JIM GILLIAM almost died. He had cancer twice, once treated with chemo, once treated by a bone marrow transplant. Then he needed both of his lungs swapped out after they were left badly scarred from the cancer treatments. After first being denied, a blog post got him on the waiting list at UCLA, and later a successful surgery.
He grew up with a fervent belief in God. He lost that faith when he was going through treatment and when his mom died of cancer. His faith was restored, but not in God, in the humanity that was connected via the Internet.
God is just what happens when humanity is connected. Humanity connected is God.
He realized that he owed his life to people he would never meet, all somehow connected through the Internet. He realized that all of us owe our lives to people we never meet. The realization led him to the idea that together, with our individual skills and talent, all connected, we are the creator.
“We serve God best when we do what we love for the greatest cause we can imagine…we are the leaders of this new religion…each one of us is a creator, but together we are the creator.”
*Thanks to Brain Pickings for posting and bringing my attention to this.