Brian’s Reflection: Monday, August 22, 2010

As human beings, we are endowed with freedom
of choice, and we cannot shuffle off our responsibility
upon the shoulders of God or nature. We must
shoulder it ourselves.

Arnold Toynbee, English economist and social
reformer; born on this date, 1852


The kind of God that many pay worship to is a projection of out own unwillingness to step up to the plate and lay claim to the majesty and wonder of our humanity. You know: the God “out there” who will fix things, take care of us, as if we were helpless creatures who were made to grovel before a capricious Deity.

In my opinion, there is no “God Out There”. There is only the God Within, the “God” Who is the incandescent fire of our Being. As the mystics of almost all faiths and religions know, that God and we are One.

Scary? Scary to think that Toynbee is right – that we are and must be responsible for our own lives? I don’t find it so. Oh, don’t get me wrong; I indeed believe that knowing the God Within – and that can be hard work! – will provide us with the power we need to live our lives with power and grace. But there is no power and grace unless we accept our responsibility and our freedom. To the “God Out There” we are only slaves. To the “God Within” we are daughters and sons.

“We are endowed with freedom of choice.” Choose freedom. Be fully human. The Journey is amazing.

Brian+

By the way: today is the birthday of the comedian Mark Russell. Here’s a laugh from him:

“The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage. “