For the past few weeks, HuffPost has hosted an array of respondents -- including spiritual leaders, world leaders, personalities and celebrities -- who are asked to fill in the blank to the statement: God is...
The series has led up to and accompanies the November 13 opening of the upcoming documentary Oh My God?
True Divinity represents the impersonalized Grand Organized Design of the universe -- the intelligently governed, general universal order, hidden from the awareness of most people's ordinary sensory experiences. True Divinity is cosmologically omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent and forsakes no one or no thing, no where, at no time. True Divinity is expressed through the dynamic equilibrium of complementary opposites and is only humanly "empyreanced" through the synthesis and synchronicity of complementary opposite emotions or in moments of True Divine Gratitude and Love. True Divinity transforms through apparent, yet simultaneously entangled, constructions and destructions or beautiful remodeling of the universal design all according to naturally conserving universal laws.
True Divinity provokes awe and further holy curiosity in those who have awakened to this magnificent universal design. True Divinity ever evolves human consciousness to a subtle state of radiance and grace. True Divinity, when known, evokes inspiration, and the feelings of gratitude and love in the heart and certainty and presence in the mind. True Divinity is wisely understood through the heart and mind of the masters. True Divinity is ever present before, during and after mortal, physical expression. True divinity is inwardly known by those who have probed the cosmological mysteries and come to understand the implicate order, elegance and beauty inherent throughout nature.
False divinity represents the personalized, anthropomorphically projected image or icon of an idolized god that supports, protects and saves ignorant people from that which oppresses them or challenges their highest personal values. False divinity "juvenilizes" people by keeping them addicted to delusions of peace without war, support without challenge, kind without cruel, happy without sad, ease without disease.
False divinity is sought and sensed by the masses in moments of perceived torture, turmoil and trauma or in moments of perceived anxiety, oppression or constraint. False divinity revolves human consciousness in cycles of illusion and delusion until individually or collectively people awaken to the presence of True Divinity. False divinity is believed in, hoped for and submitted to and is generally orchestrated by organized religious institutions that perpetuate the mystical, magical and mysterious myths. The more fantasias that are incorporated into the institution governing false divinity the more they spread like wildfire to the many and the more they invoke identified pride and humility.
False divinity, when addicted to, evokes redundant elations and depressions, fears and guilt and perceptions of gains and losses. False divinity is foolishly misunderstood through the emotionalizing senses of the masses. False divinity is worshipped and rampant among those fundamentalists who see only one side of life's balanced two-sided coin.
Read the previous responses, from the film's director Peter Rodger, and from Dr. Lawrence Blair.
Dr. John Demartini is the Founder and CEO of the Demartini Institute. He is currently featured in the documentary OH MY GOD?
False Divinity is essentially *any* kind of divinity, where you look to a mythic, magic, unprovable figure to meet all your selfish temporal needs with no sigificant work or payment on your part.
I think those who seek a god (and who among us has not, at one time or another?) long for our parents, for that certainty of being cared for, protected, taught right and wrong.
When I was a tiny child my parents were three times my height and size, had absolute authority over me and were the ultimate moral authority -- despite their obvious flaws and shortcomings. They were my punishers, my rewarders. I had to do what they said, even if I didn't always understand why. They always knew what was best for me. They were both loving and terrifying all at once. They took me places, left and came mysteriously of their own will, did what they want.
Sound familiar?
Those who truly grow up to see the world as it is know that reaching for a 'god' is merely longing for a reality that is no more for a childhood that is gone. We are adults now. We must care for ourselves, govern ourselves, guide ourselves, protect ourselves...and our children. And thus it all goes 'round again.
The patterns of order, elegance and synergy in every facet of nature, large and small, are what make me a believer, far and away beyond anything the church has to offer--most of which is unnaturally self-serving, exploitative and judgmental. The church is a social and political entity; God is far more than that.
I like this piece very much. It is thoughtful and literate and born of a kind of perception that only comes of grace. This is experience talking.
"true Divinity is expressed through the dynamic equilibrium of complementary opposites and is only humanly "empyreanced" through the synthesis and synchronicity of complementary opposite emotions or in moments of True Divine Gratitude and Love."
I'm not sure exactly what that means but I gather that "true divinity" is not something that can be talked about rationally or in terms of evidence but just has to be believed, i.e. faith. Is that correct? If so then why is your faith somehow better than what you label "false divinity"? I agree that injustice, intolerance, and oppression are bad but I have rational reasons and arguments for that. Once you say that the ultimate test of a belief is just faith you no longer have any way to differentiate your faith from someone else's. Someone who believes all the non-believers must die can claim the same "empyreance" as you.
There are many possible explanations, but maybe whoever you were addressing just happens to think that magical thinking is harmful.
This article is nothing like that.
Sheesh! Religion was invented by humans thousands of years ago because they had no other explanation for the world around them or any reliable means to formulate one. The only remaining use for religion is to exert power over the powerless while making them feel OK about being used in that way.
Fanned and faved.