The Universe

In this day and age it is not uncommon for me to be asked if I believe in God. In short, the answer is yes. To me, like Cicero, I believe nature herself imprints in the mind the idea of God.

In detail, having being raised a Roman Catholic, I initially learned to fear God. As I became older however, and was exposed to The Buddha’s teachings, I realised, I may have learned wrongly.  This is because in accordance to The Buddha; when we are afraid we a pre-disposed to anger, and when we are pre-disposed to anger; we can unintentionally hurt another’s feelings, and in hurting another’s feelings promote suffering. It was this insight that revealed to me a synergy between Christianity and Buddhism that had previously escaped me.

I realised, in promoting suffering, we are working against a Universal truth that has revealed itself in every major religion today;

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sum’s up the Law and the Prophets.” -  (Mathew 7:12).

This synergy has helped me to see God slightly differently too many of my fellow westerners. To me, God is no longer an entity to be feared, but a power of comfort, support and guidance, either strengthened or weakened (perhaps indirectly) by humanity’s actions. More explicitly, God is  the eternal animating force behind the Universe. The cosmos exists within God, who in turn “pervades” or "exists within" the cosmos. In short; to me, God drives the universe which in turn encourages human beings to seek wisdom through knowledge, so that in time they may be enlightened, and their inherent greatness regained.

In accordance to Master Lee, (2002), there is unquestionably a higher force that gives us clues when we need them and it is up to us to notice them.  I think he may be right, which ties nicely into my next planned entry: “Wu-Wei”.

Kudos