SEEK AND YOU WILL FIND

Brent Anderson

Each of us is a blazing spark of consciousness that wonders at a future that will inevitably bring death. This termination seems to each a terrible use of such brightness of personal being. From this individual thought arose the concept of life after death, since it is inconceivable to each of us that we will be drowned by darkness in the end. The unknown that is an individuals future has been filled throughout the ages by religions that were, in most cases, the invention of individuals who wished to provide answers to the question of life after death. The surprising thing is that within this wide spectrum of individual religions or belief systems there are always some shared concepts that are a common thread through the whole spectrum of religions. The real question is why this is so? One would imagine that the religions of the ancient world were quite isolated from each other, and so why the correlation? Perhaps the answer lies within the concept of one God who has communicated with those who sought him worldwide, and the fact that each of the supplicants had a worldview that differed from all the others. The correlation could be understood better if an experiment were to be conducted in which the same piece of complex information is given to many individuals in a group. The results of this simple experiment are always the same, when individuals are asked for their own interpretation it will never match exactly any one else’s, while a common thread will always be recognizable.

The unfortunate thing about such conjecture is that in reality there can be no answer to these questions based upon the methods available to science. Observation tells us that those who have ceased to exist in this world do not communicate with those of us who remain. There have always been those who claim to talk to the dead for remuneration, but on close scientific investigation these charlatans are always unmasked. This truth creates within more rational minds a deep and abiding distrust of those who make such claims. This skepticism, which was born of the antics of charlatans, runs deep within the academic community who are the teachers of our children. From this academic base has arisen a religion based upon non-belief, or Atheism. Atheism is a comfortable religion, for it requires no code of morality, but it fails miserably when the unbeliever faces death. It has been said “there are no Atheists in foxholes”. Is it any wonder that this religion has many adherents amongst the hedonistic young, and few amongst those who are close to their own personal expiration date?

Still the question agitates our minds, “what will happen when I die”? This conjecture is brought forcefully to each consciousness on occasions when a loved one dies, leaving those who continue to grieve. Is it any wonder that our religions speak of life after this life? Our existence innately proclaims to each of us that we are more than short candles burning in the darkness.

Is there a way to gain some insight of our continuance that does not involve charlatans who seek money for peering into the future? The answer is yes, but to seek the truth is not a pursuit for those who are unwilling to deny the physical body and its needs. There is no need for money or power in this pursuit, rather the opposite. Only denial of self-interest and the elevation of the interest of others will bring such knowledge. Many religions throughout the world spell out similar formulas, but there are very few who are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to follow those arduous paths in search for knowledge of God. It is from the few who cared enough to follow that path that we gain our religions and insights into the future and the realm of God. The interesting thought is that almost universally the ones who introduce such new revelation seek no money for what they have been given. The thought of turning the truths of revelation to employment seems always to be the pursuit of those who are not willing to invest the time or effort to seek God’s truths first hand.

The very nature of this pursuit inflames the skeptics, for they see nothing but charlatans who are after money for the religious solace they charily mete out. They feel vindicated in their stand because no matter where they look they find hucksters selling Gods word to the “gullible”. While this stand is rational on the face, it unfortunately leads them to become truly blind to the teachings of the few who lead the way to true communication with God. The question for the discerning then becomes, is there some thread of truth in the skeptic’s stand against religion, if most seem to be in the business of religious commerce (priest craft)?

If we consider the life and teachings of Jesus Christ who most would allow was an exemplary figure at the very least, perhaps we will find some answers for the questions that haunt the existence of the living. Here was a man (to many God) that lived a life of poverty relying on the charity of others to provide sustenance. A man who went to the desert and fasted and prayed for forty days and returned not to claim power or wealth, as many expected of the coming Messiah, but to teach the poor, the downtrodden, the sinners of a loving Father. (The powerful among the Jewish nation would have forgiven him if he had sought power and wealth, but not for his consorting with sinners.) He established a church, which was spread to the world by missionaries that traveled “without purse or script”, not by a paid clergy. His Gospel was love of God and fellow man. He asked only that man and woman give up selfishness and pursue the betterment of all, and said to them simply “follow me”. He did not mean follow me to riches and power but to lives of service and communication with God. His message was to the individual who wonders at the inevitable work of time. He said, “My peace I give to you”. That peace was for the soul, not the physical. He also said “Seek and you will find” and again this was meant for the soul that wonders about the future when physical life ceases.

The approach to God is best described as scary. We each are well aware that the skeptics will view our attempts to talk with God as the funny antics of the insecure. Additionally, we wonder to ourselves that if we hear the voice of God, will it just be a sign that we are losing our sanity? This is a natural reaction caused by the sure knowledge that in all of our previous existence here on Earth we have never heard voices in our head. It takes great courage to approach God with the intent of talking to him, and few will ever go beyond prayer in which a laundry list of wants and thanks are presented. To the few who have the courage to listen, there gradually comes certain knowledge that God has been talking to them their whole life, and they have just not listened. The peaceful, quiet, thoughts of our Father flow, like the purest water over our intellects, urging us to love and nurture others. Our Father’s words always bring peace to the troubled soul, solace for worries, and eventually, a sure knowledge of the eternal nature of man. For you see it is true that if you seek, you will find your glorious future and past. At last you will understand that you are eternal Sons and Daughters of the Father.