We, humans, have evolved from more primeval forms of life
of which the ape was a comparitively recent evolution.
Before that came much more basic types of being,
which we see, today, as inanimate, unthinking,
even immobile and unformed.

All have evolved from some unknown source;
mutated into beneficial or contrary strains;
become what they are today over many millenia.

A strain that humans have developed,
different from others of similar foundation,
is the ability for introspection, self analysis,
and the need to justify and explain our actions.

This is, probably, a mutation which will progress
into new, more cerebral or self-aware, forms of life,
unless destroyed by the competition of other variants;
by those leading humanity into a less cerebral mode,
or the emergent primacy of another form of life.

Such a change of direction could even arise from
the destruction of humanity itself through
the present crisis of climate change,
or the inanity of nuclear war.

We need a Father Figure

Once aware of the fraility of our condition
and the need to justify and explain our actions
we came to require a target for that justification.
At least in its primary and, commonly, present form,
we needed a father figure to sit in judgement on us.
We need a "God" of judgement to forgive us,
or sentence us, dependent on our actions.

The Christian variant of this proposal
had Jesus take the blame for our indiscretions,
pay for them through the sacrifice of himself on The Cross.
It was a worthy successor, tying dependent congregations
to the source of their eternal joy through the church,
which benefitted accordingly - and still does.

A more recent development is to discard judgement
for universal forgiveness, placing blame on God
as the transgressor in creating our environment,
in creating the conditions for our sins.
A God of Love can not then fail
to forgive!

Created God?

Thus our God becomes but a function of our imagination.
An attempt to escape or excuse our faults.
An attempt to find a father figure
on whom to place our reliance
in an uncertain world.

God has become a crutch for our crippled minds;
There to bear the burden of our incapacities;
Truly there is neither divine forgiveness
nor any divinity to allocate blame.
This is the invention
of our evolution.

There is not, in reality, any external divinity,
for the divine function lies within us
as a future evolution
of humanity.

The concept of God as our creator,
invites the question of what created God.
Yet the answer that God lies within us
allows us to recognise divinity
as wrapped in our aspirations,
as integral to our ideas
of righteousness.

Taking a False Pathway

The writings of the ancients expressed their God in human terms;
in terms that they could understand and communicate to others.
We have, unfortunately, taken those concepts literally
and so sought divinity down a false pathway.

We have come to imagine an external deity
existing in some unearthly frame
yet influencing our existence.

We have come to imagine supernatural intervention in our existence;
that the few responses to our many prayers have divine origin;
that things that we can not, yet, undestand must be of God.

We have come to imagine a final, post-mortal, judgement
condemning us for our failures on earth.
when the reality of judgement lies
within our own condemnation.

Jesus did not die to save us from the just penalties for our sin.
He tried to save us from slavery to ancient superstition
and the religious domination that we have reimposed.

Dominant religion was established by the early churchmen
through a selective reinterpretation of his teaching.
His death, rather than his life, became the focus.
It all went back to where it was really,
before Jesus interfered,

What then is divinity?

Divinity lies within us as the impetus for good.
It is a function of progressive human evolution,
driven first by the drive for personal survival,
procreation, comfort and then by self-esteem.

God is, for each of us, that which we have created
as the target for our aspirations and self-esteem.
We long to be seen as good in our own eyes
and that goodness may take many forms,
sometimes what others see as evil.

So we do need to turn to others for guidance
on what constitutes a worthy way of living,
and thus we give value to the Bible
and the ideas of ancient gurus
or the religious teachings
of today.

Divinity may lie within each soul
but wisdom is a corporate commodity,
from which we need to learn and grow,
to find the reality of divinity within us.

Finding Truer Pathway

The pathway that we tread is called to reflect
the incomprehensible reality of divinity
so far as we are able.

We are called to love our neighbour,
accept them as they are; value them as they are.
We are called to love as a God might love,
without strings or conditions;
as Jesus showed us.

To love and not to count the cost,
as the very image of God;
as if God existed,
practically.

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