Buddha and the Essence of God

Most of you who read this know me, and know that I have been atheist/anti-religion since I was old enough to reason.

Recently, I have learned and come to realize many things. I owe much of the credit to books, some of whose covers I show on the right panel of this page (click them—they’re linked to their amazon.com pages). I owe other credit to ideaGasms, and other credit to Marnie.

Throughout the rest of this post, the term “God” can be just as easily called “Source” or “the universe” or whatever floats your banana.

Our egoic brains are duality machines. We see the difference between hot and cold, good and evil, male and female, what we want and what we don’t want, joy and sadness, by noticing the differences between the two opposites. This is why, when you tell yourself something, whether it’s true or not, your brain will automatically generate an opposite. Inside the head of the nerdy high school kid who reassures himself that “I am cool, and chicks dig me,” there is an alternate voice that inevitably says “No you’re not, no they don’t.”

When you are “in flow,” or meditating, or “in the moment,” and the little voice in your head is silent, you are living from higher consciousness. All true creativity comes from this place; it is where “soul” lives. Guitarists weep as their instruments wail, painters feel that the colors are extensions of themselves, and sculptors feel godlike, literally creating man with their hands and tools. There is no duality here. The divinity within each of us is beyond duality. Truths such as “I am,”—which resonate with that higher consciousness, that “soul”—inspire no opposite, because consciousness cannot deny its own existence.

Here is why things seem so complicated:

When people use the term “God,” they force the idea through their duality machines: “Is God me? Yes/No.”

Herein lies the mistake. When I say “God is everything and nothing,” I discourage you from viewing God as a separate entity, as a force that is outside yourself. God is not a separate decision maker, who created us separately and watches us from a distance, a lifeguard seat in heaven, answering prayers on Gmail. God is an ocean, and you, your brother, your cat, and your dining table are each a drop of water within it.

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Did Jesus perform miracles? I no longer doubt that he did. Was he enlightened? Definitely. Was he the son of God? Only in the same way that we all are.

All you Christians must be shocked to hear me say these things. Rightfully so. After all these years, all these arguments, all the contempt I harbored for you—I understand.

We were both wrong. I believed that there is no higher power at all—you believed that the higher power rests outside of you, and you need to pray to it, worship it, make donations to it.
We were both right. You believed that there is a higher power—I believed that all the power we could ever dream of is within each of us.

Brooke, I’m sorry I called you “deluded.” The truth is, we both were.

Love,
—Mike

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Want more explanation? See The Meaning of Life.