In the belief systems of mankind are two misconceptions which, I believe, have led us down the road to misery.
The first of these is that a perfect God exists somewhere, a perfected being or awareness who knows everything. The idea is that God has a perfect blueprint for the universe, and that flawed human beings are on earth struggling to learn lessons in order to attain the perfected state of God.
The second misconception stems from the first: a source of evil or danger exists, and it might get you, too. This idea leads us to carefully watch our fellow man and the world around us, inspecting all actions everywhere for any that are threatening, for who knows when someone or some group somewhere might engage in activities or formulate policies which will lead to our eventual harm or destruction. Acceptance of this idea leads inevitably to the belief that it is necessary to protect ourselves from potential danger, which, of course, creates the unwanted condition.
The first misconception is the basis for karma or original sin, and creates an inherent, self-limiting belief of unworthiness. Unworthiness creates mental and emotional states that lead to scarcity, conflict, and feelings of victimization. Such has been the history of mankind for 6,000 years.
The second misconception has led to the belief that in order to feel good, we first have to examine the bad things and get rid of them. Because action follows thought and belief, we eventually become that which we fear. We become easily manipulated, for in addressing unwanted conditions, we make them bigger. “Fight War!” “Fight Cancer!” “Fight Hunger!” have become our watchwords. Vibrationally, these statements are ludicrous, for they only serve to emphasize the unwanted condition.
Religion and morality can now be understood in quite a different light. The Ten Commandments, for example. One can see that a “Thou shalt NOT” is the very same thing as a “Thou shalt,” for both demand attention to them.
Our species seems to have a fascination with eliminating barriers, instead of creating success.
In the words of former President Bush, we have to fight for freedom. We have to be on the alert for terrorists and other undesirables. We need a massive Department of Homeland Security (which strangely resembles the Interior Ministry in the old communist Russia) to shield us from terrorism. We need more and more laws restricting constitutionally guaranteed freedoms in order to catch the terrorists. We need troops all over the world on the lookout for baddies who might attack us. Funny, we never heard of Islamic terrorists in the United States until we sent troops to occupy Arab soil. Until we supported the Afghani fundamentalists in their war against the Soviet Union. Until we supported the Iraqis in the Iran Iraq war. Funny how that works. What you resist persists.
Discussion of belief systems almost always involves the concept of God.
What is God? How do we know God? In Western religions, especially the Old Testament, God is presented as a separate, all powerful personality; a Supreme Being who created everything in the universe. In Eastern thought, God is in all things, and to know God, one meditates to find the God within. It is the Western interpretation of a wrathful God that gets us into trouble, for the Western God is illogical, and based upon our two misconceptions.
If God has a completed blueprint for the universe, then God must be complete. If God is complete, then God is finished, done, over with. There is nothing left to do! The universe, in this conception, is indeed winding down to some inevitable, pre-ordained conclusion. But what happens after you wind the clock? Do you sit there and watch the little hand go round and round for 14.5 billion years?
Quantum physics has demonstrated that the universe is not a Newtonian, mechanical clock. Events are probable, not determined. In the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, the observer influences the conditions of that which is observed. Observation tells us that although events and phenomena may appear to be exactly similar, nothing ever happens the same way twice. The universe is in a constant state of change, and is either evolving, or de-volving.
That which is complete does not evolve. That which does not evolve and grow is limited. Therefore, God cannot be complete, for God understands all things, and the universe is constantly evolving.
Moreover, God cannot be judging our actions according to some finished blueprint, because that blueprint is continually changing!
God, then, cannot have instituted a set of perfected rules or maxims that we must follow. God, in other words, is not so petty as to require certain conduct in humans. Such pettiness is a mere human weakness. If this is so, then all thought and conduct is allowed by God. All thought, all conduct, is sanctioned.
If that is so, then all beings must have free will. Observation of events confirms this. No matter how many moralists, politicians, or religious leaders object, there are, every minute, somewhere on planet earth, actions of the most unspeakable depravity right along with loving and selfless acts of the utmost beauty. This scenario forms the contrast within which we are all immersed. The contrasting ocean of thought and behavior is what provides the variety of life, from which we can examine and choose our own desires, our own thoughts and actions.
The second misconception states that the devil, or some other force or person or group can impose itself into our lives and do us harm. This idea single-handedly causes more grief and misery than any other concept in the psyche of mankind, and is the primary reason that disaster, poverty, injustice, conflict, murder and other malicious conduct are reported every day in the news. “But don't we need to know about this stuff so that we can protect ourselves?” Well, what do you think? Does being barraged by stories of war, murder and poverty allow you to change them? Does it make your life better, or worse? Do you feel motivated to improve conditions, or just depressed? These stories are framed to place the viewer’s attention on unwanted things. As we said in Sanity and Insanity, focusing on unwanted things is irrational and leads to the lowering of our mental and emotional state of being.
The result is that we become frightened that the bad stuff could spill over into our lives as well. But this can never happen unless attention is consciously focused upon it. It is solely and only attention to the bad stuff that brings it into the life, because thoughts and beliefs precisely orchestrate experiences. If you do not believe this, try changing thoughts, beliefs and feelings about a person you are having difficulty with. If you can truly change your ideas about that person, you will find him or her behaving towards you in a much more acceptable manner. That is the property of 'like attracts like' at work, sometimes called the Law of Attraction.
In conclusion, I hereby give permission to think of God not as a perfected being, but an ever-evolving one. And although plenty of evil exists in the world, the source of that evil comes from within us, not an outside force.