My thoughts on God and my spiritual journey

Will Ching

I cannot be certain that there is a God and if there is one, then it is unlikely to be anything that I can comprehend.

However I feel sure that there must be something, 'God', beyond my understanding. There is so much that touches our lives, for example telepathy, healing, miracles and other unexplained psychic phenomena and I cannot imagine living this life believing that there is quite definitely no God or an afterlife which is the position of a true Atheist.

Man needs a God to deal with his fear of the unknown and to make sense of his existence and behaviour. Different religions have thus been created in various parts of the world throughout the ages.

Nearly all of them, however, contain the same common core of moral principles e.g.: Love, compassion, tolerance, peace etc that have been found essential for the survival of the human race.

Unfortunately so often, religions have been used by man to exert power, dominance and control over others and the basic principles have been forgotten and ignored

Most people need the support, guidance and discipline of religion so as to put into practice these common core principles. Religions have however, built up around them rituals, rules and dogma as well as a hierarchy of priests and leaders .

Being born in into the western world I've found myself in the Christian tradition and by discovering and joining Quakers, I found a group of people that I admired and sat comfortably with, who were devoid of the dogma and rituals - or pretty much so! They provided me with the support and discipline in my life as my basic foundation allowing me to explore the teachings, writings and philosophy of many enlightened people and traditions both past and present.

My wife has helped me greatly making this journey by encouraging me originally to join Quakers and making me aware of other spiritual teachings. Meditating together regularly for 40 years as well as spending a number of years attending a practical school of philosophy has made our spiritual journey together a rewarding and worthwhile experience.