In the second chapter of Spirituality Simplified I made an attempt to weigh in with a potential answer to a question that has captivated mankind since the beginning of time, namely, just “Who or What is God?” Reflecting on that content it occurred to me that if I was writing that chapter today I also would address the subject of the so-called religious requirement to “worship” God. In this regard, consider this passage from Neale Donald Walsch’s book “The New Revelations” [emphasis mine]:
“Most of you spend much of your adult lives searching for the “right way” to worship God, to obey God, to serve God. The irony of all this is that I do not want your worship, I do not need your obedience, and it is not necessary to serve me. These behaviors are the behaviors historically demanded of their subjects by monarchs – egomaniacal, insecure, tyrannical monarchs at that. They are not Godly demands in any sense, and it seems remarkable that the world hasn’t by now concluded that the demands are counterfeit, having nothing to do with the needs of Deity. Deity has no needs. All That Is is exactly that: all that is. It therefore wants, or lacks, nothing – by definition. If you choose to believe in a God who somehow needs something – and has such hurt feelings if He doesn’t get it that He punishes those from whom He expected to receive it – then you choose to believe in a God much smaller than I. You truly are Children of a Lesser God.”
Walsch clearly makes great sense here, for why indeed would the force that literally created everything in the Universe need to be worshiped by humans, or any other of its creations for that matter? Think about it, this pervasive, expansive force, whatever it may indeed be, cannot by definition have any requirement for such veneration. For centuries people have based this entire need to be worshiped on texts that were written during a time when mankind was in a very primitive stage, when natural phenomena weren’t understood, and when the authors of those texts projected manlike qualities on to Deity.
So, what if instead of worshiping God each of us just “loved” this amazing force that created us with all of our heart, and remembered each day to express our gratitude for the exceptional gift of life itself? How about that?
