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Discoveries and ideas, theoretical, philosophical and scientific advances, from the age of the industrial revolution throughout the twentieth century have brought mankind to a new and more rational understanding of the universe: a fact-based perception of the world and the development of the human species. These advances have refuted ancient beliefs passed down in scripture and religious tradition. Is it a coincidence that war and wanton slaughter are the legacy of this era? Cruelty and hatred on an unprecedented scale, assisted by modern advances in the science of murder, took the lives of at least one hundred sixty million people in the twentieth century, creating abject, world-wide misery.  What has rationality done to improve the humane-ness of humans?

This is not to say that science and technology are without great benefits. As many lives have been saved, and humanitarian progress has been improved certainly. But it is clear that now we are awakening from the delusion that science has all the answers. Now the most important question is this: what organizing principles of life, what humanitarian values will we cherish and share, preach and promote? What will be our new religion?

Purgatory is a clever and useful invention, don’t you think? The idea is that while we may not be perfect, blameless and un-sinful, we may still achieve eternal happiness. It’s simply a matter of waiting (albeit for a very long time) in a sort of gigantic movie set that looks exactly like Heaven, but for the fact that God’s not there.

God is in the Here and Now. Attempting to regulate human behavior, religions have promulgated the notion that after death some conscious element of each of us is transported to a place of eternal bliss (Heaven) — or damned to eternal torment. These kinds of illogical “articles of faith,” because they defy current, informed, adult reason, rather than help humans live better lives, drive them away from believing in God.

We attain salvation by living in conscious contact with God right here, right now. The blessed energy we emanate from a God-centered life is suffused over the world; in that  do we achieve everlasting life.

Every human being has a right – in fact an obligation – to make his or her life the most creative, most satisfying and happy, best realization of the person they might be. It is as if God, by granting us life and awareness of our life, has given us an instrument to play; our expertise at playing this instrument is what we study, practice and hone to the best level of perfection we are able. As an end in itself religion hinder us, can thwart, even stultify, the process of self-realization by emphasizing doctrine and dogma rather than our true life experience. To the extent that our religion assists us in our practice by its teaching, by the exemplary lives of its saints, by its vision of God, is it very valuable.

Understanding and emotion, the two principal activities of our minds, are the activities we engage in when we are not in the presence of God. They are distractions from the Truth of Being, which is in its essence beyond our understanding and eternally balanced between opposites like good and bad, right and wrong, should and should not. These mental activities, discernment and sentiment, are meant for human life — not for spiritual Being.

Most important is being in the world, understanding that we exist, feeling the miraculousness of existence. In this are we truly God’s children. On the swing, in the park playground, a child delights in the thrill of the movement, of the speed, the rush of air, the height. She does not think of forces, of arcs and tangents, of gravity or centrifugal force, but feels the wind in her hair, the amazing view from up there, the delight in having her daddy and mommy push her up, up, up.

My journey of faith has brought me from a childhood conception of an omnipotent king-God who created and rules everything, to rejection of that idea and consequent belief in no God at all. However something in my heart and soul compelled me to see, brought me from this desolate condition to the eventual awareness that it is my responsibility to imagine the Person of God in the way that I am most accepting and friendly toward It. I find no cynicism nor egotism in the statement that I have created a God of my own understanding, rather than to have accepted the notion of a God that was left to me by a previous generation. In Him can I believe wholeheartedly, and this is a true blessing in my life.

In addition to seeing (and more important, feeling) the presence of God throughout the reality of the unfolding universe, I believe that Love is the motivating and nurturing force, underlying nature. In its pure essence, the miracle of existence grows, replicates itself, protects and nurtures itself, loves itself. And this is the other half of the nature of God: alongside the miracle of this immense reality is the beauty of its continuing creation, which we perceive as unselfish devotion to the good of all life, all living things; a devotion to the furthering of the welfare of what else exists. I act as God’s creature by caring for myself, my fellow men and the creatures who share this world, my environment.

My faith is a system of thinking and of understanding which guides and instructs my understanding, my reactions and my behavior, so that I can make my life the most satisfying and productive adventure it is possible to make it.

The principal tenets of my faith are logic and compassion.

In the first place, it makes sense. My faith does not have me believe something that is contrary or at odds with reason. Scientific enquiry supports and expands my belief; it does not contradict or oppose it. My faith is a way of understanding God’s infinite universe in its unfolding reality, and of finding my true place within it for my lifetime.

It is unlikely, no matter how evolved our souls may become, that our lives will be free of pain and suffering. The measure of success in spiritual work is the extent to which suffering teaches and transforms us. In this light we can see that dealing with sorrow and misery is what reveals the strength and value of our personal nature. To continue on, to “keep the faith” in our distress, to endure; this is the task. In so doing do we become worthy of our suffering, as a ship’s pilot truly learns how to navigate when a storm rages.

God wants me to thrive. I am enabled to achieve my personal objectives in life by the power of prayer and belief in myself. The energy of universal unfoldment is positive and always constructive. Aligned with that energy by my prayers, my ambitions are righteous and bear fruit. I am confident that by the power of prayer I will succeed, and so my efforts are free of friction and difficulty.