When I say that "there is no other God other than Self" it does not mean that objectively I do not recognize the existence of God or even that for me God is a subjective inner presence. In my definition of God there is both the subject and the object. But the definition eludes Essence, the true substance.

Recognizing the presence of God is not a consequence of a belief in that presence. My faith in God is the ability to have faith in myself. Consciousness and awareness of being conscious nourish that faith.

God exists because I exist and I exist because God exists. Separation is only in words, in description. Therefore - at this point - there is no need to renounce the Faith, since faith is not directed towards something separate from itself.

Faith is will, faith is the ability to recognize oneself, faith is intrinsic truth that spontaneously arises from within. Without faith I would not be able to experience self-confidence. My Master is this faith. Being "himself" is like being "what I am". Being never able to be anything else, as God is in himself.

This faith always accompanies me, it is my nature.

This knowledge is a great "liberation" because it frees me from having to believe in a god, in the sense of a creator different from me, a sort of father located at the top of a "heavenly" bureaucracy.

This is the feeling of secular spirituality, the feeling of Tao and Advaita. If we believe in the divine head of the family, we get stuck in a teenage state. If the divine is a supreme ruler of the world we remain victims and succubus of an unfathomable authority. Be it indifferently defined god or demon, destiny or free choice, good or bad.

However, abandoning belief does not exclude the maintenance of faith. Faith is necessary not because there are forces to which we must appeal to receive favors or avoid punishment. Faith is awareness of belonging inextricably to what it is.

We can call it Tao, Shakti, Self ... all wonderful aspects of our Being, they are the expressive ways of Vital Energy that allow things to manifest themselves, they are the indispensable metaphors for spiritual experience.

If this faith is not shaken or exalted because pleasant or unpleasant things happen, if the faith no longer needs to be confirmed, if we are no longer with our efforts to uphold the faith, then maturity is reached. It happens spontaneously that the sense of shortcomings or non-compliance disappear and we remain at peace. Shanti.

But up to that point, we cultivate our faith like children who cultivate their own growth by accepting it.

Paolo D’Arpini