God’s Owner’s Manual

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There are some in this world of ours that think this bible is such a thing, a owner’s manual. Written by the Almighty, it is purported to contain all the instructions for being a “good” believer and doer of God’s will. For some, any question is met with a rifling of pages until just the perfect passage is found, whether it be when to plant crops or what to do with a teenager in heat.

It has always confounded me this claim that the bible is the “word of God”, in that it is written in such a way that it could not be the work of a superior being. The “word of God” folks are quick to point out that God “used” humans to write it, and allowed them to use their own idioms and ethnic phrasing, putting the concepts in terms understandable by their own people.

Several things strike me as odd in that respect. First, this God whom they say created the earth and all within it, seems stymied by a lack of arms, hands or fingers to manipulate the pen. Second, it suggests that the all-knowing (omniscient) one doesn’t know the language of the people in question well enough to construct simple sentences that they can understand.

So, it just seems like a convenient excuse to avoid the problem of why this collection of books is so confusing, convoluted, contradictory, and repetitive–why do we need FOUR gospels after all, why not three or thirty? This makes no sense as you can see.

Not that I deny that God cannot write a manual telling us how to act. But it seems to me that it might go something more like this:

DEAR CHILDREN:

I’m your father, . . . and mother for that matter. I know that doesn’t sound right, but trust me, in time you will understand.

You can call me God.

I created everything you see and hear and smell and taste. It’s all quite complicated, the actual how it all happened bit, but again, you will understand in time.

I created you too, all of you.

Now before you get all thankful and start bowing and making offerings of all sorts of stuff to make me happy, just stop and take a deep breath. Okay.

Let’s get this straight. I am not interested in being worshiped. I’m a God after all. Such things are nice, but unnecessary. I do like to spend time with you, just talking. I talk to you all the time, but mostly you don’t hear me. You have to be very quiet, especially in your mind before you can hear.

I know it sounds mysterious.

It’s really not, and as I’ve said already, you will understand in time.

No don’t pack a lunch. It’s going to take a good deal longer than that.

I suppose you want to know why you are here.

Quite simply, to be like me.

You are on a marvelous journey of discovering who you are. Each one of you is destined to attain perfection. It won’t all happen at once, or it may. You are each unique and you will create your own perfect path to me.

Do not worry if you are getting up there in human age. Enlightenment can happen in an instant. But it may not. As I said, don’t worry, there are unlimited do-overs.

It is part of your sentience that you are never without a question, so it stands to reason that people everywhere, throughout time, attempt to define me and describe what I want. In some places these written treatises have come to be called “sacred”. They are not really, just human ideas. Some are pretty close approximations and some are way off the mark. None is really close to the truth. But there is much wisdom in all, and feel free to study them for that.

There is no judgment here. It would be like judging the relative strength of ant to an elephant if you get the analogy. You’re all so deeply flawed to one degree or another. It’s just a matter of degree compared to what you will become. So there are no grades. You will all pass eventually.

A couple of things you humans have hit upon are rather close to the truth, so you might be mindful of them as you live this particular life:

I never promised you a rose garden. Shit happens. I didn’t cause it, but I am here to kiss the boo boo. You’ll find that most of the bad stuff that happens is your or other human’s creation. There are consequences to your actions. I said most remember. Some bad stuff is just chance. Everything that happens, good or bad is something you can learn from.
If you meet the buddha on the road of life, kill him. Not literally. But if anyone tries to tell you they know who I am and what I like or don’t like, they’re wrong. Probably more wrong than you. The people who are truly enlightened try to give you the tools to find your own enlightenment, they don’t batter your head and threaten you. NOBODY FAILS. Ignore people who claim they are sure.
Don’t worry, be happy. Your biggest enemy is fear. There is nothing to fear, but you guys will continue to do most everything out of fear until you get that. Fear leads to mistakes, and mistakes lead to pain. If you don’t want pain, stop worrying. Half of it will happen anyway, the other half never was going to happen. Life is in this moment. That’s what you can effect.

A couple of rules of the road that will make this easier for you:

Don’t hurt others. Period. One day you will understand that hurting anyone will hurt you worse in the end, and ironically help the one you attack. Don’t do it. It’s not nice.
Nobody goes it alone successfully. You are EVERYONE’S keeper.
Don’t steal other peoples stuff, it leads to the problem of #1.
It’s actually true that things work best when you treat others as you would like them to treat you. Almost all of your silly divisions have already said this. It’s really true.
Don’t take yourself so seriously. Have more fun. You could be a salamander you know and I can tell you they are capable of way less fun than you can have. Enjoy your body and all the amazing things it can do, just be mindful of #1 again.

There is only one guiding principle. IT’S ALL ABOUT LOVE. THE UNIVERSE IS ALL ABOUT LOVE. YOU ARE LOVE. YOU ARE LOVED. BE LOVE.

Get it now?

We’re all rooting for you every moment to wake up. We have no doubt you will.

All my love,

Mom/Dad/God