What to Tell your Children about God

If you have young children, they might ask you about how we all came to be here, and who or what created everything. What story do you tell them? First, before you tell them anything, really gaze lovingly into their eyes, and connect with them at pure, being-to-being level. This is the most important thing you will ever do for your children. It lets them know, reassures them, that they are loved by you, and reminds them that their true nature is love. The more you do this, the less your child will grow up with any emotional wounding. Instead, they will grow up in freedom, with a real awareness of their true nature, of the beautiful little human beings they are. After this moment, or a few minutes, of loving, silent communion, then you can speak—or they may have something to communicate to you! To say that our true nature is pure loving consciousness, and that we all came from consciousness and will one day die and dissolve back into the vastness from when we came, is obviously a lot to wrap their little minds around—and not very comforting! So tell them whatever you like. Give them a good “story” about God, and heaven, and the moral importance of being good and kind to others. Even have them, if you want, attend church, temple, or the mosque so they get a more formal introduction to religion and its “stories.” As they reach an age where they are more present, more aware, and can self-reflect, you can begin to introduce them to the truth: that any “story” is just that—a story! It is just like the Santa Claus myth. It is great for young kids, but they generally realize the truth about Santa themselves when they are nine or ten, and some a lot younger. Then you can teach them about their true nature, and that the “God” people venerate, or hate, is really the impersonal, universal consciousness behind all creation—which is my “story!” You can talk to them about how they will gather many, many stories as they grow up, but they are never their “stories,” but rather the beautiful, young people who are here, right now…

Desire

Many spiritual paths talk about getting free of personal desires in order to find truth, to find “God.” Monks in various traditions deny themselves the normal pleasures and desires of the world, including and especially sexual desire, because they see it as a hindrance to inner freedom and union with God. As a result, many monks, priests, and nuns throughout history, being otherwise normal human beings, have burned inwardly with resistance, and struggled to overcome, their sexual desires, let alone their other desires—for power, possessions, intoxicants, or whatever. After decades of this inner struggle, many of them become dry and ascetic, shells of their former vital selves. I’ve met and known a few such monks and nuns myself. Fortunately, on this, the nondual path to awakening, there is no such exclusion of desire. Desire is still very much there—the desire for sex, for partnership and intimacy, for food and sleep, for a change of atmosphere or environment, or even to alter or expand your consciousness through the occasional use of alcohol or drugs. You still have your likes and dislikes, your preferences, but they don’t run you anymore. For example, if a desire arises to make love to your partner, and then it doesn’t happen because he or she says no, there’s no sense of frustration or disappointment. Or if there is, it is fleeting, and it falls away naturally. You’re always in the moment, and there’s always something new and interesting happening in every moment. The key thing to know about these normal, human desires is that they arise and fall away, just like everything else in life. So, the more awake and free you are, the less attached to your desires you are. If they can’t be satisfied right now, you are okay with that. After all, you are already established in your true nature, one with the ease, harmony, and flow of life. Understand this, and desire—any desire—will not be a problem.