God-image

What it is

A God-image is the unconscious picture we carry of God. It is shaped less by divine reality than by our childhood experiences with authority, and the associated fears, frustrations and disappointments.

Why it matters

Until this image becomes conscious, we unknowingly respond to our mistaken picture of God rather than to God as God truly is.

From Bones

~1~

Boiling it down, we want freedom without responsibility.

We want an indulgent, pampering god who spoils us. If we can’t find such a god—and of course, we cannot—we call God a monster and turn away from God altogether.

Then we turn around and project our expectations for this indulgent God onto the people in our lives. Or maybe we’ll put them on a philosophy, or a teacher. It doesn’t matter who or what we pin them on, as long as we don’t have to give them up.

This then becomes a basic element of our God-image. It’s made up of everything we unconsciously believe to be true about God, but which has no basis in truth. (Chapter 19)

~2~

The way to find our God-image is by examining our emotional reaction to authority. This requires we delve below what we think we think and discover what we really feel, deep down. Then we must figure out how to dissolve our mistaken convictions. (Chapter 14)

~3~

As we go along in life, we are bound to run into human injustice, experienced when we were young as well as when we get older. We may very well witness these injustices being carried out by people we perceive to be in a position of authority.

This means they drop into the same slot we associate with God. As such, our previously created unconscious belief about a severe and unjust God will be strengthened.

Such experiences make us fear God just a little more each time. Before we know it, we will have developed an inner image of God that makes God out to be a monster.

This version of God, which lives and breathes in our unconscious, is really a lot more like Satan, the ruler of Hell. (Chapter 14)

~4~

One easy test to know if we are harboring an image of God is to ask ourselves: Do I fear God more or love God more? Obviously, if we have more fear than love, we’re under the distorted illusion of an image. (Chapter 14)

~5~

As is so often the case, our personal God-image will have subdivisions and nuances. But it will in some way be a combination of these two main categories: strict and harsh, or permissive and coddling. (Chapter 14)

~6~

Whenever we feel more alive in a negative situation and more dead in a quiet one, we can be sure we have a God-image going on. (Chapter 14)

~7~

We cannot know God until we begin releasing the image we have made of God. (Chapter 14)

Continue with: God • Transference • Unconscious