When a child talks about his imaginary friend, we smile. When billions of people talk about their imaginary friend they expect others to take it seriously.

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them. (Mark 10:14-16) 

As children we are open to experience. We have not yet learned to filter, categorize, and selectively neglect. As children we authentically engage the constant complexity of creation.

Too often adults use religion to filter, categorize, and aggressively exclude or worse. This is not becoming as a little child.

A forensic analysis of my faith might reasonably conclude I have personified a sort of Freudian super-ego as God/Jesus; God as a psychological projection of my "oughts" and aspirations. I cannot disprove this analysis.

I can only report that I experience a persistent sense of abiding with something beyond my comprehension yet profoundly intimate. In this other I perceive a connectedness that infinitely extends.

There are moments or more when I perceive I am well-aligned with this otherness. In these moments I have a sense of greater awareness, wholeness and happiness. I understand this as God's reign.

I did not have a stereotypical imaginary friend. But around age seven or so, I earnestly prayed that God would preserve and protect my imagination. It is the first prayer I specifically recall. I prayed in particular that I be saved from the blindness and boredom I saw in so many adults.