God, as I know Him and Understand His Presence by Christopher Kent Rice
	The following are my beliefs on who God is and how I understand his presence. It has been developed over the past 35 years of my young life. The real work of coming to these conclusions has come in the last six years and has come to pass through my effort to understand God in my Life and the world. I accomplished this by studying the bible and contemplating His existence as I sat in a tree stand hunting deer with my bow. It also was affected by several minor problems in my life which were small in the scheme of the universe, but which were very traumatic to me. They have made me question my whole belief system and caused me to question the divinity of my religious institution. I write these words mainly for myself, but I also write them for the benefit of my friends and family. If they can benefit from them in any way, I will be well pleased. As you read them, I hope they will strengthen your belief. If you are confused as to the existence of God, I hope it will help you see him. If you do not believe in God and have no intention of ever believing in him, or you totally disagree with my conclusions, then I hope that this will serve you to better understand me. Christopher Kent Rice
	Picture yourself a Goose flying at 2,000 feet, this is you. You have free will to fly in any direction, the choice is yours, your conscious mind allows you to fly North, South, East, West, up, or down, it is your choice. It is winter though, and your unconscious mind tells you to fly South, for your own health and well being, but you have wings and a free conscious mind so you do not have to fly South if you choice not to. Life will be harder for you if you don't fly South, but it is your choice. This urge from your unconscious mind is the voice of God. Again, picture yourself a flying goose at 2,000 feet, there are clouds, wind, storms, snow, rain, other geese, and other birds all around you. They demand the constant attention of your conscious mind in order to survive in this airy world. You must constantly monitor this environment to stay ahead of the game. And where is God? He is the base of the molecules that your wings push against to get you into flight on a crisp calm morning and he is the architect of the physical world that you now inhabit. You can't see what your wings push against to get you into flight, but something is there to push against. This is the body of God, touching and running through everything in your environment. You can't see or feel him, but you know He is there and the only contact he has with you is through your unconscious mind, which can easily be reached through quiet prayer and meditation or through the LOVE you give and receive from other people and yourself. Why should you love other people and yourself? Because through loving yourself and other people you grow closer to God and to seeing God as he is and what he wants. You can however, get caught up in monitoring your environment, controlling it, and seeking your own will to the point that you can no longer feel his presence or listen to his quiet council through your unconscious mind, and in so doing. move down hard paths and lose track of where you are going and as a by-product, lose control of your environment, control itself, and your free will. Again, picture yourself a goose, flying second in a V formation. The lead goose is cutting the wind so that those that follow her use less strength and energy. She could fly alone but in helping others she helps herself, for when she tired, she will fly back to the end of the V, where the flying is the easiest and you will be asked to lead the flock. You will do what is best for the others and in so doing, what is best for you. THIS IS LOVE. Love for self (the flight is made easier for you) and love for others (through your hard work and sacrifice you have the flight for the rest of your flock easier). This is the face of God. This is how God makes himself seen by you. For God is Love and He Who Abides in Love abides in God and God in Him. Yes God is love and he has made himself known to the world through love. Jesus Christ, if you take the time to actually read him, spoke only of love and how to lead a life of love and in so doing, we would find the kingdom of god, which as I have illustrated in the sentences before, is all around us and actually in us. He also told us this. It's there in his how to book, the New Testament. Many other prophets and sages told us the same things. Their guide books might be different in actual words, but the themes sound as though they are the same (I haven't read them but they seem the same from what I have heard.) and that is that God is love. An all surrounding consciousness that makes itself known to us through our unconscious mind and the love we show our self and others. The body of God surrounds and lives within us all and makes us all connected. The voice of God speaks to us through our unconscious minds if we will just listen and try to stay in contact. The face of God can be seen by us through the love we have for others and the love we have for our self. A word about organize religion. It can be very dangerous and it can be a place of great spiritual growth and love. Originally it was meant to be a classroom for the how to manuals of Christ and other Prophets and sages. that is to say the 'how to lead a life of love', or a 'God like life'. In doing so, the congregation would become closer to God, to see, hear, and feel his presence. Unfortunately, mans stiff neck prejudices, power plays, and dogma's took the place of the real teaching, and that is to love. Many times religions have split to get back to the original teachings of love only to have the same thing happen to them. These organized religions still have the basic principals of love at their foundations, if you can remember that the prejudices, power plays, and dogma's are there and to disregard them. For there can be great transfers of Love and Joy associated with these institutions of religious study. Let me point out there though that they are just a tool, like the how to books, to make it easier and more pleasurable to come in closer contact to God and to make the transition into our next existence, whatever that might be, easier.
	Items on this page are © Copyright 1995 Chris Rice, All Rights Reserved.. If you have comments or would like to speak with the author, send email to chris@wildrice.com