FootprintsintheWind.com

To say we do not believe in God is to say we do not believe in what we take to be our listener’s image or definition of God. It is an argument over definitions of terms which are not explicit, and consequently apt to get lost in relevant and irrelevant emotion.

:- Doug.

In a universe larger than we can imagine replete with more stars and worlds than our computers can number,
In a cosmos with light both particle and wave,
In a world with leaves of thousands of shapes,
and billions of 6-pointed snowflakes no two alike,
How could we ever picture a God
of one gender, circumcised or not,
one color,
one image,
one anything?

:- Doug.

Footprints in the Wind^sm # 616

There are people who profess themselves to be atheists. Yet there is not so much difference between them and people of religion, as either group might think of the other. For each group is stuck in a picture of G-d which is a picture. Often it is the same for both groups: a beneficent (or angry) old man with a long beard, sitting on a throne, with gifts held in reserve and a thunderbolt in his left hand, ready to punish. If our pictures of life were enlarged, if we were to step back just a bit further so we could see a larger panorama, what might we see? Babies who melt the hearts of stony men. People helping each other when disaster strikes. Hate breaking out into wars from which peace breaks out again because humans cannot long stand to be in armed conflict. If we once take an un-pre-judged look at the world and see its all in all, we can be prepared to move beyond a picture of any god, to opening to the all there is. Then we stop having to convert each other and look all about us to see.

Please pass it on.

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To my good friends–

There is a truer meaning of grace:
A baby smiles and you know he means you;
Nothing’s going on in a meeting when an idea pops up and everyone gets excited about a way to serve others;
Buddhist monks meet Jewish priests, fall to talking of practices, and take their leave saying That’s how we experience the sacred, too;
A professed atheist has her heart touched by the picture of hurricane victims and goes to help:
Here is a truer meaning of grace:
– comes to us unbidden.

:- Doug.