Experience the Unknowable

"The concept of God is beyond what the rational mind can comprehend."

For many, there is an emphasis on a belief in a deity.  The notorious question is, do you believe in God?  This has given rise to atheists, agnostics, deists and so on.  The interesting aspect of this question is that it may sometimes suppose that a disbelief in God means that God does not exist.

The truth is that the word God is attempting to give form to the Formless.  Even the word is limiting God as she cannot be compressed into 3 letters.  There also is historical baggage associated with this word.  The usual saying is "God is not an old white man with a beard."  There may have been things done in the name of our word for deity that we do not agree with.  There may be definitions for this word that you do not agree with.  In addition, the concept of God is beyond what the rational mind can comprehend anyways.  Our word for the Supreme is a place holder and nothing more.

Asking someone "Do you believe in God?" is like asking them "Do you believe in electricity?"  Even if you do not believe in electricity, you can still turn on the lights in your house.  Does not believing in electricity cause it to cease to exist?  Of course not!  You can still experience the benefits of a thing without believing in it.  It is quite possible that there is too much emphasis on belief.  For some, it may be useful to think of Reality, Science or Happiness as this outside force.

Rather than struggle with attempting to answer this question, I suggest that it is possible to just leave it as a question.  I also suggest that possibly this is not the right question to ask in the first place.  If you are an atheist, that is okay too.  However, I submit that there is mystery in the question.  Saying "there is no God" implies that your mind can grasp what this word represents.  The adventure in life comes from being open to new questions and new answers.

I suggest that maybe a Higher Power is more an absence of what we see in this world.  We need to be open to a constantly changing definition as we become more conscious of this Power.  To define or label is to limit.  It may be most useful to think of the purest, happiest time of your life to fill your "placeholder."  A better pursuit than attempting to answer this question is to strive for experience.

Experience this energy outside yourself in the way in which you are most comfortable.  Maybe it is through sitting in silence, walking in nature, singing or indulging in your favorite hobby.  By opening yourself to the unseen, you are opening a window so that you may experience this force firsthand.

My Concept of God

"On this journey, all it takes is traveling 1% of the distance by faith and the Universe will travel the remaining 99% to meet you."

This post is deeply personal as it reflects my current beliefs about the unseeable in this world.  At the same time, it may help you if you have some of the same questions that I do.  The spiritual path cannot be understood by the intellect.  This is why it is so difficult to write about it.  I am, in a sense, trying to write from my spirit or soul and connect with yours.  Yet, we are having to do that through our mind that is incapable of understanding these truths.  The secret is letting go of your rational mind and being with the truths.  This is a scary thing to do so it is understandable if it takes some time to be able to work yourself up to this point.  Once, you do, I think you will see that things start to fall into place.

To be honest, it is very frightening sometimes to believe in that in which we cannot see.  Since it goes against the intellect, we are constantly having to relax our minds to continue on this path.  You might think or even have others call you "crazy", however, in order for there to be a crazy, there has to be a normal.  What is normal in this world?  I heard someone say you have to be a little "out of your mind" to progress on this path.  This is because spiritual truths are outside your mind and reside in a place of being.  They are already a part of you.

The penultimate illustration of this is my concept of God.  First and foremost, you can already see the paradox. A "concept" which is in the mind and God who is beyond comprehension.  Yet, we can try.  My concept of God is constantly changing and this is perfectly acceptable.  God is inside and outside.  She is personal and impersonal.  Some days I want to throw the whole "God" model out and see God as the interconnectedness we have with others or as the laws of nature.  This is fine too.  I see when I want to do this it is because I am clinging to my rational mind.  I really do not even like to use the word God or many spiritual words because I think they have a lot of baggage associated with them.

My point is that this is why we all need faith.  Faith is what sustains me on my spiritual path when I find myself clinging to thoughts.  I also am reminded that, when I feel inner resistance to the spiritual path, this is to be expected as it does come down to belief.  This is also why we need to progress forward in our journey, where even a seemingly "backslide" is still forward.  We are always learning and evolving spiritually.  As we experience the supernatural in a concrete way in our lives, we see that Spirit meets us where we are at if we just move an inch forward.  In other words, all you need to do is have 1% of faith and the Universe will make up the remaining 99%.  As you experience the Supernatural in your life, your faith increases.  This is when a perspective shift starts to occur.  Yet, without this 1% of belief, we are stuck in rational thought.