The Search for God Page 1.1
You’ve finally done it! You’ve hopped on Google search to find out about all this God stuff and somehow landed here. Well, I hope you find this information helpful.
So Why Search for God?
That’s a genuinely personal question and will differ for each person. We can simplify most people’s interests when searching for God down to something involving the mind or intellect or something involving the heart or emotions.
Some are searching for comfort; others might seek knowledge.
Intellectual
For some people, the search for God is all mental. That is how my quest began. We are those who are looking for a kernel of truth; we want answers to questions such as,
- Why does the universe exist rather than nothing?
- What happens after we die?
- What is my purpose?
Questions such as these were the intellectual and mental strivings prompting my search for God. Are you still in this camp?
Emotional
Other people might possess an attachment to the energy of nature or a connection to family and friends. They might want comfort from pain or even knowledge with which to reassure a dying loved one. They prefer answers to
- Why is there suffering?
- Will any good come from this suffering?
Some might be searching for healing from pain or desire a better life, wealth, or love.
We are all emotional creatures, and this fuels our call out into the vast universe asking for something to change. For the truly emotional seeker, three common issues are often health, happiness, and love.
Common Denominator
Even though our intellectual and emotional demands seem different, both pursuits seek to fill some perceived imperfections. Ultimately, we have an insufficiency. We lack something, we lack knowledge, and we cannot “get what we want.”
So the common denominator is a deficit, a want, a privation.
Just as in every good movie or book, the protagonist struggles to obtain something: a job, love, and the lost treasure. In each scene, something or someone prevents them from obtaining their goal. This obstacle creates angst and worry.
The scientist worries about funding or finding the cure and the lovers fret over whether they will be loved in return. We all want something to change and the inability to do that sends us on the journey to begin the search for God.
We are hoping to obtain answers that will satisfy our intellectual and emotional vacancies. Even though the search centers around an effort to fill gaps in our being, the different questions and reasons for our search will alter each person’s direct approach, leading us down different paths.
The Two paths
Intellectual path
The intellectual path is often the road of philosophy and science. These individuals claim logic, reasoning, and the scientific method, as the means to fill in our lack of knowledge.
We are trying to test and search for signs of this being we call God. But why? What is the purpose of such a search?
I would argue that the goal is truth. This group of intellectually minded individuals wants to know the truth about the universe. They intend to search not just for God, but for truth. Will we ever learn and experience every truth that exists in the universe? Impossible! So again, why?
Does the person searching for truth want God’s answer or just want to know that this being, God, exists? You see, no pursuit is purely mental. We are not just intellectual automatons; some of us might be emotionally stunted, but we still have emotions.
We obtain some satisfaction or pride in discovery, in being right. Will such emotions cloud not only the search but the very questions we ask and the interpretation of the data we collect?
- Is it God or truth we are searching for?
- Are they mutually exclusive?
Emotional path
For those on the primarily emotional path of searching for God, the internal feelings of justice, love, and those intangible properties of the heart and mind are the primary driving factors.
- How does the church or religion make us feel?
- Do we get a sense of comfort?
- On this road of life, how do we find satisfaction and happiness?
Most of us just want to feel happy and good. We desire reassurance, maybe even blessings. We might “just pray” for what we want: “God, give us ___.” or “Help us with ___.” But even for the emotional seeker of God, we must ask:
- How can I trust this being?
- Is this being real?
- Does this God have the power to grant my desires?”
The intellect and emotions conflict within every single person.
But really, the intellect and the emotions are in conflict within us. Heart and mind dueling, dancing, a swirl of conflict and passion competing, yet, cooperating within every human being.
Two lovers in a dance unable to separate until death do them part. There is one real issue and problem that unites both heart and mind. The truth the mind seeks and the despair the heart fears surround all questions about death and an afterlife.
We can argue over the big bang, evolution, and evil. We can debate morality and fret over health, wealth, and love, but there’s one thing that ties every single human together.
One question everyone needs an answer to. One question every mind must contemplate.
Death
What is it? What happens after we die?
Here lies an absolute truth our intellect must answer and the greatest fear our emotional heart must confront.
Therefore, even though each human walks a unique path, asks numerous questions, and experiences diverse emotional needs, within every human, the heart and mind must fret over and consider one common issue: death.
Amongst all humankind, our society must grapple with the gravity of death, pulling us, dragging us into an inescapable black hole never to return. Humans differ in our view of happiness and love, and our intellectual needs and abilities, but we still share one universal problem: death.
Every living human will die, so why search for God? I suggest that our mind, and the seat of our emotions, our heart, require satisfaction. Upon consideration of God and death, each person’s mind and emotions might flair from previous experiences.
Maybe reliving old pain from previous religious encounters or rehearsing defensive arguments, causing us to erect barriers to protect our viewpoint. What I am laying out is a process, so please stay with me for a moment.
Does humankind or do you personally need an answer regarding death? Do we need an answer about what happens after death?
| Needs a solution to death | Want an answer – What happens after death | |||||
| Humankind | Yes | No | Humankind | Yes | No | |
| Personally | Yes | No | Personally | Yes | No |
What Next?
- What is the crucial concept?
- Our search for God should develop because we lack a solution to death.
- Why is that significant?
- Our hearts and minds need the truth about death.
- If you agree, the next steps
- How does the search for God impact us?
- Why search for truth?
- Is the search for God or truth?
- If you disagree, Please Consider Reading
References and Links
Understanding Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Why Search for God?
- Christian Scholars – Rediscovering the Inseparable Force Between Intellect and Emotion (Part 1)
- Psychology Today – How to Recover When Life Crushes You