Blacknad, you quote me as saying
I choose to relate to GØD, without being imposed upon by the hope of reward or fear of punishment.
Let me put it another way: I choose to relate to GØD in the same way as I relate to life and existence itself, positively, not out of a false hope or a negative fear.
BTW, generally speaking, this is the kind of relationship chosen by those who accept the approach known as panENtheism, which, as the following shows is not all that new an idea.
This universal arrangement is not pantheism (all is God), but panentheism, a term devised by Karl C. F. Krause (1781-1832) to describe his thought. It is best known for its use by Charles Hartshorne and recently by Matthew Fox.
Panentheism says that all is in God, somewhat as if God were the ocean and we were fish. If one considers what is in God's body to be part of God, then we can say that God is all there is and then some. The universe is God's body, but God's awareness or personality is greater than the sum of all the parts of the universe. All the parts have some degree of freedom in co-creating with God.
At the start of its momentary career as a subject, an experience is God--as the divine initial aim. As the experience carries on its choosing process, it is a freely aiming reality that is not strictly God, since it departs from God's purpose to some degree. Yet everything is within God.
