My Credo

Religion

What do I believe? Who do I believe (in)? And, of course, why? Has it changed?

Where and when...am I a product of my place and time, and the people in my life and past?

Or, alternatively, are my beliefs a result of detached purely philosophical speculation?

In college, I took a theology class, which included a Credo: On God, Human Nature, and Morality.

And finally, are these beliefs merely personal, or do I claim universality, catholicity, their truth for All?

I believe:

1. God is a muddy concept, and needs clarification, if the term is to be used meaningfully. If God is always and everywhere, omnipresent, then He is everything, reality, the universe, the All-
2. then you are a part of Him/Her/It. God is One: A corporation, including everyone/everything.
   People are animals and things, and bodies, not souls, and share Godhood with paperclips and persimmons and pelicans. Always means infinite, in both directions of the timeline, past and future. Always was, always is, and always will be, in the eternal now. Spacetime.
3. God is also defined and described as alpha and omega, beginning and end, birth and death, from conception to decayed, disintegrated dust; creation by your parents/sex to destruction by time/cellular replication. This also includes evolution, from the start of humanity to its potential, possible extinction. From the big bang to all possible futures, including a deep future when all the stars finally go dark.
4. God is good, and God is love, and God is light. But also bad, hate, and darkness. You can't say God is everywhere and deny his presence in any category or sphere or location, even hell and sin and pain and suffering and disease and death and destruction. God is in the devil, too, if you believe in an entity who is the adversary of everything, including himself (!) You could also say the devil is in God. If God is everywhere, the devil is God, too. In the sentient, maybe life is All-in-all. I believe everyone is equal, everyone is their own God, the primary architect of each one's own happiness. Maybe matter itself is conscious. Matter is energy, and energy a form of matter, and light a form of energy, as well as a form of consciousness (like dreams). Mind is bigger than each individual brain, and humans share thoughts telepathically, both day and night. Humanity is a collective, within Animalia, within Earth, within the Universe. There is only one universe, although each mind can be considered a universe unto itself (thus, reality as a multiverse).

Reflect on this, young grasshopper.