^{P68:3, 5:5.1} Morality has its origin in the reason of self-consciousness; it is superanimal
but wholly evolutionary. Human evolution embraces in its unfolding all
endowments antecedent to the bestowal of the Adjusters and to the pouring
out of the Spirit of Truth. But the attainment of levels of morality
does not deliver man from the real struggles of mortal living. Man's
physical environment entails the battle for existence; the social surroundings
necessitate ethical adjustments; the moral situations require the making
of choices in the highest realms of reason; the spiritual experience
(having realized God) demands that man find him and sincerely strive
to be like him.



^{P68:4, 5:5.2} Religion is not grounded in the facts of science, the obligations of
society, the assumptions of philosophy, or the implied duties of morality.
Religion is an independent realm of human response to life situations
and is unfailingly exhibited at all stages of human development which
are postmoral. Religion may permeate all
four levels of the realization of values and the enjoyment of universe
fellowship: the physical or material level of self-preservation; the
social or emotional level of fellowship; the moral or duty level of
reason; the spiritual level of the consciousness of universe fellowship
through divine worship.



^{P68:5, 5:5.3} The fact-seeking scientist conceives of
God as the First Cause, a God of force. The emotional artist sees God
as the ideal of beauty, a God of aesthetics. The reasoning philosopher
is sometimes inclined to posit a God of universal unity, even a pantheistic
Deity. The religionist of faith believes in a God who fosters survival,
the Father in heaven, the God of love.

^{P68:6, 5:5.4} Moral conduct is always an antecedent of evolved religion and a part
of even revealed religion, but never the whole of religious experience.
Social service is the result of moral thinking and religious living.
Morality does not biologically lead to the higher spiritual levels of
religious experience. The adoration of the abstract beautiful is not
the worship of God; neither is exaltation of nature nor the reverence
of unity the worship of God.



^{P68:7, 5:5.5} Evolutionary religion is the mother of the science, art, and philosophy
which elevated man to the level of receptivity to revealed religion,
including the bestowal of Adjusters and the coming of the Spirit of
Truth. The evolutionary picture of human existence begins and ends with
religion, albeit very different qualities of religion, one evolutional
and biological, the other revelational and periodical. And so, while
religion is normal and natural to man, it is also optional. Man does
not have to be religious against his will.

^{P69:1, 5:5.6} Religious experience, being essentially spiritual, can never be fully
understood by the material mind; hence the function of theology, the
psychology of religion. The essential doctrine of the human realization
of God creates a paradox in finite comprehension. It is well-nigh impossible
for human logic and finite reason to harmonize the concept of divine
immanence, God within and a part of every individual, with the idea
of God's transcendence, the divine domination of the universe of universes.
These two essential concepts of Deity must be unified in the faith-grasp
of the concept of the transcendence of a personal God and in the realization
of the indwelling presence of a fragment of that God in order to justify
intelligent worship and validate the hope of personality survival. The
difficulties and paradoxes of religion are inherent in the fact that
the realities of religion are utterly beyond the mortal capacity for
intellectual comprehension.

^{P69:2, 5:5.7} Mortal man secures three great satisfactions from religious experience,
even in the days of his temporal sojourn on earth:

^{P69:3, 5:5.8} 1. Intellectually he acquires the satisfactions of a more unified
human consciousness.

^{P69:4, 5:5.9} 2. Philosophically he enjoys the substantiation of his ideals
of moral values.

^{P69:5, 5:5.10} 3. Spiritually he thrives in the
experience of divine companionship, in the spiritual satisfactions of
true worship.

^{P69:6, 5:5.11} God-consciousness, as it is experienced by an evolving mortal of the
realms, must consist of three varying factors, three differential levels
of reality realization. There is first the mind consciousness -- the
comprehension of the idea of God. Then follows the soul consciousness
-- the realization of the ideal of God. Last, dawns the spirit consciousness -- the realization of the spirit reality of God. By the unification of these factors of the divine realization,
no matter how incomplete, the mortal personality at all times overspreads
all conscious levels with a realization of the personality of
God. In those mortals who have attained the Corps of the Finality all
this will in time lead to the realization of the supremacy of
God and may subsequently eventuate in the realization of the ultimacy of God, some phase of the absonite superconsciousness of the Paradise
Father.



^{P69:7, 5:5.12} The experience of God-consciousness remains the same from generation
to generation, but with each advancing epoch in human knowledge the
philosophic concept and the theologic definitions of God must change.
God-knowingness, religious consciousness, is a universe reality, but
no matter how valid (real) religious experience is, it must be willing
to subject itself to intelligent criticism and reasonable philosophic
interpretation; it must not seek to be a thing apart in the totality
of human experience.

^{P69:8, 5:5.13} Eternal survival of personality is wholly dependent on the choosing
of the mortal mind, whose decisions determine the survival potential
of the immortal soul. When the mind believes God and the soul knows
God, and when, with the fostering Adjuster, they all desire God,
then is survival assured. Limitations of intellect, curtailment of education,
deprivation of culture, impoverishment of social status, even inferiority
of the human standards of morality resulting from the unfortunate lack
of educational, cultural, and social advantages, cannot invalidate the
presence of the divine spirit in such unfortunate and humanly handicapped
but believing individuals. The indwelling of the Mystery Monitor constitutes
the inception and insures the possibility of the potential of growth
and survival of the immortal soul.



^{P70:1, 5:5.14} The ability of mortal parents to procreate is not predicated on their
educational, cultural, social, or economic status. The union of the
parental factors under natural conditions is quite sufficient to initiate
offspring. A human mind discerning right and wrong and possessing the
capacity to worship God, in union with a divine Adjuster, is all that
is required in that mortal to initiate and foster the production of
his immortal soul of survival qualities if such a spirit-endowed individual
seeks God and sincerely desires to become like him, honestly elects
to do the will of the Father in heaven.

My thoughts on who or what God is can be explained by calling it God Consciousness.  I believe there are creator gods that create in the material world but they are not to be worshipped only respected.  God consciousness is who we are and what everything is.  Letting go of ego defenses, learning to forgive, and using various techniques for raising spiritual consciousness will go a long way in helping us transition to living a more harmonious life with each other.

I'm looking forward in reading your blogs on this subject.