20260811 : hoping to be rescued?

 I was recently chatting with someone who said "have faith in God he will make things ok definitely". 

In that context they were referring to life in general, but I am very intimately familiar with this advice, especially after my stroke - referring to both general and particular things.

"Have faith in God, he will make things alright", "have faith in a particular God and ​you will become alright", "trust in God and you will speak again", etc, etc.

Everyone - family, friends, well-wishers, nurses, even my doctors have said it at many stages.

Curious though - approximately > 90% of them have referred to God as a "He". I don't know why and what drives the certainty about the "he"... 

Usually, if they are from a generation older, the advice is not unconditional. It will be followed by "say some chant X times everyday" , "say some prayer everyday", " do something everyday", etc .

One thing is common ​though in all such advice ​- is to have "faith" / "belief" .

I feel we all have a faith/ belief.

Some have a faith/ belief in a general God, some in a specific God, some something powerful and indescribable - a supreme being, some are atheists, some have faith in the universe, some in science, some in Nature, etc.

However, I think everyone has a faith/ belief. Even atheists have faith - it is not in the usual understanding of God that's all. 

Trust me being faithless and belief-less is very very hard - not impossible I guess, but very very hard. ​I have tried it honestly and it is genuinely very very hard.

I have had a fairly up-and-down relationship with the concept of God.

I have been a God believer all my younger days - just my upbringing and family influence I guess, I had no deep understanding of God type concepts. I used to go to all temples, ​pray when necessary, participate in all rituals without knowing what I was doing.

After a while, I don't really know why, just the busyness of life I guess, work and everything, for a long time I wasn't really particular about God or temples, praying , rituals etc. I participated in them when​ever I ​g​ot an opportunity to. But I was not looking for anything particular in them. I guess I leveraged them more as an opportunity to socialize with family and friends.

In the last decade or so, again I don't know why, I was drawn towards understanding these things better - God, Religion, Spirituality etc.  I used to have my own understanding of these concepts I guess. I used to follow and do a couple of things seriously and regularly.

It was in this circumstance of my beliefs that I had my stroke.

​My first response was of a sense of betrayal and bitterness ​with God I guess. I have had my share of conversations with God. Ranging from bitterness, praying, pleading, begging, dejection, indifference, non-belief, etc.

Where am I with this relationship now - I guess I am not very sure. I ​definitely do think there is a supreme power - I don't know what shape or form it is in. I definitely don't know if I am referring to a He/ She/ or They.

I have honestly tried my best at being faithless and a pure non-believer. Trust me, it is very very hard and riddled with doubts at every corner and almost impossible to bear. Trust me, it is a lot easier to be a believer (any belief, even being an atheist!)

Why am I saying all this?

Let me come back to the main storyline - about having faith in God and getting relieved of something.

As I said - I am definitely not sure about what God is, but I am 100% sure of 1 thing. No God is going to come and rescue us.

Why am I saying it with so much confidence/ conviction? 

If we believe in a God, any God! We have to believe that our current circumstance is created by God itself - otherwise it is like saying God has no control over the circumstances he/ she creates.

So why are we in this circumstance - any circumstances, good or bad. We have to believe there is a reason - he/ she has some reason​ for creating it right.

So why would God go through the trouble of putting us in th​a​t situation? To come back and rescue us from the very thing they put us in? 

In my understanding, (this ​is from what I have read/ heard​ and partly experienced), it is to make us learn something. Learn what - I don't know entirely. In my opinion, it is almost impossible to know what we have to learn from the circum​stance while we are in the circumstance - but have that same faith that it is for that learning. It is an opportunity given to us to learn from the circumstances.

Now, why would God give us an opportunity and rescue us and take it away from us?

Also - if we have faith and trust in God, would we think God will give us a circumstance to see us not be able to learn from it -​ to set us up for failure? To try and set up an unachievable goal. Quite unlikely right. 

So each of us, depending on what learning is needed, depending on the ​circumstance/ learning opportunity created, will also be having the strength to face it, deal with it and learn whatever we have to learn from it. It definitely is not the same strength for everyone - for everyone's learning needs are different, so that opportunity/ circumstances are different and the strength to deal with it is different. It won't be seeming​ly unfavorable experience always, it can be a very favorable circumstance to learn from it about ourselves, whatever..

What is needed is faith and absolute belief that we have been given the strength to face the circumstance, deal with it and learn whatever we have to learn from it. Never to doubt if we have the strength/ ability to face it and deal with the circumstance - for we have an opportunity presented to us, to learn something from it.

Now​, I know, why face it when we can run away from it. Probably end it all.

I don't say this because I understand this, but I know many of us are convinced about it - that there will be a rebirth. I don't know ​i​f that will will happen.

But thinking about it logically, there can be only 3 outcomes in the end.

1. Nothing happens . It all ends. There is no point or meaning​ to life.

2. That our life energy/ soul/ atma/ spirit (whatever you believe) - goes somewhere else. Could be a different world, different dimension, different realm, heaven, hell whatever - we will go somewhere else though.

3. There is nowhere else to go. We will come back here.

So - I don't know what will happen if any of the 3 outcomes occurred but all 3 of them have an equal ⅓​ rd probably.

So, there is still a 33.33% probability that we will come back.

In that probability, and assuming we have belief in a God - any kind. What is the probability that God will have forgotten about you and your learning needs? In my opinion it is 0%. There is no chance.

So very likely you will be presented with​ the same learning opportunity and some similar circumstance - depending on who we are​ then.

So what are we running away from - might as well go through the circumstance and get whatever we have to learn at the earliest in this birth ​itself right.

This was not my view and belief always. Half my life I have had favourable circumstances. ​C​onsistently favorable​ I would say. I don't know what I had to learn from it, neither was this my view and belief. I hope I have picked up some of what I needed to.

After my stroke, I have had a lot of phases. I have been very depressed as well (if you asked me then, there is no way I would have accepted I was depressed). There was a very long phase where I wanted to end it all. I just didn't ​do it because I didn't have the strength/ ability to do it. If I had the strength for it, given my state of everything and my mind, I would have definitely pulled the plug.

In hindsight, it was a circumstantial luck/ blessing that I didn't have the ability to do it because I definitely would have.

Now, I don't have all the abilities but I can do it with a combination of my abilities and mind. But that is not my view/ belief anymore - I know I won't pull that plug. In a way, if you think about it, the grand design gave me strength/ ability only after I moved away from the view.

It may seem generally that I have a lot of strength to face these circumstances I am going through. To be honest, as a regular bloke, if anyone suggested that I will ​have to go through my circumstances, it would have been a laughing matter for me. It is impossible as a regular bloke to face this. However, only after giving me the circumstance, I was given the strength for it.​ Not earlier.

Is my circumstances over? Definitely not. I know there are many more very difficult circumstances ahead ​- physical, mental, financial, emotional etc. Do I have the strength for it? I don't think so. Not ​right now. But where I go through it, I know I will have it.

As I said earlier, I don't know God and the concept of God. But I now have absolute faith and belief that whatever circumstance I am going through - favourable or unfavourable at that time, is a learning opportunity for something and I have absolute faith that I will have the strength needed then to face the circumstance .

​So, what is your circumstance? What are you going through​? What are the circumstances which you are hoping to be rescued from?