Suppose there actually is a Supreme Creator. A family business, say – J. Christ & O. God Ltd – or piscine deity – There is no Cod but Allah! Wouldn’t it be asking us, ‘hey, what’s with all the dreariness?’
What I want you to do is go out into the world and enjoy your life. I want you to sing, have fun and enjoy everything I’ve made for you.
Stop going into those dark, cold temples that you built yourself and saying they are my house. My house is in the mountains, in the woods, rivers, lakes, beaches. That’s where I live and there I express my love for you.
Stop blaming me for your miserable life; I never told you there was anything wrong with you or that you were a sinner, or that your sexuality was a bad thing. Sex is a gift I have given you and with which you can express your love, your ecstasy, your joy. Don’t blame me for everything they made you believe.
Click on the above for how the joy of sex was leveraged by a Soviet literacy push
Stop reading alleged sacred scriptures that have nothing to do with me. If you can’t read me in a sunrise, in a landscape, in the look of your friends, in your son’s eyes … then you will find me in no book!
Stop asking me “will you tell me how to do my job?” Stop being so scared of me. I do not judge you or criticize you, nor get angry or bothered. I am pure love.
Stop asking for forgiveness, there’s nothing to forgive. I filled you with passions, feelings, pleasures and limitations; with needs, inconsistencies, free will. How can I blame you if you respond to something I put in you? How can I punish you for being the way you are, if I’m the one who made you? Do you think I could create a place to burn all of my children who behave badly for the rest of eternity? What kind of god would do that?
Respect your peers and don’t do what you don’t want for yourself. All I ask is that you pay attention in your life, that alertness is your guide.
My beloved, this life is not a test, not a step on the way, not a rehearsal, nor a prelude to paradise. This life is the only thing here and now and it is all you need.
I have set you absolutely free, no prizes or punishments, no sins or virtues, no one carries a marker, no one keeps a record.
You are absolutely free to create in your life. Heaven or hell.
I can’t tell you if there’s anything after this life but I can give you a tip. Live as if there is not. As if this is your only chance to enjoy, to love, to exist.
So, if there’s nothing after, then you will have enjoyed the opportunity I gave you. And if there is, rest assured that I won’t ask if you behaved right or wrong, I’ll ask. Did you like it? Did you have fun? What did you enjoy the most? What did you learn?
Stop believing in me; believing is assuming, guessing, imagining. I don’t want you to believe in me, I want you to believe in you. I want you to feel me in you when you kiss your beloved, when you tuck in your little girl, when you caress your dog, when you bathe in the sea.
Stop praising me, what kind of egomaniac God do you think I am?
I’m bored with being praised. I’m tired of being thanked. Feeling grateful? Prove it by taking care of yourself, your health, your relationships, the world. Express your joy! That’s the way to praise me.
Stop complicating things and repeating as a parakeet what you’ve been taught about me.
What do you need more miracles for? So many explanations?
The only thing for sure is that you are here, that you are alive, that this world is full of wonders.
Brought to us by a philosopher of Dutch/Portugeuse Sephardi extraction. From the 17th century, it’s hardly a new message but it’ll stand repeating – now more than ever as the relentless logic of accumulation proves life negating at every turn – so let’s raise a glass to Baruch Spinoza.
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Just wonderful !
🙂
Certainly an improvement on the Ten Commandments. Good stuff. Send a copy to the US Government.
I’m due for my evening chat with Sleepy Joe shortly. I’ll raise the matter, and pass on your regards.
This is an inspiring set of photos (although I could do without the erotica – I’m too old for that shit!)
The trouble is that the Bible bashers will always have the edge on rhetoric. I recall a bus slogan created by the “Dawkenites” which went:
“There is probably no God. So just enjoy yourself!”
I’m afraid it just doesn’t have the force of:
“Repent for the day of judgement is at hand!”
cf. Johnny Cash “When the Man Comes Around”. Fundamentalist fanaticism. But what a great song!