God Must Be Everywhere
Friday, April 12, 2013
THE UNIVERSALITY OF GOD By Francis William Bessler Laramie, Wyoming 4/12/2013 Note: I am publishing this on my departed Mom’s birthday. Clara Elizabeth Bessler was born on 4/12/1908 and passed to her next experience on 5/16/2004 at the age of 96. I will conclude this effort with a 12 verse song entitled EVERY PLACE IS HEAVEN. I have included a verse for each of the days in the 12th of April. Enjoy my concluding song and this essay - as you will. FWB. Mom’s been gone since 20004. She died at the age of 96 in May of 2004; but, realistically, was she a saint when she was born on April 12th, 1908 - 105 years ago from today? Think about it! Of course, Mom’s birth was no different than any other birth - including my own and yours. When each of us emerged from our mother’s womb to begin what we call life, what is the likelihood that each of us was possibly missing God? In my mind - and opinion - there is absolutely NO chance that any baby ever born is “missing God” at the time of his or her birth. Amazingly, however, if we are not “missing God” at the time of our birth, realistically we cannot “miss God” any time in our lives either. Sadly, however, we are taught that every one is born somehow “missing God” or “lacking God” - and that life is a journey to “find our missing God.” Of course, those of us who “find God” and plug the hole that lacked God at our birth are believed to go on and “go to Heaven”; and those of us who do not succeed to “find God” in our lives are doomed to “go to Hell.” Saints are those who manage to “find God” and end up in Heaven; and Sinners are those who manage to lose out - and have to go to Hell. But where is there any sense to that? Where is the sense that any baby is born “without God”? And where is the sense that any of us have to live to “find God” - when in all likelihood, we are each born “with God” when we emerge from our mother’s womb? Who ever told us we were born “without God” in the first place? And why have we believed it almost since man attained any intelligence in that thing in his head called a brain? In truth, there is a thing called IGNORANCE; and that is why we have believed all the nonsense of a “missing God” in our lives. Ignorance of what God is begins it; and ignorance of where God is continues it. So, what is the ignorance of the reality of God? It begins, I think, with our making God a person - like us - perhaps to help us to better relate with God and better to allow some of us to please the “person of God” and some of us to displease the person of God. For God to be either pleased or displeased, God has to be a person - someone with a mind and a heart like ours. Thus, God has very conveniently and strategically been defined as a “person” in order that God can be used to manage our proposed Heaven and Hell. And our IGNORANCE has gone marching on! In all probability, however, God is not a person in the first place. Why? Because if we had taken the trouble to define where God probably is, we could have never stumbled in our minds and made God a person. So, where is God and why can’t God be a person? If we took a single moment to think about it - which most of us have not taken the time to do in our lives - we would realize that in all probability, EXISTENCE IS INFINITE. By that, I mean that there can be no end to EXISTENCE. If there can be no end to existence, then it stands to reason that there can be no end to God - which must equal Existence if there is God at all. How could you have a finite - or limited God - within Infinity when the very definition of God is “Infinity”? At least, for me, such a concept as a finite God somehow placed within Infinity as if that God is a person that could be one place and not another is a total irrational. It just makes no sense. If you think otherwise - that existence can have an end - where is that end? If you go out and out and out and out into space and beyond one galaxy after another, where is this end of the world of which you are so sure? In truth, our minds cannot fathom an end to existence - if we think about it; and that is the key - WE HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT TO KNOW ABOUT IT. But if we do think about it and realize that existence can have no end and that God - if It exists at all - must equal a non-ending existence, then all vision that envisions God here and not there becomes irrational; and all vision that envisions that an existence without end can be divided into potential good & evil regions also becomes irrational. How can you divide something that is endless? Tell me that! Accordingly, how can an endless existence somehow be divided into a proverbial Heaven and Hell where one side is good and the other side is evil? If you cannot divide something, then there can be no “sides” within that something. If you cannot divide something, then there can be no left or right within that something. Right? Whatever an endless existence is, since it cannot be divided, it must be that something throughout - either all evil or all good. Evil is normally defined as related to some sense of lack. If I am evil, I am “lacking that which is good”; but if something is endless, it must also be “full” of whatever it is. Accordingly, that which is endless cannot possibly be lacking in anything because, in essence, it contains everything. Another definition of “everything” is “full.” Thus, because what is endless must also be full - or lacking in nothing - then the endless must also be GOOD, not evil. If something is ALL GOOD, then it cannot be divided into, again, the proverbial good and evil regions representing the traditionally understood Heaven and Hell. If there can be no division, then what is must be ALL GOOD. Accordingly, if there can only be GOOD, then there can only be Heaven; and if there can only be Heaven, then there can be NO HELL - defined as “lacking God or Good.” See how simple it is - if we only think about it. It is precisely because God must equal IMMENSE EXISTENCE and must be everywhere, however, that God cannot possibly be a person. Accordingly, IF THERE CAN BE NO INDIVIDUAL SEPARATE FROM INFINITY THAT IS GOD, then NO ONE NEED FEAR AN INDIVIDUAL GOD - nor any one claiming authority from an Individual God. If an Individual God that is somehow separate from some existence cannot exist, then neither can anyone claim authority based on the existence of an Individual - or Separate - God. Correct? Did ones like Moses and Peter, however, ever think about a non-ending world - and therefore, Infinite Divinity? Did they ever take a single moment to speculate about the reality of an endless universe, an IMMENSE EXISTENCE that cannot be divided by virtue of its endlessness - or Infinity? I doubt it; but for their times, perhaps, you cannot blame ones like Moses and Peter for bypassing thinking about Infinity. Why would they have thought about Infinity - if they did not take much trouble to think in general? In truth, I think Moses and Peter - and counterparts - imagined - and imagine - that the world is really finite because only a finite world can allow divisions; and without division, those who would seek authority over others would be left without a base. Accordingly, the world must be finite - to allow division - if any can claim legitimate authority from God. So, Moses went up a mountain “looking for God in search for authority” - as if God is really a “person” that can be found - and much of the world is still “going up mountains” to “find God” - as if God is still a person that can be found. People are of the mind that God can be “fetched” like any finite thing can be “fetched.” Thus, many live their lives trying and insisting that they should be about “fetching God.” Come here, God! Come to me and make me whole! Come here, God, and fill the emptiness that is in my life because there is a hole in it that is missing you! Moses looked for God in one he knew as “Jehovah” - and thus imagined that when a voice that called himself Jehovah spoke, it was God that was speaking. Moses did not recognize that God must be in himself because Moses had already separated God from Reality in his mind before he even went searching for God. Accordingly, in expecting God to be a Person - rather than Infinity - Moses found what he thought was God in a person - a real or imagined person he called Jehovah. That is what happens when you begin searching for God not realizing that God is not a “Who,” but a “What.” And Peter continued the tradition of Moses by looking for God in another. Where did Peter go to look for God? To a “person” he knew as “Jesus.” In looking for a “person of God” rather than an “Infinity of God,” Peter found his God in one we know as Jesus. Peter was looking for a person that he could identify as God - in looking for a person of God in the first place. If you go searching for God in a person - rather than in Infinite Reality - then that is what you will find - a “person” that you can imagine just might be the God for whom you are searching. Did Jesus believe he was the God for whom Peter was searching? I doubt it; but then I see Jesus in a very different way than Peter was wanting to see him. I do not need to be saved from Godlessness as it seemed Peter thought he needed to be saved. I realize that I cannot be “missing God” and therefore, I am not in line to go searching for God in the first place - that is, in a single individual. My God is already in everything and everyone. Accordingly, I do not need to search for God as if God is something “out there” I can attain - if I only put my mind to it. Ones like Moses and Peter, however, were not of my mind of believing in an Immanent God. They believed that God is something to be accessed, not appreciated for already being within. And people today are still following in the footsteps of Moses and Peter and are still insisting that God is a person - and still looking to find God in a person - like a real or imagined Jehovah or a Jesus. I will not pursue the matter much here, but there is plenty of evidence in banned gospels - like that of THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS and THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARY MAGDALENE - that Peter may have not listened to the real Jesus - probably because he was looking for something - or someone - else. In truth, we see what we “expect” to see. In other words, we see what we “want to see.” If we don’t want to see Heaven on Earth, for whatever reason, then we will simply not see Heaven on Earth. If we want to see Hell on Earth, then that is exactly what we will see - Hell on Earth - and if there is not a real Hell, we will simply go about making one just so we can believe that we really believed the truth. That is the story of Arrogance in a nutshell; and there are many who are - pardon the pun - “as arrogant as Hell” and thus will insist they cannot be mistaken. Take it as you wish to take it, but in my defense that Peter may not have seen Jesus as Jesus really was, in the final verse of THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS, Verse 114 (of 114), it is found: Simon Peter said to them: Let Mary go out from among us because women are not worthy of the Life. Jesus said: See, I shall lead her, so that I will make her male, that she too may become a living spirit, resembling you males. For every woman who makes herself male will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. I find in that verse, a man, Peter, who was intent on separating male from female - simply because he was about inequality. He did not want to see women as equal to men; and thus, even though Jesus may have at least hinted otherwise, eventually after the death of Jesus, Peter insisted that he was superior to all others by insisting that Jesus would choose one over another to “lead his church.” I think Peter believed he was chosen by Jesus to “lead his church” only because Peter wanted to hear that message. Thus, after Jesus would die, Peter would go forward and declare the very “equality” in which Jesus probably believed to be a “lie of Satan” - in a manner of speaking. Relating to Verse 114 of THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS offered above, why would Jesus offer that he could “make a female into a male”? I must admit that my thinking on that has evolved since first reviewing in 1979 - when I first read the verse; but I think Jesus is only offering that he can “persuade” Mary that she is really equal to Peter and all males. He was only offering that the Kingdom of Heaven is only a “kingdom of equals.” Thus, anyone who sees him or herself as equal to others, in essence, belongs to the Kingdom of Heaven. For what it’s worth, that is my current interpretation of that verse. But why would Peter have argued that women are not worthy of the Life if he believed in the true equality of all persons? Why would have Peter argued that anyone is not worthy of the Life? Why? Because that was his vision - that some are more worthy than others; and therein is the story of the Christianity that Peter has, in fact, led - that some are more worthy than others. And what is the destination of those with whom Peter might disagree? In one word - Hell! Thus, if you do not believe in Peter and his vision of Jesus, you will end up in Hell; and therein is the great statement of inequality. Some are more worthy than others; and those who lack being worthy will go to Hell. But take one moment - if you dare - and TRY ON INFINITY. What does it really say that the world is “probably Infinite”? For one thing, it DECLARES in somewhat astounding terms that if there is a God, that God has to EQUAL INFINITY. Now, how can it be that Infinity can be a Person? How can it be that the endless existence that we know must be “out there” can end at this point or that point? A “person” has to be something that can “end” - something that has limits, something that has a form, something that can be here and not there. That is what a “person” must be. Infinity can’t end, though, can it? That means God can’t be a person because a person must end. If any of us took one single moment to think about it, we would know that. We would know that God can’t be a person with whom any of us can relate because we would know that God must be a Presence that is WITHOUT END. Think about it! Can you imagine a “person God” somehow swimming about in an endless pool? How could any individual swim in a pool that’s actually equal to itself? I cannot even begin to imagine such. Can you? As far as I can see then, IF THERE CAN BE NO INDIVIDUAL THAT IS GOD - as if God is outside of the Infinite - then GOD MUST EQUAL INFINITY. How could it be otherwise? If you believe it can be otherwise, be so kind as to tell me how. To reiterate, there can be no “personal God” outside of Infinity because Infinity includes all that is - and there can be no “outside of Infinity.” Can there? Therefore, if God exists, God must equal Infinity - and thus, BE EVERYWHERE. And that is why Mom was a saint when she was born. She was a saint because there was no way she could be otherwise. Mom was a saint when she was born of my Grandma Gregory on April 12th, 1908 because there was no way she could have been “missing an Infinite God that must be everywhere.” And I was a saint when I was born of my Mom, Clara Elizabeth Bessler, on December 3rd, 1941 because there is no way that Mom’s womb could have been “missing an Infinite God.” So, in all probability, Clara was - and is - Saint Clara; and I am - in all probability - Saint Francis - and will be when I die too; and you are Saint Harry or Saint Harriet or Saint Jay or Saint Jane - or whatever your name is. But what good is it be a saint - unless you are aware of it? And therein, I think, is why there is so much tragedy and murder and rape and war and conflict in the world - because almost none of us know the truth that we are really saints. We are told we are sinners; and thus, we act like it. A “saint” is one who has “found God” or who “has God” in his or her life. Well, what do you think? Can anyone really be “lacking an Infinite God”? Can there be any place that God can be missing? If so, can there be any place that is not Heaven - or any place that is Hell - with Hell being defined as “a place with a missing God”? Infinity - and the notion thereof - KILLS IGNORANCE - if we let it. The question is - do we really want to kill ignorance? Do we want to admit to the truth and give up hanging on to stupidities we call wisdoms? Do we want to give up hoping to find a better life somewhere else - and use God as an excuse - as if another place can be better because God must be there and not here? Do we want to take off the notions of the past that were based on the Earth being flat and God being UP IN THE SKY - or ON TOP OF A MOUNTAIN - or IN A PROPHET or IN A SPECIAL SON OF GOD? Do we want to FIND HEAVEN HERE ON EARTH? Or do we want to continue the “Mosaic” and “Peteraic” Traditions of Ignorance and insist that every baby is born in sin - meaning that every baby is born “separated from God”? Sorry! I cannot believe it! Little baby, Clara Elizabeth Gregory, was not “missing God” when she emerged from the womb of Grandma Gregory on April 12th, 1908; and neither was she “missing God” when she passed at age of 96 on May 16th, 2004. Never in any moment of her life did Clara Elizabeth Gregory Bessler “miss God”; and that, in all probability, is the REAL TRUTH! In reality, no one can miss God because God can’t be missed - being Infinity. Now, wouldn’t it be a whole lot wiser to know we are actually in the Paradise right now that we would seek later? WHY PUT PARADISE OFF? I suspect that if we do - keep putting Paradise off - we will never find it because in our continued ignorance, we will always search for God somewhere else - and never find it. Wouldn’t it be so much better if we realized that EVERY PLACE IS HEAVEN - because there is no place where God cannot be? Let me leave it to you in a bit of verse. OK? Thanks! (FWB) Every Place Is Heaven By Francis William Bessler 3/1/2013 - 3/5/2013 Every place is Heaven; it’s just a matter of a view. There is no God outside of life that’s not inside it too. You cannot divide Infinity into what’s evil and what’s good. So, let everyone realize
All’s one great brotherhood.
Every place is Heaven
because God is everywhere.
What makes a place a Heaven
is the Divinity that is there.
So, it stands to reason, My Friend,
if all existence is of God,
all existence must be Heaven
and where I stand I should applaud.
Every place is Heaven.
It’s so very clear to me.
Every place that I do look
all I see is Divinity.
No flower can exist on its own.
Every tree needs sunlight.
No matter where I might look
there are only miracles in sight.
Every place is Heaven
as every dog does know.
Take your doggie for a walk;
let it follow its terrific nose.
And as you walk, be so gracious
as to let your doggie lead.
See the world as it does;
you’ll see it filled with Divinity.
Every place is Heaven,
but God’s neither Queen nor King.
God’s not a person of sex,
rather only a Presence in everything.
Everyone belongs to God
and God belongs to everyone.
If we all really believed that,
there could be no wrong.
Every place is Heaven,
be you of generosity or of greed.
Heaven is not defined by conduct,
but by the Presence of God, indeed.
God is simply the source of life,
but not what life may do.
It is up to each of us in life
to believe and follow through.
Every place is Heaven,
but most do not see it that way.
Most see Nature as wonderful,
but do not see themselves in play.
No one is separate from Nature
no matter how much we hope it’s so.
To know you are part of it all
is to be engulfed in the flow.
If Heaven is every place,
where does Hell fit in?
Hell is not a place - like Heaven.
It’s when Heavenly creatures sin.
To sin is to believe in less worth
or to claim that of another.
Hell is only insisting
on a right to plunder.
If Heaven is every place,
what will happen when I die?
I suppose that if I found Heaven here,
I’ll find it again next time.
But if I insisted on making life hard
for others in this life,
then it is likely I will continue
to live another life of strife.
Heaven is every place,
but it’s up to each to choose.
If you insist that God is missing,
more than likely, you will lose.
Why waste life looking for Hell
when Paradise is at hand?
Open your mind and soul
and know you’re in command.
Heaven is every place.
It cannot be otherwise.
How can it possibly be
that God is missing in this life?
Everyone is a Heavenly creature -
like an angel in disguise.
So, let’s join in Heavenly song
and praise God for our lives.
Every place is Heaven;
it’s just a matter of a view.
There is no God outside of life
that’s not inside it too.
You cannot divide Infinity
into what’s evil and what’s good.
So, let everyone realize
All’s one great brotherhood.