Pandeism:

An Anthology of Natural Spirituality  

What We Must Do

“We want to stand upon our own feet and look fair and square at the world—its good facts, its bad facts, its beauties, and its ugliness; see the world as it is, and be not afraid of it... We ought to stand up and look the world frankly in the face. We ought to make the best we can of the world, and if it is not so good as we wish, after all it will still be better than what these others have made of it in all these ages.”

~ Bertrand Russell, “Why I Am Not a Christian”

A wise woman once said: “Asking a believer to describe their deity is an insightful Rorschach test into the nature of that believer’s own soul... Morality has less to do with an actual deity than with the qualities the believer projects onto that deity.” (Me, earlier this essay) An even wiser man once said: “And if that word [God] has not much meaning for you, translate it, and speak of the depths of your life, of the source of your being, of your ultimate concern, of what you take seriously without any reservation.” (Paul Tillich, The Shaking of the Foundations) What we must do is proclaim our ultimate concerns and project our expectation for their fulfillment onto ourselves. I have declared my ultimate concerns in my books: love, goodness, and fairness. For most of my life, I projected these concerns onto God; now, I embrace them as my own. What are your ultimate concerns? What do you take seriously without reservation? Are you proud of your answer? Does it reflect the person you want to be and the legacy you want to leave? If not, then become the person you want to be and project your values onto yourself. If so, then proclaim your ultimate concerns and live them; so, your life and legacy will reflect your best self, the self you want to be. Isn’t that enough?