If it were only related to the physical plane, it wouldnt be a spiritual belief. I really think that before you attempt to talk about something, at least know a bit about what you're discussing.

Obviously the connotations assosciated with the word God are very great, The Tao is more suitable. But to use that you need to know what The Tao is. I simply said replace it with God so it would be easier to grasp hold of the concept, and how it can relate to christianity.

They never tell you what to think. If you practice what they say to practice you will find yourself acting and thinking on the same wavelength anyway. This is why in "religions" such as Zen Buddhism, little meaning is placed on scriptures. All you need is right there. In Zen temples, they do not study scriptures, they live their lives. Only once a year are scriptures ever used, and in these ceremonies really all they do is play around. Since the scriptures are kept on zig-zag folded paper between two pieces of wood, they are a lot like slinkies. So for one day of the year they bring out the scriptures and play around with them, then put them away.

Your conditioning is the only reason you or anyone else would ever consider "god" being some sort of being external from the universe, or a sentient, concious being such as a "man in the sky" or an alien or some lifeform on a different plane of existence. Not to be offensive to you, or christians, or anyone else who may have that thought, but its just downright absurd. But the way we talk about spiritual matters in our society you are conditioned to think that.

"God, help me!"
"Pray to God"
"God will save us"
"God the father in heaven"

We are told that god is everywhere, god is all things, god is all around us and inside all of us. Yet we still somehow create these images of god... Not false idols in the sense of statues we worship, but even worse. False idols that are images in our own minds, the hardest misconceptions to get rid of. Even if you are not a christian you are affected by these notions.

So please, before attacking something such as taoism which encourages free thought, open-mindedness, and tried and true pathways to content life (that are indeed subject to change based on any new discoveries that are made... Which, by the way, has happened a lot over the years and is still happening now. Cases in which old sages writings are re-interpreted or added onto so that they relate to life in the modern day, due to things like scientific advancement are not uncommon.. But also writings so full of truth that they are still relevant today are abundant). You should consider your own situation deeply, and how your conceptions and mind have been formed by your life up until now.

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