How do I stop desiring to be God?

[geekchic9]

"The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection."

--George Orwell

I think the root of my problems is my perfectionism, which is really my desire to be God. Like the title character in Bruce Almighty, I don't think God is doing a great job in my life or in most people's lives in general, and I feel that I could actually do a better job than He/She/It. I realize that this is arrogant and presumptuous of me, but I don't know how to shake this irrational belief. Neither do I know how to accept that I am not perfect and that seeking perfection is a waste of time.

So far, EFT does not seem to work for this. I haven't tried my "Belief" Paraliminal CD, but I'm not sure if that would help, either. I see my therapist tomorrow -- do you think she could help with a type of therapy? Any other advice or thoughts would be appreciated.

[Angela]

geekchic9, I highly recommend the Landmark Forum in your situation. You will really get a strong sense of power and effectiveness about this "I want the god job" thing. Take a look at Landmark Education: Seminars, Courses & Landmark Forum and do the online introduction. I think you would get a lot out of it.

Love
Angela (unaffiliated with landmark education 'cept I love it -- they don't give me a toaster for signing people up, I swear!)

[geekchic9]

Angela,

I watched the online introduction. While I do think that the Landmark Forum looks interesting and thought-provoking, right now it is rather cost-prohibitive. I make below the poverty line, and I really can't afford right now to take time off from work and pay $485 plus gas and hotel expenses. Is there anything else you can suggest I can do at present?

[Angela]

Thanks for looking at Landmark, GC, and I hope you keep it in mind.

In the meanwhile, you've already had the sense that believing your thought, "I could do better than god" is having an impact on your life and on the lives of others, yes? Impact that you don't necessarily see as positive? You might want to boldly look at what that cost is to yourself and others. What are you robbing yourself and others of? What are you generating for the word by believing the thought? I mean, what actual feeling do you have, right now, in believing the thought?

Have you looked at Byron Katie's "The Work"? She has a website on which the process is outlined, and you can do it for yourself for free, or call coaches and they'll work through it with you (I'm not sure, but I think that's free, too.) It's a pretty enlightening way to examine your thoughts to see if they're working for you in generating the life you want.

[Herbalist]

Originally Posted by geekchic9

I don't think God is doing a great job in my life or in most people's lives in general, and I feel that I could actually do a better job than He/She/It.

My advice is - become God in your life. Do his job. Make your life a masterpiece. So you can check in practice if you can do a better job, indeed.

Forget all these "God-like or Bruce-like miracles" and use the controls you possess. And you possess many of them...

[Angela]

....p.s., geekchic -- what is god doing living below the poverty level?

[geekchic9]

Originally Posted by Angela

....p.s., geekchic -- what is god doing living below the poverty level?

I'm not quite sure about what you're asking -- whether you're referring to me as god or Jesus or some other person as god. But if you're referring to me, the answer is, not much.

[Angela]

I was being playful with you. Your belief that you could do a better job of running things vs. the level of abundance in your life -- how are those reconciling in your life? (Maybe abundance isn't something you value very highly, though.)

[ZHereford]

Originally Posted by geekchic9

[i] Like the title character in Bruce Almighty, I don't think God is doing a great job in my life or in most people's lives in general, and I feel that I could actually do a better job than He/She/It.

I don't think you should put this on God. We make our own choices and are responsible for ourselves. Any messes out there have been created by man.

As James Allen said: "Circumstance does not make the man. It reveals him to himself."

Rather than worrying about striving for perfection (whatever that is), why don't you just be the best that you can be. What more could even God ask for?

[Chado2423]

God is dead--- nietche...

While I don't believe God is dead, I can see why some might be akin to believe this when things don't go their way. It isn't God that is dead, but our belief in God is what truly dies. As far as wanting to be God, I personally wouldn't want that sort of responsibility.

[Terumoto]

Well what do you think God is?

If you believe in the Christian God, you must think he's an all knowing, omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God. Therefore, he must know better than you, since he is the creator of the universe. Your desire to be God and thoughts that you could do better than him would merely be foolishness and misunderstanding of what God is actually doing.

Not to mention you are some human living below the poverty line and aren't quite omniscient, omnipotent or omnibenevolent.

Do you even believe in God? Why does there need to be a God that is doing a "bad job" that you could do better? The God in the bible is perfect, so if you don't see perfection in his creation, then maybe belief in God is the wrong spiritual outlook for you.

Why not let go and stop trying to blame some unreachable, ungraspable being for what you see as the flaws in your life. You are the one living your life, if you've got problems, it's nobody's fault but your own.

What is your definition of perfection? Why is this world so imperfect anyway? Imperfection and perfection are concepts, they aren't absolute truths, they are words that rely on relativity and duality. Everything in the universe can be seen as a flaw, but everything in the universe can be seen as perfect, depending on how you look at it... So what's left is the truth of no imperfection and no perfection, then you can call life whatever you feel like, and it will be true. Look at it as flawed, and to you it will be flawed, look at it as perfect and to you it will be perfect. In reality you're making an utterly meaningless judgment based on basically nothing, but seeing the world as perfect is one better than seeing it as fundamentally flawed.

[KTCastman]

Have you tried (or heard of) the Sedona method? It is basically realizing why you have a certain belief (be it to have control, to feel secure) and just deciding to let it go. And like EFT, once you start the letting go, the feeling/belief gets lighter and lighter until you are at a point you can move on.

KT

[geekchic9]

Originally Posted by Terumoto

Why not let go and stop trying to blame some unreachable, ungraspable being for what you see as the flaws in your life. You are the one living your life, if you've got problems, it's nobody's fault but your own.

I was afraid someone was going to say something like this. You see, I don't really think that the molestation and bullying I faced in childhood, and the resulting PTSD, ADHD, and bipolar disorder I have now are my fault at all. It's my reaction to them that I need to work on right now. In fact, considering all of the money I owe from school and medical bills, the fact that I can hold a job at all for someone of my condition and stress level is rather an accomplishment. Most people I know with these conditions are considered permanently disabled and are dependent on SSDI and other government assistance to survive. By that standard, I'm rich.

I suppose my question is that why, when I played by all the rules, worked hard, and did the best I could, did God let this happen to me anyway. It's not like I deserved it based on what I can see. I recognize that a lot of people could ask this question, and that my life isn't as horrible as I make it out to be, but still, it makes me wonder if I did some horrible thing in this life or a past one (possibly) to deserve this suffering.

EDIT: Oh, yes, and my disabilities do substantially limit my job prospects, due to my occasional mood swings and poor working memory.

[geekchic9]

Originally Posted by KTCastman

Have you tried (or heard of) the Sedona method? It is basically realizing why you have a certain belief (be it to have control, to feel secure) and just deciding to let it go. And like EFT, once you start the letting go, the feeling/belief gets lighter and lighter until you are at a point you can move on.

KT

I've reserved a book about the Sedona method at the library, and it should be arriving any day now. But, thanks for reminding me about it and explaining it to me. I wasn't quite sure about what it was.

[geekchic9]

Originally Posted by Angela

I was being playful with you. Your belief that you could do a better job of running things vs. the level of abundance in your life -- how are those reconciling in your life? (Maybe abundance isn't something you value very highly, though.)

Abundance isn't all about money to me. However, I am very well aware that I am underemployed. As for the rest of your question, see my response to Terumoto.

[Jennihul]

Originally Posted by geekchic9

[I
I think the root of my problems is my perfectionism, which is really my desire to be God. Like the title character in Bruce Almighty, I don't think God is doing a great job in my life or in most people's lives in general, and I feel that I could actually do a better job than He/She/It. I realize that this is arrogant and presumptuous of me, but I don't know how to shake this irrational belief. Neither do I know how to accept that I am not perfect and that seeking perfection is a waste of time.

So far, EFT does not seem to work for this. I haven't tried my "Belief" Paraliminal CD, but I'm not sure if that would help, either. I see my therapist tomorrow -- do you think she could help with a type of therapy? Any other advice or thoughts would be appreciated.

You aren't suffering from delusions of grandeur, you are suffering from the opposite. You have a criticism problem. Not a perfectionist problem. People who are hypercritical and think they can do better than anyone else are suffering from extreme self-esteem issues. By projecting your fantasies of you doing it better, you are trying in a stunted way to make yourself feel important and significant.

Yes, discuss it with your therapist.

Jennifer

[geekchic9]

Originally Posted by Jennihul

You aren't suffering from delusions of grandeur, you are suffering from the opposite. You have a criticism problem. Not a perfectionist problem. People who are hypercritical and think they can do better than anyone else are suffering from extreme self-esteem issues. By projecting your fantasies of you doing it better, you are trying in a stunted way to make yourself feel important and significant.

Yes, discuss it with your therapist.

Jennifer

What's your definition of a perfectionist? I think we are discussing two different things. Your description makes me think I said I was a narcissist or something. I don't have delusions of grandeur. I have delusions of inferiority, if anything.

And what therapy do you suggest my therapist use on me to correct this problem?

[Christian223]

Why its NOT OK to be NOT perfect?, where do you want to go?, what is your objective?, what do you want to do?, would you be OK if you where imperfect in everything else that you do/are?. Is that the real issue?

You said: "I suppose my question is that why, when I played by all the rules, worked hard, and did the best I could, did God let this happen to me anyway." It seems to me that the real issue is that... "why did God let this happen to me?, this is not fair" kind of thing, "God is not just, if i where God, i would not had let this happen to me", am i right?.

I tried EFT, it sure works on almost everything, im sure that if you use it consistently youll get rid of your emotional problems.

But if your looking for answers about why God acts like that... im not sure if you can know God did it to you or not, the thing is, we are between heaven and hell, we are not in a perfect place, so, bad things can happen to people. The bible has a related story about this subject, its in the book of Job, he was a Just person, but God let happen to him a lot of bad things, but not as a punishement, but for growth, the difference is that Job knew who God was and tried to follow what he liked and when something happened to him his attitued was "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. " what an interesting attitude isnt it?, but what about someone who doesnt care about what God wants?, i think that bad things would be a way to lure him to God, after all, eternity is much more important than 90 years on earth (if we are very lucky, some people die younger) so God works in misterious ways to show us our possition, so that we may seek God for our own salvation.
I may be wrong though, and sorry, i know this is not the right forum, but since you mentioned God i thought this was appropiate, i hope this helps.

[Terumoto]

Originally Posted by geekchic9

I was afraid someone was going to say something like this. You see, I don't really think that the molestation and bullying I faced in childhood, and the resulting PTSD, ADHD, and bipolar disorder I have now are my fault at all. It's my reaction to them that I need to work on right now. In fact, considering all of the money I owe from school and medical bills, the fact that I can hold a job at all for someone of my condition and stress level is rather an accomplishment. Most people I know with these conditions are considered permanently disabled and are dependent on SSDI and other government assistance to survive. By that standard, I'm rich.

I suppose my question is that why, when I played by all the rules, worked hard, and did the best I could, did God let this happen to me anyway. It's not like I deserved it based on what I can see. I recognize that a lot of people could ask this question, and that my life isn't as horrible as I make it out to be, but still, it makes me wonder if I did some horrible thing in this life or a past one (possibly) to deserve this suffering.

EDIT: Oh, yes, and my disabilities do substantially limit my job prospects, due to my occasional mood swings and poor working memory.

Well, what I'm saying is you can't fence-sit on this issue. If you believe in God, you believe he knows best and you would look at your hardship as a "trial" or something.

If you aren't satisfied with God, then he shouldn't exist in your mind. You will just have to come to terms with the idea that nobody is watching over the world and no matter how "good" you behave by any rule book, bad things are going to happen.

How can you be sure your situation is bad? You could be upset because you are disadvantaged in some areas compared to others, but you could also be happy you are advantaged in some areas compared to others... And my point isn't that you should be on the positive side of that spectrum, it's that you can live feeling a lot better about your life if you throw away the duality and see that such concepts are relative and have no real meaning.

[beautyscientist]

I would just go for a walk in the park and stop worrying.

[Keith]

Maybe the best way to stop desiring to be God is to just be God?

After all, thou art God. Rejoice and be at peace.

[unruan]

The relationship between one person and his or her God is very personal and unique. The God I know is loving, kind, and caring. I also understand that He is not my servant or Santa Claus that I can request or demand many things from Him. I am certain that, your life, as imperfact as you think it is, has touched many lives, and teaches many things to many people. I think that's the beauty of life itself. We are here to learn and teach each other. Many other people have what we don't, and we have what they don't.
And if we will put all of us together, there is plenty of perfection.

[Maguru]

There is much much more to this post than others may think. It is great. Godly qualities are not always as expected