responsibility for how things turn out, rather than expecting some external power to take care of it is, from what I have seen, the crucial quality.

I think the question of whether God is dead or not, is nonsensical (as is this idea that there are “good” people and “bad” people – but that's a subject for a later post ;). It requires that there be a form that can die. I've always considered God as a formless and impersonal foundation for all “things” and that we are in charge of how it is applied in our lives. Isn't that what “free will” is all about?

There are a lot of details, and a caveat or two, that I plan to go into in future posts, but suffice it to say, God is love and love doesn't interfere. The state of the world is purely a result of how humanity has applied the infinite manna. In other words, it ain't God's fault.