Dear Spiritual Companions,
Having a concept of God is so tricky. Who told us we could ever define the Essence of All There Is? I love the Jewish Religion because it can’t even say the Name of G-d. I also love the Hindu Religion because of the number of Gods it has. Zen works with koans that have no answers so that one can not know the Identity of God. The book entitled, “If you meet the Buddha on the road kill him,” says it all. So what is this desire to put God in a box by defining what we thing It is? Why can’t we accept the idea that God is Unknowable? The best we can hope for is caught in the image of grasping at a definition of God symbolized in a closed hand. If we open the hand and extend the fingers we find ourselves pointing at what God could be. We are not saying this or that is God. No, we are pointing at the endless possibilities of God’s Identity. I invite you to go out in to a dark area on earth at night and look up at the stars and many galaxies that hide endless universes. God is like that – endless and mysterious, ongoing and creating forever.
If you are still with me, now we can look at what happens if we live with the endless and mysterious nature of God. We are free from having to define the Undefinable. As a Pastor for 35 years I spent so much of my time trying to define God. One thing I learned along the way was it could not be done. People expect Pastors or Religious Leaders to have the answers to such questions of Identity or the Meaning of Life. When one does not, then the spiritual journey begins in earnest. Moses asked God to tell him who He was and after some prodding God replied, “I Am Who I Am.” What does that mean? The only thing I could come up with is God is Being. All that has been, All that is, and All that will be is God. That is obviously not a definition filled with clarity. I say Good. It is instead an invitation to more. What does that line mean to you? If you are anything like me it is too much to comprehend, We are left with something that is beyond words – Nothing. Break that word down and you get No Thing. God is No Thing which means no definition.
God is beyond words. God is found in emptiness with No Thing. The question now becomes one of then why do we try to define that which cannot be defined? Good query isn’t it? When we give up the search we can encounter God on God’s Terms. When we become open to living life as it is, without those endless questions of why it is what it is, we can simply live it as it is. This is where I have discovered the God of no Essence. My words, which will one day end with this physical existence, no longer are my source of strength. I now can venture into the unknown, the darkness and endless possibilities knowing in my heart that I am not alone. There is a Being with me that has been there, is there and will always be there. Now what happens doesn’t have to be explained, it just has to be lived. The funniest thing is life is exactly like that, so why not embrace what is. Now, along with God, we can say I Am Who I Am.
It is all so mysterious, but it has such a comforting feeling to it. The search for meaning and explaining God among many other things is no longer necessary. For me it is like a wonderful piece of cherry pie. All I need do is enjoy it by being present to the moment of eating it. Like life, God is found in that delicious piece of pie. Worth pondering don’t you think?
Peace,
Gary