I do not affiliate with any religion. For me, no one religion is enough by itself. The way I believe encompasses all that the various religions have to offer but goes beyond. God is not a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Hindu or any other religion; God is just God. He is everything! There is only one of Him and He doesn't restrict His love to one sector of humanity. He is there for all of us regardless of how we perceive Him or try to define Him through religious dogma.

As far as I have determined, the eastern religions primarily see God as being universal and the western religions as personal. I think they are all right but none tells the whole story.

I believe in a universal God in that God/The Universe is everything, everywhere, above us, beside us, in us and in every living thing and everything that is. And we are all a part of this God entity who is pure spirit. This is also our natural state, as we are really spiritual beings who are temporarily using a human body in order to learn through having experiences here on earth. So I do believe in reincarnation, which is the eastern way, but I don't believe it is a random event as some would imply. I believe we specifically choose to reincarnate at particular times in order to have certain experiences that are unique for each of us (and to meet up with certain people who will enrich our lives in various ways).

But as well as the universal God, I also believe absolutely in the personal aspect of God and have felt His presence on many occasions. Actually to some degree I feel His presence most of the time but on occasion very intensely. And although I have not heard His voice He has sent me many wonderful, awesome and enlightening messages by methods that cannot be explained by human logic. Although He doesn't answer me in words, He has on many occasions acknowledged me with feelings. I might say "Thankyou God for .... this experience, this beautiful day .... whatever ...." and I have in return experienced the most intense feeling of love (spiritual bliss?). Never when I have an expectation of it happening though!

Just to add a little to that, I believe God to be the creator but not quite the way that people generally do. It seems to me that most people think that because God "created us in His own image" that He must have a human image Himself (but much bigger than humans). This is reinforced by various religions referring to God as "the Father". But I think this is the wrong way round. God is pure spirit and doesn't really have an "image" as such. (He guided Moses by cloud in the day and fire at night.) So when He created us "in His own image" it was as spiritual beings like Himself. And He also gave us free will and with that free will we "decide" when to incarnate into a human body to learn the lessons we need to learn. To my way of thinking this makes perfect sense no matter whether you believe in one human life only or many (as I do).

Now you might wonder how I can believe in a God that is both personal and universal as you may consider them to be contrary to each other. Well my understanding is that it is all to do with dimensions. We live in a three dimensional world where 1+1=2, always has and always will. But our earthly laws do not apply in a multidimensional afterlife where 1+1 has the potential to equal infinity. So, I have already stated that God is everywhere i.e. 100% of all that is (the universal God) but He is more than that; He is also the "thinking part" of The Universe (i.e. the personal God). It's sort of like trying to put two litres of milk into a one litre container; it makes no sense in a three dimensional world but in the 5th dimension and beyond anything is possible.

I believe that the personal aspect of God is very important in our lives. What is the point of God if you can't pray or talk to Him? Meditating is a wonderful medium for self discovery and wisdom but it isn't enough on its own (at least for me). I want a God I can talk to as well on a one-to-one basis. Without that there would be something very vital missing from my life!