Originally posted on Facebook HERE
I’ve always had a hard time believing in Heaven and Hell as what will happen to any of us as we end our time here on Earth. The concept that whatever we do here, with this short period of time that we have, or whatever we believe here, will determine if we spend the rest of eternity in Heaven or Hell seems absolutely absurd to me. If you believe in God, why would God ever set it up that way? I know there are people, most likely people reading these words right now, who think in order to spend the afterlife in Heaven you have to have a certain belief in who and what God is. I’m really fine with you having that belief for yourself. But, to me, if that’s the case, it’s like God made Heaven a multiple choice quiz, then? Over 4000 different religions in the world, and if you don’t follow Him the right way it’s eternity in Hell for you? I just can’t see God setting it up that way. No God would (IMO). We spend so much time arguing about who and what God is, trying to get people to see that our way is the only path that works, that maybe we forget that God isn’t found in the pathway at all. God is within us all. He (or She — I also don’t believe God has a gender) can be found without any specific creed at all. I wrote about this in my book Feed Your Angel, chapter 12: “God doesn’t need language”. We look within to find God. One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from Ram Dass — and as Dr. Wayne W. Dyer told it — Ram Dass was meeting with a spiritual person in the east back when he was using LSD a lot and that guru asked to see what the LSD tablets looked like. He showed them to the guru, who proceeded to take them all — way too much for any one human to injest. And it had no effect on the guru at all. Ram Dass’s quote after the event was this, “When you already are in Detroit, you don’t need to take a bus to get there”. Taking that concept one step further… if we lived in Detroit, there would be many ways to get there. Numerous roads will enter the city. Just because you entered one way, is that the only way? No. And once you’re there, do you argue with other people about the right way to get there? Hopefully not. Detroit has many other names, too — “Motown”. “Motor City”. It’s all the same place, no matter what you call it. One God, many names. Many paths. Choose the one that works for you. Then live from that space. We all have our own ideas about what will happen once our lives end. None of us will really know until our time here is over. What is the point of being here at all?… Why so much suffering? Why anger, and hatred, and death?… tough questions. When we find a path that brings us joy, that fills our hearts with love, we want to share it with others. One God, many names, many paths. Anger and hatred and sometimes born from religious intolerance. Is that God? I don’t see it. We can create Heaven or Hell for ourselves while we’re here, after that we don’t really know what happens. May you find the best path for yourself today, and always. One that brings you love and joy. I try to be as respectful as I can be when it comes to people’s personal opinions on this subject. I fully understand if you disagree with me on any or all of todays post. Can you see the beauty in that? Our freedom to believe whatever we choose?… you don’t really even need God in your life at all to be a good person. Be the best person you can be, always. And understand that when someone else’s beliefs make you angry or upset… where is God in that?… God is calm. God is still. Love is open. Love is tolerant. Let’s look for more ways to connect than divide whenever we can…
