Greetings!! I have an interesting topic to discuss that came to me over breakfast this morning but first let me update you on my progress!
1/3 of the way in and still going strong! Although I will say the last 5 days have been the toughest of the 10 in all, I haven't (intentionally) broken my fast by means of eating/drinking etc! I've had a few not so God-ly thoughts, I've slacked on a few prayers, and I've most certainly watched the clock for the "Food hour" but no matter how tempted or how bad I've felt I've remained true to the cause and have not broken my fast! To be honest, I've not really gotten much out of the last 5 days and that's simply because I haven't put much into it. I also feel that (though it's no excuse) the first 5 days were so overwhelming in terms of the progress I was making on intellectual/spiritual levels that perhaps a break was in order and thus my very relaxed, non eventful last 5 days...
Today however I woke up with the inspiration to discuss and distinguish between the word/title/being that is "GOD" vs a term I think is much more appropriate; that term being God Conscious. Now understandably, this may be quite the controversy among the religious population AND the non religious population but like I said "I" was inspired this morning to get this out to who ever would hear it...so here goes.
My whole life I was brought up to believe in, and worship a God who is 1; all powerful, all knowing. As a muslim we call him Allah, but I was taught that God is called by many names and given many titles but that he still is 1 ! You can imagine the confusion I felt as a child upon hearing of the many Egyptian/Greek God(s) and Goddess's, as well as the Gods of the Hindu religion, the Norse God's, and the different manifestations of God in African and other indigenous nature based religions. Up until recently I've considered all of those people who believed in many God's foolish. The people who believe in a power that was greater or even just different from what I believe in was just pure mythology and malarkey! I've gotten to a point in my life however where label's and passed judgement are not the ruling bodies for what I entertain and/or study in my own personal quest to understanding truth. That people can call on 1 God, Many God's, a male God, a female God, Jackal headed God's, and God's with multiple arms because as human beings we need to relate to something, someone in order for us to worship and account for the many things we don't understand...like creation...like death. *Furthermore, I'm finding that the God of the major monotheistic religions debatedly acknowledged that there exists other God's but demands his people's loyalty in that they only acknowledge, rely on, and worship him.
"You shall have no other gods before me." (First commandment) *
Regardless if the above is true or not, or if you believe in the possibility in the existence of other God's who are less powerful than YOUR God or not fact remains we all think "our" God is best AND we acknowledge that "our" God is real...
To be very honest, this Ramadan is agitating in me a lot of confusion about what I want to believe and what I actually DO believe as a result of all I've learned through indoctrination, experience, and personal study. I have been, and now am even more so turned off by the politics, JUDGEMENT, and bureaucracy of religion. I am even more frustrated that I am so confused and that this struggle exists...frustrated but grateful. And through this all I am not put off enough to deny the existence of Power that manifested through its will the creation and existence of the universe! With that being said, I do feel very strongly that pagans, polytheist, and monotheist can all agree that we acknowledge a power that willed us into existence and that that power is a GOD CONSCIOUS. None of us are entirely sure WHO or WHAT maintains that God Conscious...or if there's anything maintaining it at all but we know we come from something greater than ourselves which is why I feel God Conscious is such an appropriate term. That God Conscious can be so fluid, so flexible, so versatile in nature that it can be that Jackal, it can be that multi-armed figure, it can be the air, the earth, the trees, the fire...and most commonly it can be that great father who sent down the Torah, the Gospel, and the Qur'an. The best part about the God Conscious is that it lives inside each and every one of us. I may stand alone or I may be backed by many...but I believe in a God Conscious...not God's, not a God, not Goddess's, and not Nature...I believe we all play a very important and CONNECTED role in the divine consciousness that makes up our individual interpretations of GOD!
*debated topic
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