The Dawn of Awareness

Humans want answers.  We have some very big questions to ask and some very scary territory to navigate:  What is death?  What will happen to me when I take my last breath?  Why do terrible things happen to innocent people?  Who or what made us and why?  Does this force that surrounds us, call it what you will, God, the universe, the cosmos, respond to my thoughts and feelings? 

People answer these questions in their own ways, but very few people answer these questions honestly.  Most of us are not born into environments that allow us to answer these questions honestly and most people look for a quick and expedient fix rather than answer these questions with the self-inquiry that they demand. Usually, we are told what the answers to the big questions in life are by people who themselves still hold beliefs that are not mature and we are not given much room for variation on these beliefs.

The atheists say, “There is no God”.   The religious zealots says, “There is a God and I’ll tell you who or what he is.”  Both these thinkers believe they “know” the “Truth”.  The position of “knowing” is often a weak position.  “I don’t know,” is the beginning of learning. 

A friend of mine is very active in, what I believe is, a very uplifting spiritual organization.  I like the beliefs of this organization.  Even in this organization with a very healthy philosophy there is a culture that doesn’t allow for the “I don’t really know if I believe that” thinking.  This is a problem because it prevents learning.  Being locked into any belief system will limit us.

A belief system is like a container and no container can hold this beautiful and mysterious reality that we all share.  However, these containers are excellent tools for teaching and helping us make our dreams come true.  What has happened over the years is that our beliefs have taken on lives of their own and we now are serving the beliefs.  This can only cause pain and suffering.

Our beliefs should be tools that we use to make our dreams come true.  Our beliefs should not be slave masters that are running our lives.  We are all subjected to the force of these beliefs from our family, friends, and society.  We are always being told what to believe and what not to believe.  Courage is the ability to believe the soft whisper in your heart above what the world is telling you.  That little voice inside doesn’t lie and is our true friend. 

This brings us to the subject of “God”.  Because the agnostic is not locked into any belief structure, he or she is in a better learning posture than the atheist.  The agnostic says “I don’t really know.”   The atheist says, “I know there is no God no matter how you define it, him, or her.”  The religious zealot is equally locked into a belief system.  The big difference between the atheist and the religious zealot is that the religious zealot is always looking for someone else to believe in his or her wrong understanding as a way of helping to sooth the zealots underlying knowing that their belief is a house of cards.  The bigger the temples, the more people and money, the more main stream the religion, the safer the zealot feels.  Atheists are often more confident in their position which limits them further but makes them less hostile than the zealot.

Now, let me be clear.  There are some things we do know, and some people know more than others.  If you want to believe that Adam and Eve and Noah’s ark really happened, that is fine.  That is your freedom and that is your belief.  Children believe in Santa Clause and they are very happy.  Why disturb their joy?  I am not interested in debating weather or not the earth is flat.

I’m interested in what is true NOW, TODAY.  It does not matter to me whether or not Adam and Eve is real.  What matters is how I treat my wife and children and how they treat me.  What matters is the love in our life today.  Ask yourself, “What are your beliefs about NOW, TODAY?”  Does your life right now allow you to choose what you believe?  Do you have a choice right now?  Do you have the freedom to question your beliefs today?  Do you have the courage to question your beliefs in the privacy of your heart, or are the ghosts of society, religious leaders, and your parents haunting you? 

The “Truth” is something that is new in every moment.  “Truth” is very personal and cannot be wrapped in a package or written in any book.  This post is about defining Truth in the privacy of your own heart with the understanding that this definition is intimate and personal.  No one in this world can tell you how the wind feels on your face.

I don’t want to live in a world littered with archaic ideas and fearful religious zealots who want to control the lives of others.  At the same time, I do believe that we live in a universe that is governed by laws both physical and spiritual, and that our actions do have consequences.  What we have to offer is our own exploration, in the privacy of our own thoughts, in the privacy of our own heart, that we can answer the tough questions in our lives honestly.  You can lie to the world all day and you may or may or may not hurt others, but if you lie to yourself you will certainly hurt yourself and others. 

The great mystery on this journey of awakening is that the more you know, the less you know, and the less you know, the more you see and more you love.  The fragrance and beauty of a gardenia cannot be captured with words.  I could write volumes on the beauty of the sunrise and these volumes could never capture even one second of the actual experience of an orange and blue ocean sunrise.  Spiritual truth is elusive and extremely personal.  This world that we are in does not touch two people in the same way.  The Midwestern farmer may hear god whispering in his ear when the afternoon breeze begins to blow.  A stockbroker my feel deep peace and silence as she quietly meditates in her Manhattan apartment.

How do we difine this word “God”?  Am I talking about some being that is living elsewhere, perhaps on a cloud, throwing down lightning bolts?  Ask a hundred people to define the word God and you will get a hundred different answers.

Here is how I define God:  There is nothing that exists that is not God: From the dust in the gutters to the stars in the sky.  Modern physics knows that if we were to fully release the energy in a grain of sand, the force would be overwhelming.  When you look at the concrete on the ground, you may just see a hard cold surface, but is this the truth?  It is my experience that the truth is that there is a great force, a conscious force, a great power, hidden in that concrete.  The real question is, “Can one have a relationship with that hidden force?”  Does that veiled force hear your call?  What language does that mass of consciousness speak?  Is that force aware without eyes?  Does that force feel love without a body?  Does that force know you?  Is that force really you?

Remember, most people used to think that the earth was flat and those who said it was round were called crazy.