God in Nature - Paragraphs 5 and 6

 We continue today with Robert’s ongoing thoughts concerning Omnipresence. Here’s our text:

“God’s Omnipresence is man’s first and most universal revelation. I’m convinced people see It all the time, only they don’t know this or recognize it. This is why, at some point, it may be revealed to them. It can happen, however, that before we become conscious of this mysterious Omnipresence, we have been so taken up looking  for God elsewhere that we missed this Presence completely. Then too, we may soon forget this seeing in favor of some trivial pursuit.

Because this sighting (Omnipresence) is so simple, it seems to be all but innate. Because it is so simple, however, it may even be objected this cannot be called a “revelation.” But what makes it a revelation is the sighting, the recognition, the absolute certitude which is ours forever. We often hear people excuse themselves from going to Church with, “Oh, God is everywhere.” Yet they’ve never seen God-Everywhere and merely believing it cannot, and has not, produced the seeing. Seeing this truth is a grace in itself. Something else. To see and know God’s Omnipresence is, in my view, the true nature of “contemplation,” or what it means to “contemplate God.” This is an outward, external gaze at the formless, aloof, ever present mystery of God everywhere. From a purely sensory stand-point, it is like looking at nothing. It is a gaze at the mystery of what lies behind, throughout or prior to, the sensory world. I stress this as an “outward” gaze, because seeing this Omnipresence can never be an inward gaze.”

Several things strike me in this portion of text. The first is Robert's assertion, in fact she says she is convinced, that “people see IT all the time, only they don’t recognize it.” The next is that although we may see it “we may soon forget this seeing in favor of some trivial pursuit.” The last thing is her definition of contemplation as “an outward, external gaze at the formless, aloof, ever present mystery of God everywhere.” Let’s examine each of these three things separately.

I’m in absolute agreement that people see It all the time. As she says, the simplicity of it seems so innate that we take for granted that which is a great seeing. I honestly believe that most everyone have had moments of transfixed seeing; the beauty of the sky speaking to you, the calming tranquility of the sea’s presence, a baby’s innocence melting your heart, morning bird song preparing you for the day. We know in those moments something revelatory is occurring even though we can’t say exactly what is occurring.

This brings us to the second point, that we soon forget this seeing and, as Roberts says, the forgetting is often in pursuit of the trivial. We have these glorious moments, but how often do we take them to heart and reflect on and explore their meaning? If you take a moment to remember such a seeing I think you’ll agree that these moments are extraordinary, gifting us with momentary lightness and richness of living. How easily we forget. How easily our attention is drawn away by something we deem more important.

And there is no mistaking that something important may occur; an emergency phone call, a fender bender, or someone in need. The problem is we never return to that extraordinary moment to ask “what was that?” To take it to heart and explore how we could feel so utterly free in one moment and trapped in the next. We allow life’s finite bits to overwhelm the infinite Mystery.  It takes a lot of gumption to lay aside the ordinary for a few moments each day in order to return and explore the extraordinary. Although, if you do it enough it will become habit and even be possible to return to the extraordinary in the midst of the ordinary.

This is what the last point in the blog illuminates, that “an outward, external gaze at the formless” is possible. She is correct when she says that it is like looking at nothing. It is a wonder that we can do it at all, but with persistence it is possible. You look at nothing and see, what she calls, the God-Everywhere. There is no magic and if it is a revelation, as she says, it is a gentle one, as it has been there all along. In fact, when it comes into view it is hard to believe that you have missed it all these years. 

So where do Robert’s words leave me today? What comes to mind is the slow and gentle nature of this journey. I don't deny that the shifts in perspective can be quite explosive and painful, yet my sense of this unpleasant piece of the journey has more to do I think with my own self saying no. When I constrict or kick the gourd then the pain arises. If I, instead, release my grip, become curious, and explore what is actually happening then the awareness is that some gentle Benevolence is guiding the journey of which I cannot see but can sense everywhere. 

St. John of the Cross talks about walking the Night, a certain way of navigating obscurely. I have come to trust this dark way of seeing, as Roberts says the looking “at nothing,” to guide me forward. I only need to look outward at this formless Mystery to know that the words of Julian of Norwich are true, “all will be well.” It is difficult to explain but those who know it just know. Like Roberts says, it is a certain certainty of heart.