The Power of the Mind, and the God Illusion

Mind over matter is a very real thing. I’m not talking about bending spoons or levitating, but I think the mind has very real capabilities of meddling with our realities, and in fact meddles with our realities constantly. A mind determined towards one thing or another will often bring that thing into being. Those who don’t give up achieve. Those whose minds defer to other things achieve less. 'You can do anything you put your mind to', we say.

Even things of little or no consciousness can be brought forth by the power of the mind. Take for example our friends, who we subconsciously gravitate to based on deep psychological needs or desires. Or how those who find purpose in being needed attract the needy. Or women who’ve been abused attract abusers. Those whose life experience has taught them their value is in their beauty will surround themselves with those who make them feel beautiful. It’s all of the mind - we create our own realities. To “cure” conditions like the girl who attracts abusers, we visit mind doctors, psychologists, and change our minds so that we think differently about ourselves and stop attracting that type.

One can’t help taking a look at the minds of the religious in all their sacred fervor. I think a lot of the time we humans pray to a god we’ve created with our minds. Rousseau said, ‘God created man in his own image. And man, being a gentlemen, returned the favor’. All fine and dandy (whatever helps us sleep at night), but the scary part is that we create an interactive god, whose signs and [therefore] presence follow us.

A god’s people will pray to him corporately and individually, go on with their business, leaving their requests and petitions with him, and then go and answer their own prayers. The one praying for a job looks for a job and finds one. The one praying for a convert preaches and saves some. The one praying for riches keeps his eyes peeled for an investment opportunity or educates himself on better money management. The mother who prays for her children nurtures them and they turn out to be great people. We pray for our deep desires and we can’t help but move in their direction, and in our determination, make them happen. Those who add faith to desire create for themselves an outlook of anticipation, and the physical 'aura' of achievement, and often other people comply with their requests based on this strength and resolve. (Wow, I'm sounding really new age! but it's true!)

We can set our minds to see certain things. If I am considering buying a 1990 Integra and I claim to have never really noticed one before, soon enough, I see an Integra every 5 minutes as I drive around. Am I the only one that things like this happen to? We choose what we see [subconsciously, and because it appears out of our control, it convinces us it's of the external]. I could take the sight of so many Integras as a sign that I should buy the Integra! The same is true for things like sexual attraction – there is a massive glaze of people and passersby, but for some reason, you can spot that one person coming half a block away. Why do our eyes stop there? A person whose context is prayer will see answers to prayer everywhere.

This is the god illusion, the self-delusion. I hate to be the skeptic, but I am so wary of all of this. The god illusion is the source of all kinds of misery: it impassions suicide bombers; it finances private jets and Jags for televangelists; it bankrupts the true church of authenticity and fills its walls with the superstitious; it enlists boys into the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda. On the flip side, it helps a lot of people get through their days, and even their lives. It gives purpose to their waking, and strength for their obstacles. I can’t help but think of a rabbit happily munching on a carrot underneath a crate held up on one side by a stick and a string. The carrot deceives them and leads them to an end.

In Churchianity, we are always taught 2 things that actually enable the God illusion and keep us in attendance. The first is that this is about faith, not experience. Don’t look for an experience; you just need to believe He’s there and that you’re His. The second is that prayer must be accommodated by action. Now I’m not saying these aren’t scriptural; all I’m saying is that it’s convenient we’re taught this. If (when) these points can be backed up with a verse or two, the onus is on us for faith, not God for action. If we believe this, we’re less likely to give up, less likely to stop going to church and to stop tithing. Teaching a God-onus takes some bravery, and humility. In fact, it takes faith!

Here’s a God-onus: “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:22-24

In all I’ve learned, with as many prayer-hours as I’ve put in, I’ve always sought genuine and substantial God experiences. As much as people told me not to seek out these things, I could not live with myself if I could not give some element of sight to my faith.

The true test is to pray and do nothing.