"You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself" is a quote by S. Vivekananda. Let me explain why, after lots of contemplating, this rings true for me.
When I first read the quote, I brushed it off. Certainly that couldn't be true, and I didn't want to spend any more time thinking about it. However, as the day went on that statement followed me. It showed up everywhere, so I thought maybe I need to take a closer look.
Let's unpack this, starting right from the beginning. In Genesis it tells us that we were created in the image of God. God breathed life into us. His breath flows inside of us. Therefore, God is the source of life from within. He is inside of you, around you -- everywhere.
If this is the case, when you reject yourself, hate on yourself or do even worse, you are doing the same to God because He is the source from within, and your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). Everything you are holding against yourself on a core level, whether it is through words or actions, you are also holding against God.
By questioning who we truly are, we are questioning who God is.
Maybe you believe you were created by chance, and if that were true that would also mean you don't have a unique purpose. That would leave you struggling in life, not just physically but also emotionally and spiritually -- which again, would lead you to not truly believing in yourself. What is there to believe in, if we run around like zombies without a purpose? We start to feel hopeless and a thought sneaks in that indicates that surely there can't be a God if that is how I feel because it doesn't feel good.
When we don't trust ourselves, we also don't trust God. Our human self is restored through Christ yet we tend to not want to accept it on a deep spiritual level. From experience, we tend to be suspicious about everything that may be good. If it sounds too good, it probably is.
Many of us, myself included, merely acknowledge the existence of God. But do we fully and whole-heartedly experience faith? There is a difference between knowledge and faith. Faith means to let go of what we think we can and should control, but we are afraid to let go because we would lose ourselves. We can't risk that. What we become familiar with, we become comfortable with and even when it is not in our best interest, it feels safe so we hold onto it. Trying to be in control of our lives means we don't trust Divine guidance.
Taking that thought even further, I strongly believe that if we can go beyond just knowing and start believing on a heart level, relying on faith, we could change the direction our society is heading towards.
Whatever you focus on within yourself, is what you focus on within others. What we are willing to acknowledge about ourselves, we are willing to acknowledge about others. If you believe in yourself and God as your source, you will understand that you are beautifully created in every way. This will lead us to see others the same way, creating a deep sense of connection between each one of us. If you believe in yourself, you start to see yourself as God sees and loves you and THIS leads to us TRULY SEEING each other.
If we keep fighting ourselves, we question God's creation, therefore won't be able to acknowledge that everything and everyone is connected with each other. By having faith we will be willing to take responsibility for ourselves and be able to acknowledge the responsibility we have for each other. We simply can't exist alone.
It is a deep, personal journey that will lead us from knowledge to hope to faith. It is a journey that requires digging through a lot of layers that cover up our core which is our essence in the light of God. As human beings we will never be perfect, but with this understanding it makes it easier to accept and live our calling and purpose for a greater good. When you believe in yourself in an honoring way, you are honoring what God has created, and therefore, God himself. The less you believe in yourself, the more separated you are spiritually from God.
So, I am asking you: How important is it to truly understand who we are and with what purpose God created us? Let's start our journey of a deep sense of knowing, understanding, connecting and surrendering -- a journey from knowledge to hope to faith.
With everything said, my understanding is that the statement of, "You can not believe in God until you believe in yourself," goes hand in hand with, "You can not believe in yourself until you believe in God." One builds on top of the other.