There are two fish in the ocean. One fish asks the other: "Where is the ocean?" The second fish responds: "It's all around you, it moves through you, it is what sustains your very being." ... The first fish says: "Where?? I can't see this 'ocean' anywhere!"

God is not some "personality"... it's not some individual... it is the very basis of all consciousness that moves all around you and through you at every moment. What is it that keeps you from seeing something so simple? It's so simple, all around you and right in front of you, yet you remain oblivious to it. Even so many people who "believe in God" remain oblivious to it. Their beliefs are only mind-images, not real knowing. To deny "God" is to deny yourself. But you won't see this until you've gone through countless lives of suffering (the suffering of being away from "yourself").

Of course nobody is going to be open to your "beliefs" if you're a jerk to people. Are you very open to Christians that try to force their "right beliefs" upon you? Somehow I don't think you are. What makes you think people are going to be open to YOU when you do the same thing as those Christians trying to convert everyone? What if someone came up and said your non-belief in "God" is just your drug to escape the truth and then tried to tell you that their "belief in God" is the right way, but covered it up and masked it as just "expressing a different view". But they're not just "expressing a different presperctive". They are attached to that perspective, and you are attached to yours. That attachment is the source of all conflict in the world.

But it's true -- by some miracle of the "drug of delusion" you fail to see the fundamental truth looking you right in the face. This "drug" is called Maya ... delusion ... ignorance ... non-awareness. It is a very powerful force, a darkness that causes men and all beings to see things as other than they really are. You are so enveloped by this darkness, how can you have any hope of finding the light? And the funny thing is, so many people who talk about "belief in God" or whatever their particular religion happens to be, are just as shrouded as you are. Only their "belief" is different.

You don't have to "believe in God" to find God. Even an atheist can find God. But to reject the possibility of God is to reject yourself. You become closed to yourself, and so the whole point of your life beings meaningless and full of misery. You may ask, "How do you know God exists?" ... to which I would ask you, "How do you know YOU exist?" Give some serious thought to that question and many things will open up to you. But how open will you be to even that simple thought? When will you emerge from this?

Love,
--James