Who Is Your God?

“I believe in Spinoza’s God, who reveals himself in the harmony of all that exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.”

Albert Einstein

1929 Conversation With Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein

Baruch de Spinoza, the 17th-century Dutch philosopher, was one of the early enlightenment thinkers. Spinoza was a vocal proponent of Rationalism. After his death, his modern approach to defining the universe and the self became a way of knowing.

When Albert Einstein gave lectures at U.S. universities, students often asked him about his belief in God. Einstein always answered the same way:

“I believe in the God of Spinoza.”

Professor Einstein’s thoughts on Spinoza’s belief in God did not change when he gave his lectures. The basic premise Spinoza believed was God wanted people to stop worshiping him. He wanted them to reconnect to the non-physical being within them. Spinoza told his followers the energy called God wants you to go out into the world and enjoy your life. He wants you to sing, have fun and enjoy everything you created with God’s sharing energy.

Einstein’s explanation of Spinoza’s remarks went something like the message below. Each lecture had his unique delivery flavor, but the meat of his message was the same.

(Spinoza): Your God wants you to quit going into those churches and temples. He never said he needed a home. His house is in nature. It is the energy within oceans, mountains, rivers, beaches, and the energy within you.

If your life feels miserable, change it. God never said you have innate flaws or you have to pay for the sins of others. And he never said sexuality is a bad thing. Sex is a gift that expresses your love, your joy, and ecstasy. Do not blame God for what society made you believe about sex.

Forget about all those sacred scriptures that have nothing to do with what God is. If you cannot see God’s energy in a sunrise, you will not find God in a book or a church.

Please stop fearing God. No God judges or criticizes. That means he would always judge and criticize a part of his consciousness. God’s Love Is All There Is. And stop asking for forgiveness. There’s nothing to forgive. Why would God blame you if he is part of you?

How can He punish anyone for being the way they are? God is what you are. Do you think he could create a place where a part of him suffers for the rest of eternity? And a place where you rest forever? What kind of God would do that? Energy is in motion in many forms, so consciousness is never idle. You create heaven or hell in your physical life.

You have inner freedom. Forget about prizes or punishments, as well as sins. No one carries a pre-birth marker. God wants you to feel him in a blade of grass and the cells in your body. He wants you to feel value fulfillment in your relationships and your world. Believing in joy and the natural beauty within you is all the praise God needs.

Life is not a test, not a step to something else. It is not a rehearsal or a prelude to paradise. Your life is the only thing here and now. And God and you experience it together.

You are here to physically feel your emotions and beliefs. The gestalt called God expands from each perceived experience.