The Eternal
Leslie Fuhrmann explores what the Eternal means to him
The article on ‘The Eternal’ by Howard Grace (22 April) moved me to review my view of the Eternal. On the mystery of God, I feel that there probably is a God, in the sense of a creator of the universe and everything within it, including us. My provisional view is that God created by providing the energy that is everywhere, within and constituting everything, including us; the energy in which we live.
This is a belief that is, of course, widespread around the world, but has perhaps gone amiss in the forms of deification among the various countries and nations, which have led to the formalisation of diverse beliefs, creating differing religious philosophies and practices in many faiths.
Unfortunately, in many instances it has moved on from being a religious philosophy to include strong emotions and intolerant insecurity that have led, as we all know, to dire conflicts in history, some of which persist today, conflicts stemming from the misconception of God as an entity to which attributes and boundaries have been assigned by various groups of followers.
Have theologians perhaps got off on the wrong bases by visualising God as an entity? Would it not be better to recognise God as an originating impersonal universal energy pervading the universe, an energy that is in everyone and everything? An impersonal universal energy, not one of many diverse entities.
If this be done, what difference does it make in practical terms if we adjust to a different philosophy of God as an energy, rather than an entity?
Perhaps the most important one is that it can be a turning point. Sectarianism can fade away, leaving peoples united in a common religious philosophy without boundaries or frontiers, untrammelled by links to this or that postulated God.
How do we live in the light of a belief in God as energy?
By trying to live in harmony and cooperation with it, and with God’s creations, including other people.
By using our personal share of energy – not by praying and imploring favours from a postulated God, (whose telephone lines must be pretty busy), but by personally and purposefully directing some of our energy ourselves – there are ways.
Energy is creative. We see evidence of this all about us. We each have a share in and can use this creative energy. It therefore behoves us to be open to, and watchful for, the promptings of the spirit at all times, while distinguishing between the spirit, and the emotions or passions.
How does the spirit come into all this? Of course I don’t know, but I feel that the spirit is real, and important. I think of the spirit as another level or dimension of life created by God.
A portion or element of spirit may enter us at conception, remaining until our body reaches its ‘use by’ date, perhaps then moving on to another level of existence, which level may well be influenced by our life on this earth. The spirit may possibly have another cycle of life here, or elsewhere. I find myself too busy in this life to think much about the possibilities of another life hereafter.
