According to the religions of Abraham, we are such powerful creatures. We were placed here on earth in the image of the Grand Good Creator, for a magnificent purpose, were given command over all the earth and its creatures, will be granted an eternity of pleasure if we behave, and, moreover, have a direct line of communication with the Force that started and controls the entire universe. This is some kind of status. This makes us an integral cog in the entire grand machinery, powerful and immortal. We couldn’t ask for much more than that. Of course, we can’t treat such a high rank in the universe frivolously. When we call up the Big Boss, we have to do so with great reverence, great sincerity, and utter our praise before we file a request. Our requests have to be reasonable, showing benefit that fits into the Great Conductor’s grand scheme, and we can’t know exactly what that grand scheme is. We never know if our prayer will be granted, and also know it may be granted in a way we do not yet understand. The Lord moves in strange and mysterious ways, we say. But we can, without question, pray to the source of all things, and our prayers will be heard by our God. We are sure that if we pray, some events will be altered by our God to benefit only us, as opposed to other life or objects. Our God is on our side, our God is totally good, and our God loves us. According to these religions, God is always listening for our prayers, so that He can direct us in the right path.
We hold dearly to this belief that the Force which controls all things in the universe is open to each of us personally. It gives us great comfort to believe that when we are in trouble, we can turn to this Primary Source, who will listen to us and help us through our grief and trouble. We are not quite sure how we could make it through life if we did not have this source of solace and redirection. It makes all things possible, through our darkest hours. When we are in great doubt, we pray. When we hurt, we pray. When there is inconsolable loss, we pray. When we need to reach out to others, we all pray together. And after we have prayed, we almost always find some degree of peace. We still have pain or need, but it no longer seems as intense. We have found some type of equanimity, in some degree, allowing us to go on with life. How precious our prayer is to us, when we suffer through times of need.
Yet the irrationality of this belief is immense, if it is based on getting things changed to fit our particular wants. We are so insignificant in comparison to whatever force began this universe, that insignificance cannot even be measured. It is psychiatrically absurd for us to think that we look like whatever immense force began everything. It is beyond foolish for us to think for a second that we are in command of any part of this universe. We are fighting for survival in the cocoon of a tiny, insignificant planet. In particular, for us to think that we can, whenever we need, get events in the universe altered by the Master Controller to fit our needs, is beyond absurd. This universe does not run on myths and supernatural events. It runs on the laws of physics and probability.
Football players on rival teams each pray to their same God that they will win this game, asking for intercession on their behalf. Soldiers in war, afraid that each day may be their last, pray with fervor and tears that their God will give them survival and victory. Those soldiers on the other side are also praying to their God, the same God, with tears and numbing fear, asking their God to intercede on their behalf. When the bombs fall, killing fathers, mothers and children, those remaining on the ground raise their eyes to the sky and say, “Please, God, spare us.” When the captors threaten to behead, entire families fall to their knees, pleading with their God to turn the hands of the tormentors. When the earthquake hits, those who are running from the buildings are praying as they run, “Please, God, make it stop.” When the homeowners see the house next to theirs explode in the forest fire, feel the intense heat, and run in fear to their car, they are saying, “Please God, show us a way out of here.” When the child is abandoned because her parents were killed by the marauders, she huddles in a corner, shivering and starving, saying over and over, “Please God, help me, help me!” Were it so simple.
There are multiple sins derived from this belief in a personal God, which is on our side. One is to think that there is a force which manipulates the events of the universe, which will, at our request, step in to change things for our benefit. That’s the wrong emphasis. It is not a matter of getting some outside force to make things different. It is a matter of our adapting to whatever challenges come before us, and making the best of those challenges that we can. The universe does not care. The universe would just as soon get rid of us. It is certainly natural to pray with all our souls. What we can’t expect is to receive succor from something, somewhere else. That may or may not happen. It is entirely up to each of us to do what is necessary to make a better life, for ourselves and our companions in this journey, whenever our lives are challenged. There is no God, by any name, that will intercede just on our behalf.
There is a frightening corollary sin to this belief in a personal God, which is on our side, waiting for our request. We get it terribly wrong when we think that it is a matter of our God favoring us over all other people or things. That’s not the way it works. The only way it works is for all of us to work together to survive on this planet. When we think there is a controlling force which manages all things and all life, which we can convince to act just for us, it becomes a matter of us against all other humans, all other life, all other objects, all other natural disasters, all the rest of the universe. Some of that is partially true. There is always something or someone out there who is willing, on any whim, to take everything that is precious away from us, including our lives. We are in a fight for survival on this planet, which will rapidly come to an end not in our favor, unless we learn to respect all of us, and all our resources. What we cannot do is let each faction of life believe that the God of all things is in their favor, and only in their favor. Our narrow minded religious myths must give. Unless all humans and all other life are included in this battle for survival, we will lose, and lose rather soon, choking on our own pollution.
We have to understand that there is no God who will intercede on our behalf, at any time in our lives. We have to understand that there is no certain group, people, race or nation that is favored by our creator over any other people. We have to understand that when we pray, we lay ourselves open. We have to at those times set aside all our preconceived conclusions, all our greed, anger, jealousy, pride, physical and emotional pain, and ask ourselves what is right, what is the way out, what should we do with our life at this time. What would we want someone to do for us in this time of dire need? Then, during this time of laid bare self hypnosis, the answer comes. Our prayer has been answered, by us, reaching deep inside of us. And that is as it should be.
Further, we do at certain times in our lives communicate with the Divine, if we may call it that. There are certain pieces of music which thrill us, make our hair stand on end, feel numb and tingling all over, transporting us to some other place, some other time, some other world, if only for a few minutes. There are those moments after rollicking good sex when we freeze and convulse, flooding our whole body with a wave of pleasure. We are, for a brief few moments, transported to heaven. There are those sudden revelations of understanding, which hit like an explosion. Suddenly there are fireworks everywhere in our brain sky, illuminating multiple separated pieces as they fall together into a new form of comprehension, which makes the whole world different forever. Life will never be the same. There are those moments of intense undemanding love between men and women, parent and child, which fill us with warmth, surrounding us with an aura that transmits to all others we contact.
Yes, there are moments in our lives when we touch the Divine. We treasure those moments throughout all the rest of our lives. Yes, when we pray, we reach down somewhere into our souls. No, we can’t call the central store and get a gift sent just to us, because we are special people, favored over all other people. That’s not the kind of world we live in. We are all living on this earth together. Unless we include all other people in our fervent prayers, all our lives will cease to exist, and our cocoon egg will rot, turning putrid, us included.