We all realize that it is the twenty first century. We have landed on the moon, developed nuclear weapons, have the power to shift the earth from its axis with that same technology, can spot your Hanes underwear label from 5 miles in space, can pin point a target and neutralize it from 3 miles away, never even seeing it. We can feed the entire planet (minus the political obstructions) and we can measure that light particles, everyday light, are “alive.” We can cure diseases, and have found that humans have lived in the America’s for as far back as 200,000 years. Pretty spectacular!

So I ask you; why do we still believe that an omnipotent being, (one who looks and thinks like you and me) is watching over us? Why do we spend any of our precious time here on earth (80 years if we are lucky) looking and “praying” for this being’s attention?

Let’s first think of where this “story” originated from. Our ancient ancestors, whether they are 4,000 years old or 100,000 years old, still did not have any science, math, written language, cities, governments, essentially anything. They still cooked and defended themselves with stone utensils. Remember, the story tells us that they just came out of the “Garden of Eden.” They barely ever leave the 5 mile radius of their homeland. They related this story through story telling and memorization. The oldest and “most significant” story that human kind produced was allegedly brought to you by …. memory. I suspect that their 100,000 or 4,000 year old brains will have the capacity to remember this “story” accurately, telling it year after year in many multiple languages and dialects, for thousands of years, given that language even existed 100,000 years ago and all interpretations between the languages are deciphered accurately and in a way that all humans could understand the story and remember it. This story was then allegedly remembered so completely accurate that today, we believe this story to be the “Truth” to the point that we will kill each other over its details. Not to mention the killing of all the other living things just struggling for survival around us, along with destroying the planet.
 
By the time humans wrote this story down, sometime in the early Middle Ages, the history that we understand to be the undisputed truth; the history that can be verified not just by memory, but by artifacts, writings, and artwork, can not produce any verifiable artifacts, artwork or “facts” to support “the story.” It cannot be supported by any facts even today.

This “story” can only be “believed.”  And this is done only by “faith.”

Faith! Not facts, not art, not math, not science, not politics; nothing. Nothing but what you want to think about within your own mind. And because it comes from a “belief” developed in your own mind, it lies in the intellectual realm we humans have classified as religion.

Please remember, people are dying by the thousands right now because of this exact “belief.” It does not matter whether you are Jewish, Muslim, Christian, pagan, animistic or whatever. Your god is guiding you and protecting you. Your god provides the "moral right" that allows you to perpetrate the unspeakable acts of war. Just think about this for a minute. When it gets down to the “say a prayer and pass me the bullets”, god resides in those very thoughts. It’s really between you and god at that point. Right? And isn't that what this is all about. You and god? So what does god really want then? My attention? My love? My respect? Why does god need any of that? Does god really have any "needs?" Any at all? Anything?

If you are of the persuasion that god wants us to love each other as a way to love god, then what’s god “need” our love for. Is god lonely, in need of love? Since this philosophical entity only exists in our minds, doesn’t this strongly suggest that we have created this personal entity for our own need to love ourselves and maybe each other? You and me. Remember, when it gets down to the nitty gritty, it’s really just between you and god. When you take your last and final breaths, it will only be between you and god; in your own mind. You and god. Really...it’s you. Amen. No pun intended.

And should you begin to understand god in this way; the concept that god is really all about you, you may begin to realize that it’s only you that will “grab yourself up by your bootstraps” (that great Republican mantra), no one else. You are completely responsible; for all of this. It’s your planet, your living companions, your neighbors. And we all must depend on each other to stay alive. You are not alone, never were. They have always been here, all around you. They will always be here, until you destroy them. Should you recognize this (by the way, this is really what "loving yourself" means), then you can begin "the self love" with your family and friends, then your town, then your nation and finally your planet. Stop killing your neighbors and your planet. It’s yours!! It’s theirs!! It’s you.