Image
of God
“My own
image, my own idea of God, as imperfect and as evolving as it is,
right now would be the glue that hooks everything together, the
consciousness that moves between all living things. When I use the
word God, I do not envision a large person with two arms, two legs, a
nose and two eyes. I envision instead some presence so beyond my
being, a presence that both knows the stars by name and knows me by
name as well, that is not here to be useful to me, that is not here
to give me things as much as to ask me to give myself away for
love...When I say the word God I mean I trust in the goodness of
life, of being, I trust that beyond all reason. I trust that with my
life.”
Barbara
Brown Taylor (interview on NPR's Fresh Air, 2006)
This is the most
beautiful description of God I have ever heard. It was replayed
yesterday when Terry Gross interviewed Barbara Brown Taylor for her
new book, Holy Envy. Even Barbara said, “I was much smarter then
[in 2006].” We all have our own image of the Divine, though most of
us still have a hard time getting away from “God the Father,”
a sort of super-Santa, who, if we ask nicely, will give us good
things. Even when life takes a turn for the worst, we cling to the
belief that only good things come from God. And some of us are
crushed when they don't. We feel abandoned, punished.
Rev. Taylor spoke about
the class in World Religions she taught at Piedmont College in north
Georgia; about taking her students to a variety of different
synagogues, mosques and temples to experience other religious
practices first-hand. One of the things she mentioned about Buddhism
that has always resonated with me is the idea of non-attachment
because all things change. If something wonderful is happening, you
know it will change over time, and the same is true when something terrible
is happening in your life—it too will change. I picture the
Yin-Yang symbol, with each side flowing into the other, containing
always a little bit of its opposite. It's reassuring to me to know
that nothing lasts forever—good or bad—it will pass. I trust that
because it reflects my own experience of life's unfolding.
The presence that “hooks
everything together” is life itself. It is the source and the
substance—the alpha and the omega. We came from it and we will
return to it. We are one with it now. Just like the Yin-Yang, there
is a dark side and a light side to it with no division between.
Through it all, there exists a non-judgmental consciousness that is
aware of us because we are not separate from it, and aware of all
things, because they too are part of it. We have given that presence
many names—God, Allah, Brahman, Atman, the Way, the Tao, Great
Spirit. Whatever name we give it, there is only one all encompassing
presence. Like Barbara Brown Taylor, I trust it with my life simply
because it is my life. And, it is your life, too.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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