How to lose God

Here's an indication of how iconoclastic my morning meditation has become since I evolved into my churchless phase. Today a powerful intuition suddenly popped into my mind.

Lose God. It's the way to wisdom.

For over thirty-five years I was dedicated -- maybe even obsessed -- with finding God. I dove deeply into mysticism and meditation, hoping to locate divinity at the core of my consciousness.

No luck. So far as I can tell.

Of course, since no one knows for sure if God exists, and, if so, how God would appear to humans like us, it's possible that divinity is right in front of me, unnoticed. Possible. Just like lots of things which have a small chance of being true, yet almost certainly aren't.

What struck me this morning is how easy it is to lose God, and how difficult it is to find God. This tells us something. Indeed, a lot.

Something that's real, especially if it's Ultimate Reality, the realest thing in the cosmos -- it should be damn tough to make it go away, to disappear. God supposedly is the heart and soul of the universe, the creator and the destroyer, the Alpha and the Omega.

A galaxy is nothing compared to God.

Yet if I stop believing in Andromeda, if I stop thinking about the nearest spiral galaxy to our Milky Way home, if I stop giving it any of my attention, Andromeda still exists. Astronomers will continue to perceive it through their telescopes. Photons from the galaxy's billions of stars will still find their way through Earth's atmosphere.

Not so with God.

Even the most fervent religious devotee, not to mention someone churchless like me, can lose God in an instant. All you have to do is stop believing, stop having faith, stop trusting in holy books, stop imagining a divinity who exists only in your thoughts.

It's more important to learn how to lose God, than how to find God.

Why? Because this shows how real is the object of your losing and finding. The laws of nature can't be lost. They're part and parcel of reality. Try losing faith in gravity, then jump off a cliff. You'll fall just as fast as a physicist.

Atheists and agnostics threaten religious believers. I used to wonder why true believers in some dogma who visited this blog would get so upset at the skepticsm and questioning that's expressed here.

Now I feel like I know the answer: believers recognize, albeit often semi-consciously, how easy it is to lose their God. All it takes is a subtle shift in consciousness, a forgetting of the religious thoughts that generally are held firmly in their mind, and God disappears.

Again, why? Because God isn't real. It's easy to lose a memory, tough to lose a mountain. Hold on to what is genuine; let the rest go, or at least keep a loose grip on it.

Losing unreality isn't a loss. It's a gain.

Comments

[Jennifer Morrison]

I quite agree with you-"Dickie Dawkins".It is something else to get the majority of the masses to agree.
Like you--I was looking for "GOD"in the RS cult--and was totally fascinated in watching various members succumb to diseases caused by the L-V diet.Like you-I checked out in time(I hope)-Jennifer.

[Jayme]

"Like you--I was looking for "GOD"in the RS cult--and was totally fascinated in watching various members succumb to diseases caused by the L-V diet." - Jennifer Morrison

Me too. I didn't find the diet difficult to stick with but when the joints started hurting, skin wounds didn't heal well, and ear infections wouldn't go away it was time to change. I still don't eat meat but occasionally eat eggs. My thinking has cleared and the body health is substantially better. I'm not a 'better' person for it but I am healthier. I haven't decided on meat yet but I have no objection to it except the awful way animals are treated.

I don't brand myself as anything though I like the idea of Sant Mat in as far as 'right living'.

"Like you-I checked out in time(I hope)" - JM

If you don't go to RS hell then you checked out in time. ;-)

[albert]

Sorry, "losing God" is impossible. In the innermost recesses, the connection has always been and will always be intact, though greatly weakened and diluted due to diffusion in the external world. But the innermost connection can never be broken...we have only lost sight of our goal and the method to achieve it.

There definitely exists a Giver of Life, without which, there would be no subject/object relationship with anything...i.e. no life, whatsoever. This creation was evolved out of the purest and most intense Love. There is a supreme purpose for our living in these dire times. Please do not give up hope, for a Path does exist to reunite our true essence and identity with the True Creator.

It is very, very easy to decry God's existence when observing the caustic and egregious events in our world and in our very own lives. Greed, attachment, vanity, lust, hostility and anger have never been more blatant, rampant, continuous or intense. The pressure is "on" and there is great reason for it, especially for keen seekers of truth.

To learn more about our purposeful conundrum here on earth, as well as our original purpose, please refer to Soul's Divine Journey, a free book from my Sat Guru, Sri Gary Olsen. You can read it online, download it or order a hardcopy at the following website: www.masterpath.org.

The sun is not setting, dear friends, it is actually rising.

[Willie R]

At least the born-again christians don't bother to clog up your in box.....

[tucson]

I notice that the monthly dues to be on the "masterpath" with Sri Gary Olsen has gone up from $25 a month to $30. I guess even the price of the "souls divine journey" goes up in this economy.

[David]

There should be a hypnotic induction for "God". It would prove why there are so many different religions... After all, self hypnosis is no different to meditation.

[tAo]

"sri gary" is nothing more than a poseur and a cheap fraud. he plagerizes everything straight out of sant mat books and from that other fraudulent plagerism, eckankar. his claims are all lies. and those who stupidly follow frauds and liars like that, will end up in the same cesspool. albert is an ignorant and gullible fool.

i knew that dude long before he ever made himself into a (false) guru. he was deeply into occultism and the use of dark magick to manipulate and deceive, years before he ever stumbled into eckankar and the sant mat books. then, he simply used sant mat as a way to manipulate the naive into believing that he is a sant sat guru, and thus making himself the leader and of a nice lucrative ($$$) cult.

so don't listen to gullible fools like albert. albert has no idea how deceptive and phony his supposed guru really is.

"there's a sucker born every minute"

[Mike Williams]

Hey Jennifer,

I have been a vegetarian for
35 years. Actually had to
buy my food at a 7th Day Adventist
Christian Church, it was so
long ago.

I will give you my diet for the
last 35 years and see if you can
give me any improvement tips.

I eat many candy bars, especially
Snickers, M & M's and Reeses Peanut
Butter cups.

I also like Cheetos.

I eat vegetarian pizzas every other
day at my local Italian Restaurants.
Mushroom and Bellpepper.
Not to mention the Bud Light Pitchers
and carafe's of Rose Wine.

As I get older, I am finding it harder
to find my way home every day, I get so
dammed drunk.

I cannot cook. Last vegetarian meal I
tried to cook, ended up buried in my
back yard, it smelt so bad.

I have a vegetarian wife, but she
can't even boil soup.

I am at home most the time and am
basically starving to death.

So, I eat out every day.

I order multiple cheese on sandwiches,
on rye (no I am not Jewish), with
pitchers of Budweiser.

I joke to waitresses, I am trying to
become the worlds first vegetarian
alcoholic.

I hate vegetables, unless they are
on a pizza.

I like bean and cheese burritos,
with Margaritas.

My cholesterol skyrocketed and I take
medication.

I hate Gurus and believe God is
a mad scientist, whom created us
in a test tube.

I can't figure out who the hell
I am.

I don't like milk, but use soy milk
in White Russians.

I can't figure out why I have lived
so long, when so many people whom
loved life, have passed before me.

Is it possible my unusual diet it
having an effect on my mind ?

[David]

I implore everybody, Tara, Mike and Tao, and Brian, to come to MY church. I swear i am God. If you don't believe me, too bad. But i am God. All you have to do to gain entrance into my church is donate to my paypal account and admit there is no other God but me through autohypnosis.

Now, where was i... oh yes, since God can be anybody why not me? I make good burrito's and budweisers.

[Blogger Brian]

Good try, David, but I don't like burritos and beer. So I can't believe that you are God, because everyone (namely, me) knows that falafel wraps and red wine are much more divine.

[Mike Williams]

Hey Tara and Brian,

If David can make a good burrito
and has Budweiser on tap, I am
willing to join his church.

Thank God for a church that
finally makes some sense.

I can bring the vegetarian hot dogs
for the barbecue and potato chips.

Also the pecan pie and whip cream.

My life is a culinary nightmare.

Where do I sign up ?

Weiss Country Ratings for Debt
now has the USA behind Bulgaria.

So, I beter spend my bucks fast,
while a dollar still buys a Baby Ruth
candy bar.

A = excellent
B = good
C = fair
D = weak
E = very weak
Ranking Country Sovereign Debt Rating
1 China A
2 Thailand A
3 South Korea A-
4 Switzerland A-
5 Malaysia A-
6 Saudi Arabia A-
7 Chile B+
8 Sweden B+
9 Norway B+
10 Austria B+
11 Denmark Ba
12 Netherlands Ba
13 Russia Ba
14 Germany C+
15 Australia C+
16 Philippines C+
17 Kuwait C+
18 Czech Republic C+
19 Bulgaria C+
20 Indonesia C+
21 Mexico C+
22 Poland Ca
23 France Ca
24 Colombia Ca
25 New Zealand Ca
26 Estonia Ca
27 Brazil Ca
28 Uruguay Ca
29 Turkey Ca
30 Japan Ca
31 Finland Ca
32 Canada Ca
33 United States Ca
34 Belgium Ca
35 Hungary Ca
36 Argentina Cb-
37 Italy Cb-
38 United Kingdom Cb-
39 South Africa Cb-
40 Egypt Cb-
41 Portugal D+
42 Venezuela D+
43 Pakistan D+
44 Iceland D+
45 Spain D+
46 Ireland D-
47 Greece E

[Catherine]

Mike, sounds like you should get on a plane to a remote place on a mountain near the sea where everyone eats only fish and vegetables and drinks only water from a mountain spring. Ideally, the people should not speak English and the women should be overly infatuated with you. I am not sure though how you can improve your thinking which seems very clear to me. You must do a huge amount of farting in bed and plenty of singing out of tune! Kudos to your wife.

OH, goody Albert, you're back. Now I can ask you again, what is Gary's pedigree? Does he have a lineage, a direct line, or did his wife appoint him? If it was the latter, well I should be very careful if I was you. Hey, hey, wait Albert, come back, I prefer you from the front. No, no, no need to roll over and apologise.

[Nietzsche]

You know what is an absoluut delight. Brown beans soup with saucettes. I don't know if that translated well :) I can eat a whole can after doing 10 km running training! With a little bread and butter it tastes like heaven ;)

[Mike Williams]

Hi tara.
My diet isn't that bad
and I am teasing everyone.

I actually don't drink
that much either.

Used to be a baseball player
when younger. I am 6'3"
and blue eyes in good shape.

I used to be able to hit
a baseball 500 feet. A golf
ball 360 yards.

Went to school on a scholarship
to USC, but my eyes failed me.

Ted Williams would have taken me,
but he had Frank Howard on first base.

An astigmatism in my eyes
prevented me from seeing the spin
on a curve ball. They could not
correct it back then.

Played for Ted Williams farm team,
the old Washington Senators, which became
the Texas Rangers.

I never made it to the big leagues,
but my team mate Jeff Buroughs did
and even won MVP one year.

Jeff could hit them 500 feet also.

[Bob]

Mike,

You don't hear much about Frank Howard these days and the Dodgers of the early LA era. How about Tommy Davis??

Amazingly, Vin Scully is still behind the mike after all these years - going back to Brooklyn!

As a kid and die-hard SF Giants fan,I always had an eye on those LA Dodgers - tuning into them at night to hear Vin Scully call the games on 50,000 watt KFI. We could pick it up at night in the Bay Area.

[Helter Skelter]

Albert is under the mistaken impression that he can recruit new cult members by posting comments online. Gary Olsen has recently directed his followers to use a "one on one" recruiting technique online, and Albert is simply following his master's instructions like a good little puppy. Pretty sad.

In Albert's warped way of thinking, people on this site are just lost souls - like he once was before he joined his cult. What he doesn't understand is that he is now lost in an illusion, and everyone already knows Gary Olsen is a complete moron and a scam artist. All it takes is a Google search.

[Passerby]

albert says: "Sorry, "losing God" is impossible."

Did you even read Brian's post? Clearly, you did not.

albert says: "In the innermost recesses, the connection has always been and will always be intact, though greatly weakened and diluted due to diffusion in the external world. But the innermost connection can never be broken...we have only lost sight of our goal and the method to achieve it."

And for $30 a month, Sri Dumbo will restore your "sight" and teach you the "method" for "achieving" realization of the "innermost connection with God that can never be broken." albert, it is the bane of spiritual arrogance and ego to post such inanity.

Brian was a devoted initiate of Radha Soami for 35 years. He knows the teachings of RSSB better than your plagiarizing guru of those teachings. Brian was actually an initiate of RSSB.

albert says: "There definitely exists a Giver of Life, without which, there would be no subject/object relationship with anything...i.e. no life, whatsoever."

Really? And you "definitely" know this "giver of life" how? Subject/object relationship implies duality; isn't the "Giver of Life (God) beyond the dual worlds?

albert says: This creation was evolved out of the purest and most intense Love. There is a supreme purpose for our living in these dire times. Please do not give up hope, for a Path does exist to reunite our true essence and identity with the True Creator."

Puh-lease. You sound like a parrot squeaking your favorite platitudes. If it is "impossible to lose God" then why is there a need for a path to reunite our "true essence" and "identity" with the "True Creator."

albert says: "It is very, very easy to decry God's existence when observing the caustic and egregious events in our world and in our very own lives. Greed, attachment, vanity, lust, hostility and anger have never been more blatant, rampant, continuous or intense. The pressure is "on" and there is great reason for it, especially for keen seekers of truth."

It is easy to decry the legitimacy of self-proclaimed gurus when observing the caustic and egregious acts they commit in their very own lives. Greed, attachment, vanity, lust, hostility, and anger are rationalized as "God's Will."

albert says: "To learn more about our purposeful conundrum here on earth, as well as our original purpose, please refer to Soul's Divine Journey, a free book from my Sat Guru, Sri Gary Olsen. You can read it online, download it or order a hardcopy at the following website: www.masterpath.org."

so, our "original purpose" is buried in our "purposeful conundrum" and your wannabe guru will enlighten us on soul's divine journey. Doing a little proselytizing albert?

albert says: "The sun is not setting, dear friends, it is actually rising."

it is easy to see when someone's head is buried in the sand, their worldview is locked in ideological faith through which all other viewpoints are deemed "lost." While they tell you "losing God is impossible."

Hey albert, read Brian's post again. Perhaps you might see that your interpretation of what he says is quite different than your egoic assumption of what you think he means.

Your belief is based on a mental concept. A mental concept that you repeat over and over again: simran. A mental image that you internally strive to glorify: dhyan. A mental method that you accept as the truth of all truths: bhajan.

Why don't you engage with the core questions asked: what is Gary's pedigree? What is his lineage?

[Michael Holzman]

Hmmmm, verry interesting. I think I'm beginning to see the light. At least I think it's a light.

[Charles Ndung'u]

Interesting way of looking at faith and lack of it. I am still a firm believer of a superior being because nothing seem to make sense minus the superior. It cannot be that all this, our life's the earth and every thing around it is a coincidence. And some how there is harmony in everything supporting the existence of the other. This cannot be

[Ellie]

Hey tAo. Don't know if your still around but I am very interested in learning more about Gary Olsen dark occult past. In your post you said he was into magical and manipulative practices. Could you be more specific on this. It is important for me to know more about his character. In fact I have heard similar comments about him elsewhere. Thanks