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...[S]piritual reality is here and everywhere, now and forever. Different traditions use different metaphors and know it by different names--Yahweh, Brahma, Atman, Allah, the Tao Great Spirit, God--but all speak to the same Spirit.
...By the understanding of this model, God, the Spirit of Creation, the ground of being, is manifest in every person, creature, rock, particle, and thought--in all that is. Therefore, we are quite literally living in relationship with the Spirit we call God in every aspect of every minute of our lives, for we have no existence apart from this relationship. We have only the choice to be true to the relationship or to betray it.
... By the reckoning of the spirit model, a sin is committed when in an act of infidelity we metaphorically forsake the Spirit for other lovers--for example, money or violence. Sin is defined not as a transgression of some set of laws, but rather as a betrayal of the Spirit. The Spirit has no need to judge. The punishment for infidelity is the self-inflicted pain of alienation that is a direct and inevitable consequence of the faithless act of itself. By this reckoning any institution or doctrine--political, economic, scientific, or religious--that promotes greed and violence or otherwise systematically counsels and requires our dalliances with other lovers promotes idolatry and manifests evil. --David Kortin, The Great Turning
Heaven helps those who help themselves. You know the honorable thing to do, so do it. Accept guidance from your higher self, and everything will turn out for the best. --The I Ching
