I Believe…But Not Exclusively.
I’ll just jump right in, I guess.
I was baptized catholic, then when I was four my family left and became non-denominational. Long story short, I’ve pretty much distanced myself from organized religion since age sixteen. I haven’t really had a life-changing experience in terms of my belief or disbelief in God, nor have I ever harbored any ills against those who call themselves Christians. I am not agnostic, nor do I profess to have any solid answers to questions of profundity. Basically, I am spiritually at peace.
I believe in God, but not insofar as to claim He is indeed the God of the Bible with unwavering conviction. I believe Jesus was definitely a spiritually enlightened man, perhaps more so than many non-christians seem to understand. I also do not think he was wrong to claim that he was the Son of God. The people of that time period could grasp that concept, wether or not they believed him when he said it. However, I also don’t think that means there haven’t been other ‘Sons of God’ throughout history.
There are COUNTLESS Eastern philosophies and religions that intertwine with the numerous cultures that are and have been there. Too many actually, to list in one internet post. Here are three belief systems from Asia with which I’m fairly familiar through study that I hope will illustrate my ‘Son of God’ statement a bit better.
Siddhartha (the man who, for all intents and purposes, founded the basis for Buddhism) also claimed to have a perfect comprehension on the spiritual world, and proceeded to spread his teachings to the peoples in his region of the world.
Lao Tse, the father of Taoism, while he didn’t claim supremacy in a spiritual sense, did indeed try to spread what he professed to be ‘The Way’ to live one’s earthly life.
In Traditional Indian Hinduism, people believe in a thousand-or-so different gods, but they’re all manifestations of one God. Many of the unnamed forms of God are overlooked often, but there are a handful of named gods that have had more significance in Hindu history. Among these are Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu. Vishnu is believed to have ten incarnations of earthly form, each of which exist one at a time in the physical world. Apparently, most mainstream teachings claim that these seven avatars (as they’re called) have already come and gone, six of which were animals, one of which was human. The remaining three have yet to appear on earth, but it is thought that the eighth avatar will be a tree, the ninth a horse, and the final avatar will be a human, and he’ll bring an end to the world.
I didn’t intend to write all that much, but if it helps make my point, so be it.
To sum it all up, I can honestly say that I DO believe in God. I believe in a superior spiritual entity that somehow exists beyond time and space. I also believe God has indeed imprinted himself upon this earth through the existence of humans, but of course, I’m unable to say we’re the ONLY beings to bear this honor. I further believe that no human can claim to have ALL the spiritual answers, even if they attain some super-enlightened state, but only some.
Since I’ve obviously neither clarified nor concluded anything, I’ll just end this post by saying this:
In all I do or think, I feel most spiritually sound when I keep my mind as open as my heart and hands should be to anyone with true sincerity. I try to love all, judge none, and live with passion, peace, and purpose.
