The Passion for God

“The Passion for God”

Talk given at the Spiritual Center for Positive Living. Cameron Park, CA

January 30, 2011

The Passion for God

Transcription of Dr. Rick’s introduction

What I’d like to explore with you today is the topic of a passion, a yearning for God. And what stands in the way of that passion and that yearning. Often, the interesting thing to me in my work, is what stands in the way of what we think we want. Because if we really wanted it, we’d have it.

One of the understandings in the work that I do, is that if you want to see what you want, look at what you’ve got, not what you think you want. Because the conscious mind and the subconscious mind are two different sources of thinking and feeling. The conscious mind is a very small portion. It processes about 40 bits of information per second. The subsconscious processes about 40 million bits of information per second.

You may think that you want something in the conscious mind, but if you feel that you want something different in the subconscious, which one do you think is going to win out if the subconscious mind is a million times more powerful?

So what stands in the way is really interesting to me. What stands in the way of our yearning to God?

A man is sitting in a bar and he’s crying. And the bartender notices that and goes to him and says, “What’s wrong?” And the man says, “I drive a Ferarri and a Lexus” and he starts crying again. And the bartender says, “Hmm… OK. And he shrugs”. And the man says, “I have a beautiful home and two wonderful kinds” and now he is crying even more. And the bartender says, “Yea…”. And the man says, “I live in a five million dollar mansion”. And the bartender can’t stand it any more and says, “So what’s WRONG?!” And the guy says, “I can’t remember where I LIVE!”

We’re a little like that. We can’t remember where we live, where our Home is. And that’s part of the problem. Part of what I’d like to explore with you.

So, there comes a point where we have tasted the joys and pleasures of the world. When we have experienced this and that. And yet, we’re still not fulfilled. We’re still not Home. There comes a point where we may find ourselves singing the U2 song, I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” Or, the Peggy Lee song, “Is that all there is?”.

And why is that true? What does that happen? It happens, because any pleasure that is based on our senses is short lived. We will get bored of it. It will not fulfill us over time. And I think this is part of the wisdom of the design in which we are created. Because that lack of fulfillment, that boredom, gives rise to the yearning to be home, to remember where we live.

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