God - Paragraph 3
In the last blog we sat with the “ultimate mystery of existence” while today we’re exploring the idea that no one can come upon God. Here’s our text:
“We can define God, then, as “That” which can only be revealed - “only”, because of himself man cannot come upon God. Where there is no revelation I hold there is also no true religion, but instead, mere philosophy, speculation and myth. Without revelation no certitude is possible, not even the certitude God exists. We might add, “That” which is revealed never identifies Itself by the term “God” or says anything at all. The term “God” is man’s term for “That” beyond which nothing exists.”
Robert’s defines God as ““That” which can only be revealed” and goes so far to say that “where there is no revelation…there is also no true religion.” This is a statement I can wholeheartedly get behind, and one understood from an experiential point-of-view because anything I thought I knew about God has been blown apart making the religion of my youth moot.
It might seem that the term revelation sounds full of itself, like the person getting the revelation is somehow superior to someone not getting a revelation, but the term “revelation” simply means to know something that you did not know before. This implies the ordinariness of revelation, there is always something unknown that is coming into view. For example, If you don’t know algebra, and then take an algebra class you now know something you didn’t know before. Revelation.
But enough on revelation. What actually captures my attention in this particular paragraph is Robert's statement “because of himself man cannot come upon God.” My paraphrase of this phrase is I, myself, am the barrier. Just writing and sensing into these words is a challenge, I feel the resistance. If I am the barrier then what hope is there to ever know “That?” It’s understandable why some people do not like talking about or considering “That” because to find out you’re a barrier does not exactly engender warm fuzzies. It is easier to stay with “philosophy, speculation and myth” then to learn I am a barrier, one that needs dismantling.
So how do I understand the concept that I, myself, am the barrier? It simply means that I take my stories, story lines, beliefs, illusions, and projections to be truth. Often these narratives are what I believe myself to be even though I know this is not the truth of who I am. How do I know I am not these things? Because when I am still these structures can be sensed and seen through for what they are; barriers or false beliefs. Barriers separate me from “That” and from myself and also occlude the beauty of others. These barriers cloud and distort reality causing fear, judgement and interior constriction. In other words, full participation with the moment is blocked because I’m caught up believing the barrier is true, that I must be the reaction or storyline vying for my attention.
Here is an example of a barrier recently encountered. I knew a barrier was present for two reasons. First, there was a lack of compassion for the other and, second, I needed to defend my position. These two barriers closed me off to possibilities and placed me in a position of needing to control. I’ve given up feeling bad about the barriers as nothing is accomplished when the inner critic lights up to say how you should be a nicer person. Instead, the barriers now serve as invitations for internal exploration. One way to explore is to ask questions like, “what was I defending against?” Or maybe “what need did I feel was unmet?” This type of inquiry is what I mean when I say a barrier may need dismantling.
Eventually dismantling becomes a part of life. On the good days what is true is that, like you, I recognize myself as the beauty, the love, and the desire to openly give and receive. When this reciprocity flows the barriers are relaxed making possible an encounter with “That.” The ebb and flow of barriers is the ordinary life. Another way to say and think about this ordinariness is that all of life becomes practice. We practice as we flow and we practice as we constrict, all is welcome as all is invitation. In this way all of life’s ups and downs teach us something that we did not know before. Revelation.
Image: Chesterfield, MO - The "Awakening" created by J. Seward Johnson, Jr. in 1980 photographed by Kim de Beus.
