A Note to those who take umbrage

"take umbrage" means "are offended"
specifically, by my philosophical position that I AM, and WE ARE (each)(& collectively)(& as a part of reality/universe/everything) God.

You could also take umbrage at my variation between god/gods/God (I haven't used Gods, but why not).

The thing is, there's a lot of definitions of God, and for me, I think we should be happy, so if there is a God, he wants you to believe in whatever definition of him works for you, if any.

Happiness
That's my all-inclusive definition of God.
That's why God is love.
And for me, defining myself as God makes me happy. (but I don't exclude you being your own Gods, as a result of that. I could be your God if you want me to be, but you can still be your own God, and/or believe in something more abstract (or personal -than some guy on the internet). My love, my wife, might be a better way of conceiving, personally, my God. I suppose I should say, if I'm calling myself God, that I love you, too. As my mom once said, you love the sinner, you hate the sin. So yeah, why not. I'm keeping the eros and philia restricted, but I'm down with the agape aspect with y'all. Word up. If you never meet me, we can be in "spiritual communion." If all in all is all we are, then you might believe we are already.

Am I trying to be like Jesus?
In short: hell, no.
I've heard that the ultimate expression of love is to die for someone. Agape means fatherly love, and although fathers occasionally die for their children, I don't have a savior complex. Just save yourself. I just didn't want you to get the wrong idea - I don't want to die -or even suffer- for anyone else's sins, and I have no desire or plans to offer myself in some sort of Christlike self-sacrificing act of forgiveness, or whatever that whole thing was. Truth told, "savior" is a meaningless word to me. I personally believe Jesus died in vain, and any benefit from it is in your head (i.e. virtual). I think he deludedly believed he was actually saving us, somehow. Redemption is for coupons, and saving is for disks. Other than that, I don't understand what he thought he was doing for us all. But when I do die, I suppose it might be comforting for me to think I'm saving everyone from Sauron or something.

Anyway,
If you want to believe God is on an alternate dimension called Heaven, or maybe some planet far away in the universe, or what-have-you, listening to everyone's prayers (somehow, all at once), then that's fine. The way I see that is the Buddhist conception of God as creating your own reality, and if that gives you hope for being "saved" from sin, hell, death, whatever...and for an eternity of happiness forever afterlife in happen, then by all means. The bible say faith is assurance of things unseen. Well, we all know there's a LOT unseen (e.g. radio waves, behind closed doors, trees falling in forests, beyond the limits of telescopes, that our eyes or brains or minds can't perceive..), so faith seems fully justified. I don't want to lessen or negate any faith you may have. In the realms of ideas and beliefs, it's all good, in my opinion. There are no bad thoughts.

Although, personally, I have a thing against premature death and pain. So, because thoughts and words are also actions, and every action has a reaction/consequence, they say, maybe thoughts, or some of them, are or can be bad. But I don't believe that. I don't know how one could ever acquire wisdom on that particular subject, though, so just be happy, and despite the adage, conversations kill, live and let die, or don't worry be happy.

They say hell is paved with good intentions, which I modify to say (some of) hell is paved with good intentions. And a corollary is that heaven could be paved with bad intentions, or some of it, anyway. We know not what we do. There's a law of unintended consequences. That's one of the reasons people say 'let go and let god.' That's the dark side, though, so to speak, and we don't wanna be like darth vader and blow up planets or whatever, lol. Unless maybe alien predators are on these planets, coming to enslave us or something.

Anyway, my mom at dinner quoted the adage about "familiarity breeds contempt." We are all most intimately familiar with ourselves, though, and I think we should love ourselves, and be happy. Self-contempt is tragic. I just wanna say if you have contempt for me or my ideas, that's cool. I'm a work in progress, as I think we all are, and I believe none of us should be closed minded and set in our beliefs, even if you're the Pope or God or "the smartest person on earth" or whatever. Opposition hones your beliefs, sharpens your perspective, and what doesn't kill you... (That's why I think Israel keeps palestinians, (etc.?), in opposition). Anyway, free country, and hopefully, a free world for all, in the future. People (me included, I suppose) like to be opinionated and little dictators, in terms of power or ideas. I pray there will never be a monopoly in the marketplace for ideas, and if you write me with your differing opinions, I would like to post them (with commentary?).

I think any disagreement with this blog's premise rises from the belief that one must submit to God, not place oneself above God or equal to Him. That's cool. I see that as hypnosis to subsume your darker side, your shadow if you will, in service to the "good", however you see it. And maybe the truth is that my philosophy, if widespread, would do more harm than good, because people are rotten. I don't see it that way, and I guess I should say that IF you think you are a sinner, unkind, unloving, angry, etc., MAYBE you should submit to that ideal of goodness you have lurking in the back of your head under the heading of "God." Seriously, though, isn't it better to just see yourself as good, consider yourself God (the ultimate in self-empowerment, no?), and make a better world, yourself, instead of praying to an all-powerful other to do it for you? I also think submitting to an unknown master has potential for mind-control gone awry, and unwarranted/scary self-assurance, like Dubya convinced he's doing God's will, as he commands a force that kills possibly over a million Iraqis. That's pretty much where I'm coming from. Peace, out.