Hmmmm. Well, Rowan, here's a copy and paste of a PM I sent to Mrzzy awhile back, and she said at the time that it would be okay for me to post it on the open forum any time if I wanted to, so here it is...

It's a parable.

*********

I am so happy. Why? I just met God. No fooling. I was putting out some bottles in the recycle bin, the sky opened, and there She was!

Wow. Pretty awesome. Well, that's an understatement, for sure.

So we got into a discussion about the weather being so damn cold and I wondered if She could do something about that, but She said She had reasons for not tampering with its ongoing flow. Mysterious reasons. She would not elaborate on that.

"Anyway," She said, "don't worry, because it's going to warm up in awhile. It always does if you wait long enough."

"Yeah, I guess so." I said.

So then we got to talking about Mudcat Cafe, and I told God about all these contentious threads attacking the very concept OF God and saying "He" (as people normally put it) doesn't exist and stuff like that.

"They think of you as some strict old man with a beard and tablets or something...or else they think you're a complete myth."

"Yeah, I know about that," She said. "Don't worry about it. It doesn't matter. People have to work out all these things in their own way and in their own time. It isn't at all necessary or desirable that everyone should believe the same stuff all at the same time, in fact if they did it would become a very peculiar and sterile world. It would be the effective END of any useful developments and improvements in human evolution and social development."

"Okay, but don't you get kind of annoyed by having your existence attacked like that all the time? What about Mrrzy's threads about a Godless midwinter celebration, godless veterinary facilities, godless this and the other damn thing...doesn't it start to really piss you off after awhile?"

"Mrrzy doesn't exist," God said blandly. "And neither does the God she objects to so strenuously all the time, but you already knew that..."

"WHATTT????? What do you mean 'Mrrzy doesn't exist'????"

"Mrrzy doesn't exist. Period."

"Come on, you don't expect me to believe that, do you?", I responded heatedly. "I've seen her posts. I've had fights with her, and gross misunderstandings with her online, and we've even exchanged PMs on occasion. We've had moments when we could have happily wrung the other's neck, I imagine. How can you tell me she doesn't exist?"

"Nevertheless, Mrrzy doesn't exist," replied God, smiling at me calmly. "You have it here from the Highest Authority. She just doesn't. Trust me. She's a useful figment of your imagination."

Well, I don't want to go denying God, obviously. Not to Her face anyway.

"So what's the real explanation?" I asked.

"It could be," said God, "that Mrrzy is a mere outer appearance, a phantasm, a transitory and brief apparition on the field of space and time, a temporary and utterly perishable construction of atomic structures that flits like a shadow across a minor page of eternity, something that I sent to you (and to many others) for one of my mysterious purposes..."

"You're kidding!"

"Maybe I'm not..."

"What reason could you possibly have for doing such a confusing and irritating thing? A think that has, frankly, been somewhat of a thorn in my daily existence. What useful purpose would it serve?"

"Well," said God, shaking back her glorious head of hair which gleamed like fire in the descending starlight, "look at it this way: It could be a way of testing your tolerance of others, your patience, your sense of humor, your judgemental nature, your mastery of anger, your capacity to allow and forgive. It could be a way of teaching you through experience (and example) that a life lived in constant hostile reaction to what others do OR say OR believe, specially others who believe differently than you do about something, is a life that has barely yet begun to find the fullness of its own power, joy, and sovereignty. It could be a way of making you learn to let go...and let be...and let others be. And if so, then what would happen? Think about it."

"And furthermore, what if you were merely a figment of Mrrzy's imagination, and were serving much the same purpose for her as she did for you? The perfect counterpoint? Wouldn't that be an interesting combination? What could be accomplished by mastering the understanding of that and coming to terms with it?"

There wasn't much else to say after that. I put the stuff in the recycle bin, thanked God for visiting and wished her well, and went back inside, and poured myself a hot drink.

I don't think that God is anything like what most people imagine. And I don't know if I'm entirely ready to let go yet either, but I'm certainly giving it some consideration.

Cheers,

George