Grilled Cheesus

The recent episode of Glee, "Grilled Cheesus", reminded me about the importance of letting people believe their own ideas about God.  The question of theophany, or where suffering comes from and to what end, is one that has split many people away from the idea of a God.  After all, how could a benevolent all knowing all powerful God allow suffering in the world?  Well, what if we have that view of God wrong?  There are many religious traditions out there and they give us many ways to worship God.  What is the one connection between them all?  Us.  Its the idea that all of us have been hard wired to draw close together during times of trouble and support each other.  Animals in the wild do the same on a very basic level but the emotional traumas that we experience and the myriad ways that we have for "plugging in" to find healing prove that there is something special about humanity.  Whether its a song, a prayer, a quiet moment, a light, or someone to hold your hand, each of these provide us with a medium that fills us with hope and strength to overcome the obstacles in our path.  The funny thing is that that is the same message that the myriad religious traditions try to teach us.  That we don't live for ourselves alone.  That we are to love each other.  That we are to show compassion towards the suffering and share in each other's joys.  That we are to reflect within ourselves on this connection that we all have with each other and with nature.  The episode of Glee was perfect because it conveyed that message to a "T".  At the end of the episode, they sang "What if God Was One of Us" by Alanis Morriset.  The song made me immediately think, what if God were All of us?  What if God where what drives us together in the darkness and the pain and helps us to see the joy that is around us?  What if God is that feeling you get inside when you're surrounded by the beauty of nature? The warmth of friends and family?  What if God is that feeling that you get when you simply can't give any more of yourself and instead of desperation you find stillness and solace?  What if God were ALL these things?