Soul Notes

Was God Distracted?

On September 11, 2001, terrorists, claiming to act in the name of religion, hijacked four airliners and flew three of them into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and a fourth airplane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, the apparent result of passengers who fought with the hijackers to prevent the plane from reaching its target. The devastation and the tally of lives lost is immense, and tragic beyond words.

Throughout the world, prayer vigils for the missing and, prayer services for the dead and surviving family members, were held. It was clearly a time when people were in the greatest need of comfort; when our nation needed reassurance that we are still safe and the familiarity of our way of life will continue, once we get past the immediacy of the tragic moments.

We have witnessed numerous human stories of survival and heard individuals give thanks to God for saving their lives; for allowing them to be late for work; for allowing them to miss their plane; for intervening in a way that can only be attributed to the highest level of response from the grace of a heavenly father that would take the necessary action to save their lives.

Do you see a problem here? The same God that is given credit for causing a person to miss his subway train, and therefore miss being killed by maniacs in airplanes, apparently sat back and watched as those four planes screamed through the air toward an unimaginable rendezvous with death and destruction.

It strikes me as questionable, how a God can be credited with intervening in a life here and there and, change circumstances to the degree that results in the altered destiny of those lives, then, at the same time, ignore the thousands of other lives which were not so blessed with such divine intervention.

When a person is caught in a traffic jam and is late for work declares that, "God saved my life today", is that a statement that somehow the saved person is different than the thousands who died? Is that saved person better than those who died, or more in favor with God than the thousands who died? Does the God we believe in, pick and choose on a daily basis, who is to live and who is to die? Does such a God, cause traffic jams, or late trains, or odd circumstances to shift the routine of a few, while letting the others proceed to destruction? I don't believe that, doubt that the ones that were "saved" believe that, and doubt that you do either. So what is going on here?

If God takes an active role in our daily lives, as so many people believe, and if that God can shift circumstances for some, then why not for all? In reality, the illumination of four little red lights would have prevented the great tragedy on September 11th. Four little lights. Is God capable of turning on four little red lights?

Inside the cockpit of each of the airplanes that were hijacked, there is a fire warning light that will illuminate whenever an unacceptable high temperature is measured inside a jet engine. These lights are activated by probes and sensors that can, and do, fail occasionally, giving the cockpit crew a warning of an engine fire, even though no such fire exists. On that morning, had one little, red, engine fire light, signaling a real fire or a false indication of a fire, occurred in only those 4, of the thousands of jets that would be flown that day, the aircraft engines would have been shutdown, the passengers unloaded, and the whole sequence of events that occurred would have unraveled. Could God have illuminated these four lights? If God caused the traffic jam, then I suppose God could have. But God didn't, and thousands of people died a violent death, and hundreds were injured. Thousands more lost loved ones. Heroic rescuers have been killed and injured and, the most powerful nation in the world is in a war with third rate thugs. Four little red lights would have stopped it all.

So, we have to ask, where was God? Was God distracted? Did God look away? Did God ignore so many people that were faithful followers? Was God punishing us as a nation, as some have suggested from the pulpit?

The answers are not about God, the answers are about us. God was, and is, right where God should be. God was not distracted; did not look away; did not ignore faithful followers; and, certainly was not punishing us as a nation.

Each of us, regardless of our religious orientation, has an opinion of what God may be and, unfortunately, mankind has been successful defining God in humanistic terms and, that has lead to serious misconceptions about God.

We must see God as a Supreme Spirit that is completely neutral to human characteristics; a Spirit which is the same to us all, regardless of our individual religions or the name we use to describe it.

When we understand God as a Supreme Spirit without gender, without age, without race, without any of the physical characteristics of being human, we can then begin to understand how we can be "created in God's image." We too have a spirit that is ageless, sexless, raceless, and without human physical characteristics.

So, how do we reconcile our concepts of a loving God, this Supreme Spirit, with the realities of such events as just occurred in America? Very simply. By elevating God back to the position of respect and of control that God deserves and by removing God as the cause, or as a willing participant, in our day to day lives and the calamities that confront us.

From the beginning, God has not changed. Early biblical writers tried to force God into every event on the planet so they could make their point? And, religious leaders do the same today, encouraging us to bring God down to our level; imploring us to turn to God for help when we get in trouble, or when someone we love is in trouble or in danger.

Think for a moment of all the wars that have been fought on Earth; all of the volcanoes, from the beginning of time, that rained death and destruction onto humans; all of the hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, mudslides, tsunamies, famines, and disease; all of the fires and vehicular accidents, and crime. Try to imagine all of the human suffering that has been experienced on this planet. It gets pretty amazing doesn't it? So, where was God?

You don't believe all of those people were godless; disbelievers; atheists; or, guilty of unpardonable sins; disavowed God; committed abominations; or were unworthy to live, do you? Of course not. So, where was God?

Now think again of all the lives that were affected by all of the human suffering from the events and activities we have listed, victims as well as friends and family members, and imagine the tens of millions of prayers that were directed toward the heavens, asking for protection, for mercy, for miracles, or for a blessing. So, where was God?

God is the Supreme Ruler and the omnipotent power of all of the universes. God is a dimension of energy and power of a magnitude that is completely beyond our comprehension. God is simply not involved with our daily lives on this planet and the physical things that happen to our bodies. As a Spirit, God is concerned with our spirits, our souls, and the reunion of those souls back to the domain of God.

Try and understand the wonder of God, setting the entire universe in motion, all of the universes we know and millions more that we don't. That means the creation of all the physical universes and all the cosmic laws that coordinate every activity in those universes from gravity and the heat of the sun, to the DNA patterns in our chromosomes. None of this is random, it is all by infinitesimally detailed design. We each have free will to choose each day and each moment, what we will do with our physical bodies in this physical world but, our souls are here for a purpose. They are here to learn and to develop and to interact with other souls and, promote and assist the development process of those souls. This development process has one goal for each of our souls --- to reunite with God.

Through meditation, prayer, and study we recognize our own soul and open the communication channels between our soul and God; we, the humble spirit can be in touch with the Supreme Spirit.

Notice, there is nothing of importance in this spiritual communication that has anything to do with the physical world. The whole idea that you can just turn to God, in prayer, and be granted your wishes can lead to great disappointment that can even damage your faith when you are denied an important wish. God is not a Spirit that you can bargain with like, "I'll go to church more, or I'll stop smoking, or I'll be more compassionate to other people, if you will just let my son live". That happens all the time.

If it is in the plan of God --- it will happen. If it is not in the plan of God --- absolutely nothing will cause it to happen and, unless you have a better connection than all of the great biblical leaders (including Jesus Christ who, on the eve of his crucifixion, prayed for God to "…let this cup pass from me…") you are setting yourself up for a long and painful fall. God is the almighty Supreme Spirit that rules all of the universes and God's plan wins out every time, regardless of who you are, or who you think you are! Even Jesus acknowledged that by adding, "…nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt."

Does that mean we have no need for prayer? Absolutely not. We must pray and pray often. But, we have been terribly misguided by religions to believe that the words "pray" and "ask" are the same. We "pray" for rain, for a new car, to win a football game, to win the lotto, to be pregnant to not be pregnant, to pass an exam, to find a job, to get a raise. Men on this earth told you to pray like that; men who wrote the scriptures, as they saw fit, and men and women who misguide you from pulpits in temples, churches, synagogues, and mosques. God did not teach you to bargain, or cut a deal, or to ask for anything of this world. God wants you to acknowledge your own soul and the Supremacy God maintains throughout the universes. God wants you to acknowledge the fact that it is God's will that governs all things. God wants you to acknowledge that all of the power and glory is to be directed to God.

Look at it this way. You have a physical body and a spirit (soul). Your conscious brain communicates in your mind about physical things, things that pertain to your physical body. Your soul communicates in your mind about spiritual things, things that pertain to the domain of God. When your soul communicates, it can be glorifying God; it can be seeking spiritual guidance to the cosmic truths of God; it can be giving thanks to God; and, it can be searching for understanding which will provide spiritual strength to endure some of life's physical challenges. God does not listen to the communication from the conscious brain regarding your physical world. Despite what all of the religious leaders in the word will tell you, God won't do it. We are here to develop spiritually and that is what God is interested in.

By trying to bring God down to our level, we miss the perspective by which God views the physical world. Remember God is a Spirit and is eternal. Consequently, time has no meaning to God. We try to apply the concept of a three-dimensional, time constrained world to an all powerful eternal being. Seems a little dumb when you think about it, doesn't it. But, we do it anyway. If we all got to live to be 1,000 years old, such a span of time is so minutely small, when compared to forever, that it becomes insignificant. Now shift back to reality and look at the average human life expectancy, as it is just now beginning to push 80 years --- even smaller. Our full life, is not even the blink of an eye to an eternal God, but our souls are in God's image and therefore, they too are eternal.

Try this: Go into a room and put your hand on the light switch. Look at the light, then flip the switch on and back off again as fast as you can. The glow of the light was your physical life to an eternity. Our souls are a constant, while our life is but a mere, instantaneous flash of light.

When we consider all of the tragedies and human suffering that has occurred on our little planet, and especially the dramatic horror of September 11th 2001, and we ask, So, where was God?, well, God was there all along. Listening and waiting and communicating with your soul. God was not distracted. God was on top of the situation all along, concerned about the souls of all of those involved directly and, the millions that would be involved indirectly. God did not "allow" all of people to die and be injured on September 11th, just like God did not "save" a few from being killed. And God certainly didn't cause it to happen as a form of punishment. That is absurd and comes from individuals with inferior mental ability. It just happened. These events are flashes of light coming on and going off, all the time, all over the world in our physical world.

Each soul is placed here with a specific purpose. In some cases, the soul may accomplish it's purpose while in the physical body. In other cases the soul achieves it purpose through interaction with other souls both, while in the physical body and by the very event of the death of its body. In the recent U.S. tragedy, the souls of those that died have focused the attention of the entire world on the cruelty of mankind to one another. I like to imagine that each of those souls were here to interact with us all, and the method by which they departed will be the catalyst that changes humanity on this planet in a way that all wars and diplomacy have consistently failed to do.

Our world has clearly been changed, If we are now awakened to the barbaric dark side of our species and are concentrated on the goal of universal peace and harmony, then maybe, the purpose of these souls will have been realized.

As we grieve the physical absence of loved ones and our fellow countrymen, let us not forget that God has established an overall plan, and while we may pick and choose certain human activities, God's will, and the course which has been set, can not be changed. Let us also remember that the light of our physical lives is brief, but that our souls are eternal and that our souls will all rejoin together in the presence of our Creator. That is the love of God and the plan from which God will never be distracted.