As we evolve as a species in spiritual understanding, my fondest wish is that our relationship to God evolves so that we become less inclined to judge one another based on the qualities we attribute to God – the differences which create tensions that threaten our world’s stability.

How you experience God in consciousness may be totally different from the way someone else does. Your experience of God is not universal; quite the opposite. No one will experience God in the same subjective way that you do. The mistake we make is in taking this unique subliminal interaction with the Divine and projecting it onto others, religiously. God is simultaneously unique to you, yet divine essence remains identical for all people regardless of faith or belief. Think about breathing: you may have a completely different sensation upon drawing breath than someone else – strained if you have asthma, cooling if you live in the mountains, scented by herbs if you live near a garden. Yet you are drawing in the same air as everyone else, except for a few small regional variations. Air is air – unique to you because of your perceptions, but the same for all in objective reality.

God is the same way. Your God is not the God. But because of a human proclivity to try convincing others that our way is the right way, we tend to try foisting our conception of God – or our lack of belief in a God at all – upon others and become angry if opposed. On the other hand, God can be everyone’s perception and limited to none of them. If God is infinite and formless and yet pervades everything – indeed, is everything – then how can we so arrogantly assume that any of us knows Its ultimate nature? I don’t presume in this article to do so. All I hope to do is point out what I consider to be the fallacies in our thinking and, hopefully, point the way to a new understanding or consideration that reflects what I believe to be a clearer picture of reality – and maybe of divinity.

Excerpted from God is Not a Christian, Nor A Jew, Muslim, Hindu ... by Bishop Carlton Pearson ©2010 Atria Books.