We use words to convey meanings, but in so many cases a single word can be understood to mean several non-similar things. Crossword puzzles sometimes use that to really confound us. The same word, even in the same sentence, may mean something very different. A turn right, may not always be a right turn.

One word we all think of as meaning only one thing, actually in our lives, has many different interpretations. That is the word God. There are many people who say they don’t believe in God. I suspect they mean that they do not believe in what they assume other people mean by it. Christianity has been interpreted in so many ways, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jesus were to come today, he would be astonished at how many interpretation have been adopted, and nit-picked, from his simple teachings. There can only be one God.

I think when someone adopts a belief in atheism, they are simply rejecting the various interpretations which people put on their religious beliefs. Perhaps for example, he doesn’t accept that God is like a king on a throne somewhere in the heavens, where he passes judgment on we humans, accepting some of us for a blissful afterlife, and rejecting others to suffer for an eternity for their misbehavior on earth.

I will not to try to define God. It has occurred to me however, that everyone believes in Him. We just use different names to better understand what we mean. For example, I’m sure that many atheists would use the name Intelligence. Everybody believes in intelligence, and doesn’t it rule everything? Isn’t that a defining essence of God?

Our main problem is that we sometimes seek shortcuts that lack complete intelligence, in our push to get what we think we want. In our limited intelligence, we figure once we get what we want, what’s the difference? And who cares? Isn’t an abandonment of principle a form of atheism?

Doesn’t it take intelligence to organize all of the atomic structures, which make from simple electrons and protons the many various substances which constitute everything? Then from elements and compounds in which everything works in cooperation to produce a universe with the many characteristics it has, including life? Just in looking at the earth alone, and observing the many life forms it has, each in its own pursuit, fulfilling its unique place in it all, is amazing.

Intelligence has always been, it has not changed. Egyptian Pharaohs could have had automobiles and airplanes many hundreds of years ago, had they studied physics, instead of flaunting their egos in building pyramids. Intelligence is not, however, something we humans have invented. We still have a long way to go to understand who and what we are.

We must accept that we do not understand everything. We consequently must accept the fact that we may never have an answer for every question on earth. When we realize the great variety of human thought, it is inevitable that there would be various solutions to many questions. We cannot deny, however, that there is certainly more than happenstance, which has created the harmonious, cooperative intelligence, which rules the universe. If we see the use made by many humans on earth as a proof that our world at least is not harmonious, that reflects on the ignorant humans living on it, not on the intelligence that created it.

Our biggest hindrance is that while we have studied other things, and mastered them, we have not been concerned, until perhaps very recently, to figure out just what we humans need to do to become more cooperative with the life we have been given. We tend to see other people as our enemies, rather than our accomplices in saving the world from ourselves.

In his book “The Science of Mind,” Ernest Holmes (1887-1960) wrote, “All human misery is the result of ignorance; and nothing but knowledge can free us from this ignorance, and its effect.” May God bless America.

Richard Westlund is a Collins resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com