Atheists

There is a wonderful discussion going on on the Internet and news programs between a brilliant religious scholar Reza Aslan and some well known atheists, Bill Maher among them. I won't go into too much of the details of this discussion; you can read the latest on the Salon website. But it has really got me thinking.

Recently Stephen Hawking stated that he had proof that God did not exist, something about there being equal parts matter and dark matter so nothing had to be created. Thus no need for a Creator. I'm not a physicist so I'm sure there are parts to this logic that I don't understand, but it occurs to me that it's much easier to "prove" that something exists than it is to prove that it doesn't exist. If someone says something does not exist, doesn't it seem possible that they perhaps haven't found it yet using the tools and methods that they've been using so far?

The experience of God is not discovered in the mind, in thoughts and logic, so scientists are at a real disadvantage. God can't be talked about or repeated in a way that someone else can see in print or  hear as a listener. God has no objective qualities, at least none that can be distinguished from all the rest of the objective world. God is pure subject, pure experiencing, consciousness itself. The light of awareness shines out of the unknown, the unknowable in fact. So It cannot be named nor described. But God can be experienced and each one of us has that capacity, because we too are experiencers. But it must be explored and discovered by each individual.

Each one of us is aware but we don't "do" awareness, we just "are" aware. Awareness happens effortlessly. Our awareness is a light that shines out of nowhere, out of the unknown. When Jesus said, "I am the light", he was identifying with himself as pure awareness. If we pay attention to being aware and not just what we are aware of, we to can feel peace and love emanating out of that Unknown. Sages and wise men for thousands of years have referred to that as feeling Divine Presence, our true identity. Jesus also said "I and my Father are One". So when we identify with the light of pure awareness and not with the objects of that awareness, we feel our relationship with God.

And that sets us up to be accused of being self-delusional, right? Well, I guess I would rather be free to explore all the possibilities of life's experiences and end up loving it, than fearing exploration because what I mght find can't be trusted.