There’s no excuse for atheism!

Do you think that Jesus is the one and only son of God?

Do you believe in eternal hell?

I don’t believe these things, but that doesn’t make me an atheist.

And if you don’t believe these things, that doesn’t make you an atheist either.

In fact, my own Spiritual Teacher, Dr. George King – who was about as far from being an atheist as it is possible to be – stated the following:

…there is no such thing as eternal hell and purgatory and damnation. That is the biggest unadulterated rubbish I have ever heard of. There is no such thing as: ‘If you do not believe that this Master is the one and only, or that Master is the one and only, you’re condemned to eternal damnation.’ That is unadulterated trash – and a lie. And a dangerous one. So dangerous that some religionists have their poor deluded congregations crushed in their hands, afraid to move hither or yon. Some of them even – the more primitive people – afraid to think for themselves…  (Note 1)

The problem with atheism, though, is that it is not just the perfectly correct rejection of traditional religious nonsense like this, but that it is also the acceptance of a whole new nonsense that is probably even worse…!

That new nonsense is the blind belief that there is no God of any kind.

There is no evidence for this belief at all.

Logical and evidentiary flaws in certain religions are not evidence to support atheism. They are evidence that those religions are flawed. Nothing more, nothing less.

An analogy for this would be: the fact that all the food in the cupboard is rotten does not support the idea that we don’t need to eat. It just means that we should find better food that isn’t rotten.

Similarly, religious hypocrisy – and downright wickedness in certain cases – is not evidence of God not existing, or even necessarily that those religions are wrong. All it means is that the people following the religion have been wrong in their actions.

You may agree with me so far, but still think: “I hear what you’re saying, but I can’t bring myself to believe in something I have no experience of myself.”

Well, I think that is fair enough, but that doesn’t make you an atheist, that makes you an agnostic: someone honest enough, and logical enough, to say – “Maybe, maybe not, I don’t know.”

Personally, I think this is probably where we should all start – even as children. In order to know something, the first thing you have to do is to admit that you don’t know it yet. Like a glass having to be empty before it can be filled.

When I was a child I always had kind of a vague belief in God – but I did not have a knowledge of God. I desperately wanted to know the truth with as much certainty as possible; “maybes” weren’t really good enough.

Let me explain…

My question was not so much “Is there a God?” but more: “What is God?”

In other words: “What is the source of creation, what is the ultimate power of the universe? Is it an old man with a long white beard on a cloud? Is it a non-Christian type of a God? Or is it something more abstract – harder to visualize and define?”

If we define God as the ultimate source and ultimate power behind everything in creation – the question “Does God exist?” becomes absurd. The question should not be “Is it?” but rather “What is it?”

You might say that we know that the ultimate source of creation was the Big Bang: the idea that the universe began as just a single point, and then expanded. But what was that single point? Why did it start expanding?

You might then say that it was some kind of chemical reaction or whatever scientists say it was (I am no expert, as you can see) – but that then raises the question: where did these chemicals come from? Why did they react in that way?

You might say that the reactions were a result of obeying the laws of physics – but why do these laws exist?

In fact, why does anything exist at all?!

* * *

It was one thing to be an atheist in the dark old days when virtually the only religion available to you was the one you were born into. If you could see the absurdity of that religion, what other recourse did you have?

But that is not the case today – at least certainly not in this part of the world. Thousands of religions, philosophies and spiritual ideologies are at our very fingertips just by typing in a few questions on Google.

In fact, we now have virtually the opposite problem to that of a couple of hundred years ago. We now have too much information, and it can seem overwhelming.

So what’s the answer?

The answer is: motive and effort.

These twin-angels in your spiritual quest will fire up the furnace of your intuition, guide the direction of your logic, and even give you whatever evidence you may need – you personally may need – not want, but need – to convince you.

If you really want truth – unconditionally – no matter what that truth may be, and if you are really willing to put the effort in – whatever effort is required – and if you are willing to live and act in the light of that truth when you have found it – then you will find it.

My strong advice in this quest would be: Along the way – never stop asking questions – of those who are meant to know, of yourself, and of God itself – whatever it may be. Do not surrender to the ignorance of blind belief. Do not be cowed into acceptance of false logic. Do not be bullied by conditioning that tries to control you by its condemnation of the true seeker.

How can you know without asking? Ask, ask, and ask again!

* * *

When I was about 16 and was beginning to try out the King Yoga practices taught by The Aetherius Society, I felt that I was getting close to the truth, but I was far from certain.

One evening, in the pitch blackness of my bedroom, when I was meant to be asleep, I stood with my arms raised in prayer, and prayed from the very bottom of my heart – as hard as I could – for truth – as unconditionally as I could conceive of – and promised that I would follow this truth if I found it.

Almost immediately I felt a surge of energy coursing through me like nothing I had ever experienced before. My eyes were closed and I didn’t see anything of any kind, but it felt as if a shaft of light had come from above and was filling my whole being.

I have never felt anything quite like it before or since.

* * *

The journey from the honest admission of ignorance – through a quest that meanders into open-minded belief – gradually reaches something more akin to knowledge. Not a blind belief – not academic information – but a true knowledge, born of intuition, logic and even sense perception.

But the journey is still not over.

The knowledge grows and blossoms into Enlightenment, but even this is not the end.

As the Karmic Lord Mars Sector 6 stated on November 17th, 1977:

“Remember – the journey towards true Spiritual Enlightenment is hard and the road steep – and it lasts forever. But the goal eventually reached, lasts forever and forever!”

The Aetherius Society Newsletter, Volume 17, Issues 1, 2, 3 & 4; January–February 1978  

***

Note 1: This extract is taken from a lecture entitled ‘Karma and Reincarnation’ given in Amersham, England, on June 19th, 1973. Among many other things, Dr. George King explains in this lecture the premise of karma as a more logical alternative to the false notion of eternal hell.

***

We warmly invite you to attend one of our Sunday Divine Services  or Twelve Blessings Services at one of our centers around the world. 

About the author
Mark Bennett is the co-author of two books, both of which he wrote with international bestselling author Richard Lawrence, namely Prayer Energy and Gods, Guides and Guardian Angels, which was voted “best book on spirituality 2007” by readers of Kindred Spirit magazine. He is the youngest International Director of The Aetherius Society, whose teachings he chose as his spiritual path at an early age.