One of the gifts that I attribute to the land of my birth, India, is the absolute and total conviction that I needed a guide in life. The idea that I could in any way know absolutely what I was doing day to day, moment to moment on my own is foreign. I cannot remember ever thinking this way. This is one of the many parts of the foundations that are different between east and west but it doesn’t need to be a permanent one.
Ironically the very independence in the west that makes capitalism successful emphasizes the need to individual decision making and action. This thought permeates every level of our existence. Even those who are spiritually inclined believe and talk about the need for decision making and moving ahead. The challenge lies not in the decision and action itself, rather in the driver behind the action. Are we only Spirit led in rhetoric or do we live under the Spirit’s guidance. I can hear my esteem colleagues of all persuasions warning of the risks. How can you rely on what you cannot see and touch? Is this all about feelings and emotions? Does any of this make any sense? These are just some of the possible questions that endlessly roll off their tongues.
There are no completely safe answers to the questions and fear. In the end I always come back to a question of independence. Do I know what is best for my life or does God? Am I willing to model and act on the instruction of a Guide or not? Will I submit myself to another, even God?
If any of the answers to these questions comes back to and “I” then I am, excuse the bluntness, a functional atheist even if I say that I believe in God. Remember, as “Jesus explained himself at length. ‘I'm telling you this straight. The Son can't independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father doing. What the Father does, the Son does.’” (John 5.19)
Be careful out there. Life is dangerous.
