Thoughts About God

I don’t think that god (if she/he/it exists) tries to be hidden – or – that there is any requirement of faith to access her/him/it. I think our historical concepts of who god is, keeps us from actually realizing who god is and what god is like. I think our concept of an all powerful being who can grant our wishes, if it so desires, is completely wrong. I don’t think god can operate outside the physical laws of the universe, although, we have a very incomplete knowledge of what the physical laws of the universe actually are. (For example is the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics really true or is order a conserved quantity – I suspect that order will be discovered to be a conserved quantity.) I wonder if god wants to contact us, as much as we want to contact god? What if god can affect the course of human history by somehow influencing human beings? I like Wendell Seward’s idea that “when god answers a prayer, the answer always comes in the form of another human being”.
What if god doesn’t have eyes and ears? – maybe we are god’s eyes and ears. Why do people often think of god as male or female? I think we tend to make god in our own image and that may be the greatest impediment to our understanding of god.
So I am lonely, depressed, sick, in mortal danger – what can god do for me?? Maybe nothing - or maybe something I can’t understand – I wish I knew! Sometimes I think I have been heard by someone but there is never any way of proving it. And why would god help me and not help everyone else who asks? I guess if the answer were personal I would never know if god helped or ignored someone else’s plea for help.
And the big question: do we live after death? So many claim to know, and usually attach restrictions in order to attain a life after death, or even prescribe eternal torture if we don’t observe the restrictions they claim to know about. There is usually a book involved like the Bible, the Koran, the Book of Mormon etc.
Why do sexual prohibitions figure so prominently in pleasing god? I don’t think god keeps track of our sexual behavior.
Do birds have anything to do with god? For years I have sensed that someone is with me when a bird comes close. The Havasupai Indians in the Grand Canyon conduct Sweat Lodge in a narrow side canyon near the beautiful Travertine pools under Havasu Falls. The lodge itself is a small mud hut which can hold about 5 people, including the Medicine Man, the Door Keeper and three participants. One enters and leaves the lodge backwards on hands and knees, like the traversing of the birth canal, through a small opening covered with a blanket. A Fire Keeper tends a small fire just outside the entrance. The fire heats rocks which are placed inside the lodge each time it is used. Rocks inside that have cooled are transferred out onto the fire to keep a ready supply. At the beginning of a prayer session the Medicine Man lays Sage Brush on the hot rocks which fill the tiny lodge with pungent Sage smoke. The heat inside is horrific and the Sage smoke is choking. A new comer may feel very frightened and need to cover his or her face from the heat. The Medicine Man asks for prayer and healing requests. He then begins chants so ancient their origin is not known. When the session is over the Door Keeper flings the blanket aside. The Indians believe that the Eagles, which soar overhead in the heat updraft of the ceremonial fire, take their prayers to god. The participants file silently down the trail to the Travertine pools and plunge in. I have experienced this powerful ceremony and recall it each time I see Eagles soaring.