"We" have definitely created all kinds of gods (or versions of God) in our religions and creeds, Dianavan. No doubt about it, and most of them are just bigger more powerful images of US. That's what you find in most people's religious concepts of God...a projected image of themselves, imbued with additional strengths and powers that they feel they lack.

However, that doesn't indicate to me that there is no God. I know better than that at this point. It indicates to me that most people's religious ideas about God are exceedingly primitive and overlaid with tradition and superstition that they have swallowed without question or analysis. They haven't really though about it or investigated it in any depth, they've just bought someone else's story of it.

The only way one can know God is to directly experience God. I have not quite done that yet, in a fully conscious way, but I have directly experienced contact (and conversation) with an Angel...and that was pretty impressive, I can tell you. So impressive that in the light of that experience I would not even consider the notion any longer that there is no God. That Angel was a bearer of a powerful message. One that most people are incapable of really believing....because they feel too vulnerable and fearful. I'm still working on fully actualizing what that Angel told me. I may be working on it for the rest of this life.

And no, I do not experience hallucinations. Nor do I take any hallucinogenic substances.

shycat - Thank you! For a superbly evocative story that demonstrates spiritual truths I have known about and heard about and been studying for quite some time. What you describe is perfectly in line with what I have heard from a variety of sources. You are very fortunate to have had that experience, and you must have worked hard to earn it, I would think.

Bill - Yes, I understand your concerns about charlatans, people being led astray, and so on. I understand that and I agree with you. I share those same concerns, both with regard to misuse of esoteric information and methods (like some you mentioned) and misuse of conventional methods and information (in medicine or science, for example). In other words...I fear the abuses and misuses of the unconventional and the conventional alike...and I watch very carefully for them. Such tricky people are usually after money...or power...or both. I keep a close eye on them, believe me. I am cautious of both medical doctors and new age healers. I deal with each case on its own merits, using all the powers of logic, intuition, knowledge and judgement that I possess. Malpractice and incompetence occurs in many, if not all fields of human activity and belief. So does outright falsehood.