eThoughts : Conflicts and Cahoots

And furthermore…

What is our real master behind the stories in our religions? I’m guessing these stories are supposed to represent trail markers for humans to follow in the otherwise confusing landscape of existence in a physical body on a physical plane.

I’ve been wondering about the dichotomy between a god and a devil. The stories of this great duality seem like representations of the human struggle–God is good, devil is bad. And we’ve got to choose which side we’re on.

Of course the stories always seem to indicate that the god figure is the all encompassing one and the devil figure is the fallen one. From this I might conclude that the central theme is God, and the devil is struggling to free itself from the grasp of God, and to maybe even take over. Pretty scary with lots at stake. However, this takeover would be a difficult task if God was the omnipotent one. I’m not sure there would be enough souls that would represent a tipping point so that God would lose.

In any case, this great conflict seems like but one interpretation. What if instead of a conflict, God and the devil were actually in cahoots?

Well, if we’re shifting realities to see what pops up, let’s let go of the conflict idea and go with the cooperation idea and see what we get.

All right–God is great and God is right and that’s just all there is to it. But if we’re going to experience ourselves and God through a dichotomy (it’s tough to experience something without some kind of contrast or comparison), this rightness bit can be a little annoying. Where are our choices to decide what’s right and what’s not? A little defiance seems in order.

So enters the devil. This handy little creation gives us the chance to say no to God’s rightness and experience choice for ourselves.

Brilliant. That’s got to be one major reason for creation to begin with. Works for God–no minions just blindly accepting God’s omnipotence here, only those considered souls who have come to realize God. That’s got to be a great feeling–genuine acceptance.

And it works for the devil, who would really be Godlike anyway if it’s a collaboration. The devil gets the defiance out there because it is actually a guidepost for experiencing God (and the devil). Hey–they both get their due, human souls realize God and the amazing part the devil played in bringing us all home. Lots of laughter in the heavens as we realize the great joke that worked so well.

Now this cooperation of heaven and hell is not a new idea. Dante’s Divine Comedy was written about 700 years ago and has more or less the same theme. The movie Bedazzled also embraced this idea. Apparently the popular Course in Miracles deals with much the same thing. Such it is with shifting perspectives–they happen and they shift and we forget and the cycle repeats.

So what story is our master? I do find it interesting that the conflict idea between God and the devil, and the danger of heaven being usurped by hell has dominated the religious landscape.

Why?

I don’t know. Perhaps there’s more money, more hierarchy, and more power available in the conflict interpretation–you know, losers and winners.

Personally, I favor the cooperation interpretation. It seems to fit and it seems a lot more peaceful, not to mention humorous.

Most of all, it just seems more Godlike. And regardless of the interpretation, Godlike is the point.

Well, as I said, part of the brilliance of creation is that we get to make up our own minds. And, I suspect, when we make up our minds and learn to be a bit more Godlike, we won’t need such great conflicts. That’s likely to be a bit more relaxing.