Chapter 13

WHO? WHAT? WHERE? IS GOD

The ancient title “god” has nothing to do with divinity per se. The word “god” comes from an ancient Scandinavian language, meaning a powerful person — a leader, a superior, a ruler over the people. Anyone who was a political, military, or theological leader would be a god, or lord.

The word “God” is very misunderstood and misused. In Spanish, for example, it always carries a plural-looking form (Dios), whereas English uses only the singular; the contradiction between the two languages is quite amusing, and shows that neither uses it correctly. Both languages need to improve the way they use the word “god.”

So — Who? What? Where? Is God? For “Who?” I have a simple answer: no one. It is not a single being to which we can assign singularity, or a name. What, then, is it? It is everything we know; it is you, and everything that surrounds us, including the entire universe.

Where? Simply everywhere — since it is everything. It is like saying “all,” “the All,” “the all-knowing.” The word “God” is simply a poor description for the all-encompassing existence of everything there is.

Some have tried to modernize the word with a better description, such as the Primal Force, the Universal Subconscious Mind, the Cosmos, the Divine Cosmic Spirit, the Tao, and many others. And, of course, some have made the terrible mistake of giving it a name, such as Jehovah — which is totally misleading, since Jehovah is the name of a particular god.

“God” is also a title, a status above “Angel,” just as “Doctor” in some professions is a title given above “Master.” When a being just like you or me attains total control — in other words, becomes almighty, having learned all there is to learn about the laws of the universe — that being becomes a god in its own right. The title “god” has also been used for deities, as in Greek mythology, which personifies most, if not all, human traits as gods; not that these gods exist, but that the traits do, and are known by these names.

But most important of all, keep in mind that you are a god in the making, that you possess all the potential of the mightiest of the gods. You yourself are as much a god as any other. When you hear or read the word “God,” simply translate it in your mind to something like “Universal Subconscious Mind,” which, to me — and, I hope, to you too — makes a lot more sense. “Father” is another word much misunderstood, since it is commonly used with no explanation at all. Let us start with “Father”: Father is the same as saying Universal Subconscious Mind, God, the ALL — it means everything; from this ALL comes everything: you, me, and everything else. So when you say “Father, help us,” or “may the will of the Father be done,” you are referring to the Universal Collective Mind — that is, you, me, and everyone else in the Cosmos.

“Mother” is yet another much-misunderstood word. Mother refers to a subpart of you: your subconscious, your soul, the part of you behind the scenes (in the 3rd density/dimension), the one that knows all about you, that knows your REAL needs, that knows all your past and future. So when you ask the Mother to help you, you are asking a part of you that knows best — better, in fact, than your egos and your conscious mind. Kundalini is another synonym for Mother; it is often called Mother Kundalini.

“Jesus Christ” is also a much-misunderstood name. “Christ” is a level of accomplishment — like “Doctor” or “Engineer” — known as Christ Consciousness. Jesus was the name of a man who knew a great deal and made an effort to teach the people of his time. “Christ” is not his last name.

It is wise to learn how to invoke these forces properly, so you can get what you want — and, most important, what you really need — much more quickly and effortlessly.

Every religion describes God through metaphor, allegory, and exaggeration, from the early Egyptians through modern Sunday school. Metaphors are a way to help our minds process the unprocessable. The problems arise when we begin to believe literally in our own metaphors. Those who truly understand their faiths understand that the stories are metaphorical. When did I realize I was God? Well, I was praying, and I suddenly realized I was talking to myself.Peter O’Toole

Below is a reprint of Chapter 1 from Reclaiming Your Divinity, a book that gives a very clear, concise explanation of the god we all really are. It was written by two followers of Sathya Sai Baba’s teachings, who lived with Baba for over twenty years, during which they learned quite well how to explain a complex subject with simple words and songs we can all relate to.

Reclaiming Your Divinity: Exposing the Ultimate Deception, by Lightstrorm. Published by SHANTI Publishing and Child’s Sunvillage, Inc. USA: 208-634-8335; Canada: 250-380-3760; lightstrorm@ctcweb.net; www.ctcweb.net/~lightstrorm. $5.00 USD, February 2005. Reprinted with permission.

What came first — the chicken or the egg?

Dearest reader, if you are truly and earnestly searching for the truth about questions like “Who am I? Why am I here? Who, or what, is God? Where is God?” — and, basically, what the heck is my life, or this whole creation, all about? — then please read on. This small book, in which we share some of our own experiences, might be of some help in your quest. But understand right now that everyone must inevitably walk through their own personal experiences to fully comprehend, and finally know, the Truth. Truth, like Love and God, will soon start to make perfect sense — and is usually the simplest thing to understand — when the mind gets out of the way of the heart.

All right then, dear inquiring Self, let’s get to it. Shall we look at some questions that require deep inquiry and contemplation? In the beginning there was God, and God created all of Creation. So, if everything originated from God, by God, through God, then what single thing in all of Creation is not God? Who is God? What is God? Where is God? And, for that matter, does God have one particular name or form?

And what is the real idea of religion? What part of the separate-feeling ego-mind concocted the various organized religions? Well, what do you think? Is God a Divine personality living in some heavenly realm? Is He, She, or It a “Burning Bush,” or “The Light”? And if everything originated from God, by God, through God — what would that make us, hmm?

Some say God separated Himself so He could love Himself. Yeah, could be — but God is Love, and God is complete, so why would God need Love? Especially when God is everything… or nothing? Oh boy, here we go again; this stuff is beyond the mind. So we double-dog-dare you to tell us: what, in all of this manifested creation, isn’t GOD? Come on, we dare you. You can’t, can you? Because in the beginning, what was there? Come on, you know: God, Heavenly Father, Divine Mother, Allah, En-Sof — the Formless, all-pervading, all-loving, all-inclusive, all-powerful — YOU.

Or, if this is all too much to handle, let’s just have some fun with it and think of it this way: God was just bored, so He divided Himself in order to love Himself. Don’t we get lonely sometimes and just want some company — to share with, make love to, or just have a loving conversation? We can relate to that idea, can’t we? Haven’t you ever been bored?

So let us look at the idea of God, and how Creation came to be. Let us start with a bit of research into that last question: what is the real understanding of religion, and why are there so many different ones — and so many names for God? My goodness: for something so basic and simple, why does the ego-mind make everything so complicated? Could it be because the mind can only identify with an object or idea, like a name and a form? The mind became bored with the idea of just one religion and one name for GOD; one must wonder how many more it will create. All religions declare that in the beginning there was God. They depict this God either as a name or a form, or as a formless, eternal, Divine Energy Consciousness beyond human experience — beyond the mind’s ability to comprehend. Look at that statement: beyond the mind! God simply IS… always… without beginning or end. The Christian Bible states: in the beginning there was God; from God the Father came the Word, and the Word became flesh; thus Adam was created, and from Adam came Eve, and so the proliferation of Creation began.

In the ancient Hebrew tradition of the holy book Kabbalah, it states: in the beginning there was the En-Sof, God, which translates as “limitless” or “boundless” (En = without, Sof = end). To them, this symbolized total unity beyond the mind, beyond comprehension. It simply cannot be explained in words, or even understood by the mind — because it is beyond the mind. The Kabbalists played on this difficulty of expressing the inexpressible by pointing out that the En-Sof, by all definition, should be nonexistent; all the words of any language cannot explain it. The Hebrew Kabbalah further explains that God (En-Sof), by the power of the secret “Word,” created the first Sefirot (like the Christian Adam). This idea of the Sefirot again represents the Cosmic Mind, or the Creative Principle. The ancient Kabbalists also realized that the only way to perceive God (En-Sof) was to control the mind and then go beyond it. They state: “Silence the mind, and you will know yourself as GOD.”

In the Islamic religion, the indefinable God principle is simply called Allah.

In metaphysical terms (as we perceive it), the idea of Creation could be expressed this way. But before we play with clear intellect, let us state that it is not possible to explain God, since we are still using words, ideas, and concepts — the mind — and God is beyond the mind. Still, maybe this simplistic perception can give a fraction of clarity to the idea of Oneness. Just feel the underlying energy behind the words, or between the lines, of “all-loving, all-inclusive, and all-powerful,” and this might help you understand its origin — or, shall we say, our origin. It is truly quite simple and easy, but the mind’s job is to complicate the idea of GOD far beyond our reach, and that is how it stays in control. So right now, let’s reclaim our control over the mind. First there is Eternal Consciousness… Self-Awareness… perfect, luminous Intelligence. Then, by reflecting (just like an object in a mirror) or projecting Consciousness upon its own luminous Intelligence, which is also the Self, an inner reflection of the Self appears, like an emanation that seems separate from the Self. Thus Consciousness perceives itself as, “Oh, I am also that!” This is the first illusion — the idea that there are two Selves: Maya. This inner mirrored reflection of the Self then becomes the womb of Creation: an imagined, silent, inner elliptical space which, due to consciousness, is endless. Think of it as an eternal imagination with no limits. (As you think it, so it shall be.)

This womb then becomes the source of all life, of all name and form as we know it. This emanation continues to reflect itself in the mirror of that self-aware Intelligence, and in turn causes an oscillation, or movement, in this inner space (this womb), which causes a frequency pattern, or a sound, that rises up out of the Silence. This we call the “Word of God,” or the primal Sound — the “AUM” or “OM” sound, the first Vibration. This vibration is the energy stream of Love, or Life-force, Chi or Prana. Then this ever-expanding movement of vibration becomes a variable sea of different vibratory patterns, which speed up or slow down, change and rearrange, merge and separate, collide and explode; and through this process of ever-changing, interacting electromagnetic cyclic impulse patterns, the Mind, with its creative powers, creates all dream manifestations. This includes all creations, on all levels and dimensions of Creation (universes, heavenly realms, nether or hell regions, and so on). This fundamental energy stream of Love, Life-force, or Chi is the flow of what we often call God’s Divine Love: a benevolent, omnipresent, all-knowing, all-loving, all-inclusive, all-powerful, ever-expanding vibration, which is the foundation of EVERYTHING, of ALL.

So, following this metaphysical explanation of Creation, we must inevitably come to this conclusion (using pure intellect and discrimination): since all of Creation is only Consciousness of constantly moving energy to begin with, representing itself in different forms or stages of movement, nothing can ever really die — it can only change states (or transmute itself) by rearranging patterns, changing frequencies, or speeding up and slowing down. (Einstein came to the same conclusion.) When energy slows down, it appears to us as solid matter, at least to the naked eye; under a high-powered microscope, of course, this is not true. As the movement of energy speeds up, it becomes less and less solid or dense, until it is space, or ether, again. Maybe you can think of it like this: an ice cube represents solid matter; heat it a little and it melts into water; heat it more and it becomes steam. Yet all the while it is the same conscious energy (atomic essence), just in different stages of movement. That is why wise people know there is really no “death” for our Consciousness — only change.

In Hindu philosophy, the most ancient text, the Vedas, states: in the beginning there was Paramatma (the Primal Source, the God principle). The Vedas describe the Paramatma as “Not this — not that,” because this Primal Source of all cannot be explained or conceived through the mind or intellect. The Vedas continue that the sound which started Creation is the “AUM” or “OM” sound. Centuries later, this “AUM” became “HUM” for the Buddhists, “AMIN” for the Hebrews and Muslims, and “AMEN” for the Christians. This “Word,” or “AUM” sound, originated from the Primal Source, God; consequently, the form of Narayana came into being, to give a beginning concept to the human mind. Then Brahma the Creator grew out of Narayana’s navel (the same idea as the Sefirot, or Adam). Brahma again represents the Cosmic Mind, or the Creative Principle — the Architect of this creation of name and form, of separation. Brahma could also be described as a single point of God’s projected form of our Divine Consciousness. Consequently, this point of projected Consciousness (Brahma, the Mind) became the first created illusion of separation from God — the first mirage of an imagined duality. Brahma then, by His mental projection, His imagination, His dreaming ability (which inherently has the exact same power as the Primal Source Consciousness, God), created this diverse, multidimensional Divine Dream Creation of endless names and forms.

All the ancient spiritual adepts, masters, rishis, yogis, teachers, saints, and sages realized the Truth — that there was nothing else but “GOD” — through painstaking investigation and self-disciplined practice (mostly by trial and error), and realized that it was the uncontrolled mind’s imagination that was the root cause of feeling separate from God. They realized that the way to reconnect with our God-Self was to meditate and practice silencing the mind. They became masters of the mind by letting go of, or controlling, all thoughts of the past, because they saw it only dredged up the illusion of old feelings and emotions. They also saw how important it was to control all thoughts that ventured into the future, dreaming of some unreal fantasy, because that created more desires and attachments to this ever-changing, momentary illusion of Creation. Then they reasoned, correctly, that there is only the present moment — “the NOW” — which we can truly experience and interact with. Eventually, with practice, the mind became their tool, as they walked through this dream called life in the NOW.

So we can plainly see that every spiritual master, along with all the major religions of the world, tends to agree, declaring, “In the beginning there was God, and God created all of Creation.” Here we should ask: are we God, or are we His Creation? It is as simple as this. If you believe yourself to be only the body, the mind, and the senses, then — yes — you are separate; you are His mind’s creation: Sefirot, Adam, Brahma, Manu, Harry, Ronesa, Joe, Mary, Irene, Jane, Cassidy, Jaydon, Trent, or whoever — and then, when you die, you are dead and gone, that consciousness deleted from Creation; you, and nothing of you, exists, and that’s it — kaput, fini. But if you know your Self as Divine Consciousness (the soul), which is forever, eternal, that can never be harmed in any way or die, all-powerful, all-loving, and all-inclusive — then YOU ARE GOD. You… yes, you, who have always been and will always be, eternally and forever. So choose. Choose to be Divine; or, if you like, you can believe the mind and eventually be food for worms. Which one sounds better? Pick one: your Divinity, or worm food — the mind’s creation. And then stick with your decision; make it your Truth. You will have to fight for it, because it is a battle. But right along with this Truth comes the great responsibility of living your life in accordance with it. So if you are God, then your thoughts, words, and deeds must reflect and express this Truth in your daily life — as all-loving, all-inclusive, and all-powerful (and that power must be based in selfless, pure love, or you will reap bad karma). We will come back to this and discuss it further.

Mankind has given a thousand and one names, and ascribed many forms, to this mental and emotional concept of God: the Creator, Heavenly Father, Divine Mother, Paramatma, Christ, Narayana, Jehovah, En-Sof, Allah, Ahura Mazda, the Light, the Burning Bush, Nagual, Nirvana, Sat-Chit-Ananda, Self-luminous Divine Consciousness, the Eternal Absolute, Tripura Ma, the Primal Source, the Almighty, the Divine-Self, the Life-force, the Force, the First Cause, the Creative Love Force, the Nameless One, and so on.

Still, no matter how many names or forms the mind has given to this idea of God, the common theme voiced by all religions and spiritual masters is that there is only the ONE single underlying “Reality,” or Truth (God), which manifested all of Creation. They further declare that God is Love. So the answer to the question about religion would be that religion should be, and always represent, Divine Love. As Sai Baba tells us, “There is only one religion — the religion of Love.” If any religion does not express itself on the world’s stage as pure Love in thought, word, and deed, then it must be a man-made, mind-created dogma of concepts and rules for some other purpose. (Maybe ego, you think?) And so the mind created its child, the ego, in order to feel special, important, and separate.

It stands to reason: if everything originated from God, by God, within God, through God — Consciousness and Love — then we, and all of this Creation, must be God. That is why we are forever personally and consciously perfecting ourselves; we want to be so good at everything, forever searching for love all around us, not realizing (because the mind tricks us) that the love we are searching for is within us, and always has been. Everyone and everything in this Creation is the “Embodiment of Love” — God, this underlying Life-force, this Conscious Energy stream of Divine Love. Here is something to contemplate: when you feel or perceive that deep, clear love in your heart, or around you, it is always only your own Love reflected back to you, because somehow you are aware that you are that Love. This is a reflective Creation, and you can only experience what you are and what you project. When this Love is for God, it is always a perfect reflection, like a clear, undistorted reflection from a bright, spotless mirror. The same reflective idea applies to everything else — beauty, joy, inner peace, or anger, resentment, worry, and fear. So you can see that exactly what you send out, or project, will return to you. As you sow, so shall you reap. Christ — like the Buddha, Rama, Krishna, and Sai Baba, and all the other spiritual masters, saints, and sages — realized and shared with us that God’s nature is pure Love: that God is Love, Peace, and Bliss, and that all of Creation is really an illusion, a dream created by the Mind principle.

The Buddha explained the Primal Source, the God principle, the Divine Consciousness (which is everything, as well as “no thing”), in another way. He declared that there is only Nirvana — self-aware Bliss. He realized that there is nothing anywhere that is not inherently Divine, and that in the final analysis there is no personalized, separate entity or God figure of name and form. He realized that the idea of a separate God was a mind-created illusion, and that this Creation was a mind-created dream. The “Being state of Self,” the state of Nirvana, the Immortal Absolute (the En-Sof, Paramatma, Allah, God, or the “I AM” God-Self, if you like) — only that is real, and that is everywhere. We are all connected; that is why his philosophy was to do no harm to even the smallest creature. He also explained this Being state as a “Great Emptiness” (like endless space without any stars) that is totally filled with the Light of self-aware Eternal Consciousness, and therefore can never be empty as we understand it. The Buddha, like many others, realized that all of Creation is really a constantly changing, momentary illusion, a dream created by the Cosmic Mind Principle. His personal experience taught him that it was the uncontrolled mind, with its many attachments and desires, that causes this feeling of separation from the Creator, and in turn creates all human misery. God’s nature is Love — “God is Love.” This stream of Love is the underlying Oneness that all the Divine Teachers, Avatars (conscious Divine personalities in human form), saints, and sages have told us about. But remember: Love does not always have to be just obliging smiles and outer gentleness. It can take on many outer expressions, and be very disciplining, correcting, and forceful.

For example, when Jesus the Christ was throwing out the moneylenders, overturning tables, and freeing the animals being sold for slaughter in the Temple, He was definitely physical and forceful. Yet the underlying selflessness of Love, the total care for all, is always the clear, underlying, unchanging reality. The Eternal Consciousness, the Divine-Self, or God principle, is the root cause of all and everything — and, in the same breath, it must be said that it is beyond everything, beyond even the mind; it is really “no thing,” because God cannot be described as a “thing,” which can only be name and form.

The reason we say “everything is God” is that God is the only underlying reality. God is inherent in, or the root cause of, this Mind Creation — yet God is beyond Creation, beyond the Mind. But for our body-consciousness self to identify with anything, or everything, our mind has to have a name or form to identify with, so that we can try to conceive, understand, or FEEL it. Thus the mind created a system we call religion, in order to represent a belief in the idea that there is an Immortal, Absolute, Primal Source — an Eternal, Unchanging, Omnipresent, Perfect, Creative Consciousness, Energy, Vibration, Force, God — which is the Creator of everything. The rest of what we label as religion in this world is a man-made, mind-created system of various dogmas, spiritual interpretations, personal opinions, and rituals of elite secret societies or fanatic ego personalities — a pretense of specialness (of some imagined higher awareness of God) by self-serving individuals, brotherhoods, or institutions.

We are presuming here that these religions were originally created to help us find some sort of reconnection to our True Self. But, as always, if we allow the mind and ego to run amok, then religion becomes egotistical and self-serving. Just look at what the Catholic religion did with Jesus’ simple teachings of Love: they created a fearful God, full of wrath, one who would condemn you to Hell if you did not adhere to their rules. So you see, as long as we propagate some ritualistic practice of placing Religion first and a Loving God second, we are creating a separation beyond our human reach, and we will always feel separate, less than, or unworthy. (Even the concept of true spirituality will seem beyond our reach.) Or, on the other side of the spectrum, some will rebel and fight against anything to do with religion or God, and become atheists. Heck — today we even make idols out of words and ideas. We put Liberation, Moksha, Salvation, Self-realization, unconditional Love, and even the Light on a separate, almost unattainable pedestal, before which we mentally worship, hoping that someday, in the future, we can acquire it by the Grace of God. (This is the mind’s way of controlling our life, by giving us the false idea of endless time in some future that does not exist.) For each idol the mind creates, we start a separate religion or ideology, a secret society or brotherhood, a new church or building, a political party or corporation, a New Age trend, or what have you — heaven knows what else we dream up in order to appear special to the world around us.

The original idea of creating a personalized God (one with a form and/or a name) was to allow us to have a closer relationship with God, and eventually to merge, or feel connected, with God. It is extremely hard for people to identify with nothing, or “no thing,” since the mind cannot create a feeling of closeness or intimate connection without some sort of reference. So if individuals fully identify with this God form/name, and constantly think of God in a closer, more intimate fashion, then sooner or later the separation between God and the individual becomes blurred, and before too long they merge into each other, losing their separate mind identity through this constant feeling of closeness, this all-inclusive togetherness. This intense love, or bhakti, for and devotion to this God form/name will eventually dissolve the ego-mind-personality identification and, in turn, take them beyond the mind, into the state of the ever-existing Oneness of all. This has been the experience of many of our religious saints and sages. If we look closely, we can see that the same premise — the underlying Oneness — is represented in all the world’s religions. All of Creation is willed, fashioned, or originates from the ONE Primal Source of Consciousness: God, En-Sof, Jehovah, Allah, Paramatma, and so on. It is all-loving, all-inclusive, all-powerful.

Now, one of the best and easiest ways to correctly use this “tool” called the mind is to let it become completely immersed in, and attached to, any chosen name or form of God, and thereby let go of all other worldly attachments and desires. In other words, GOD becomes your first love, your only desire. This will at first show itself as worship, which we all must walk through, one lifetime or another; and if we are earnest, it will quickly blossom into one-pointed devotion (another way to focus and discipline the mind), which in turn will soon mature into unconditional Love for God and all of God’s Creation, since they are always one and the same. Through this complete Love identification, and immersion with God and God’s Creation (everywhere, in everyone, underlying everything), you will eventually lose your false, separate ego-self identification. And this will automatically result in the personal experience of being one with God. Then, through this personal experience, YOU will know your True Self as the ALL, the ONE, as GOD. This, then, is the simple and ultimate shortcut to knowing God, the Self. When Christ told His disciples, “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” or “Love ye one another as I have loved you,” He was expressing the Divine Principle of Unconditional Love, which they should follow, and which He Himself was living.

Krishna (a Hindu Avatar) explained, in the Bhagavad Gita (part of the Hindu scriptures), to simply surrender your mind and heart — every thought, feeling, word, and deed — in love and devotion to God; to see only God as the doer, as the underlying reality in all; to think only of God at all times. In that way, Krishna explained, the false illusion of the mind-created ego-personality self will no longer function as the dominant, controlling aspect of your life. God will then become the charioteer, the captain, the guru, the guiding energy of your life. By becoming the watcher — by surrendering, or letting go of this “false you” (the mind) as the controller, doer, sufferer, or enjoyer of anything — you (your Divine-Self) will allow God’s energy (a higher Consciousness energy) to guide you through the maze of life. This full love and devotion to God will result in the final Oneness, the complete merger with God.

The Buddha, Christ, and all the other Avatars — like Rama, Krishna, and Sai Baba — along with all the saints and sages of Creation, shared with us that the one unchanging Reality, or Truth, is that there is ONLY GOD; that God is within you and all around you, and is our Divine Consciousness-Self, which is all-loving, all-inclusive, and all-powerful. All the rest was, is, and will be simply an ever-changing cycle of mind-created illusion — a diverse emanation of momentary, temporary, dreamlike experiences, created by the attachment and desire the mind tricked us into believing we needed in order to survive.

When Christ said, “Split any piece of wood, or lift up any stone; look closely, because there you will find me — there I AM,” He was telling us again that God is everywhere, and in everything. Or when Christ said, “Whosoever sees me, also sees the Father,” what does that suggest? Does it not say, “I and the Father are One; I am God”? All else is a projection of the Mind.

Spirituality says that God is within each of us, and that we do not need anyone else to make that divine connection for us. Religion says that we are separated from God, and that we need “them” to make the divine connection for us.

Spirituality says that we are free to make choices on our own, and that we must take personal responsibility for our actions. Religion says we must make their choices and act their way.

Spirituality has unconditional love as its theme. Religion has fear and guilt as its theme.

Spirituality does not require us to make donations. Religion has become big business.

Spirituality says there is no hell, no judgment, no angry God — that we are loved unconditionally. Religion says there is a hell, that God gets angry and judges us, and therefore that we are not loved unconditionally.

Spirituality says we are free to choose our own path to God. Religion commands us to do it their way.

Spirituality says we go to God to lighten our burden. Religion has taught us to fear their God.

Spirituality says we should not be ashamed of our sexuality — that it should be a sacred celebration of love. Religion has taught us to feel ashamed, guilty and dirty about our sexuality.

Spirituality teaches us to honor and respect Mother Earth. Religion has told us to “be thou fruitful, multiply and subdue the earth.”

I repeat — “subdue the earth.” I suspect Jesus and Buddha would have said something more like: “Act responsibly, honor Earth Mother, and always give her your love.”

Spirituality asks that we have children in a responsible way, consistent with Mother Earth’s resources. Religion says that birth control is unnatural, a sin, and that we can go to hell for practicing it. Are they afraid of losing dues-paying members?

Spirituality reminds us that we are one with God and one with each other. Religion teaches disunity and separation, which is the opposite of God.

Spirituality tells us that God is within. Religion says He is in heaven, and that they are the only intermediaries for us.

Spirituality says we are born in innocence and purity. Religion says we are born with sin.

Spirituality teaches that we are on a long spiritual adventure and journey, which will ultimately end by reuniting with our Source. Religion says we have got one life to get it all right, and that there is nothing but heaven or hell after that.

Spirituality says we are free to express. Religion gave us the dreaded Inquisition.

Spirituality teaches unconditional love for all. Religion gave us the Crusades, in which millions were killed and persecuted in the name of God.

Spirituality teaches that we should love one another unconditionally, and always honor the rights and choices of others. Religion treated Native Americans, the Mayans and other indigenous cultures as savage primitives who must be saved.

Spirituality teaches peace and harmony. Religion has caused more wars and more killing than any other reason.

Spirituality says respect all living things. Religion — I have never once heard any religion ask that we stop slaughtering millions of trees every year for Christ’s birthday.

Spirituality teaches us to have faith in ourselves. Religion teaches us to have faith in them.

Spirituality says we have all the answers, and that we can find them by going within. Religion teaches us that it has all the answers, and that only its answers are the right ones.

Spirituality teaches us to search for the universal truths, and that our hearts will tell us when we have found them. Religion teaches that we have no choice but to accept their version of the truth.

Which one feels better to you — spirituality or religion? Go to your heart for the answer; it will never lie to you. The real God made it that way.

Here are a couple of simple practices you could work with:

(a) Mind-created thoughts from the past are history. They no longer apply in the moment; they were only lessons learned. So when — or if — these sneaky little thoughts creep in, YOU, your Divine-Self, take charge and tell the mind, “Get into the toolbox. I will call you when I need you. I choose to live in the moment.”

(b) Mind-created thoughts of the future are fantasy. They do not exist in the moment; it is the mind trying to create a false existence and draw you away from the NOW.

(c) In order to go beyond the mind, you must let go of all mind concepts, preconceived ideas, judgments, prejudices, and coveted perceptions, because they are the prison bars that will not let you be free. To have perceptions is perfect; but the moment you believe a perception to be true, and more valid than any other, it becomes a judgment, due to your ego or emotional input. Have the perception, and then let it go. It only means you are aware, which is perfect — but do not believe it to be “real,” true, more important, or lasting.

(d) You may be doing this for as long as the body is breathing; but once the mind realizes that you, your Divine-Self, mean business, the mind — like the naughty child — will listen, and it gets easier.

(e) NOW is Eternity; all else is the mind’s illusion. Life only happens in the moment.

(f) When you wake up in the morning, become consciously aware of any thoughts or feelings that are present. See if there is any sort of mood that just seems to be there.

(g) Then purposely decide that you will be joyful and energetic all day, just because you like it that way. In the beginning, your mind may try to tell you, “I can’t just decide to be happy; it doesn’t work like that. There are just too many unpleasant issues in my life to be happy.” Think a moment! If you do not discipline the mind, it will instantly drag up a past anger or frustration, or create a nonexistent future scenario about which you must worry and stress. So remember: the mind is now YOUR TOOL. Be vigilant, and every time you catch the mind dictating your thoughts and feelings by indulging in the past or in some nonexistent future, immediately discipline it: “I am here in this moment, in the now, and I choose to be happy. How dare you try to deprive me of that? You’re my tool now — so get into the toolbox!”

AUM.