A number of religions put forward the concept that man is made in God’s image. This is a noble concept but frankly I don’t quite get it.
Not because I don’t feel there is a God or that people are Godless, but because it seems strange to attribute Godliness to human form. We have an aspect of our being that is indeed very much connected to a quality that is Divine, yet equating our human form to Divinity doesn’t quite fit.
I am not sure about you, but when I eat too much of the wrong food I start farting; I also do this strange thing called going to the toilet each day, and as I get older hair starts growing out of the strangest places. I need to sleep, exercise, I get around by walking, driving or getting into a huge aluminium tube and flying from place to place. It makes you wonder just what image of God do we have that makes us think that this is how he would roll.
Looking more widely you see people getting moody, jealous, cranky, violent, greedy, needy, abusive, manipulative, conditional, and every other emotion under the sun. Are we really saying that this is God’s image?
At the risk of being contradictory, we are 100% made in his image but just not the human form. It is our Soul, an aspect of our energetic being, that is reflected in his image. But this is very different to our humanness.
We are human (in part) but we also have a Soul and we are on earth to live both in full. We are here to learn that this world is not the only realm that we are part of and that there are other realms that we co-exist within and need to be considerate of in our daily life.
In many ways, investing too heavily in our human form as being ALL there is lies at the heart of many of the world’s problems. It makes sense, that if all we have is this fragile human body, then we would want to defend it, protect it, make it safe behind a wall of armour, money or ideology.
It makes sense to want to protect the few millimetres of flesh that prevents our organs from spilling out everywhere, or to stockpile food and water to avoid starvation. The need to feel safe in the world also makes sense, but at the moment we do all of this at the expense of other ‘humans’, other vulnerable people. We use this drive for protection and security to justify doing terrible things to each other and the planet. In essence we do this in isolation from others; this is not the sense I get of God.
Indeed some people see the errant behaviours of humanity and use this as a reason to dismiss the possibility of there being a God, because if human form and behaviour is God’s image why even consider building a relationship with God?
But what if we flipped it round?
What if there was a God and that what we see on earth is NOT a reflection of his image, but proof positive that we are not living in a way that aligns to that same essence?
For me, God and Love are interchangeable concepts and all people have the capacity to connect to and express that same level of Love, we just need to appreciate what Love is in its most real and eternal sense.
God is a type of love that cannot be found in any violence or abuse, it is simply the deepest level of care and consideration that we are capable of showing ourselves and others.
It is not the emotional outbursts that are justified because ‘I love you’, but rather the steady joy life has ready to offer.It is not the greed or corruption that is justified because it delivers shareholder value, but is an unending source of vitality and power that does not look to own that same power or control others with it.It is not the neediness that requires another to think about you in a certain way, but is fulfilling enough that it becomes okay for you to be you.
God is not a being that wants to establish an army of rule-following ‘mini me’s’, but is a beholding love that sees only the Love in others, regardless of how they see themselves.
God is not found in racism, intolerance or the supremacy of modern religion, but is the living responsibility of seeing the equality in all. Love is walked and lived before it’s talked; it is not an ideal, but a lived way of moving through life.
God is many things, and in many ways, when connected to our Soul, we can express that same quality.
This is not theory, theosophy or faith, it is something we all live to varying degrees each day.
Which raises the question:
What essence is driving our actions when we express anything but this divine Love?
Comments