In Day 2 of The Purpose Driven Life, we explore the concept that: I am not an accident; I was created by “God” for a purpose; “He” purposefully selected every aspect of my being, including predetermining my parents, my nationality, my appearance, the dates and times of my birth and death – everything – to serve the unique purpose “He” has in store for me.
I wrote in The Purpose Driven Life: Day 1 that the purpose of exploring this book here is to discuss whether we know in our hearts the lessons put forth by the author to be true based on our experience rather than simply believing them to be true in our minds. I’m not sure that applies to this particular lesson as it seems to me to be inherently faith-based rather than experientially knowable. Perhaps at the end of our lives we can say from experience whether “God” created us for a purpose.
As I read the chapter, I found myself needing to remember my own words about finding personal meaning in the Christian vocabulary used by the author. I found myself resisting many of the concepts in this chapter based on the theology of the author and the emphasis on the separation between “God” and man. I really had to step away from the book so that I could return to it with fresh eyes and an ability to hear what the author is trying to communicate.
The only way this chapter makes sense to me is if the distinction between “God” and man is erased; if we recognize that there is but One Being – “Good” – and everything that exists in the universe – everything you can see, touch, taste, smell and hear; every person you meet; everything you encounter in life – is merely an expression of Good. I think this is the true meaning behind the Holy Trinity – “God” is Being, man is the manifestation of “God”/Being in physical form, and the Holy Spirit is like a finger on the body of Being, a wave in the ocean of Being, a solar flare in the sun of Being that inhabits the physical form of man. In his life, Christ discouraged others in their attempts to deify him, instead trying to open his disciples’ eyes to their own Godliness within. Deepak Chopra says that we are all “Gods and Goddesses in embryo.” Khalil Gibran says “Like a procession you walk together towards your god-self. You are the way and wayfarers.” In other words, we didn’t just come from “God,” we are “God” made manifest in the physical world.
Warren says “‘God is love’… God didn’t need to create you. He wasn’t lonely. But he wanted to make you in order to express his love.” If “God” is truly separate from man, then I’m left wondering what creating man had to do with expressing “God’s” love. Of what, exactly, was “He” expressing “His” love when “He” created man? And to whom? The purpose is still lost on me. I’m also left wondering, if “God” created man to express “His” love, then why did “He” also create suffering? Christians might respond that “God” didn’t create suffering, that Adam and Eve brought suffering on the world by disobeying “God” and eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. However, Warren asserts that “Many children are unplanned by their parents, but they are not unplanned by God. God’s purpose took into account human error, and even sin.” By that account, “God” knew Adam and Eve would eat the apple before “He” even created them because “He” created them – and the snake – for that purpose. It all becomes very circular to me as long as “God” and man are separate entities.
But, if we accept that we are Good, and that everything that exists in the world is Good, then saying that Good made creation to “express [It’s] love” is simply to say that creation is Good expressing Itself. Good didn’t make the world, Good is the world. You are Good, and I am also Good, and that’s really all there is to say. What does it mean to ask why Good created Itself? It is enough to know that Good is and that, as a member of the body of Good, by definition you are not an accident.
TL;DR: No tl;dr for virtual book club posts.
