A FOCUSED OR PANORAMIC GOD

Focusing and concentration are easy and natural with anything beautiful, creative or awesome; and God is, at the very least, an amazingly powerful focal point.

And if there is no actual entity which is God, and the idea of God developed purely as a result of our abstract thinking system – the system which divides life into abstract bits to understand the relationship between subjects and objects – then exactly that makes God an ideal focal point.

And in our imagination, in the reality of our abstract understanding, nothing could ever function better than that. It will have a real psychological effect, regardless of any scientific, logical or rational ideas.

Religions and beliefs all involve intense forms of focusing. The primary practical problem is that any strong focal point can easily become closed-minded.

And a closed-minded God could never create anything. God has to be open minded.

Authoritarian closed-minded Gods invite abstract philosophy, clever ideas, and hidden mysteries; quite apart from traumatising innocent people.

It was probably essential for the survival of our global community, that Nietzsche, Darwin, et al. questioned and destroyed the traditional idea of God.

But then Freud et al. replaced the centre of the world with an individual ego.

And nowadays, philosophers question if the ego is merely an abstract idea, in much the same way that Nietzsche previously questioned God.

The bottom line here is that God and the ego are both focal points. And only ever exclusively focusing is an unbalanced use of our sensory faculties. It limits our understanding, creativity and intelligence.

Every other animal on our planet alternates or coordinates almost all of their focused activities with periods of panoramic sensing.

Whatever we believe in, needs to be balanced with periods of panoramic sensing.

A tree creates apples and gives them freely, with no idea who eats them. The sun shines all round and unconsciously a fraction lands on earth.

The original spark didn't know what it was doing when it created a magical chaos of possibilities. Without it we wouldn't exist, but it doesn't know that. And it hasn't even any understanding of the concept of asking for anything back.

The Great Creative Energy, is being and doing, without knowing.

It deserves at least our recognition even though it asks for none. It actually deserves our appreciation and thanks even though it asks for none.

The residual 'heat' and vibration from the explosive moment of creation, is still vibrating in every direction, resonating throughout the universe; still permeating our atmosphere.

Any wholesome being would want to live in accordance with this creative energy, even though it doesn't ask for that.

Such a nondescript God is useless to organised religion, it has no morals, no order, no purpose.

But it's only humans who need a plan. It's only humans who only know how to focus, and can only understand life in terms of subjects doing purposeful things to objects.

The energy source is always there waiting for us to be open to it when we're ready.

Maybe what convinces me of this belief, is my experience of panoramic sensing. It's consistent with how i see life.

Animals taught me like the great rivers give water, the wind moves clouds, and the trees give apples – without even realising they were doing it. They gave freely and ask nothing back.

The teaching tradition would be safe in their hands, safe from pompous and abstract theories.

3 Sub-pages
Prayer
Death and Bereavement
The New-Age Religions

Modern Rational Problems with the Traditional God
The glorification of a God who planned each one of our lives aeons in advance – a conscious being who can focus on every little thing, make rational decisions and judgements – has the direct consequence that ordinary people these days turn away from God. Then why would such an all knowing God allow horrible things, disease, war, etc. to happen, where is the reasoning?

And such a God with commandments who are able to focus on each one of us will inevitably make us feel that we are giving up our free will.

This mystical creative God, the subtle energy source – the eternal spring which gives without ever running dry, without knowing who or what drinks its waters – asks nothing of us... and it's up to us if and when we want to bathe in its waters.

It allows us freedom to develop our precious individual free will without any of the constraints of confirmation from any form of herd mentality.

Back to Chapter Five : Panoramic Sensing and The Great Spirit
Back to THE SENSE OF IT ALL Priority Pages