{"id":414,"date":"2013-07-03T11:56:09","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T11:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/yourbestlifenow\/?p=414"},"modified":"2013-07-03T12:06:45","modified_gmt":"2013-07-03T12:06:45","slug":"the-authentic-search-for-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2013\/07\/the-authentic-search-for-god.html","title":{"rendered":"The Authentic Search for God"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"images\"<\/a>In an authentic search for God, the cosmos of inclusiveness just keeps widening and expanding, not unlike the ever-expanding universe in which we live.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a bit of a paraphrase of something Fr. Richard Rohr says in his book Immortal Diamond<\/a><\/i>.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0It has been my experience, too. It seems the more aware I become of the Immortal Presence, the wider my heart stretches to include all persons\u2026all faiths\u2026all traditions.<\/p>\n

Without judgment.\u00a0 With love.<\/p>\n

It also seems the more threatened some religious people become toward me, especially regarding some of the conclusions to which I\u2019ve come and comments I make on Facebook, as well as through both my Huffpo blog<\/a> and BeliefNet blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You should read some of the emails I get. Especially from threatened Christians\u2026the very persons whose leader was the most inclusive, ever-expanding person when it came to others, especially those the rest of the world distanced from themselves.<\/p>\n

It could all be very discouraging to me were it not for the equally expanding compassion I feel toward those whose faith is so weak, misplaced, and confused. Instead of it strengthening them, they mistake a catalogue of beliefs for the context of authentic faith. So, rather than their faith broadening and becoming more inclusive, their beliefs and belief systems seem only to narrow more and more into that which is stifling and stuffy even to them.<\/p>\n

Know this, my friend\u2026<\/p>\n

Whenever you attempt to put your God into a straight jacket, it is you, and only you who will feel its insufferable effects.\u00a0 God will not be incarcerated by your beliefs, no matter how hard the little ego in you tries to cling to them and vigorously argues for their correctness and their rightness over the beliefs of others.<\/p>\n

You would be much better off not being fooled by your own fragile self who confuses authentic faith for beliefs and then hides behind oft-quoted, but dismissive clich\u00e9s, as in, \u201cOh well, I (we) just believe the Bible and accept by faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

What the fragile little ego in you really means is that you and your tribe believe \u201cyour version\u201d of the Bible. What it cannot admit is that equally sincere people of faith do not accept your version of the Bible but believe instead a dramatically different interpretation of the same Bible.<\/p>\n

All of us should be a bit more humble in what we say and how we say it when it comes to our faith and beliefs. Otherwise, the religious world just becomes a war between collective egos.\u00a0 This is, in fact, much of what the religious world has become.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, when people say, \u201cI just accept things by faith,\u201d what they often mean by that\u2026too often, in fact\u2026is this \u2013 \u201cI can\u2019t handle ambiguity\u2026the contradictions in my own faith\u2026I feel unnervingly uncertain when I\u2019m forced to face indisputable discrepancies in the Bible\u2026in my own faith\u2026So, there is something I find comforting\u00a0\u00a0 in hiding behind a pillar of my faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

All structures\u2026all pillars of faith\u2026.in other words, all beliefs are uncertain, temporary, and they are not\u2026I repeat\u2026they are not the source of authentic faith\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026if authentic faith<\/i> is what you seek.<\/p>\n

Faith is authentic\u2026genuine\u2026most real\u2026when it has nothing upon which to stand. Which is why I\u2019ve always liked the picture at the top of this page.\u00a0 It is neither what you say nor what you claim that determines the genuineness of faith. It is instead your willingness to let go of everything\u2026even every one of your closely held beliefs\u2026and take a step into the oblivion\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026the Oblivion that IS God.<\/p>\n

When you can do this, my friend, you will no longer need anything to hold you up. No belief, no confession, no creed. For you will have made the grandest discovery of life \u2013 the Eternal in yourself.\u00a0 It is THAT who takes hold of you.<\/p>\n

The step you fear taking IS the step you need to take into authentic faith.<\/p>\n

So, let go of all attachments. Fall INTO the authenticity of your own inner doubts. You will not go wrong. You will not lose your faith.\u00a0 You will, paradoxically, find it.<\/p>\n

So said Jesus. \u201cHe who would lose his life will find it\u201d (Matt. 16:25).<\/p>\n

I know. I\u2019ve been there.<\/p>\n

I took that step, not certain where it would go, unsure of what would happen to me.<\/p>\n

What I discovered, however, is that the very thing I thought I\u2019d lose, I actually found.<\/p>\n

This, my friend, is the REAL good news.<\/p>\n

Even Your Best Life Now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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