October 6, 2015

• God and guides see only what leads to spiritual growth but nevertheless are aware of human suffering

• When humans feel abandoned by God

• Web of life involves other conscious energy-forms that are permanent

• Big Bang was not the beginning

• One religious belief is not better than another

• No reason for forgiveness by God

God, by whatever label you wish to use, is always present and is always aware of what each of you faces. We see only what marks your growth. We do not see your actions that inhibit your development, your insight. There is a difference between recognizing how you evolve spiritually and separating that from what you may be engaged in that does not encourage that growth. Not seeing what it is that does not lead to growth does not mean that we, God, the Eternal Presence, are unaware of what you face in life. When we say that God and we see only what is good in your lives, what is meant is that anything which is on a different path from spiritual growth is of no consequence.

When you suffer in spirit, when you suffer in body, in mind, when you suffer in society, when you suffer in any way, the Presence that is God is aware, and we are aware. But what distinguishes each of you individually is how you respond to what you experience.

God does not will that storms come and many die. That is not God’s specific wish for human beings, but God is fully aware when you cry out to God for help. We are also aware when you simply ask in your agony, “Where is God?” Such responses acknowledge the importance that is felt, the importance that is given to the need for some kind of nurturing, loving response beyond your own existence. When you ask for help, that is evidence of growth. When you express anger because you see and feel no evidence of God’s presence, that is still moving forward on the correct spiritual path.

When a child rebels against a parent, it understandably creates pain for both sides of the rebellion, and yet it is through such difficult moments that progress is made, that somehow there is a greater understanding resulting from the conflict. Without that conflict, that greater understanding would not be achieved. So the conflict, while not ordered by some Presence, is used for the means of achieving more understanding. When you cry out, “Where is God?”, when you cry out when you feel alone, when you cry out when you feel rejected, when you feel you are an island, isolated from whatever it is that you seek, that outcry is strength-giving. If you say, “Where are you, God?”, you want to hear, “I am here. I am with you.” A child does not cry out to the parent, “Where are you?” and then close the door and reject any response. The child wants a response, and the outcry is in frustration for not seeing it.

It is perfectly normal for each of you at some point in your lives to feel a kind of anger and to justify that anger toward God by claiming emphatically, “If there were a God, this would not happen. If I were being protected by God, this would not happen to me.” Your lives are such that when you have feelings of frustration related to your own lives or to the lives of others, such difficulty is part of why you are given your human lives. You are not given your lives for all to be easy. Your lives hold potential, and that potential is directly related to your response to life.

We spoke of non-human other life-forms that impact each of your lives. This is enormously complex. It is filled with many layers that are not essential for you to grasp in their entirety. What is important is not a full understanding of their function, but rather that they exist, they do function, they are part of your individual experience of life, and that they are aware of God’s presence. It is because of those energies that you are united with one another. It is one thing for us to say, “You are all the same. You are all a single entity,” but that can sound so much like a simplification that it loses its impact. When we say that you are all connected like filaments of a web, a spiritual web, you begin to perceive a connection that you have with each other and with all human beings and with all creation of which you are aware.

That web is a representation of many forms of life that work together creating the unity. That unity is not just the unity of all people. It is a unity of all that exists. It is a unity of all life-forms. It is a unity with all universes. It is a unity with a totality of what is.

That web, that connection that you have with everything, is complex and cannot be fully understood by any human being. Perhaps it may suffice to say that those forms exist, and you are a part of those forms. You are a part of the web. You do not merely fit at one end of the filament. Each filament is an extension of who you are, and you are an extension of the filament. You cannot fully distinguish your own human reality of existence from those filaments, those other energy-forms that bind you together. Those forms are a part of you.

You know from science that you as human beings are comprised of what is in the universe. There is nothing that is in you that does not exist as a result of something in your own universe. All are embodied in some way in your own life. All elements come from gifts of the universe, and elements in the universe come as gifts from elements in other universes. Your scientists speak of the Big Bang, and they are correct in terms of a general understanding of the early stages of your universe, but there was existence prior to that stage—other forms of energy, other life-forms, other kinds of matter. Your universe did not begin. It didn’t just suddenly exist. Your universe is part of an interaction with many universes. There is no beginning, as you would like to think of it.

These energy-forms that we speak of that are nonhuman and that did not necessarily experience human life existed before human beings existed. These other life-forms are not experiencing what you recognize as birth and death. They exist because they exist. There was not a beginning. They will not cease to exist. This web of energies has always been.

Where is the beginning of a circle? Where is the beginning of a square? Where is the beginning of a triangle? Where does a pyramid begin? Where does a sphere begin? There is no beginning you can point to. It exists; it simply is there.

And so it is with these life-forms, these other kinds of energy-forms with which you interact at levels that you are unaware of. You are interacting with items, with elements, that are permanent. The human form that you experience, as you know, is not permanent. You also know that the Earth upon which you live existed before human forms, and we can tell you that the Earth will continue when there are no human forms on the earth. Human life will continue, but it will continue in different forms and in different locations, and it will carry different identities.

All of this may sound somewhat like a science-fiction novel, but it is a glimpse of the extent of what has been created. It is an indication that you belong to the creation, you belong to the Creator, but you are also only a part of that totality and yet no less significant than any other part.

You are given life in order to have life. You are given life in order to experience life. You are given a view of God through your human experience. It is not a complete view, for no human can fully comprehend what God is. Nevertheless, you have a perception. That perception changes over time. The perception of God was far different countless generations ago. That perception of God will be vastly different countless generations in the future. We do not say the perception will be more accurate. We do not say your perception of God now is more accurate than a thousand years ago or two thousand years ago. It is different.

You view the reality of God from your own particular place on the circle. That is the only perspective you can have. You cannot perceive of God from someone else’s perspective. You may try to understand it, but your perception is your perception. Your view may change, and when it does, that becomes your new perception. But you cannot perceive God, and you cannot perceive the energy forms we speak of from any other view than your own.

Therefore, all you can do is embrace the meaning that a different perspective has for another. No one asks you to fully embrace the religious beliefs of another culture or another tradition, but you can embrace the importance that others give to their own religion, their own perception of God, their own perception of what is right, their own perception of what is wrong. Their perception is neither better nor worse than yours, is neither closer nor further from the ultimate truth. It is merely a part of the total.

Each of you is a piece in a gigantic puzzle. Every piece is different. Upon each piece is imprinted a different image, but one image is not better than another. Put together, the picture becomes clearer, but it is only a picture. It is only a painting. It is only an approximation of the reality, the reality of God. Therefore, you must embrace what is imprinted on your own piece in the puzzle, and you must embrace the equal validity of what is imprinted on another. There is no requirement that each puzzle must fit neatly, comfortably next to every other piece. That is impossible, but there is a reason for each piece to exist, because without it the puzzle would never be complete. Don’t expect others to share your own beliefs, and don’t reject those other positions, those other imprints upon their own cultures, their own belief structures, their own perspectives.

Yes, God is aware of all that happens, for God created what it means to be human. God created what it means to be a different form of life. But in the end, what is important is your progress along your own path, knowing that all paths do lead to God.

There is no judgment. You are not to be punished for something that you have done. Judgment is not a part of what is created. There is only the path that you are following and the movement that you make that leads closer to God. At times you may feel you are drawn in the direction of God, and there are times when you may feel you are drawn away from what you perceive to be a direction toward God. Both are acceptable, but we and God see. We only value what brings you together toward one another, because that brings you closer to God.

It is not a matter of forgiveness. It is not that God sees you doing something in opposition to God and then forgives you. You never are forgiven, for whatever is done that does not move you in the direction of God essentially does not exist in God’s eyes and does not exist in ours. There is no reason for forgiveness. There is no reason for a sense of guilt. Human beings are never perfect. Human beings are therefore “human” in their various directions of pursuit.

Connect to those whom you know. Encourage them in all they do that leads to closeness to creation. When others move away from that direction, be supportive, be understanding, be ready to acknowledge that that is the direction they currently pursue, and be ready to welcome them as they come to your door.

You are blessed in your efforts. You are blessed in all that you do that leads you closer to all of creation, and you are blessed by living a life without judgment, without the need for forgiveness. You are blessed by being welcomed at all times with open and loving arms for who you are. Rest in that blessing and be comforted in all that you pursue that brings you closer to your understanding of that eternal presence, to God.

Amen.