Reverend Michael Beckwith answers a seven-year-old's skepticism about God by describing it not as a person but as infinite intelligence, love, and beauty that flows through everything, including the child himself.
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So one of the things I do, Michael, is every time I'm traveling, I record little videos, educational videos for my kid. Haven't seen my son Hayden in about two weeks. And I record these videos to let him know that I'm still thinking about him. And I want to get your advice. Hayden, if you're watching this, this is Reverend Michael Beckwith. He's one of the world's foremost spiritual teachers. Hey. Hayden addressed the United nations and other big major things like that. And so I raised Hayden based on the concept that spirituality should be discovered and not inherited. So I grew up with many different religions around me and Hayden grows up as a scientist. So at the age of seven, he decided that God doesn't exist. In fact, he told me when he was 7 years old. And Hayden, I'm just sharing with Michael here what you told me because I'm so proud that you can think like this. Hayden said, I don't think God is real. I think we make him up so we can feel good about ourselves. And I appreciate that, Hayden, and I think you have every right to believe anything you want about God. And I'm so happy that you make your own decisions rather than blindly following religion because so many children get trapped into the religion of their parents. And I'm so glad that you are a free thinker. But I just want to ask this to Michael. How would you explain God to a 7 year old? Do you think God exists and how would you explain it to a seven year old? Hayden, seven. Hayden is, he's eight right now, but he asked me this question when he was 7. Well, first of all, I would tell Hayden that I don't believe in the God that he doesn't believe in either, that most people do make up a God and they make up a God in a human image. And so people then have to unlearn that and come to an understanding that when we say the word God, we're not speaking of a superman in the sky. We're speaking of a presence of intelligence and love and beauty. Life is God, life itself. And each of us are expressions of life. Therefore each of us are expressions of infinite intelligence, infinite beauty, infinite abundance, personified as us. So that which is within us as life is the same presence that's all around us as life. So, so I describe God as a presence that's never an absence. And that presence is love, beauty, intelligence and all the qualities not in a human image, but in a spiritual image. So what is God then? If an 8 year old had to say what is God. I would say God is. God is our life and beyond us as well. God is infinite life and we are expressions of that life. Thank you, Hayden. I hope that maybe shares with you. Send me an email, Hayden. We can keep this dialogue going. I hope that maybe gives you an idea of how, of another alternative way to view God outside the confines of traditional religion. Thank you. Thanks, Michael. My joy.
