From lecture 105, HUMANITY’S RELATIONSHIP TO GOD IN VARIOUS STAGES OF
DEVELOPMENT:

The state of atheism exists in two ways: 1) an absolute lack of awareness and perception of life and nature, her laws and the significance of creation. 2) a reaction to the superstitious God-Image and self-projection of man, denying self-responsibility. This latter state of atheism, erroneous in itself as it is, is still indicative of a further state of development other than a belief in God. This comes predominantly from fear, evasion, escapism, wishful-thinking, denial of self-responsibility. The latter is often a necessary transitory period on the way to a more realistic and genuine experience of and relationship to God. During this stage, faculties are cultivated in man that are of utmost importance for his individual growth. This does not mean that I advocate atheism. This is no more the case than that I advocate a childish, clinging, belief in God. Both are stages. In each stage there is something important that the soul learns. Something is imprinted in the soul that is productive and lasting, long after the superficial layers of the mind have dispensed with the falsity of both extremes.

In this second stage of atheism, man learns to assume self-responsibility. He lets go of the wished-for hand that leads life for him, absolves him from the consequences of his own mistakes. It makes him give up the expectation of being rewarded for being obedient to rules. Simultaneously, it frees him from fear of being punished. In some ways, it brings him back to himself.

But when a certain point is passed in this stage, it is no longer possible to maintain the concept of atheism. The more any thought, concept, scientific fact, or philosophy is carried to its logical end and conclusion, the less is it possible to maintain an untruth or half-truth; or even a temporary state that had its healthy function at a certain period. When man passes through these various stages briefly discussed here, he is bound to arrive at the point when he uses his mind to question his own motives; to look at and into himself. Thus he cultivates awareness by facing the reality within. As he proceeds to do this, forever deeper levels of his psyche become liberated. In this liberation, genuine God-experience is the inevitable outcome. This genuine God-experience is very different from the childish belief in a self-projected God which the mind has created out of fear, weakness, and wishful-thinking. He no longer acts because he feels God demands or expects it of him. He lives in the now. He does not fear his imperfection and does not fear God’s punishing him for it.