You are the Creator

I know some of my religious friends will accuse me of blasphemy for saying this, but if you look beyond the superficial meaning you will see this is true - you ARE the creator.

As it happens, I AM religious and I do believe in God, the Creator.  But I also believe we are each the creator of our own world.  Working in tandem with God we do create the world in which we live.

In what sense?

In a number of ways.

The world around you is simply energy, and it is the way you interpret that energy that determines how that world appears to you.  When I look around me I see God's creation and see that it is very beautiful.  I see the lovely colours.  I hear beautiful sounds - for example the lovely sound of a blackbird singing.  I smell the wonderful perfumes released by so many flowers around me.  I interact with that world and, just like the God of the Old Testament, I see that it is good!

I live in the same world as everyone around me, yet at the same time it is a very different world.  The same energies are there for us all to see, hear, smell, taste and feel.  But we all interpret those energies in different ways.  I choose to see, hear, smell, taste and feel the beauty of the world in which I live.  I see that it is good.  It is very good!  And I always give thanks to God for this wonderful world.  For my Christian readers, remember what St Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:4: "For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving!"  I couldn't put it better!

I join with Louis Armstrong in singing this beautiful song by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss:

I see trees of green, red roses too

I see them bloom for me and you

And I think to myself what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white

The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night

And I think to myself what a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces of people going by

I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do

They're really saying I love you

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow

They'll learn much more than I'll never know

And I think to myself what a wonderful world

Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world

So no matter what is happening in my life I am always thankful that I live in a wonderful world.  The same world everyone around me lives in, but where perhaps they see only grey colours, threatening situations, missed opportunities, I see the great beauty of this wonderful world and thank God every day for putting me in it.

That is one way I create my world, by tuning my senses so they recognize the beauty that is all around me, living gratefully for the privilege given to me to live in this beautiful world.  This actually creates the beauty, as beauty is simply in the eye of the beholder.  It is the same energy that surrounds everyone else, but I choose to see and enjoy the beauty.  A choice we all have, but one which far too few make.

I also create my world by choosing with what and with whom I will surround myself.  This, too, is at least partly my choice.  Yes, I recognize it is only partly my choice and that I must accept it is a shared creation.  Others may well control some of what surrounds me.  But I do have some choice here.  I can choose to mix with positive people or negative people.  I choose positive.  I can choose to read and watch beautiful things.  I can choose many of the things I have around me.  I choose to be happy by surrounding myself with things and people that make me happy.  And where I have no choice for some of those things and people I see the beauty in them anyway.

And I create my world by allowing those main choices (the choice of recognizing beauty, being thankful for it, and surrounding myself with all that I enjoy) to attract to me all that is necessary for me to continue to have a better life.  The power of manifestation - yet another way in which I am the creator of my own world.

You are the creator of your world too.  What kind of a world are you creating right now?  Do you look at it and see that it is good?  If not, begin working right now to change that world.  You have the power!  Use it!

The beginning of the universe

Recently I watched a documentary about the latest scientific studies of the beginning of the universe.  So many things the scientists said struck a chord that I read the relevant section of my Bible again.  Take a look at the two different versions:

Big Bang

The Big Bang theory is not universally accepted by scientists, but still has a large and respectable following.  Here, more or less, is what the proponents of Big Bang say happened:
 

1. In the beginning of space and time was the Big Bang.  The Big Bang resulted in a hydrogen fog.
    
2. Now the hydrogen fog was a formless, empty cloud.  Darkness covered the universe.
    
3. After millions of years, atoms of hydrogen coalesced and began fusion reactions forming the first stars.  And the stars gave out light.
    
4. There were bubbles of light in the primordial universe, separated from each other by the darkness of the hydrogen fog.
    
5. When the bubbles of light burst through the hydrogen fog, this was Cosmic Dawn, which came after the dark ages of the universe.

Genesis

Now here is Genesis 1: 1-5 (New International Version):
 

1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
    
2. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
    
3. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
    
4. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
    
5. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Comparing Big Bang and Genesis

These two versions are so close!  The only major difference between the two is the word "God", and there is absolutely nothing in Big Bang theory that says it could not have been planned and co-ordinated by God.  The purpose of science is not to prove or disprove the existence and role of God, but merely to discover the rules of the universe which those of us who believe in God believe He created.

When I realised just how close these two versions of the creation of the universe are, it sent a shiver down my spine.  It is almost as though the author of Genesis 1 was a gifted astrophysicist thousands of years before the first astrophysicist was born!

So much of the Bible is not intended to be taken literally as scientific fact, but should be read for its inner meaning just like the many parables Jesus told.  It is good to know, though, that many scientists now at least agree that the first 5 verses of the Bible are indeed scientific fact, stating in a matter of fact way what scientists have only in very recent years been able to piece together as the most likely way in which our universe was created.  I will never again read Genesis 1 without feeling that shiver; a good, comforting shiver.

I believe adherents of Hinduism will find something similar in their own holy writings.  Probably other religions too.  I would be really interested to hear from my non-Christian friends of any similarities they can find in their own religion.  Please feel free to get back to me on this, or with any thoughts of your own, in the comments section.

What This Should Mean to Us

Our distant ancestors knew so much about the basic truths of this universe.  Not from conducting scientific experiments, but by listening to what something other than a cold and logical mind told them.  We can still see this when we look, for example, at some of the beliefs of Australian aborigines.

I hope my readers will take time to meditate, study their own religious writings (of whichever religion that may be), and listen to that small, still voice within - the voice that wants us all to develop ourselves, know the Truth, and grow into better human beings.