Alan Watts tells this story:
Some years ago, I had just given a talk on television in Canada. When one of the announcers came up to me and said, “You know, if one can believe that this universe is in charge of an intelligent and beneficent God, don’t you think he would naturally have provided us with an infallible guide to behavior and to the truth about the universe?”
And of course, I knew he meant the Bible. I said, “No, I think nothing of the kind, because I think a loving God would not do something to his children that would rot their brains.”
Divine Guidance
As a Zentheist, I affirm that true divine guidance is not a rigid, infallible code handed down to stifle our minds but a dynamic relationship with the One True God—the perfect, infinite Ground of Being that transcends all form and time.
Reality reveals itself in many ways, and our maturity as observers influences what we understand as truth. The universe, or the Matrix of Becoming, invites each of us as sparks of divinity to grow consciously through experience, reason, and mindfulness meditation.
Spiritual Growth
A loving God encourages mental development, right intention, right speech, and right action—not by imposing inflexible dogma, but by inspiring personal freedom, responsibility, and awakening through lived ethics and inner transformation.
To embrace this path, I live as a hermit mystic, cultivating simplicity, renunciation, and spiritual growth through daily mindfulness and prayer, seeking union with the divine in harmony with all life.
The True Guide Is God
This is the true guide—not an external, unchanging rulebook, but a continuous journey of awakening, loving others, and right relationship with the Earth and all beings within it. We need to work things out, because that is what growth is about. God doesn’t do it for us, he does it in us.
Jay N. Forrest
Rev. Dr. Jay N. Forrest, D.Min., is an independent scholar, interfaith hermit, and author specializing in comparative religious studies, scriptural translation, and contemplative practice. A retired ordained minister and certified meditation teacher with decades of ministry experience, he has produced rigorous translations of key selections from the Pali Canon and Greek New Testament, blending historical-critical methods with insights from Eastern and Western traditions. His scholarship explores the intersections of early Christian texts, Sufi mysticism, and perennial philosophy, offering fresh hermeneutical perspectives on transformative spirituality. Dr. Forrest’s publications, including works on Buddhism, Christianity , and Zentheism, establish him as a distinctive voice in bridging theological erudition and lived devotion for contemporary seekers. Grounded in extensive academic training, his contributions illuminate scriptural foundations and mystical encounters across faiths.