BUT, WHAT ABOUT:
(After the Pink Cloud dissipates?)
“The wars which had been fought, the burnings and chicanery that religious dispute had facilitated, made me sick. I honestly doubted whether, on balance, the religions of mankind had done any good. Judging from what I had seen in Europe and since, the power of God in human affairs was negligible, the Brotherhood of Man a grim jest. If there was a Devil, he seemed the Boss Universal, and he certainly had me.” BB pg.11
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able, and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” – Epicurus
“God is omnipotent, omniscient, and controls everything. Unless something bad happens. Then that was the Devil.” Author Unknown
“I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of.” Clarence Darrow
Ignorant: destitute, lacking in knowledge or education.
“Isn't killing people in the name of God a pretty good definition of insanity?” Arthur C. Clarke
“The world holds two classes of men; intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence.” Al-MaÊ¿arri (Blind Arab philosopher 973-1057)
So then, does that mean:
God Sounds Delusional, The Devil Sounds Logical ?
“Logic is great stuff. We liked it. We still like it. It is not by chance that we were given the power to reason, to examine the evidence of our senses, and to draw conclusions. That is one of man's magnificent attributes. …Hence we are at pains to tell why we think our present faith is reasonable, why we think it more sane and logical to believe than not to believe…” BB pg. 53
Magnificent: impressive to the mind or spirit: sublime, impressive, exceptionally fine.
Sublime: to elevate or exalt especially in dignity or honor, to render finer (as in purity or excellence).
Attributes: a quality, character, or characteristics ascribed to someone or something.
At Pains: to try hard to do something. (“Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs.”) Malcolm Forbes
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” Albert Einstein
Intuitive: the power or faculty of attaining direct knowledge or cognition without evident rational thought and inference. “We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.” BB pg. 84
“We feel and know that we are eternal.” “The more clearly you understand yourself and your emotions, the more you become a lover of what is.” Baruch Spinoza
The Brain:
Left side: Logical, Rational Right side: Intuitive, Holistic
I will believe it when I see it. I will see it when I believe it.
We are a drop in the ocean. We are the entire ocean in a drop.
He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. John 21:6 English Standard Bible
Our Personal Devil’s Advocate is the “Ghost” voice within propagating our “Yeah buts”, “You don’t understand…”, and all “What aboutism” which is at the heart of all our self-serving arguments/justifications for any negative/problematic behavior, thinking or action. Many of which first came to light in our 4th & 5th Steps and without vigilance (Steps 10&11) will bedevil us in recovery, making hard going of life, and often paving the way of relapse.
The question of Manifestation for the alcoholic/addict is simply: why do those who become “awake” (worked the Steps) relapse? Choosing bondage of self over freedom in Spirit.
So: What is real? What/Who do we trust? Believe in?
“Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.” Niels Bohr, winner of the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics.
(Everybody nowadays believes in scores of assumptions for which there is good evidence, but no perfect visual proof. And does not science demonstrate that visual proof is the weakest proof? It is being constantly revealed, as mankind studies the material world, that outward appearances are not inward reality at all. To illustrate:
The prosaic steel girder is a mass of electrons whirling around each other at incredible speed. These tiny bodies are governed by precise laws, and these laws hold true throughout the material world. Science tells us so. We have no reason to doubt it. When, however, the perfectly logical assumption is suggested that underneath the material world and life as we see it, there is an All Powerful, Guiding, Creative Intelligence, right there our perverse streak comes to the surface and we laboriously set out to convince ourselves it isn't so. We read wordy books and indulge in windy arguments, thinking we believe this universe needs no God to explain it. Were our contentions true, it would follow that life originated out of nothing, means nothing, and proceeds nowhere.
Instead of regarding ourselves as intelligent agents, spearheads of God's ever advancing Creation, we agnostics and atheists chose to believe that our human intelligence was the last word, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and end of all. Rather vain of us, wasn't it? BB pg. 48-9.)
An atom is approximately 99.9999999999996% “empty” space, yet atoms make up everything we touch, see and feel. The entire corporeal world we “inhabit”. Yet our world isn’t “mostly empty space”. It is “mostly” electron clouds, vibrating with energy, bound together by the quantum rules that govern the entire Universe.
“Not only is the Universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think.” Werner Heisenberg winner of the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics for the creation of quantum mechanics.
SO:
“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Max Planck
“All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter.” Max Planck Nobel Prize winner in 1918 for his work on Quantum Theory.
"When I went to the moon I was a pragmatic test pilot. But when I saw the planet Earth floating in the vastness of space the presence of divinity became almost palpable and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident." ~ Edgar Mitchell Lunar Module pilot Apollo 14. Spent 9 hours walking on the moon.
The “vastness” of space: Consider- if you take the average diameters of all the planets and add them up, you get approximately 247,306 miles. At apogee, which is when the Moon is farthest from the Earth, the distance between the two objects is about 252,300 miles so….
Additionally, for perspective, at best case alignment, traveling at 50,000 miles per hour it would take over 6 years to travel to Neptune. At this same speed it would take over 59,000 years to travel the 4.4 light years to Proxima Centauri (our closest neighboring star).
Which Brings Us Too:
The Why Of Relapse, What Do WE Really Believe
“When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is, or He isn't. What was our choice to be?
Arrived at this point, we were squarely confronted with the question of faith. We couldn't duck the issue. Some of us had already walked far over the Bridge of Reason toward the desired shore of faith. The outlines and the promise of the New Land had brought luster to tired eyes and fresh courage to flagging spirits. Friendly hands had stretched out in welcome. We were grateful that Reason had brought us so far. But somehow, we couldn't quite step ashore. Perhaps we had been leaning too heavily on Reason that last mile and we did not like to lose our support.” BB pg. 53
Reason: the power of comprehending, inferring, or thinking especially in orderly rational ways.
“The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God's universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves.” BB pg. 25
“Are we now ready to let God remove from us all the things which we have admitted are objectionable? Can He now take them all - everyone? If we still cling to something we will not let go, we ask God to help us be willing.
When ready, we say something like this: "My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me (the corrosive influence of) every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen." BB pg. 76
The next paragraph puts the “God delusion” in its proper place, for us:
“We never apologize to anyone for depending upon our Creator. We can laugh at those who think spirituality the way of weakness. Paradoxically, it is the way of strength. The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage. All men of faith have courage. They trust their God. We never apologize for God. Instead we let Him demonstrate, through us, what He can do.” BB pg. 68
“…asking each morning in meditation that our Creator show us the way of patience, tolerance, kindliness and love.” BB pg. 83
"Who are you to say there is no God?"
This man recounts that he tumbled out of bed to his knees. In a few seconds he was overwhelmed by a conviction of the Presence of God. It poured over and through him with the certainty and majesty of a great tide at flood. The barriers he had built through the years were swept away. He stood in the Presence of Infinite Power and Love. He had stepped from bridge to shore. For the first time, he lived in conscious companionship with his Creator.” BB pg. 56
“They had seen miracles, and one was to come to them. They had visioned the Great Reality - their loving and All-Powerful Creator.” BB pg. 161
“A great revulsion has risen up in him. Seemingly he could not drink even if he would. God had restored his sanity. What is this but a miracle of healing?” BB pg. 57
SO:
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” Thomas Aquinas
Faith: something that is believed especially with strong conviction; belief and trust in and loyalty to God.
We will believe it when we see it. Explanations, physical evidence required. Faith lacking or absent altogether.
We will see it when we believe it. No explanation or physical evidence required. Faith in demonstration.
When we have reached the end of our knowledge, with only darkness, fear and uncertainty stretching out before us, we step out in Faith, and either God's promised solidity will greet our feet or we will be taught to fly.
Miracles
Miracle: an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs.
Manifesting: to make evident or certain by showing or displaying.
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein
“The age of miracles is still with us. Our own recovery proves that!” BB pg. 153
“We are convinced that a spiritual mode of living is a most powerful health restorative. We, who have recovered from serious drinking, are miracles of mental health.” BB pg. 133
“We cannot subscribe to the belief that this life is a vale of tears, though it once was just that for many of us. But it is clear that we made our own misery. God didn't do it. Avoid then, the deliberate manufacture of misery, but if trouble comes, cheerfully capitalize it as an opportunity to demonstrate His omnipotence.” BB pg. 133
“God is not He who is, but That which is.” Baruch Spinoza
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