A Process of Understanding God

It is fun for me to think through spirituality in a logical and scientific way. My mother posits that once we die, that is all. Body and soul turn into dust. That is Old Testament and a very legitimate way of looking at things, but for me, the math, the science does not work.


Jesus said that we connect directly to God through the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of Truth. In the end, that connection is all that matters. See Matthew 12:31-32 and Mark 3:29, and John 16: 12-15. (I use the NIV).

Prayer is the way to connect to the Holy Spirit. Not to ask for things, but to ask for guidance. That is what I came to call the "Harmony," mostly because non-religious people (aka Mom) freak out at words like "Holy Spirit" because of the layered history of misinformation placed on that and other Biblical words.

That is where I created the words at the top of this blog, expanded to what they are today:
"Do what you know in your heart is the right thing to do, regardless of your feared earthly consequences and regardless of what your minister, mom or friends say you should do, because that is the Spirit communicating with you and to do so will keep you in harmony with all (originally God's people, but now) all souls."

In the Old Testament, God had emotions. He got mad, frustrated, sad, happy, etc. I thought, does God have emotions? As I have read it, there is a lot less of this in the New Testament, but the Father is still said to be happy or angry from time to time. He just does not show it with major catastrophes.

In the Old Testament, God could move physical things and make weather and floods happen. Can God control physical things like that? Again, there is very little separating of rivers or destroying of towns or leading the Jews in battle in the New Testament, but Jesus does heal the sick and even the dead.

In the Old Testament, God guided people through deserts, talked to them through bushes, in dreams and directly almost face to face. Does God act like that? There is not much of that in the New Testament.

In the 2000 plus years since Jesus, there has been almost none of any of that stuff. Perhaps I missed it.

So then I had to ask what came to me as the core question no one discussed, "WHAT is this God?" I spoke to ministers, who had no answer. "It is enough to have faith that there is a God." they say. I thought, well then why not lots of gods for all the things we used to have gods for. Of course we still have them, Mother Nature, Father Time, and all the saints, for example. Books I have read refer to God. No explanation as to what we are talking about. Amazingly, no one I spoke to seemed to even sit down and ponder this question, "If there is a God and only 1 god, WHAT is God."

I went back to Jesus. He said that the Spirit of Truth is all that matters. Well then, what composes this spirit? How can I prove it exists at all? I derived my Proof of God analysis which is posted earlier in this blog. I thought it through over many years, but also spoke to some physicists about the science side of it. Basically, and you should go read it in its entirety, it proves there is an operator of our machine-bodies that is not physical or energy as we currently understand those concepts, but something different - our spirit, our soul - but not scientifically different.

And, we know that the spirit of life that makes us alive and conscious and able to drive our machine-bodies, leaves us when we die. That is the essence of death. Since we know through science that things do not go away, matter and energy cannot be destroyed, just altered, that similarly total spiritual existence must survive our deaths. Everything we currently understand about physics and biology are located there in the corpse. But dying people have been weighed just as they die, and there is an infinitesimal loss of weight just as the person passes away. Interesting. To me, and other theorists, this is the spirit of life leaving the body.

People who have died on a table report that their conscious selves leave their bodies and can see their corpses laying there on the table being resuscitated. (Note that doctors still heal death) They report seeing a bright light and following it. I am a deep believer in "ghosts." I grew up in a haunted house. We experienced them first hand. I believe that these are the spirits of a former life, the driver of the machine-body still hanging around for some reason.

As much as I contemplate it, the math and science, as I have delved into it, does not allow me to conclude that the soul dies and disappears from existence upon death. To me, like all energy and matter, it survives, just in a different form.


So then what? Off to heaven with God? Well that returned me first to WHAT is God. Is he even a He? Of course not. Does he sit on a throne with Jesus beside him in some kingdom in the skies (see Zeus)? I did not see that. It is mythical and does not fit my scientific analysis of this situation. There is no physical kingdom in heaven with pearly gates that we go live in when we die, and similarly no hell. That is magic and we no longer believe in magic, at least I do not.

I did the analysis in my brain and through readings of the Bible and other books, some on other religions and some on scientific issues, and over many months I came to believe that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, the spirit of life was just that, a spirit and that is truly "God." This, in my mind, is a provable aspect of our overall physical existence, like other as yet unexplained things such as anti-matter, dark energy, quantum mechanics, and the Big Bang. Actually adding this sort of unpredictable spiritual quotient of life helps to explain a lof of equations that do not otherwise stay on point unless they are focused on inanimate things in space. Even there, we find entropies that miss the calculations. Are those the effects of this life spirit? Beyond this entry to contemplate, but I am sure I will get to it some day.

I concluded that each of the spirits of life that occupy our bodies while we are alive, are integral parts of the larger Spirit. All living things from Amoeba and bacteria to humans that have a spirit of life running their body-machines, and I do not know when that happens, are part of that Spirit. That is why we have a direct connection. That is why the "holy spirit" guides us. Not because it is a mysitical power or a magical guy in the sky. It is because that Spirit is the essence of the driver of our machine-bodies. That is why, in my opinion, love is the connection and not greed or desire.

Note, we are not integrated into that Spirit, but connected to it. We can chose, perhaps more than any other creature, to not follow what we know would keep us in harmony with all other souls. We can ignore the connection to the spirit. Our brains are phenomenal computers, which we can use to do the right thing, our own thing, or what others say we should do. We have choice. Our drivers have the wheel. They do not have to listen to the Spirit in the back seat if they do not want to. I suspect most people do not.

I believe that if we could tap into that spiritual internet of all of the souls in the world and perhaps well beyond, we could make life on this earth amazingly better. If we were guided by the overall love of all souls for each other, perhaps things like war and greed would go away. Perhaps we would learn that war and greed are not bad things, but part of the balance of life. Who knows. Not there yet.

So what happens after we die. I have had people ask me whether we stay as ourselves or are swallowed up into a larger spirit and mixed in and lose our individual identities. That would be the same as what Mom postulates. We, as separate humans, go away even though the spirit essences continue. Perhaps parts of our spirit are bundled randomly into a new life spirit as it enters into another newly born machine-body. Or perhaps our same life spirit survives into life after life or reincarnation like some eastern religions believe. Hmmmm.
Lots of next things to think about.

What is "Heaven?"

I have heard my father-in-law, who is struggling later in life with some significant illnesses, say many times that he is ready to die. It has made me contemplate end of life like never before. What I found out, at least for me, is that I do not fear death. Mostly it is because everyone does it eventually. It seems quite the trendy thing to do really.


I contemplated what happens after we die. I suppose that is the biggest fear of those facing death in the relatively near future. I believe in a concept of God that is rather simple. To me God is all of the spirits of all of the souls in the world. This explains the trinity. God is the Father because the souls of my ancestors are all part of that spirit. It is the son, because the spirit permeates all of the living souls on earth all the time. We are all the sons and daughters of God, because we are the living embodiment of all the spirits that make up God.

Most important to Jesus is the Holy Spirit, which Jesus called the Spirit of Truth. Jesus explained that you can ignore or disbelieve God and you can ignore or disbelieve Jesus, but the Holy Spirit must be listened to. The Holy Spirit is the connection between our souls and the universal spirit of all souls we call God. When we connect to that Spirit; when we ask for guidance; when we listen carefully; when we are open to hearing the answers to our prayers, we are connecting directly to God, to the spirit of all souls current and past, we are truly in harmony with all the souls living and not.

I believe that our bodies are just machines that our souls occupy for a lifetime. When we die, it is simply time for us to leave our failing machines behind and rejoin the Spirit, rejoin those who have died before us, but I do not believe we leave our connection to those still alive. We become part of the Holy Spirit for those we love.

Our souls are connected to those souls forever. The Holy Spirit is the voice of those who care deeply for us; those who have gone before who want to guide us, help us, and show us the way when we are lost. Someday, when the time it right, we all will rejoin the spirit, but we will not leave those whose souls remain in their bodies. You will still be there helping to guide us and all those who you love and who love you. It is a common seemingly known truth. Yes she is dead, but she has not left you.

Jesus showed us that we are here to serve; not to have our feet washed by others, but to wash the feet of others; to love our family, no matter what they do; to love those we are mad at, those who are mad at us, those who perceive themselves as our enemies, and perhaps most of all, those least fortunate. I believe that never changes. I believe that when you have found the ability to love so deeply that you love everyone no matter who they are or what they may have said or done, and through such love, learn to forgive completely without expectation of anything in return, you have found heaven. It does not matter whether you are here on earth or your soul is part of the Spirit in the next world.

I was speaking with an alcoholic and she mentioned that part of the 12 steps is to make a moral inventory of your life, to confess to God, as you understand him, and at least one other person anything that troubles you about your past life, and then to make amends to those you honestly feel you need to forgive or those from whom you wish forgiveness. She queried, “What religion would require such a thing?” I said, “All of them.” We just don’t tend to do this because it is uncomfortable. It is the essence of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. Jesus told us to confess our sins and repent (to recognize the wrong in something you have done and be sorry about it, make amends to those you have wronged, and change your ways), and the Catholics formalized the process. It is a critical part of Islam and I am sure most other forms of worship.

I believe this is an exercise guided by the Holy Spirit, connecting to those souls who have gone before you, those who love you and want to guide you and help you on your path. Most important, however, is that this is a personal exercise. The evaluation is not what would others think? It is, “What do you, in your connection with the Spirit, honestly believe?”

Someday, when the time is right, your soul will cross over. It will not go to hell. There is no such place. It will join the Spirit which is all of the souls of all who live now and all who have lived before, and you will be responsible to love and guide those souls still in bodies here on earth.

I have a very simple prayer I say all the time. It goes something like this.

“God, the Spirit of all Souls, thank you so much for all the wonderful people and things you have brought into my life. Please help me to love them all. Please provide me guidance as I go through life. Please help me do what I know in my heart is the right thing to do, no matter the consequences or fears, for I know that guidance is from the Spirit of God and you who love me will not lead me astray.”

Be happy, for being happy is your decision. Be at peace and know that the Spirit of all of the souls of all who love you are still with you and available if you let them in. Be in harmony with all those around you and love because love is heaven.

Guest Post from Mom: Response to My Prior Post "Bible Stuff"

Good information. About 19% of Americans now are self- declared "nones". This term is being used to describe both non believers in god and believers who do not associate with any religion or describe themselves as religious. Many of these "nones" are on the evolutionary path toward being non believers, secularists, humanists etc. and are moving away from a belief in a higher power.

Why? Not sure but many find that there is a disconnect between the messages of love that are supposed to be the basis of Jesus words in the new testament, and the judgementalism, bigotry, and outright hate expressed by many who say they are religious. [Interjection:  Philosopher Anne Rice refers to this as Conflicted Religious Identity Syndrome (CRIS) and is reflected by people who are increasingly "quitting Christianity" in favor of following the loving, all-inclusive, serving and peaceful teachings of Jesus and other great philosophers. Sadly today, Christianity and Jesus are often not synonymous.] It has been shown that religious people respond to crisis such as floods, hurricanes etc. in a humanitarian way, reaching out to others to help, but often return to a false piety in their daily living.

Organizations such as the Rationalist Society, Freedom From Religion, etc. are there for people to think through their beliefs from a different perspective. These and many others, support those who were reluctant to "come out" as it were, as atheists and non believers for fear of rejection by society. Now people are talking, sharing, and reasoning together.

I do believe for some, religion serves a real purpose of support and help in need and to feel someone cares about them in their daily lives. They form communities of like believers who share ritual and connections. Often they continue to believe out of fear of not believing. However, for some reason or other, the "nones" are now the third largest "religion" in the world behind Catholics and Muslims.

Can it be that organized religion has failed to resonate with so many because they recognize that religion is not required for good and moral living, that it has failed to carry out the pious messages from the pulpit and been used to promote the antithesis of love? Or has religion simply become irrelevant and meaningless as anything but adherence to a set of rules set up by a denomination to keep a flock together?

Under all the preaching, pontificating, evangelizing, analyzing, praying and struggling, is the simple need for community. How that comes about and survives will be more important to the future that ancient texts and stained glass windows. Since nearly one third of all young people describe themselves today as "nones" it seems the world is moving in a direction away from church and will need guidance and support from groups other than churches to provide community, love, and help.

This is a challenge for us all.


Mom   Disclaimer: The foregoing message, while interesting, is the opinion of the author (Mom) and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of this station, its parent companies, or of any of its affiliates, including its siblings, children and wife. Love to all.