Do You REALLY Know God?

The closest analog to religion I know of is politics--the other thing my mama told me never to discuss in social settings. The emotions are sometimes as intense and intolerant, the positions sometimes as zany, the arguments as specious, the claims as dishonest, the facts as questionable, and the destructiveness sometimes as lethal. Like religious leaders, political leaders have too often been able to persuade large numbers of people to give up their lives for a higher cause. In fact, during the past two centuries, secular political movements have produced a higher body count than religious movments. They're essentially political religions. Of course religion and politics are sometimes intertwined, but the politicos seem to be in the driver's seat today--at least in Wesern industrial countries. I bring this up, because the criticisms of both are similar. There are so many conflicting views, each claiming to be right, that we can easily be turned off by all of them. And how can we be sure, as the atheist asks on your DM video, that we aren't deluding ourselves? And of course we can't. Yet I continue to vote, for what I perceive to be the least of evils, because to pick up my skirts and retreat leaves the field open for some really dangerous characters. I can envision a counterpart to the DM skit in which the political non-believer is having his dialogue with a Democrat, a Republican, a Socialist, a Fascist, a Tea Party crackpot, a Nazi, and a Dominionist. If we're not careful, the Dominionists could take over, scrap the Constitution, and eradicate the infidel. Engagement is essential, being informed is obligatory, and using our best judgment on the basis of available evidence is necessary. I always proceed with the knowledge that there's a finite chance I could be wrong--maybe that 99.9% you're always talking about. But I don't think either religion or politics is going away, and I have faith and hope that I can make a positive difference in both arenas. I think atheists are doing the Lord's work in culling the herd and exposing the sham among the shamans. Atheists have their place in the ecological order. I hope they come to see that spiritual concepts are not all illusions of our superegos, albeit some undoubtedly are..

 

anyone who claims to 'really know god' in any sense beyond perhaps the communion of emotion with the unknown, is at best deceiving themselves. such communion however can and does exist. but this is not a matter of words nor of physical and objective knowledge.

 

WTF? This wasn't how I titled this thread.

Somehow it giltched up when the website underwent it's re-design!

 

its all the same one. just not the one anyone thinks they know. not the one any religion tells you to think you know. not christianity nor any of the others.
as for old books: old books were written by old bull shit artists. just like new ones. they were around even before there were books.

you're not gonna find a god in a book, or in a building. you go out in the woods and hug the wind. then you know god.

 

This was my thread actually. Post # 7 was the OP before site change wiped out the content. 6 other posts were added somehow before the new site restored content.

 

do you really know god ? god is the light , or god is the light .
and then , just what
is the little spark ? do you see the life-light ?
can you be touched and instructed by it ? it
is of a kindness .

 

The light shades are very cool.

 

the only one, who really knows god,
just like the only one who really knows you,
is yourself,
likewise, the only one who knows god, any god,
is itself.

 

Thou art that. Three words from thousands of years ago which have captured the truth which all religions either seek or fail to even address.

The great mystical "everything" to which your hearts and souls gravitate, and search for, out there, in ancient rites and texts and institutions . , . you ARE that thing. Not your ego, your personality with its foibles and desires . . . it is the space within which your ego resides. it is the place that you are, and occupy, before you are born, during your life, and after you die. It is the shining void of light which has no definitions. It has been called Tao by some, Brahman by others, and even God by others, who did not confuse it for some external entity with desires and conditions. It is the space within which all drama arises.

my opinion