"What if 'God' was one of us?" What if the One many call 'The Man Upstairs' actually WAS the man ( or woman ) upstairs?! For many of us, it is comforting to think that we have a Heavenly Father up there ( "out there"? ) that hears our every prayer & carries our burdens - at least, as long as we pray to 'Him' alone & ask 'Him' to carry, or at least ease our burdens! It is comforting to think that 'He' is in total control of our lives - because, "God KNOWS, we sure aren't!" ( more on this later ) It's hard to deny them this small bit of comfort in this seemingly dreary world - especially in the situation we find ourselves in currently! However ( "You HAD to know THIS was coming!" ), Why, do you think, do we find ourselves IN this "situation"? Is there ANYTHING we can do to get out of the situation we're in? ( First of all, "That would depend on the situation you might think we're in ( political, personal, spiritual, physical? )!" No, we sure didn't start the war, but I'll be willing to bet that you voted for the one who did! Unless you're one of those that think our current president IS appointed by 'God' - but then we're back to the question, "What if 'God' was one of us! Yes, I know, "War in Heaven" & all that; then, of course, we can't forget the Hebrew's god, that COMMANDED the Israelites to commit genocide throughout the land of Canaan! Reading all those accounts of the exploits of 'Yahweh', doesn't the 'God' of the Hebrew's sound almost human? ( Petty, vindictive, emotional - "Hell", even JESUS was emotional! ) Maybe a better question would be, "What if 'God' IS us?!"
After a particularly disturbing dream the other night - not a bit of which I remember, of course, or "DO I?" - I randomly got the notion in my head that the Universe - which is NOT expanding, it is simply our UNDERSTANDING of it that is expanding - What if our immaculate, mysterious Universe is like an Infinite Spiderweb?! However, let me back up a bit. Maybe It IS expanding! ( as in, "growing" ) Is It not living? An infinitely large, breathing Organism?! If so, that would explain a lot! It would explain things like 'Intelligent Design' & how everything came to be ( T.O.E. ) in the first place! ( "I think I just blew my OWN mind!" ) "Have we been looking at this all WRONG??!" Rather than 'the man upstairs', or even a petty, vindictive 'God' who is Love ( "What kind of Love would allow part of "His" Creation to suffer the torments of 'Hell' for Eternity?!" ( much less SEND them there for not loving 'Him' back ), maybe it is the Universe Itself that has our back, Who allows us control of our OWN lives & watches as we make the choices that steer OUR Destiny!?
I mentioned this to a friend -"Christian", by the way - and his comment was something like, "What, so you're saying WE'RE the flies?!" Unfortunately, I don't think he quite understood, but then, I'm not quite sure if I understand either, so here we are! No, we're not the flies in this metaphorical spiderweb & neither, as he half-jokingly mentioned, are the planets. However, in the sense that everything is connected, the Universe could be likened to a spiderweb! Follow me here, for a minute, because I'm not quite sure where I'm going either! "What if that connection is SO strong that we really aren't separated from ANYONE or ANYTHING - no matter how far apart we might FEEL, in Time & Space?!" Maybe we're all just metaphorical junctions in this Infinite Web! Or actually, would that be the planets? Galaxies ?
Based on my friends question, then, the next question/logical conclusion might be something like, "Is 'God' the Spider at the center of the Web?!" ( Maybe that's how 'He' knows so much/controls everything? ) Just as the fly cannot escape the attention of the spider once it is caught in her web, so we cannot escape 'His' notice once ensnared? Actually, "Yes"; that sounds about right! However, what about the billions of flies who do not become ensnared in 'His' Web; do they escape 'His notice? Are they indeed separated from 'Him'?! These & many other questions could, indeed, probably SHOULD be asked here................but, I digress............
The Universe is not literally a big, giant ( even "Infinite" ) spiderweb! I suggested that It might be likened to one in the sense that, like a spiderweb, everything is connected. Taken literally, as above, it might lead to some rather intricate, if not ultimately uncomfortable questions! Again, let me emphasize the fact that the Universe is NOT a giant spiderweb! What It is, however, is something even better! Like I suggested earlier, the Universe - what we have previously thought of as 'cold, dead Space' ( that's just OUR galaxy ), rather than being just a lot of empty space ( "Dark Matter/Energy" ) with planets & stars filling up the infinitesimal spaces in between, is really an Infinite Being, One without Beginning or End! That said, many so-called attributes of the Christian 'God' - which often don't quite add up when applied to 'him' - all of a sudden make all kinds of sense when you understand that the Hebrew 'god' was simply their perception of the Universe & how it operated. Of course, every 'god' is flavored by the culture they spring from.
IS 'God' us?! As fantastic - not to mention blasphemous - as that may sound, is not far off! Think about it - leaving behind whatever religious 'programming' you received, of course - "'is it such a fantastic notion after all? It can be as simple as choosing what socks or t-shirt to wear today & as complicated as choosing what to believe ( or not )! Do we not make all those choices, as well as every one between? Yes",one might say, "but sometimes, Life happens; where's the Choice in that?" No matter WHAT happens, the Power of Choice remains firmly with us! Not only do we have the choice, in the first place, to lessen or worsen the chances of something happening to us; once ( "if" ) that certain something DOES happen, we have the choice as to how, er even "whether" to respond. In fact, one might say, there is infinite number of ways in which we might respond!
Namaste' & Blessed Be!
Sage Charles
