I’m convinced that a belief in God is one of the more useful heuristics available to us humans. Whether there exists one or not isn’t so important. It’s more the suspension of disbelief that seems to matter.
It’s like going to see a movie. If one is wasting one’s time debating whether the story is real or not, one misses the point. The point is to suspend disbelief and to enjoy the story. When the movie is over, one can go back to reminding oneself that the whole thing was a fiction but that it was a useful fiction in that one got to experience different emotions and maybe even learned some things about oneself or life. It might even have been enjoyable!
Similarly, a belief in God can be an enjoyable kind of illusion. But more than anything, I think it’s a useful one.
I personally don’t know anyone who is able to live in a non-dualistic frame of mind continuously. The best I know of can touch into that here and there. From a non-dualistic state, a belief in God is nonsense. It’s no different than a belief in dogshit. Or a donut. But again, who is able to live in such a state continuously?
So what does one do when one’s reality is that there is a self and there are others (i.e., dualism)? Might as well project out that which is sacred and omnipresent toward some seemingly divine being “out there” or “within” (doesn’t matter, same thing), and pretend to pray to that great being while understanding that nothing is really happening. Or maybe something important *is* happening? A Buddhist might say that one is actually purifying one’s karma so that the non-dualistic view might assert itself eventually?
It would be a little like believing and praying while dreaming. Is it more important to believe in some divine being while dreaming, or simply to wake up *within* the dream to realize that one was dreaming? I think most of us would say the latter, but if one is convinced that everything is real within the dream, then believing and praying within that dream might be better than panicking and making a scene while in the dream.
But again, it likely doesn’t matter since one wakes up eventually.
Back and forth we go, over and over. 😝😂😁
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A note on the accompanying photograph: I chose this photograph because it represents two planes of living for me. There’s the everyday life as represented by the house and all the clutter around it. It’s here that a belief in God feels relevant, kind of to help keep things in order.
Then, there’s Mt Fuji, which looms in the backdrop. Always there, always present. And undeniable. What use is a belief at this point?
The mountain represents absolute reality, that of non-dualism: there is no I, there is no other. Just is. And seemingly infinite and eternal. This is waking up.