Spirituality - God
Each person has his or her own God and they range from statues, names, people, spirits, and definitions to no God other than logic and science. The question of "what is God" has been asked and pondered since the beginning of time.
Our definition of God is simple and universal: God is.
What do we mean by this? God will come to you in whatever form you are willing to receive Him, which in most cases translates to not at all because most people are too busy to spend time trying to get to know Him. God is what you make Him, Her, or It. God is an all-encompassing word for everything that exists in your universe. You have no way of knowing anything other than what you have been taught, observed, or experienced. Therefore, for you, God exists in a tiny sphere about the size of a melon -- your head.
Of course God is much more than what is in your head. The question is, do you know this from experience or only from what you've been taught?
The spiritual masters taught that we can know God by cultivating a personal relationship with Him (we will use the word "Him" for simplicity sake). How can one possibly know God? There is only one way and that is personal experience through effort and actions to know God.
What kind of effort? That depends on your beliefs, but there are some universal truths as taught by all God-realized prophets and spiritual masters.
1. The first universal truth is that God can only be experienced when the mind is still -- when you are not thinking about your job, errands you need to run, or conversations you had the day before. Another way of looking at this is that God can only be known when the mind is pure.
2. The second universal truth is that God can only be perceived in the present moment. You will not find God in the past or future -- only in the now.
3. The third universal truth is devotion. God is rarely known to those who are not devoted, loving, and receptive to His subtle, but inexplicably joyful presence. You cannot put in a minimal effort, occasionally, with little belief, faith, love or devotion and expect to know God.
4. The fourth universal truth as taught by all true masters is that you must have love in your heart. This means never judging or harming any other creation. This means loving all that is, just as God loves all of His creation. Only by righteous acts that benefit the world can one feel fulfilled, cultivate love, and achieve the mental, physical, and spiritual state necessary to realize God's presence within.
5. This fifth and absolutely most important universal truth is that God is within you. You cannot find God in this world. You cannot find Him anywhere but within yourself. You cannot find God through studying the scriptures, socializing with others of the same religion, building churches, or accumulating material wealth. As Jesus said: "Behold the Kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17: 21) You will not find God through intellectual or philosophical discussion. You certainly will not find God or fulfillment by trying to prove to yourself and others that God does not exist or that your God is the only true God.
Regardless of your religious belief, these truths are universal and can be applied to any person's life. One thing that all God-realized masters teach is this: Do not take the words of any teacher to be the truth without personally experiencing that truth. Test the principles personally. If you have not connected with God and experienced Him yourself, you cannot say that you know the truth. You cannot say that you know God. All you know then is what you've read, been taught, and observed in other people, which is not knowing at all, but assuming.
Do not fret. There are great tools that have been left for us by the masters that we may use to achieve this divine perception; the most powerful being meditation, and coming in close runners up are prayer, devotion, right actions, and love.
http://www.wellness.com/totalwellness.asp?catID=spirit_god
