Excerpt

What I have put forth here concerning religion and Balance in the Universe is what we must realize before we will ever be able to truly liberate and heal ourselves to a greater degree. Religion is the most misperceived and miss-under-stood idea to ever be considered. It is always difficult to write about an idea that cannot be proved or disproved. I have pondered this subject for a long time. My brief analysis here is what I have to offer on the subject at his point.


Overview of God or Balance in the Universe


Why bother to write on this subject? One might ask, why bother? As an individual one is certain to incur the wrath of many, by writing on such a subject. Ones family, the ordinary person in the church, the common citizen, and ministers will not be pleased to hear such a point of view. I have little to lose but to remain true to my profession, and reveal what I feel is an honest and forthright opinion, with respect to my understanding of the Universe. My analysis is based on sound principles.

Remaining open to all information. If possible, one should remain open to all information, regardless of what that information is. I hope there will be some wholl give what I have to say some thoughtful considerations. This book is written to better our understanding of religion and the Balance in the Universe.

Primitive belief in the supernatural. Our senses evolved when man had a primitive belief in supernatural Beings. Many people no longer have such primitive beliefs. Today, therere many different types of beliefs about these omnipotent forces: some are atheist, some are agnostic, some are Gnostic, and some are deist, etc. Many believe God exists but isnt the Being in the Bible. Others believe He does not intervene in mans affairs as was once thought. Therere many ways of seeing God, and our beliefs about this God has changed over time. Peoples gods speak to them in different ways. This makes it difficult to rely on the divine. In some cases God is seen as a Sunday morning God, while in others He is seen as a constant spirit. Some people are only concerned about God on Sunday mornings, and forget about Him for the rest of the week. Most people who are truly spiritual deal with God on a 24-hours/7-days a week basis. Most groups of individuals from earliest times have had some form of religion or at least a belief in a superior Force. It seems it is normal for groups to have religious concepts even in the early stages of their development, since man has practiced some form of religion from the earliest times.

Need for something bigger than ourselves. Many anthropologists put forth the idea that man created God rather than God creating man. I had never heard this idea before, but wasnt surprised when my anthropology professor made this revelation. It was like an epiphany, and then I understood a lot of things I hadnt understood before. In the early part of our development we decided we needed something bigger than ourselves to believe in. When man looked at all the wonders of the world it was difficult for him to believe all these things could have come into being without divine intervention. Man then decided to create a deity that would be omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, and all seeing. This sometime takes the form of supernatural and superstitious forces, at other times it takes on a more conventional religious nature. But there are as many views about the religious nature of the Universe as there are individuals in the Universe. Everybody must experience life for himself and come to their own conclusions about what part religion will play in their lives. What people look for and see in the Universe depend on their perspective.

Something bigger than thyself. One day recently, I was watching a rerun of In the Heat of the Night. While watching it something very thought provoking came to mind. What came to mind confirmed the religious idea that we need something much bigger than ourselves to believe in. Many religious individuals feel that believing in something much bigger and comprehensive than ourselves helps us to gain in our perspective, maintain our self-respect, self-esteem and dignity.

The absentee landlordIn this episode there was a white male who was an absentee landlord. He rented run-down shanties to Blacks at high prices. The local Blacks in the community had begun to refuse to pay if he didnt reduce his rents. The landlord also supplied drugs to those tenants and others who were interested. Chief Gillespie and his officers were aware that this individual was providing drugs to the community; they just didnt have all the facts to prove it. As a matter of fact this individual was known to have two drug houses in the community and was looking for ways to expand his operation.

The landlords lieutenantsThe landlord told his lieutenants in the drug trade, he wanted one man in the community killed. This man had begun to organize the people in the community against the landlord. His lieutenants told him that he should get a man from inside the organization to kill this grassroots organizer. The landlord told his lieutenants that someone should kill the organizer from outside the organization, someone who was bigger than all of them, and this would help them to keep control of the community. The landlord felt that it was necessary for members of the community to feel that a bigger force from the outside had killed the organizer. This would maintain the idea of mystery and give the idea of there being a type of omnipotent and omnipresent control operating.

Conceiving of a GodThis reminded me of what I read once in an anthropological textbook about how religion had its origin. It was said that somewhere in mans development primitive man decided that he needed someone bigger than himself to believe in. In his dreams, he perceived, imagined, or conceived of a god. He then invented God and religion to give his life meaning, and make living a pitiful existence on Earth seem worthwhile. This same source also said man in this way created God rather than God creating man.