Can “God” be a distraction?
Jim May 21st, 2009
Since the beginning, humankind has been trying to figure out God. Numerous religions currently exist, even denominations and factions within the same religion, all claiming to have the correct understanding or interpretation of God. And yet most religions agree that God is a mystery and can’t be comprehended definitively.
If this is true, what is the value of pouring our energies into understanding, comprehending, and determining the correct view of God? And further still, devising a system of beliefs and practices based on this understanding? Would this make sense if your starting premise was that God is a mystery and beyond comprehension? Wouldn’t that be like saying, “I know I can’t jump high enough to touch the moon, but I’m going to keep trying anyway.”
Further still, where did the premise of trying to figure out God come from? Does God expect or desire this of us? Does God want us to pour ourselves into determining this correct understanding? Was it all meant to be about increased comprehension? Are there any clues in Jesus? Did Jesus focus people on the task of unraveling the mystery of God? Did Jesus encourage people to develop a comprehensive understanding and belief system about God?
Yesterday I experienced deep feelings of love and peace and connectedness and intimacy and acceptance and joy. Is it possible that this experience was all the “God” I need to “know.”At the time I felt no inclination to understand or comprehend anything more than what I was experiencing in the moment. Trying to further conceptualize it in some way to fit some certain comprehension of God seemed more of a distraction than a value added.
So, I’m wondering what would happen if we became less concerned about figuring things out and comprehending God, and instead became more in tune with those deep feelings of life within us, whenever and however they happen. Maybe the premise of comprehension was never meant to be the focus. Jesus seemed to keep it pretty simple, even using children as an example to follow. A child enjoys the moment and isn’t terribly analytical about any of it. Maybe these deep feelings and the responses they stimulate and inspire is the kingdom of God and no further analysis is needed.
I’m not meaning to discount any person’s search for truth , including the desire to understand and comprehend God. This isn’t one of those, “the intellect is worthless, only ignorant people try to comprehend God, blah, blah, blah…” I’m just thinking out loud here about where we place our focus and why.
What would it look like to let go of the need to understand and comprehend God, and instead to simply be present in the experience of God’s kingdom with no further need to comprehend or explain it? Like, what if that was enough and that was the way it was meant to be? No need to formulate concepts about it, no need to locate some place within a coherent belief system to authenticate or justify it, no need to judge it, understand it, or analyze it.
Jesus once said that knowing his truth resulted in living freely and unencumbered. Jesus invited the “weary and burdened” to come to him and find that “yoke is easy and burden is light.” Maybe Jesus was referring to freedom from the wearing and burdening weight of religion, and it’s insistence upon figuring it out.
(photo by zoo gal)
- Uncategorized
- Comments(46)
Great post Jim! I especially love the last paragraph. The Lord Jesus Christ truly is freedom! Amen brother.
As someone who is wavering on the cusp of “giving up” Christianity, this post speaks volumes to me.
I am torn between my very strong attraction to the beauty and mystery of Christian liturgy and ritual (especially “high church” Episcopal and Catholic varieties) and my very strong resistance to the absolutism that religion seems to cling to. And especially the requirement for a faith that I simply can’t seem to muster. To take one without the other (to participate in Eucharist or Mass, to recite the Nicene Creed or say prayers like the rosary, without believing doctrines like the Resurrection or even life after death), seems to me to be dishonest, hypocritical. And yet I find those activities compelling and attractive and soothing.
I’m trying to figure out a way to frame it for myself so I can see the Christian story as “true” without having to view it as “fact.” Difficult for my logical, analytical mind.
I sometimes think we confuse understanding or comprehending God, our Source, with relationship.
sometimes I am AMAZED by how far I’ve come from my “either/or” thinking (a defence mechanism) to embrace a “both/and”… the same is true for me in this. To deepen my roots in relationship with God does not imply an intent to “comprehend” Him. For me, it is a love relationship with Him that I wish to deepen , from WHICH those kingdom feeling flow. definatley a “both/and” for this kid.
Amy – I love what you said about the desire to know “true” versus “fact”… For me, this speaks to the “myth of certainty” – certainty being the implication that in a scientific/empiric model of “knowing” – we can “prove”…. whereby it is my increasing sense that we are being invited to “know” by the heart/faith/trust thru Grace that can increase in depth, but does not attempt to “prove”…..I believe that this “knowing” can come thru MANY means of grace – be it walking in woods, liturgy, the eucharist, serving and loving others, appreciating those experiences of intimacy, peace, joy, love, connectedness, singing, prayer, meditating on God’s word,,,,,,, etc, etc, etc. Everything can belong.
I really enjoyed reading this post!
I can really only speak about my journey. I’ve been “restless” most of my life. Feeling like there was something I was missing in life. I’ve given myself fully to various belief systems only to find them incomplete, only partially true at best. I’ve also had the experience of “unplugging” from those systems of belief which is not always pretty, and quite often painful. From my small experience, I would say you are on the right track with this post Jim!
.
The journey for me is about the “truth”. What is true? Who am I? What am I? Ruthlessly stripping away the illusions and delusion and seeing life for what it is.
.
I will be blunt and honest, as usual. After studying several different religions with an eye for what they had in common, it all has come down to “Oneness”. Every religion has a mystical strain that sees all life as One, that sees the “Father” in all things, in all people. There is a place from which everything is born and that place also exists within us. It is the place where we commune internally with God. Some may call it non-dual awareness. Some may choose to call it the Holy Spirit.
.
I do know that I have increasingly experienced, and continue to experience, this abiding peace you talk about. A place of non-struggle, non-anxiety, I guess you could call it peace. It has been born from pain, struggle, anxiety and delusion. And it thrives when I simply accept life for what it is, not judging, just being. It is not something that I necessarily cultivate. It just is.
.
I think human-kind is afraid of nothingness. We are afraid of not existing, and the ego wants to exist eternally. So we have developed complex myths and fairytales to soothe our fear. The problem is that nothingness still exists, religion just tries to change the blackness to dark gray so we can stomach it, or forget about it, and go on with our overly-busy lives and small identities.
.
Attempting to understand and comprehend God is a necessary part of the journey, but I think there is still further to go in stripping away the illusion.
.
Peace you you all!
N.T. Wright talks about “staring at the sun”. (footnote: I don’t think he was even thinking of a certain U2 song – but it did help me appreciate U2’s song even more)
When Wright talks about staring at the sun, he is making the analogy that many of our searches for or questions about God run the risk of being like pointing a flashlight toward the sky to see if the sun is still shining. As if God were a being within our world that we can study in the same we study mathematics or music.
The point being that our search for God may lead us in right direction but cannot break through and claim to have grasped God all my themselves.
Yes, Jim I agree. Intellect is not something to be disdained, but there is more to intellect when it comes to REALLY understanding.
Sue Monk Kidd, in my estimation (although she is not the only one) describes beautifully the “tension” (in a good way) of our “action” and our “rest”….. both good, both having a place – and both being words in Greek that I don’t have right at the moment. Neither in my mind, have to invovlve try to “figure God out”, which, in my mind, is on a whole differnt axis. Both, however, in my mind can occur in a posture of restful intentionality, such that Kingdom experience can increases as a fruit…. sort of like The Vine and the Branch….. whereby He is de -vine and i am de-branch (Keith Green). ; )
Sometimes, when I’m closest to God, I feel as if He’s telling me to relax. I feel as if I have knots in my shoulders from trying to comprehend Him. When I drop my shoulders, take a deep breath and EXPERIENCE Him, all of my human struggles seem light. Sort of like when I explain to my daughter that crying over choosing an ice cream flavor defeats the purpose, twisting myself into a knot trying to find the accurate path to God often stops me from stepping onto any path and enjoying the walk with Him.
I have felt for a long time a call from God to rest. From my legalistic background to my recent kingdom building days I have always had a restlessness in my soul. I struggle with the need or desire to be right. I struggle with feeling guilty about things I’ve done and with things I should be doing. Romans 7? Maybe you’ve found the answer. God promised that if we seek, we will find. Christ said knock and it would open. Maybe trying to understand God shouldn’t be my goal. Maybe when we seek we find peace and rest. Maybe religion is a stop sign on that journey. Perhaps I need to stop trying to find rest and rest. .
Jim, I read this post this morning and am going to post my initial thought. Do we spend an enormous amount of time comprehending, understanding etc our earthly father (figure etc)?? Are our Earthly fathers’ comparible to God? If we are made in His image, it would stand to reason that so do our parents. So, any more, I do not spend a ton of time trying to figure him out. I live. I breath and he is always with me. Just like our parents. Even if we live far away, or they are no longer with us, we still feel them “with” us in some way.. But, like Roger said, “Attempting to understand and comprehend God is a necessary part of the journey, but I think there is still further to go in stripping away the illusion.”
*
You said, “Jesus once said that knowing his truth resulted in living freely and unencumbered. Jesus invited the “weary and burdened” to come to him and find that “yoke is easy and burden is light.” Maybe Jesus was referring to freedom from the wearing and burdening weight of religion, and it’s insistence upon figuring it out.” I am inclined to agree with you. Pharasees were religious and look how he responded to them. Religion offers education, but not love. And we all know what Paul says about love or the lack of it. I don’t know about you, but I spent years being a pharasee and I didn’t even know it. Most people don’t. It feels good to “belong” to a certain camp, even if it’s not good for us.. We all know far too many people that are healing from the damage inflicted by religion…
*
If Jesus came to give life and give it abundantly, wouldn’t it make sense that he wants us to enjoy life? We are so caught up with getting things right and being Christ like that we are not truly living. For today.. Right now! That’s truly all we have..
@Roger & Tony…I can relate completely to your comments. You two seem like good candidates to read (to hear the truth) in the book…The REST of the Gospel by Dan Stone. The truth in there set me sooooo free and sounds like what I am hearing from you guys, my fellow “Nobodies”, lol. Blessings.
@Jim….posts like this one today are the very reason I follow this blog…thanks Jim for following your (true) heart and pointing “the way”.
[...] Jim has written a post called Can God be a Distraction? in it he asks if figuring out and comprehending God is more of a distraction than value added. Here’s a little snippet from it: So, I’m wondering what would happen if we became less concerned about figuring things out and comprehending God, and instead became more in tune with those deep feelings of life within us, whenever and however they happen. Maybe the premise of comprehension was never meant to be the focus. Jesus seemed to keep it pretty simple, even using children as an example to follow. A child enjoys the moment and isn’t terribly analytical about any of it. Maybe these deep feelings and the responses they stimulate and inspire is the kingdom of God and no further analysis is needed. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Unless A Seed FallsLeadershipWhat is missional?Be Here Now [...]
There are so many wonderful comments here, following a wonderful post!
.
Neem Karoli Baba, a beloved Hindu saint who has meant very much to me, said the following:
.
“It’s better to see God in everything than to try to figure it all out.”
.
Thanks, everyone, for your very liberating reflections on this topic!
.
- a 31 year old Jewish nobody
Don, you wrote, “I think human-kind is afraid of nothingness. We are afraid of not existing, and the ego wants to exist eternally. So we have developed complex myths and fairytales to soothe our fear. The problem is that nothingness still exists, religion just tries to change the blackness to dark gray so we can stomach it, or forget about it, and go on with our overly-busy lives and small identities.”
.
I feel like this fear influenced much of my own mental/religious strivings, even though at the time I wouldn’t have been able to name it as you have.
.
I kinda feel like this fear is the big elephant in the room for a lot of people – the fear of nothingness, non-existence, meaninglessness, the black hole of white-noise nothingness.
.
For me, it was like I came face to face with that fear and stood my ground at that ominous black hole of nothingness…and then I detected something deeper still…it was like just on the other side of that black hole of nothingness there was indescribable joy, freedom, oneness, beauty and life…it was all just beyond the black hole.
.
I think for many years I never touched this reality (the “kingdom of God”) because that black hole stopped me short…it had prevented me from going the distance so to speak.
i deleted laura’s comment and all the related comments. it seemed like it was going in the direction of not being very constructive. apologies if i was part of moving it in that direction.
.
i’ll just sum it up by saying…people are welcome to express their views on this blog ranging from fundamentalism to whatever IF it is done with respect and without personal attack.
.
now, back to the original discussion.
No, I do not believe that God is a distaction.
Amy, you wrote, “As someone who is wavering on the cusp of “giving up” Christianity, this post speaks volumes to me.
I am torn between my very strong attraction to the beauty and mystery of Christian liturgy and ritual (especially “high church” Episcopal and Catholic varieties) and my very strong resistance to the absolutism that religion seems to cling to.”
.
I can see the conflict here Amy, and I have experienced this myself. I remember reading some books by Sophia Cavaletti and gaining a deep appreciation for the beauty and spiritual/metaphorical significance of the symbols and rituals. But I also felt this tension and conflict that you mention.
.
Is that a middle way in your mind – embracing the liturgy without the religious absolutism you refer to?
Jim,
I (whoever that is) wrote the quote about nothingness. I can say that I did not have words for it until recently. I just know I had this low level of anxiety most of my life. Like I had to get something done, or that something wasn’t right. I think it all stems back to the fear of no-self. Some would say that this is the mother-of-all-fear. For me meditation was the breakthrough. Getting in touch with, and finally resting in the nothingness that is within and eventually realizing that as the source of all.
.
The process seems to be more about “letting go” and “stripping away” then it is about adding knowledge. Don’t get me wrong, the teacher seems to show up when the student is ready. Whether it is by book, video, in person etc. But in the end it is about letting go of the false and being left with what is true. For me a large part of that process was letting go of religion and it’s many layers of accompanying belief.
.
It all sounds crazy, but it’s been my experience. I cannot, and will not go back. I’m nothing and nobody, and liking it.
Jim, you said; “For me, it was like I came face to face with that fear and stood my ground at that ominous black hole of nothingness…and then I detected something deeper still…it was like just on the other side of that black hole of nothingness there was indescribable joy, freedom, oneness, beauty and life…it was all just beyond the black hole.”
*I have experienced this myself. I find so much joy that I cant believe it. Smells are more intense, flowers more beautiful, friendships more important on on on on… I am so thankful the hard road comes to a place of intense amazement. Thank you for sharing this.
I would say that there certainly can be an existentialist approach to the fear of “nothingness” or there can be the approach of trust and faith (not synonymous with a set of beliefs). It does seem that some have found what they are seeking thru being okay with the nothingness and others have pushed thru to find what they are seeking (peace, joy, contendment, etc). Others it seems seek connection with Other such that , in fact, there is not nothingness but Oneness – a solution to the heart “ache”, restlessness – well coined by Augustine. In deepening that Oneness, many have found many “means of grace” – not ways to engineer – but rather to be a means of openness to the Other that their heart craves. There have been many reports of seeking and then Finding – both by contempories and by mystics and others thru the ages. Many journeys, many different needs, many different levels of hunger, of seeking, and of finding.
*
I would only offer that “belief systems” is not synonymous with “faith” – nor “relgion” synonymous with “holy intentionality” of seeking and openness. I would suggest that some might see joy, peace, contentment as an end in themselves, while others seek Other primarily with joy, peace, contentment resulting as fruit of that engagment. I would also offer that trying to “comprehend God” is not the same as seeking God, nor is it the same as choosing to trust God. I would offer that being “distracted” by God, is not the same as being “distracted” by religion, belief sets, etc. As far as I’m concerned, God can ‘distract’ me anytime, anywhere, anyplace…..
*
I would agree that fear of nothingness/death/the void are core existential fears common to humanity. To suggest that “reglion = “myth” has been created to replace “black” with “grey”, would be certainly one perspective. However, I would respectfully suggest that another perspective be that the restless, fearful heart is in fact that heart that has not yet recognized it’s True Self, completeness and True Home in Love/Security/Belonging by Grace/God – a hunger many testify to being answered and met by Other at the deepest centre of his/her being. I cannot too easiy discount those such as Brennan Manning, Henri Nouwen, Julian of Norwish, Teresa of Avila, Madame Guyon, amongst so many others thru the ages, who provide a heartfelt, deepening personal testimony of this. How encouraging to me – this testimony of so many through the ages who speak of that “beyond” empiric knowledge – but Knowing, none-the-less. It is those to whom I personally am drawn.
*
May this be received in the heart that I intended it to be written in.
I think the word ‘God’ can become a distraction. When you read through the comments here, everyone HAS EXPERIENCE of the feelings of love, connectedness, oneness, happiness, unity, compassion and grace. All those feelings are attributes of El Elyon, the Father of Jesus, about whom he said, ‘I and the Father are ONE’. This we can understand because we feel the same nature being portrayed through Jesus in all that he said and did while he lived, and deep inside us we feel a kinship (or a hunger to realize a kinship) with this same I AM. We also experience similar family-type feelings in our roles as parents and care-givers.
.
As soon as we mention ‘God’ a whole lot of mixed impressions and feelings arise depending on what our experience of this deity has been. A lot has to do with how and where we were brought up and our experiences during thios time, what we feel about ourselves, and what we’ve been taught by people we respect. To some he is a judge, with others he ‘tests their faith’, with others he shows how to live a good life by nipping the bad in the bud, or ‘opening the right doors’, with others he demands a ‘proof of loyalty’, yet to others he is nothing too much to be concerned about, as life is okay as it is.
.
My conclusion is that it has much to do with our way of thinking as to how we perceive what and who ‘God’ is. From the limited knowledge our mind has, all manner of manifestations are called God. This is because the mind we have is limited to earthly things, having five senses our emotions and an ability to learn by experience. We regularly read of people doing the most insane acts because ‘God told them’. Who is to say they are ‘wrong’ when looking from our mind, it is merely our perception of what is ‘good’ and what is ‘evil’, and the line of demarcation continually shifts according to how we see things.
.
My experience is that whatever is out there, no matter how ‘bad’ or how ‘good’ I am capable of being just that. Therefore I am not able to judge. However within me is a presence, a new mind, a new reality, and when I switch over to think from that pure source, all I see is the potential of who we are all created to be, I see ONENESS, I see GLORY and I see an endless LIVING of an outpouring of PERFECTION that will not only wipe out death and all its ills but will free our planet of 7000 years of erosion and the effects of death. We live in the third day, a day when TRUTH is being revealed, the dry land is being separated from the sea as the Christ REVEALS his presence within us, and this to me is no longer a name, but a NATURE.
Vicki,
I think we are saying generally the same thing with different language, coming from different perspectives. It’s all good.
.
I might suggest looking at any and all assumptions you make when you use the word “faith” though. It definitely implies a particular belief system. Who/what are you? Who/what is the “Other”? How/where do I directly experience either? are some questions that helped me.
Roger,
I think that each and every single word used in writing or otherwise is up for defining. This is, in part, what makes communiction difficult. I specifically use the word ‘faith’ to mean a posture of trust – an activity of the heart, as opposed to a “belief set”. These really are two different things, as certainly folks like Audrey often writes about. so, for me, that word specifically, I use to mean a “posture” of the heart, which is much less about the “thinking” re a set of dogma. I think the ones that I am personally most drawn to are those who speak about a Knowing that actually is beyond actual language yet “know that they know”… That helps me a tremendous amount. So, I’m not sure what you mean about “any and all assumptions”… i simply refer to a posture of faith. some may define it differently, but for me it would be fruitless to reduce the experiences of the mystics to terminology. I am definately not speaking about a nothingness though.
whoops, cut myself off. What they describe, for me I guess, however, is enough of a draw for me to explore by my own feeble efforts at a “posture of trust” and an opennes for me, to some of the mean of grace that others decribe as being a conduit for Grace (agian i would only say grace being an i know that i know ). For me, I’m okay with that being enough for me at the moment….I’ve learned that for me, trying to get all my T’s crossed and I’s dotted before I step out in what is my desire and need for a trust posture in somthing/one bigger than me…. i guess it is something I choose to do, not try to completely describe or certianly try to prove to another. Re the blog title, In this, for me, God is not a “distraction” ,however much language itself might be. Ideas “about” God, ideas “about” the language, etc, etc etc a complete potential for distraction, for me. I am simply, at this point in life, desiring to throw my hat in the ring where the mystics pointed. That’s all I really know at this point……
Roger, you are correct, however that I happen to choose a “trust” basis. For me that is a “belief” that Jesus was/is the Son of God , died, was buried and resurrected. I would say that is a “belief”. This is opposed to other “beliefs” .. it is okay for me. I accept that there are endless “beliefs”.. then, for me “faith” is a posture of trust and openness rather than accumulation of more “beliefs” on that. This may be what you are meaning? This is what i meant in the post about there being different things individuals need, are content with, etc. Many journeys and often different stages too of journeys. I accept that some things have helped you a great deal and I respect that. I need differentt things, perhaps have a different ache. I am willing to “take a chance” on my “core” “belief” that “trust” in “him” as existing both within and transcendant to me (immanenent and transcendant) will bring me to where my heart desires. In this way I only meant to point out that sometimes I have had a belief set but not “trust”. There is much I do not yet “own” for myself like many others here on the blog can attest to. I’m okay with that…. there are many, many beacons of light here for me.
Vicki,
Really no need to defend anything unless it helps you clarify your belief. We are all on a journey and we will choose to stop at different places and see different scenery along the way. In my own experience there is a difference between mysticism/spirituality and being “awake”, some might call it abiding non-dualism. Just trusting in something other than ourselves is a step in the right direction. Some will choose to remain there and some will choose to dig deeper. Again, it’s all good, all the way down.
Roger, and certainly I am not defending anything…… you seemed to be asking me some questions? Did you assume that my trying to respectfully answer was to provide a defence? Not at all!!! I was only sugesting from the beginning that your “statement” of religion/myth being created to bring “black” to “grey” was only one perspective and respectfully suggested another. I could be totally mistaken Roger, but your tone , i experience as condescedning. It that your intent.? I do not need to “defend’ anything at all. You ask a question and I attempted to answer to the best of my ability. What were you actually seeking from me?
Roger, also, if you feel you’d like to further engage and this forum seems to be less useful , given the limits of e-mail, you are welcome to call me or e-mail. Jim has my e-mail and number. I am not assuming that you desire that, but offer that. I would suggest that this forum is not providing a useful medium at this point as it becomes more and more difficult to read “tone” and “intention”. To say, for example that some “choose” to stay where they are and some my “choose” to go deeper is something i experience as other than you may have intended.
Cheers,
Vicki
You are reading me wrong. I’m sorry your offended, but it is your offense to own. I merely state what I know and what I see and state it as clearly as I can. If you choose to give a particular tone or intention to a comment it is something reacting within you and a good place to “dig” and ask why. Being awake is a choice, sometimes a painful one. I can’t back away from that statement. Peace to you.
Roger, I was only seeking clarification to if you were asking a question for my attempts to answer or if your questions, rather, in response to my post earlier, were for example rhetorical. It seemed you had responded specifically to a post that I then was simply trying to provide further clarification. So, your thought that I was needing or trying to defend something was inaccurate. I was making no assumptions at all about you intention, which i stated, but was stating my experience. You have now clarified your intent, but there is no need to apologize for you have in no way offended me and therefore nothing I need to “own”.
Vicki,
You have hit on something profound IMO when you speak of a distinction between “belief sets” and “trust,” and your further clarification using the concepts of “transcendent” and “imanent” (see my last comment below).
.
I have been struggling with some way of making that distinction intelligible, and you touched the core of something for me: You got me square in your cross-hairs with the deeply incisive definition “faith” is a posture of trust and openness rather than accumulation of more “beliefs” on that.
.
Even though what you are talking about regarding a relationship with the transcendent “God” cannot strictly be regarded as a mere “propositional” truth, you have a gift for “propositionally” describing that truth! Thank you for you!
Audrey of NZ,
.
You wrote, “…everyone HAS EXPERIENCE of the feelings of love, connectedness, oneness, happiness, unity, compassion and grace… we feel the same nature being portrayed through Jesus…we feel a kinship with this same I AM…As soon as we mention ‘God’ a whole lot of mixed impressions and feelings arise depending on what our experience of this deity has been…From the limited knowledge our mind has, all manner of manifestations are called God…We regularly read of people doing the most insane acts because ‘God told them’…it is merely our perception… according to how we see things.”
.
Audrey you sort of identify what has evolved in my own spiritual journey, which has been a gradual shift away from things revolving around my ideas, concepts, understandings, views, conjectures and perceptions of God, and toward experiencing, enjoying, allowing, listening, following, expressing those deep feelings – just staying connected with that ‘Christ’ nature within.
.
this season of my journey seems to involve a declining interest in achieving a clearer or correct understanding of God. for a long time i was really caught up in the desire of discovering or creating some concept or understanding about God that was finally “it.” it wasn’t a bad motivation – i genuinely believed that this concept or understanding would be the path of liberation and all things good for me and others.
.
but then i saw that there was never an end to this road. every new and improved understanding i had was at least a little defective, had a down side, and needed improvement. so it was back to the drawing board…again…again…again…again. now i see that the whole process was necessary because it’s what finally motivated me toward “metanoia” – shifting away from my mind’s need to understand and simply living from that ‘Christ nature’ of ‘deep feelings’ within. wow, that shift made such a big difference! i felt a wonderful connection with all. it was like i was sharing in the very heartbeat and pulse of Life’s center…the ‘I AM’ as you referred to it.
.
i could immediately tell it was a different experience and result from what i had when trying to ‘figure it out.’ trying to figure it out seemed to keep things open ended and there was always more still to ‘figure out.’ the ‘figuring it out’ only seemed to lead to more things to ‘figure out.’ it was like i was chasing my tail, and it had no end. but living in that nature feels like completion and fulfillment – like there’s nothing that could be added to make it better. for me it has been a place of peace and rest. it’s almost like my mind sometimes forces upon me a burden too big to bare and i live under the subsequent stress of that. but when i embrace that nature within i feel like Jesus’ words are fulfilled when he said to come to him because his “yoke is easy and burden is light.
.
i can live in that nature, it’s a rather simple thing. it awakens me to the depth and meaning of all of life and every person, animal, and experience that unfolds along the everyday paths of life. i’ve been taking care of our next door neighbor’s blind dog. last night after walking her and bringing her back in, i just laid down beside her in and talked to her. i felt that deep nature within me in those moments, and a connection with that dog i can’t explain. for me, there was nothing more significant in all the world i could have been doing – just sharing in that nature and experiencing it’s reality with that dog.
Jim,
Sounds like a beautiful feeling of connection and completeness in the moment with the dog and your shared nature with “I Am”.
Jim,
My heart is smiling (if there can be such a thing!) as I read your words! As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, the less I seek Him, the more I find Him! And opening up my heart to this realization is deep, vast and nothing that I could ‘arrived at’ with my mind. I tried to find Him with my mind for so long, and all it ever got me was a merry-go-round of ‘trying harder’. I SO get what you’re saying. Now, likewise, I have the desire to shift away from concepts, views and conjectures…not that they’re bad…but they’re not where I find HIM…the great ‘I AM’. He’s here, there, everywhere that my mind can not find Him. I have noticed that in the face of what we are ‘believing’, reality (THE REAL, Him, ‘I AM’) waits to be noticed. Eventually, we wake up to it/Him…or not.
.
BTW…I can relate to the deep sense of connection you experienced with your neighbor’s blind dog. I’ve had a similar experience when I sit with, and look into, the kind eyes of my aging cat. She’s very near the end of her life, yet I see Him in her presence as well. Thanks for rekindling that experience of love within me.
All those wonderful thoughts and comments bring to mind what I think of as childlikeness, innocence and trust. The little child doesnt “try” so much to figure it all out, but is content to live and play in the wonder of the moment, at peace and harmony in the now.
When I forget what childlikeness is really like, I go and play with my 2 yr old grandaughter…then she heals my “all grown up’ness” till I just laugh and love and play like her again. She teaches me well. I wonder if there will be any “grownups” in heaven, or if we will all be perpetual children of the kingdom? I wonder if Love is so pure, so innocent, so undefiled so as not to remember or bring to mind anything else.
I think John C has expressed that feeling of exactly where we are at in the Kingdom, little children learning together about how to live the REAL L_I_V_I_N_G LIFE – we are all together in this, no more separate roads and isolated journeys, from here on, as we grow we need each other in order to develop, all together, one body.
.
And the promise to us is that we WILL grow because only a mature ’son’ can birth the Christ. We are at the point where having woken, realised our true identity, we cross over Jordan and every step that the sole of our feet tread becomes ours as we continue in this metanoio place.
.
We do have an aim, and that is to declare to the world the glory of him who dwells within. As we have previously borne the image of our earthly parentage, now we go on to bear the image of the heavenly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEBTlGfIqnc#
there seems to be so many deep philosophies discussed here and to be honest, these ideas are over my head. jim, this post really got me thinking about my journey and struggles with understanding God. while studying or really just reading galations the other day i stumbled across verse 9 in chapter 4. paul states that the galations knew God and then sort of backs up and changes it to them being known by God instead. i started thinking maybe that has something to do with peace. not necessarily knowing or understanding God but relishing in the knowledge that God knows and understands me. i try to look at God as my father. coming from an abusive relationship with my step father that is sometimes difficult . i look at my son though and he has no idea of my complexities, he dosen’t understand me but he likes spending time with me, loves me implicitly, trust me to any extreme and belives everything i tell him. on the other hand, i do know my son. i know his strenghts and weaknesses. i know what he loves, hates, fears, etc…. i often let him find his own way. i let him have his own victories and defeats but i also teach and guide him as needed. maybe we dont have to understand or “know” God and maybe we can rest in the fact that He know us.
The link above is a song. Simon Webbe – No worries
Tony you have beautifully described our father’s heart. Just like you are teaching and guiding, so we have within us the true teacher guiding us each step we take. Hope you like the song.
.
Jim – thank you for your encouragement. Like Jane my heart did a leap when I read this that you wrote above, “now i see that the whole process was necessary because it’s what finally motivated me toward “metanoia” – shifting away from my mind’s need to understand and simply living from that ‘Christ nature’ of ‘deep feelings’ within. wow, that shift made such a big difference! i felt a wonderful connection with all. it was like i was sharing in the very heartbeat and pulse of Life’s center…the ‘I AM’ as you referred to it.”
It is the LIVING you that wrote that and what you say will attract the other prepared hearts around you, because while in THAT place you have food to feed them.
Jim,
You said, “but then i saw that there was never an end to this road. every new and improved understanding i had was at least a little defective, had a down side, and needed improvement. so it was back to the drawing board…again…again…again…again. now i see that the whole process was necessary because it’s what finally motivated me toward “metanoia” ”
.
I think this describes the process of stripping away the illusions in life. There is a time to think, a time to learn, a time to grow, a time to rest, a time for everything under heaven. It is a natural unfolding for those who desire to find out the truth that lies within. As the false is stripped away we are left with more of what is true. I think the process is ultimately one of subtraction, but takes some addition (intellectual learning) in the initial stages. Thinking is not necessarily the enemy and feeling is not always our friend.
[...] A couple of days later, I ran across this post on Jim Palmer’s blog, which serves as a contrast to McKnight’s post. Jim “thinks out loud” concerning the pursuit to know and comprehend God. “What would it look like to let go of the need to understand and comprehend God, and instead to simply be present in the experience of God’s kingdom with no further need to comprehend or explain it? Like, what if that was enough and that was the way it was meant to be? No need to formulate concepts about it, no need to locate some place within a coherent belief system to authenticate or justify it, no need to judge it, understand it, or analyze it.” [...]
After all the deconstructing I’ve done, it’s pretty clear to me that God is not going to be boxed in. As soon as we think we have God in a box, what we actually have is an image of God, and that is borderling idolatry. Systematic theologies do us a dis-service in getting us to think that there is a single “right” way to think about God. Like you, I think God wants to be experienced. He wants us to know him deep in our souls by feeling him not deep in our brains by hearing a lecture. Can’t agree with you more. Great stuff!
Thanks for this post!