The Universe is a Simple Creature
Humanity does a great deal to make things more complicated. Often, we do this in the name of making things “easier” but it’s more a matter of testing to see whether or not we can. Watch any video of self-driving cars failing to parallel park or try to use a computer when Mercury is in retrograde (kind of kidding, kind of not) to see my point. Sometimes, I think technology is humanity’s great false promise. It is meant to make things easier, when all it does is add complexity and stuff to our lives.
In reality, the Universe is a really simple creature. If things are meant to be, its green lights all the way. If it isn’t, the Universe will tell us “no” as many times as it has to for us to get the message. If things are meant to be, we get a lot of yeses from the Universe. We seem to bump into that one person who can help us everywhere we go. A company welcomes us in and wants to pay us more than we were planning to ask for. We get invited to a party we didn’t plan on and meet someone special.
And when things are not meant for us, the Universe is just as quick to say, “nope, not for you.” We are not included by a group where we think we want to belong. We don’t get the job. We get rejected by someone who isn’t treating us very well or doesn’t want to share in our vision of the future.
I have a hard time listening to the Universe. I’m willing to bet many of us do. It’s an easy mistake to make, especially when we think everything is up to us and us alone. This, I think, is the real peril of the Free Will, which is a sticky wicket in any religion, particularly those that are monotheistic. Why would God really give us Free Will if we’re just going to BLEEP everything up? How could God be Good if we’re allowed to really run our lives into ground? We can get ourselves into lots of trouble when we’re trying to force things or we’re not listening, just like toddlers do.
As a recovering atheist, I have the great luxury of testing out faith in its purest form. Am I allowed to believe that my life will be better if I just believe in a Higher Good? There is something wonderful about starting from scratch. My current definition of God doesn’t have much to do with faces or beards or what was previously written. It’s just about believing I am worthy of happiness and if I pay attention, what happens when I follow the yeses.
This is why meditation is so often encouraged as a stress reliever and component of many spiritual practices. It is an opportunity to sit in the state of Flow, where God or Good resides, and improves our Universal listening skills. It tunes us into actually hearing a YES or a NO. Biblical or Koranic or Vedic scriptures aside, meditation turns up our spiritual hearing aids.
Call me crazy, but I truly believe life or love or work shouldn’t have to be so hard. As a human, there is a great deal in our culture telling us, “Life’s a BLEEP, and then you die.” Capitalism, a purely manmade construction that sometimes seems completely Godless, creates plenty of opportunities for us to abandon God and embrace isolationist, exploitative practices to the detriment of all, including ourselves. We are taught that we have to “grind it out” in the name of “success” and we can spend lifetimes chasing that pathetic dream. I genuinely believe that is not what God or Good intended for any of us, and encourages many of us to spend a lifetime fighting against the Universe. We make a career in a field that doesn’t feed us. We marry someone who doesn’t appreciate us. We reject someone who loves us only to pursue someone who doesn’t. We make tons of money and are still miserable.
I’m not advocating for giving up entirely. There is nothing like a good challenge in life. But I do think the Universe carves a path for us, and life is so much better when we follow the yeses.