I don’t believe in an external anthropomorphic deity that resides in some faraway, mythical place and controls our destinies and judges us based upon  our race, our sexual orientation, our religion or some other meaningless criteria.

However, I do subscribe [...]]]> Do you believe that a higher power controls our fate or that we choose our own destinies?

I don’t believe in an external anthropomorphic deity that resides in some faraway, mythical place and controls our destinies and judges us based upon  our race, our sexual orientation, our religion or some other meaningless criteria.

However, I do subscribe to the idea of a universal spirit, consciousness, energy or force that can exert some influence over us because it connects us with all beings and everything else. It’s a very fluid and abstract concept that can be manifested in any number of ways, some tangible, some not so much. If anything, it’s a work in progress.

I find the concept of free will to be very complex. I believe we are a product of our decisions, actions and intentions but they are subject to an infinite number of influences and have an infinite number of possible outcomes and consequences. Just as a pebble dropped into a pond creates a ripple that affects every water molecule in the pond, our actions affect people, things, and events, sometimes in ways we cannot comprehend.

If there is a higher power (i.e., God) that controls our fate, then perhaps free will is only an illusion that allows us to feel as if we have some control over our lives. Attributing events to God’s will, fate or destiny can to be a convenient way to avoid personal responsibility. Why does God’s will prevail in some cases but not others? Why should God favor some people over others? I haven’t heard a reasonable answer to that. There are several different variations on the concept of karma and I’ve only begun to sort that out. However, it’s been my experience and observation that “what goes around comes around,” both the good and the bad.

If our fates are preordained and there is a Divine Plan, I don’t believe mankind is intellectually equipped to know it. I put little credence in anyone who claims to have inside knowledge of God’s Plan. If anything, such claims raise suspicion about their motives. I like the Buddhist approach, deal with things now, do our dharma and our karma will be taken care of.

Surrendering myself to the Divine, for what it’s worth…

Tantra, which came after classical yoga, had two new revolutionary offerings: 1 – it offered the possibility of liberation in this lifetime (as opposed to having to wait many [...]]]> I found this in Yoga Journal’s Yoga Diary, an excerpt from Getting Nerdy with Tantra by Karen Macklin, about a lecture on Tantric Yoga by Chris Tompkins:

Tantra, which came after classical yoga, had two new revolutionary offerings: 1 – it offered the possibility of liberation in this lifetime (as opposed to having to wait many lifetimes to become enlightened) and 2 – it offered practices that were life and body affirming (meaning that the Tantra practitioners saw things of daily life – eating, dancing, reading, etc.- as paths to liberation as opposed to obstacles).

… I have been studying this path for the last two years or so and I love the messages it conveys – that we can move toward a higher state of consciousness and unity with the universe, while still living in the world as householders and human beings.

Here’s a quote Tompkins provided about the Tantrik vision of samadhi, which is speculated to be taken from around the 12th Century:

“The sages say that samadhi is the perpetual realization of the sameness of the individual soul and the supreme soul.”

In other words, we are not only in the universe, but the universe exists in each and every one of us.

I haven’t had much exposure to the various philosophies associated with Yoga, just bits and pieces, but the logic and simplicity of what I have seen, read, heard and experienced appeals to me. The concept of a Universal Consciousness or Spirit of which we are all a part and dwells with each of us, seems more reassuring than a far away bi-polar anthropomorphic deity who sits in judgment, demanding that we love, fear and obey Him. It seems like a dysfunctional relationship.

For what it’s worth…

This was a Facebook poll with only a yes or no response. Neither choice seemed to apply so I’m responding to it here. I have to answer it with another question — “Did God leave America in the first place?” If God is omnipresent, how [...]]]> Do you think God should be back in America?

This was a Facebook poll with only a yes or no response. Neither choice seemed to apply so I’m responding to it here. I have to answer it with another question — “Did God leave America in the first place?” If God is omnipresent, how was it possible for him to leave?

I suspect that people may have abandoned or altered their belief in God, however they perceive their deity. There was a shift in how they worshipped, what they worshipped, or where they placed their deity in the lives. God is still there, assuming, of course, you believe in a divine presence, a supreme being, the Force, or whatever.

I’ve never really understood the Judeo-Christian personification and andromorphism of their deity. Doesn’t that place limitations on an entity that is supposedly infinite? Throughout recorded history Man has always attributed human qualities and emotions to the objects of his worship. Our religions become mythology once someone convinces us that we should believe in their god.

And there are so many contractions. God is everywhere yet he comes and goes. God is always with us yet he forsakes us. God wants us to love our neighbor yet we fight wars and commit genocide and other atrocities in his name. God’s love is infinite yet he loves us exclusively and he hates those other people (and those people believe God loves them exclusively and hates us). It bemuses me that Jews, Christians and Muslims all profess to worship the God of Abraham yet those who worship the God of Abraham differently are heathens and infidels.

I don’t perceive an anthropomorphic deity with human emotions and thought processes who takes a personal interest in my life or anyone else’s or favors one group of people over another. I like the concept of a divine presence that’s a universal energy or consciousness with which we attempt to bring ourselves into harmony and oneness. Maybe the Jedi concept of the The Force has some merit. It seems at least as valid as the other beliefs out there. If that doesn’t work for you, you’re free to choose your own path; there an infinite number to choose from so find what works for you.

Say nothing of my religion. It is known to myself and my God alone. Its evidence before the world is to be sought in my life; if that has been honest and dutiful to society, the religion which has regulated it cannot be a bad one.

Thomas Jefferson

For what it’s worth…

Life as Lunch

I am sandwich. And you, my friend, are apple turnover. Is it by some act of Man or God That we should meet here In this world called Lunch?

I am salami as you are fruit pie. Despite our outside differences We are made from the same [...]]]> Here’s a bit of poetry I wrote many years ago.

Life as Lunch

I am sandwich.
And you, my friend, are apple turnover.
Is it by some act of Man or God
That we should meet here
In this world called Lunch?

I am salami as you are fruit pie.
Despite our outside differences
We are made from the same flour
And we shall churn together
In the same digestive tract.

And when we reach our final destination
We shall be one and the same,
Returning to the soil to bring forth a new life
In which I may be jelly donut
And you, my friend, pastrami on rye.

©1976, Richard Romig

The poem reflects some of my basic beliefs about the cycle of life, the idea that our existence is not just one shot at getting it right. Our souls (spirits) are reborn into different bodies in different circumstances to follow a variety of paths so that we can continually learn and ultimately achieve oneness with the universal spirit.

For what it’s worth…