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How Do You Imagine God?
God in America and USA WEEKEND Magazine are partnering to explore Americans' images of God.
How do you imagine God?
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God is all possibilities. There is nothing that in our greatest imagination that can encompass all that is. To name God, to attribute to it human qualities, limits us in our own ability of possibilities.
When we leave all possibilities open, free our minds from the clutter of merely human ideas, open ourselves to true seeking, and desire realization above all else, we touch the divine.
My Beliefs
I believe ...
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No book, no religion, no human ideas can contain all that is God. Those things are just a beginning.
Heaven is truly within. That is where we must seek, where we must find our own heart of knowledge and wisdom.
My most powerful moment of belief was ...
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My most powerful moment of belief was when I realized that love is truly the only universal law for human beings. It was when I realized that forgiveness is never for the other person, but for ourselves so that we may move forward on our own spiritual path. That lesson was to forgive ones self first, as you cannot truly forgive others if you can't forgive yourself for all your real and perceived wrongs.
My greatest moment of doubt was ...
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My greatest moment of doubt was when I realized no one had the answers to my questions.
That is when I learned to seek my own. All great teachers have taught this. I realized very few humans actually do it.
My spiritual life means...
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Seeking each day for my own answers. Meditating on the vastness of All Possibilities. Learning that desire is the true catalyst for action in the realm of All Possibilities.
The biggest misconception about my faith/belief system is ...
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that God would save me. I realized that the desire was the reason for me to become a better person was the first step. You cannot be saved from anything but yourself and your own thoughts and actions. You have to take the first step. Then you have to take another and another and another. You have to recognize the divine in you to connect with the divine outside of you.
As long as I thought I was saved by an outside force, I remained the same. When I took a step to bring myself into relationship with the divine, I was truly on my way to being the person I am meant to be.
My spiritual role model is ...
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the inherent good in humanity. You find that which you seek. When you seek to find the good in others, that's what you see. There will always be those who do not seek good. It is evident in their daily lives.
It is true that those who do not seek good produce rotten fruit. If you don't seek the good in humanity, you cannot find it within yourself.
The tenet/practice/teaching I appreciate most about my faith is ...
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Love is the only answer to the problems we face and the world faces.
As a human being, I have not found myself capable of absolute and unconditional love. It's a goal, not a reality.
My Faith History
As a child I believed ...
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What I was taught to believe.
My spiritual journey has been ...
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An interesting and lifelong adventure.
Are your beliefs or practices different from your parents? If so, how and why?
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My parents were traditional Christians in many respects. However, they were tolerant of all beliefs.
My beliefs are different because I do not subscribe to the idea that you can attribute to God human emotions and habits and still have an omnipotent being.
If you have children, did becoming a parent change your relationship to faith? If so, how?
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Being a parent made me want to teach my children tolerance instead of hate, a wider view of the divine than I had as a child, and a greater desire to seek their own answers.
How I Practice My Faith
Where and when do you practice your faith?
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In my opinion, faith practiced only on Sunday is virtually worthless. In the small moments of time we have here, all moments are important.
Practicing the divine within is as normal as breathing if we allow it to be. We can see the divine in everything around us, in all those who touch our lives even in the smallest way.
It is not a practice, but a way of living.
Does your family practice more than one religion or faith? If so, how do you blend the traditions?
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There are Baptists, Mormons, Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists and probably other denominations in my family. I cannot see any difference in how one connects with the divine than how another does.
God is very personal. There is no universal way to connect. We are all different, and therefore we understand and connect differently.
There is no blending. There is just the knowledge that everyone is seeking in the manner in which they can connect the divine in themselves with the divine outside themselves.
How easy or difficult is it to live your faith? Why?
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It is easy now. At one time, it was not. I felt I had to live by someone else's ideas, someone else's faith. Then I found that if one really seeks, they find the way to God all on their own.
In my house, the thing that most represents my faith is ...
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Me. How could it be otherwise? What people see when they are in my home is who I am and how I represent my own faith.
If I am kind, they see the love that comes from the divine within. If I am unkind, they see the lack of the divine within me.
Religion & the Public Square
What should be the role of religion in politics?
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There should be no role for religion in politics. If there were a role, it would naturally have to encompass all religions.
There should only be a role of morality and ethics in politics. What we see is a role of stated religious beliefs with very little action that back up those statements.
When we can remove ourselves from using religion as our platform, and use true morality and ethics in the place of religion, I feel we will be better able to improve our country, our laws, our spending, our greed.
Should courses about religion be taught in public schools? Why or why not?
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An unbiased course in comparative religions should be the only religious course taught in schools.
This would give accurate information to students without influencing them in any one direction.
It is not the job of schools to teach a child religion. That is the parent's job.
Should the Bible, Torah, Quran or other religious texts be taught as works of literature in public schools? Why or why not?
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Whether or not religious books of any sort should be taught as works of literature is quite the difficult question.
First, you would need someone who was unbiased to teach them, and then you would have to have time in the curriculum to teach them.
I think all religious works can be mentioned without bias as works of literature, but teaching the books in depth should be left to parents.
Is interfaith dialogue important? Why or why not?
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Interfaith dialogue is extremely important. How else do we learn what someone else actually believes? How else do we learn tolerance and acceptance for those who believe differently than we?
Do you feel comfortable discussing your faith with others? Why/why not?
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I will discuss my beliefs if someone asks. I do not think it's appropriate to approach others without their interest.
Do you feel that you have a duty, because of your faith, to put your beliefs into action? What are some of those actions?
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Action is the backbone of any belief.
My own beliefs cause me to care for those less fortunate, less well, less educated by feeding/clothing the hungry, caring for those who are sick/dying, and teaching literacy classes.
It also makes me teach others the things I have learned in life such as preserving foods, growing a garden, sewing and all the little things that make life easier.
Are religious beliefs compromised by engaging in politics?
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Most definitely. Politics are also compromised by engaging in religious rhetoric.
Religion is naturally a personal thing. I have heard many people say they have a "relationship" with God. That's exactly as it should be.
But, just as your personal relationship with a spouse should not be a part of public display, neither should your religious relationship.
Has 9/11 had any impact on your thoughts about religion? Are you more/less interested in learning about other religions? Do you feel more/less comfortable expressing your religious beliefs?
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9/11 just confirmed that there are extremists in all religions.
Not all Muslims fly planes into buildings just as not all Christians participated in the Crusades or Inquisitions.
It is a sad fact that many people see all of one group as "evil" because a few members of that sect committed an atrocity.
I feel comfortable relating my beliefs to anyone who asks for me to do so. But then, I always have.
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