The Vague God of Your Understanding is Good Enough

Why do we always wait until things get awful before we ask for help?

We wait until our marriage is in a ditch before we go to a counselor.

We wait until our kid is failing before we hire a tutor.

And we often wait until we're desperate before we turn to God.

No, this isn't going to be a lecture about religion. Faith and spirituality transcend religion and I would hope that we're all smart enough to realize that by now.

Back to the point: why do we humans wait so long before we turn to God, Allah, Mother Earth or -- insert deity here -- to ask for help?

People say there are no atheists in a foxhole. I would also say there aren't too many atheists during an economic collapse or when your kid gets really sick or when your car flips over in a traffic accident and you find yourself lying bruised and bloody in a ditch.

There's nothing like a big problem to bring us to our knees, both literally and figuratively.

A quick trip to any hospital chapel and you'll find people who aren't even sure they believe in God, praying with all their hearts promising to do anything if only the Almighty will intervene and help their loved one get better.

I have to wonder what would happen if we prayed for answers when things were going well.

As a former atheist, turned agnostic, turned religiously confused, turned seeker, turned conceptual believer, I'm well acquainted with the spiritual quagmire of trying to pray when you're not sure what, or who, you're praying to.

But vagueness and confusion about the source need not stop you from tapping into it.

Call it hedging your bets if you like, but people generally feel more peaceful when they believe in something larger than themselves. There's a certain comfort in knowing that you don't have to have all the answers.

A minister friend of mine tells about a time in her life when she was spiritually lost and couldn't find a faith. After many frustrations with the dogma and rigidity of organized religion she finally joined a church that told her, "All you need to know about God right now is that it's not you."

Truer words have never been spoken.

To be honest, I'm always kind of envious of people who claim to know exactly what God looks like and what he thinks about everything.

However, I've also noticed that most of the major religions also include a part about free will. Perhaps that's because the journey to faith is only ultimately a personal one.

Rabbis, priests, ministers and other teachers may help, but at the end of the day, you don't need a third party to connect with the divine.

And you don't have to understand who or what's out there to ask for help. If you're feeling lost or alone, the vague God of your understanding is good enough for today.

It's like my friend's church says, all you need to know about God is that it isn't you.

And thank heaven for that, because wouldn't it be awful to believe that you were supposed to handle everything alone?

Lisa Earle McLeod is a keynote speaker, author and syndicated columnist. Her books include Forget Perfect" and Finding Grace When You Can't Even Find Clean Underwear.Contact her at www.ForgetPerfect.com.

Comments

[retest]

It reads nicely, but it's very weak from my perspective. I can envision the type of person to whom you write.
Atheists in foxholes - Vietnam vet here
Economic collapse - Business failure through no fault of my own and massive debt.
Sever illness - my wife, kids, and parents
Car crash - I was a road race driver, and I've been in some big ones.
Nope, no reason to pray, or have a need to believe in a magic invisible one.
"Faith and spirituality transcend religion" - there's gobbledygook
"Call it hedging your bets if you like" - now there's a reason for your deity to answer your prayers.
"I'm always kind of envious of people who claim to know exactly what God looks like and what he thinks about everything" - It's called deluding yourself.
"Religion...free will" - an arguable oxymoron
"And thank heaven for that, because wouldn't it be awful to believe that you were supposed to handle everything alone?" As written earlier, that is what friends and family are for. After all, isn't it these kinds of situations that can make us a better and stronger person? Is it not that in confronting our fears and the unknown help us in our gaining of knowledge, resolve, and the will to survive and succeed in life? Yet, also make us humble and willing to help others?

And finally, "all you need to know about God is that it isn't you". What? That I'm not a god? Dang

[Lisa Earle McLeod - Huffpost Blogger]

It has been said that there are only two emotions, love and fear. God is love, the ego is fear. God is within each and every one of us. The problem is that sometimes it's a little hard to spot.

[Dap]

God is just a human emotion, locked inside the psyche of a human being because of the Human condition and perpetuated by those that are illusional and those that seek control of others.

[HeevenSteven]

Happy Solstice, and New Year Dapper! Agape.

[Saidas]

"All you need to know about God right now is that it's not you."

I am one who believes that the exact opposite is true. The "you", however, is not the ego that most of us are fully identified with but, rather, our true nature. Externalizing God is where the problems begin. Even the thought that God exists in us as if He occupied us is misleading. Our souls are not different from God, but in fact are God. "The soul does not love, is is Love itself. The soul does not know, it is Knowledge itself. The soul does not exist, it is Existance itself."

Processing and filtering God through our conditioned minds necessarily corrupts God's Truth. The only way to Know God is from going within, transcending the conditioned mind. This only makes sense upon reflection. As is said, "You cannot say what God is, only what God is not".

[onlyThis]

Good post.

[Maezeppa]

Some don't wait - some are indoctrinated from an early age. Others go to AA.

[HeevenSteven]

"....I'm always kind of envious of people who claim to know exactly what God looks like and what he thinks about everything."

I've always thought those people were delusional, or charlatans; no envy here.

[gia]

Have you ever wondered why we are always searching for "something" to make us "whole"? Perhaps, the missing piece is {God}....or whatever the name that we may use for our entity. There is a peace that prevails when one has internal faith in the Greatness of God who is within us all.

[Rule Of Law]

"wouldn't it be awful to believe that you were supposed to handle everything alone?"

Why? Isn't the essence of being human acting in a conscious way and taking responsibility for ones actions? My "belief" is that the world would be a much better place when the people in it begin to believe in themselves and work together for the greater good. Then no one is truly alone.

[uglicoyote]

I have never accomplished much alone, but I have never needed an imaginary friend to help me achieve my goals. I've done it with good friends, family, colleagues, and the self-confidence that they have given me. And of course, The Flying Spaghetti Monster.

[research]

God is All of us.

Each of us is a part of God.

The ideal collective consciousness. .

[onlyThis]

There is no God. There is only God.

[research]

Are you quoting from someone?

[research]

Search:

"There is no God. There is only God.

[mommadona]

Well, for the Christian faith, it alllll started in Nicene, when the pubahs sat down together and decided that JESUS was also GOD......that's right.

MAN was also GOD.

There ya go......and ego and martyrdom have done the rest of this mess.

http://www.williamgstroop.com/Sunday%20Classes/Gnostic%20Christianity/CLASS%203.htm