Should I trust God or tie the camel?

(By Eldad Ben-Moshe ✨ Reading Time: 5 minutes)

❤ Hey there Better Lifers!  

A Bedouin was walking with his son in the hot, unforgiving desert.
Their camel was all they had.
It was their hope for survival, too.

One day, after a long journey, they arrived in a small town.
All they wanted was to rest their weary bodies,
and the father asked the son to tie the camel before they go to sleep.

The son replied:
“Father, you always tell me to trust Allah (God).
But if God loves us, he will not let the camel run away or be stolen.

So why are you asking me to tie the camel?
Isn’t it better to trust God?”

His father replied:
“Tie the camel and trust God, my dear son.
Tie the camel and trust God”.

I love this story (which has other variations, all with the same message) because it is an excellent representation of what I like to call “grounded spirituality”.

I’m not a fan of many of the new-age spiritual theories and practices,
nor uber-religious ones.

Not to say I’m “right” and others are “wrong” - it’s just not my cup of tea.

But to be honest, sayings like “you create reality”, “you can manifest anything”,
“God will take care of it”, “God protects the believers”,  etc.
don’t seem to have any proof in the world.

You can always find some cases where it seems to work,
but there are too many examples of these things not working.

For example:

🎯 The jews in the holocaust were not protected all that well by their God, one might say.
The same goes for any massacre of any group.

Yes, the Jewish nation, as such, survived.
But 6 million people died in some of the most brutal, soulless, inhumane ways this in history.

Were the rest of the Jews saved by the grace of God?
Or does the death of so many, in such horrific ways,
shows that God did not protect them at all?

We don't know for certain.
It’s all guesses and theory.

But one of the most common questions amongst non-religious people in Israel is “where was God in the holocaust?” 

🎯 Yes, you can find people who say that they “manifested everything they want”.
Many of them will sell you a course about it though.
But that still doesn’t mean it isn’t working.

One of the things that make me a non-believer of such theories are things like the massive amount of people who take these courses.

With such numbers, there should have been many many more billionaires in the world. 
Poverty, sickness, war, and despair should have been the reality only of those who didn’t study such courses (or didn’t implement).

In other words:
That some people claim to have gotten some results does not prove cause and effect.

As the saying goes, “even a broken watch shows the correct time twice a day”.

And then, of course, is the question of why don’t we see world peace, end of world hunger, etc.

Do all these millions “manifest” only their own wealth and benefits?
If so, it seems to be quite a selfish path.

Or maybe they try to manifest world peace and end of hunger - but it’s not working?

Here’s another way of looking at it:

9 million people die of hunger every year.
Poor nutrition and hunger are responsible for the death of 3.1 million children a year.

A child dies from hunger every 10 seconds.
(as per multiple sources, for example here.)

According to Mercy Corps, “In the hungriest countries, families struggle to get the food they need because of several issues: lack of infrastructure, frequent war and displacement, natural disaster, climate change, chronic poverty, and lack of purchasing power.” 

So would you go to a mother or a father, all skinny and frail, living in a country stricken by hunger,
and tell them to “manifest food” for their baby who is but skin and bones, dying of hunger?

Or perhaps “manifestation” is a privilege - and illusion - of the rich countries?

And perhaps all the results some people achieved are nothing more than the result of will power, focus and taking actions, or karma, faith, etc., rather than of “manifestation” or a "law of attraction"?

There is an alternative, though.

What if…

1. First, you tie the camel.
First, you do your work; you give it all you got and more.
Only then, God - if it exists, if it is all-powerful and if it interferes with life on earth - might do his thing.

“My salvation comes from me.”
- A Course in Miracles, Workbook, Lesson 70

2. You acknowledged that what you want is based on your ego’s judgments, desires, and fears

rather than on a wise understanding of past, present, and future,
and of the implications that what you ask for will create.

"I do not know what anything is for”
- A Course in Miracles, Workbook, Lesson 25

I call that “grounded spirituality”.

In my case, it involves the combination of psychology, spirituality, and ideally - evidence,
although evidence is quite impossible if we go deeper into spirituality.

In its absence, a non-judgemental, objective perspective of what’s happening is a replacement - although again, not an easy one to achieve (if at all possible).

In that too, I do my best and trust God...

Am I so smart and undoubtedly right?
No.
The only thing I know is that I don’t know,

Yet, until I’m shown things in a different way, that’s what I believe.

And you’re welcome to answer in the comments, of course - we learn from each other.
I’m not the holder of absolute knowledge by any means.

Bonus question:
What if...

3. God did not create this world, nor does he interfere with it (which can explain the holocaust, world hunger, and other horrifying aspects of ‘reality’)?

The 1 path I know that combines all the above principles (and especially the 3rd one),
with spiritual and psychological explanations and practices, is A Course In Miracles. 

I’ll be happy to know if you know of any other.
Buddhism comes close but Buddhists do not believe in God. 

Now don’t get me wrong:
Right in the introduction, A Course in Miracles clearly states that it is not “the only true path.”
I love that.

In fact, it says that it is but a specific form of “the universal course”,
that there are thousands of such specific forms,
and that they all lead to the same result.

So no, I’m not saying, “you must study and practice the course in miracles”.
But I do love it a lot.

It changed my life completely (and the lives of many others),
and ever since 2005, it became the most dominant spiritual path in my life. 

And yes,
despite its new-agey name, once understood correctly it offers a very grounded form of spirituality, such that would say “tie the camel and trust God” -

but will also explain that that does not mean that God will keep you safe and grant your wishes.

Instead, it will help you see who you really are, where you really are,
why it is important - and how to experience that.

It does speak of God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, and the Messiah -
but as symbols (except God).

And it does tell us that our “salvation” comes not from them but rather from ourselves. 
I find that very interesting and unique.

“My salvation comes from me.”
- A Course in Miracles, Workbook, Lesson 70

So “tie the camel”, says ACIM (an acronym for A Course in Miracles) -
but only metaphorically.
Please be kind to animals.

Studying and practicing is “tying the camel”.
The results? “Trust God”.

The Buddhist advice is very appropriate here, though:
Do not be attached to the fruit of the action.

In other words, as per the results, you tie the camel,
and life/love/god/chance/whatever you believe in will take things from there.

The believer will say “trust God”, but he is better, as a true believer,
believe that whatever the outcome is, that is from God as well.

The non-believer might say “it’s all luck”. 

The 'manifestor' says "I made that happen" 
(unless you're talking about the holocaust, world hunger etc., of course..) 

Me?
I only know that I don’t know.

Yet we act upon our beliefs, and I believe that God is but Love,
he did not create this world and does not act in it.

I tie the camel, and I’m thankful for Love.
Instead of asking, demanding, and praying for things, I practice gratitude.

“Love Is The Way I Walk In Gratitude.”
- A Course in Miracles, Workbook, Lesson 195

To your better life,
with tons of 💖

Eldad Ben-Moshe
Founder, Teacher, and Coach
Better Life Awareness Center