The Truth is Inconvenient

The difference between theism and nontheism is not whether one does or doesn't believe in God. It's an issue that applies to everyone, including both Buddhists and non-Buddhists. Theism is a deep-seated conviction that there's some hand to hold: if we just do the right things, someone will appreciate us and take care of us. It means thinking there's always going to be a babysitter available when we need one. We are all inclined to abdicate our responsibilities amd delegate our authority to something outside ourselves.

Nontheism is relaxing with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the present moment without reaching for anything to protect ourselves. We sometimes think that Buddhist teachings are something outside of ourselves---something to believe in, something to measure up to. However, dharma isn't a belief; it isn't dogma. It is total appreciation of impermanence and change. The teachings disintegrate when we try to grasp them. We have to experience them without hope. Many brave and compassionate people have experienced them and taught them. The message is fearless; dharma was never meant to be a belief that we blindly follow. Dharma gives us nothing to hold onto at all.

Nontheism is finally realizing that there's no babysitter that you can count on. Just when you get a good one then he or she is gone. Nontheism is realizing that it isn't just babysitters that come and go. The whole of life is like that. This is the truth, and the truth is inconvenient.

-Pema Chödrön, Comfortable with uncertainty

"God is a concept by which we measure our pain." -John Lennon

I couldn't resist throwing in the John Lennon quote, which, now that I think about it, is quite relevant. In any event, my concept of God is not the standard one. In fact I tend to use the word God only so that I can identify with other people when they talk about it/her/him. I really get a lot out of Thich Nhat Hanh's comparison of Buddha nature with the Holy Spirit. In some sense, we are all part of God. If God is this common Buddha nature, this is true. If God is the Universe, this is true. In this view, as part of God, we each have the responsibility to carry out right actions, as determined by our own judgment in collaboration with others. We cannot abdicate authority, nor seek an outside supernatural force. On the other hand, as Beckett pointed out to me, and as Chödrön emphasizes repeatedly, guilt and self-criticism can be quite harmful here. So even though, we each have personal responsibility, that doesn't mean that we need to obsess over our mistakes and failures.
Mistakes happen and nothing can change that. It reminds us of our imperfection, of our fallibility, and helps us to connect with other people, who are also imperfect. If we follow the Bodhisattva path, despite our failures, we have the potential to do enormous good. Even though we are a small part of humanity and the universe, we can do enormous good. When a maple tree drops ten thousand seed pods, each little seed pod has the potential to grow another tree which will drop hundreds of thousands of its own seed pods. Each seed pod will probably not produce a tree, but without any seed pods maple trees
would become extinct. Also, even if the seed pod does not produce a tree, it may help to feed a squirrel, or it may help to fertilize the soil, or any of a myriad of other options. Here is a good metaphor about clinging to outcomes. If I, the seed pod, perform right actions with the expectation of a certain outcome, I will almost certainly be disappointed. If I just stay in the present moment, I will not be.