Someone called me last week wondering how we can beleive that God is Good and that God's will is good when there is so much in life that seems NOT good.
It's a fair question, but a frustrating one for me. The question assumes an Olympian god like Zeus sitting high on a mountain top in the clouds, looking down upon us mere mortals to favor some and punish or ignore others. It is exactly how I imagined God when I was 4 or even 12, but by 15 or so I was questioning that image and exploring others and now as I approach 41 the god who looks very human and who behaves mischievously, capriciously, unpredictably and sometimes terribly is not "my" god and I always feel unprepared to answer questions about "that" god...an image and understanding of God so long removed from my experience.
Wanting to be gentle and respectful with that person's view of God, I simply said, "God is Good and wants only Good for us. When things aren't good, that is in the realm of experience, not in the realm of divine design. Yes, our experience can be quite unsettling, chaotic, even horrifying, but I don't believe that God caused the mess, desired the mess, or enjoyed the mess. God is cheering us on hoping we'll use our gifts and skills to make things better."
I realize using such words as "hoping" and "cheering" sort of encourages the anthropomorphic image that I find so useless, but usually one would have better luck insulting someone's mother than insulting someone's god! So, I accept the limitation.
The truth is, or let me say "my truth" is that God is not a person. Jesus is quoted as saying God is "spirit." What is spirit? It's energy, power, presence, intelligence, wisdom, love...its hard to pin down, like the wind, and its essential to life, like breath. In fact, in some languages, spirit and breath and wind are all the same word!
For me God is process. God is energy. God is omnipresent Isness. God is the source of all Good, the ground of all being, the process of all becoming. God is all and is more than the sum of its parts. God is beauty and love and our highest aspirations. God is the search for God. God is our best idea of God and then much more.
God is a word that we use to describe or at least relate to ultimate reality, and "THIS" god is not on a throne tossing thunder bolts and making commandments. This God is living life as Life itself, and therefore wants (or perhaps I should say "needs") for life to be harmonious, joyous, expressive, and free. God needs this because we need it, and we are part of how God knows God's self and how God experiences life. So, when people make choices that result in bad economies or building communities where weather patterns can be harsh or that lead to war or crime or disease...that isn't God's will any more than it is ours. It is simply cause and effect, and our hope is that we can raise our consciousness to the point that enough of us make better choices that will then make the world a better place. And in the meantime, we can individually make choices that will empower us to get through the rough times and experience hope and joy inspite of difficult circumstances.
My current understanding of God (which will probably, as it always has, continue to evolve) isn't something that can be proven with a papal decree or an isolated bible verse, and if that is what someone needs, then I will find myself quite disadvantaged when trying to help them. Of course, a quip from a book never proves anything to me...in fact, if we have to resort to thinking that suggests a Zeus-like god wrote something in a book and we better buy it hook, line and sinker or suffer a new thunderbolt to the forehead, then we aren't really looking for proof...we're looking for easy answers that keep us from taking responsibility for our lives and for our planet. For people who want that, I may not seem very helpful. But to those who want encouragement to ask questions and seek truth wherever it may be found, I continue to offer my ministerial services.
Showing posts with label process theology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label process theology. Show all posts
Monday, October 29, 2007
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Prayer As Communion With Pure Being
"How long, O God, must I call for help, but you do not listen? [God replies]...’though the answer linger, wait for it; it will surely come...’" Habakkuk 1.2; 2.3
We’ve all had the experience of wishing for something only to have the wish not come true. As long as we think of God as Something (or Someone) “out there” (or “up there”), we will feel separated from God and will doubt that God is truly present in our time of need. As long as we treat God as a judge before whom we must beg for mercy or as a cosmic Kris Kringle who occasionally distributes goodies to those who have been “good,” our prayers will often disappoint.
But if God is the “ground of being,” ultimate reality, the mystery of life, then our prayers aren’t meant to persuade God to do what God otherwise would not do; our prayers are meant to remind us of our place in God. Prayer, then, doesn’t change God, it changes us, and as we change we become channels of hope that can improve the situations in our lives.
Once we see God as that omni-Presence in which we “live and move and have [our] being,” and we see prayer as the process of reminding ourselves of our unity with Pure Being, then we find that more and more we simply trust life to unfold as it should, and more often than not we aren’t disappointed. Good things happen frequently, the bad things can’t keep us down, and in all things we are learning and growing.
Let’s not give up on the process of prayer…the process really can change us and we tend to project what we are becoming. If prayer improves us, it will surely improve our experience of life.
(c) Durrell Watkins, 2007
We’ve all had the experience of wishing for something only to have the wish not come true. As long as we think of God as Something (or Someone) “out there” (or “up there”), we will feel separated from God and will doubt that God is truly present in our time of need. As long as we treat God as a judge before whom we must beg for mercy or as a cosmic Kris Kringle who occasionally distributes goodies to those who have been “good,” our prayers will often disappoint.
But if God is the “ground of being,” ultimate reality, the mystery of life, then our prayers aren’t meant to persuade God to do what God otherwise would not do; our prayers are meant to remind us of our place in God. Prayer, then, doesn’t change God, it changes us, and as we change we become channels of hope that can improve the situations in our lives.
Once we see God as that omni-Presence in which we “live and move and have [our] being,” and we see prayer as the process of reminding ourselves of our unity with Pure Being, then we find that more and more we simply trust life to unfold as it should, and more often than not we aren’t disappointed. Good things happen frequently, the bad things can’t keep us down, and in all things we are learning and growing.
Let’s not give up on the process of prayer…the process really can change us and we tend to project what we are becoming. If prayer improves us, it will surely improve our experience of life.
(c) Durrell Watkins, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Mind and Matter Are the Same
"Resistance does not mean walls and fences, nonresistance does not mean open space. If you can understand in this way, mind and matter are fundamentally the same." -Tsu-hsin
Isn't it amazing that an 11th century Zen master knew what we in the West are finally discoverng a thousand years later? Mind and matter are part of the same process. They aren't dualistic opposites, they are part of the same Reality.
How can prayer change things? Well, first, prayer changes the one praying because prayer takes place in Mind, so the mind of the one praying is expanded or relieved by the very act of prayer. But then, once one's mind has been changed, then that person's experience can change.
Even when we pray for others, it still works. We know now that consciousness is non-local and that form and experience are the manifestations of energy and information (sounds a lot like thoughts and ideas, huh?). Prayer is the process of changing one's mind, and a change of mind changes experience. Matter is the individuation and crystalization of the activity of Mind. The mystics have always known this. The "hard" scientists are catching up. So, with renewed enthusiasm and confidence, let us pray for whatever we need or desire, and let's pray for others, too. Our prayers will work, because mind and matter are fundamentally the same.
Isn't it amazing that an 11th century Zen master knew what we in the West are finally discoverng a thousand years later? Mind and matter are part of the same process. They aren't dualistic opposites, they are part of the same Reality.
How can prayer change things? Well, first, prayer changes the one praying because prayer takes place in Mind, so the mind of the one praying is expanded or relieved by the very act of prayer. But then, once one's mind has been changed, then that person's experience can change.
Even when we pray for others, it still works. We know now that consciousness is non-local and that form and experience are the manifestations of energy and information (sounds a lot like thoughts and ideas, huh?). Prayer is the process of changing one's mind, and a change of mind changes experience. Matter is the individuation and crystalization of the activity of Mind. The mystics have always known this. The "hard" scientists are catching up. So, with renewed enthusiasm and confidence, let us pray for whatever we need or desire, and let's pray for others, too. Our prayers will work, because mind and matter are fundamentally the same.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
The Triple O
“[Human-beings] rarely…manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.” – Robert Heinlein
“For in God we live and move and have our being…” – Acts 17.28
God is not an American.
God is not white.
God is not male (regardless of how many people refer to God as “Father”).
God is not Christian.
God is not human.
God is, at least, not only these things.
The Energy of life certainly expresses as Americans, and as Europeans, Canadians, Africans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders. The Substance of existence manifests as people of all races (and as animals, plants, minerals, gases, etc). The All-in-all is obviously present in men and in women. Ultimate Reality, the Mystery of life is truly omnipresent which means It exists in and as all that is, seen and unseen. How did we ever convince ourselves that God preferred our group over all others? How did we ever delude ourselves into believing that our religion, our book, our prejudices, our values, our preferences were shared, initiated, condoned and commanded by God??!! How did we become so arrogant (or is it naïve) as to assume that we somehow held the patent on God?
God is the name we use for what can’t be named; it isn’t limited to any one clan, tribe, country, sexual orientation, gender, or religion. God is what is…Eternal Isness expressing in, through and as everything. God is Every Thing and No Thing. God is all that is and is more than the sum of Its parts. God is within all life and all life is within God. Creative Intelligence, Perfect Love, Wisdom, Web of Existence, and Infinite Potentiality…these point toward what is ultimately Real. Quantum physics, process philosophy, transpersonal psychology, metaphysics, religion, poetry…these are just a few of the disciplines that have explored this Reality that is known by many names while being limited by none of them. We can continue to call It “God,” and we can enjoy our journey deeper and deeper into this divine Mystery, but let us never assume that it is ours alone or that it has privileged us over our neighbors (or even our enemies). Whatever else God is, God must surely be all-inclusive.
As a child, I was taught something that I now believe to be true: God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Omnipresent means that “there is no spot where God is not.” God isn’t limited to any one religion or culture. Omniscient means that God is all-knowing, all Intelligence (not just what is known or believed by one group). And Omnipotent means that God is all power and is therefore in no way limited by the prejudices, beliefs, superstitions, or rituals of a certain group. God is big enough to include all life, to express in and as all life, and to love all life. Let’s finally have a God bigger than ourselves and our preconceived ideas…Let’s allow God to be omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. We’ve always said it; let’s finally believe it.
(c) Durrell Watkins, 2007
“For in God we live and move and have our being…” – Acts 17.28
God is not an American.
God is not white.
God is not male (regardless of how many people refer to God as “Father”).
God is not Christian.
God is not human.
God is, at least, not only these things.
The Energy of life certainly expresses as Americans, and as Europeans, Canadians, Africans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders. The Substance of existence manifests as people of all races (and as animals, plants, minerals, gases, etc). The All-in-all is obviously present in men and in women. Ultimate Reality, the Mystery of life is truly omnipresent which means It exists in and as all that is, seen and unseen. How did we ever convince ourselves that God preferred our group over all others? How did we ever delude ourselves into believing that our religion, our book, our prejudices, our values, our preferences were shared, initiated, condoned and commanded by God??!! How did we become so arrogant (or is it naïve) as to assume that we somehow held the patent on God?
God is the name we use for what can’t be named; it isn’t limited to any one clan, tribe, country, sexual orientation, gender, or religion. God is what is…Eternal Isness expressing in, through and as everything. God is Every Thing and No Thing. God is all that is and is more than the sum of Its parts. God is within all life and all life is within God. Creative Intelligence, Perfect Love, Wisdom, Web of Existence, and Infinite Potentiality…these point toward what is ultimately Real. Quantum physics, process philosophy, transpersonal psychology, metaphysics, religion, poetry…these are just a few of the disciplines that have explored this Reality that is known by many names while being limited by none of them. We can continue to call It “God,” and we can enjoy our journey deeper and deeper into this divine Mystery, but let us never assume that it is ours alone or that it has privileged us over our neighbors (or even our enemies). Whatever else God is, God must surely be all-inclusive.
As a child, I was taught something that I now believe to be true: God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Omnipresent means that “there is no spot where God is not.” God isn’t limited to any one religion or culture. Omniscient means that God is all-knowing, all Intelligence (not just what is known or believed by one group). And Omnipotent means that God is all power and is therefore in no way limited by the prejudices, beliefs, superstitions, or rituals of a certain group. God is big enough to include all life, to express in and as all life, and to love all life. Let’s finally have a God bigger than ourselves and our preconceived ideas…Let’s allow God to be omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. We’ve always said it; let’s finally believe it.
(c) Durrell Watkins, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
Awareness of (Divine) Being
"Moses discovered God to be [our] awareness of being, when he declared these little understood words, 'I AM hath sent me unto you.' David sang in his psalms, 'Be still and know that I AM God.' Isaiah declared, 'I AM the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside me..'...The awareness of being is the door through which the manifestations of life pass into the world of form." - Neville Goddard.
Awareness of being. I like that understanding of the divine. Charles Fillmore called God "pure being" while Paul Tillich referred to God as the "ground of being." Such metaphors for ultimate Reality or the Source of life are more useful to me than the anthropomorphic images the Church has traditionally preferred. If we feel the need to talk about the Mystery of life, the Web of existence, the All-in-all, then I believe the most expansive images possible are the most useful.
God is no longer, for me, a big super-human judging my faults, granting some of my petitions and denying others, and favoring some groups over others. That may have been a good starting place in my faith development, but it long ago ceased being a sustaining image for me. I had to change my understanding of the divine, or give up any notion of divinity. I chose the former, though I understand why others have chosen the latter. But so far, spirituality remains important to me, and I revere the Vastness of existence, the heartbeat of the cosmos, the Energy of life. I contemplate All That Is, knowing that the Whole must be more than the sum of Its parts. Such contemplation nourishes me, and I offer all that I can to those who want to journey deeper and deeper into the Mystery that many call "God."
When I came to MCC, I was introduced to "inclusive language." We did more with it in those days, took it more seriously I think. At least we did more to educate ourselves about it. Language that privileged masculinity, whiteness, or physical ability was re-examined, and language about God became more expansive. That was a real gift to my spirituality, and I believe it contributed to my thinking about God in broader terms. If God was Father and Mother, both and neither, then God was more than a super-human. God was an idea or an experience or something impossible to box in. God was, as Jesus knew, "spirit" and the spirit blows where she will!
Of course the god of my understanding is present in people of all religious traditions, all gender identities, all ethnicities, all Nature. Of course the divine is present in the love shared between people of the same gender as well as people of opposite genders. God, the ground of being, is being made manifest in all that is, excluding no one, embracing all equally. This is, for me, the Good News and it is why I remain religious and a leader within a religious tradition. One New Testament writer put it this way, "God is love..." I prefer to say that God is being (or even "non-being" if we want to get highly philosophical), but I think the meaning is similar.
One of our "commandments" from the decalogue warns against having "graven images" for the divine. St. Paul gets at the same concept when he quotes (in Luke's Acts of the Apostles) a Greek poet, saying, "In [God] we live and move and have our being." And the mystic Meister Eckhart also said as much: "You should know God without image, unmediated and without likeness."
To grow beyond an image of God that looks too much like us (with all of our prejudices and preferences) is essential if we are to live peacefully in a world of diversity. It's also important if we are to ever be liberated from the fear of God which drives and torments so many of us throughout our lives. I refuse to give up God, but I also refuse to let God be a tyrant in the heavens of my imagination. God must be better, more. God must be Love, or the Mystery in which I live and move and have my being, or the Source of my I Am-ness, or perhaps even the thread that connects me to all other living beings. Yes, my awareness of being expressing in, through, and as life...this is a God that remains relevant and accessible to me, and that can continue to grow as I do. Praise God.
Awareness of being. I like that understanding of the divine. Charles Fillmore called God "pure being" while Paul Tillich referred to God as the "ground of being." Such metaphors for ultimate Reality or the Source of life are more useful to me than the anthropomorphic images the Church has traditionally preferred. If we feel the need to talk about the Mystery of life, the Web of existence, the All-in-all, then I believe the most expansive images possible are the most useful.
God is no longer, for me, a big super-human judging my faults, granting some of my petitions and denying others, and favoring some groups over others. That may have been a good starting place in my faith development, but it long ago ceased being a sustaining image for me. I had to change my understanding of the divine, or give up any notion of divinity. I chose the former, though I understand why others have chosen the latter. But so far, spirituality remains important to me, and I revere the Vastness of existence, the heartbeat of the cosmos, the Energy of life. I contemplate All That Is, knowing that the Whole must be more than the sum of Its parts. Such contemplation nourishes me, and I offer all that I can to those who want to journey deeper and deeper into the Mystery that many call "God."
When I came to MCC, I was introduced to "inclusive language." We did more with it in those days, took it more seriously I think. At least we did more to educate ourselves about it. Language that privileged masculinity, whiteness, or physical ability was re-examined, and language about God became more expansive. That was a real gift to my spirituality, and I believe it contributed to my thinking about God in broader terms. If God was Father and Mother, both and neither, then God was more than a super-human. God was an idea or an experience or something impossible to box in. God was, as Jesus knew, "spirit" and the spirit blows where she will!
Of course the god of my understanding is present in people of all religious traditions, all gender identities, all ethnicities, all Nature. Of course the divine is present in the love shared between people of the same gender as well as people of opposite genders. God, the ground of being, is being made manifest in all that is, excluding no one, embracing all equally. This is, for me, the Good News and it is why I remain religious and a leader within a religious tradition. One New Testament writer put it this way, "God is love..." I prefer to say that God is being (or even "non-being" if we want to get highly philosophical), but I think the meaning is similar.
One of our "commandments" from the decalogue warns against having "graven images" for the divine. St. Paul gets at the same concept when he quotes (in Luke's Acts of the Apostles) a Greek poet, saying, "In [God] we live and move and have our being." And the mystic Meister Eckhart also said as much: "You should know God without image, unmediated and without likeness."
To grow beyond an image of God that looks too much like us (with all of our prejudices and preferences) is essential if we are to live peacefully in a world of diversity. It's also important if we are to ever be liberated from the fear of God which drives and torments so many of us throughout our lives. I refuse to give up God, but I also refuse to let God be a tyrant in the heavens of my imagination. God must be better, more. God must be Love, or the Mystery in which I live and move and have my being, or the Source of my I Am-ness, or perhaps even the thread that connects me to all other living beings. Yes, my awareness of being expressing in, through, and as life...this is a God that remains relevant and accessible to me, and that can continue to grow as I do. Praise God.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
"god"
All that is. All that was. All that will ever be. Highest ideals. Profound aspiration. Indomitable hope. Energy of life. Beauty. Peace. Unconditional love.
Creativity. Infinite possibilities. Wisdom. Intelligence. The Big Bang. Nature's heart-beat. Miracle of transformation. Active nothingness. Web of existence.
Principle. Substance. Activity. Mind. Idea. Expression. Spirit of wholeness.
Mystery of our lives. Unlimited potential. Ultimate Reality. Do you mind if I call you by your nickname, "God"? Thanks. That keeps it simple. xoxoxo
Creativity. Infinite possibilities. Wisdom. Intelligence. The Big Bang. Nature's heart-beat. Miracle of transformation. Active nothingness. Web of existence.
Principle. Substance. Activity. Mind. Idea. Expression. Spirit of wholeness.
Mystery of our lives. Unlimited potential. Ultimate Reality. Do you mind if I call you by your nickname, "God"? Thanks. That keeps it simple. xoxoxo
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Let's Clear Up This Non-Theist Business
I'm a non-theist. I say it often. I say with conviction. I say it without apology.
However, there seems to be some confusion when people learn this about me. They find it strange that as a non-theist I remain religious, OR they assume non-theist means "atheist" and therefore label me "godless."
Now, I don't really care. My opinions are my own and your opinion of my opinions isn't likely to change them. A good argument might, a sound case, but just a differing opinion probably won't.
Still, it doesn't feel quite right to hear that I don't believe in "god." The god I contemplate and seek to worship isn't a separate Other. The god I contemplate and seek to worship isn't gendered, human-like, or provable. It may in fact be only a concept, and this possibility doesn't disturb me.
When I say I'm a non-theist, I mean I don't believe in Zeus (by any name, including the generic "God"). But mystery, that's something else! Beauty? Absolutely! Hope? You betcha. The interconnected, infinite web of all existence? Without doubt!
So, I do believe in the field of infinite possibilities, the energy of life, the great and grand Whole that is more than the sum of its parts (and in which we each "live and move and have our being"). One could call It spirit or principle or life or mind (and, of course, each of those words could be capitalized: Spirit, Principle, Life, Mind).
When we examine it all closely, I seem to believe in much (maybe even most) of what "god" represents - I just don't think that god is judging or condemning anyone. I don't think god is making arbitrary decisions or controlling every event in life. I don't think god is someone/something separate from us (or from the earth or the universe).
I believe in the powerful process of life in which we each participate. The "isness" that many call "god" is not separate from you and me - we are part of It! That's my theology. God is all, and because god is all, we can call It anything we want. I usually don't call it "god" but It is no less what It is regardless of what we call It. The energy field of existence and possibilities is definitely something in which I believe, but that still isn't a warrior-thunder god on a throne, punishing the wicked and rewarding the faithful, is it? So, until I find a better term, I'll stick with non-theist. And yes, a religious non-theist at that. That's the fun part!
However, there seems to be some confusion when people learn this about me. They find it strange that as a non-theist I remain religious, OR they assume non-theist means "atheist" and therefore label me "godless."
Now, I don't really care. My opinions are my own and your opinion of my opinions isn't likely to change them. A good argument might, a sound case, but just a differing opinion probably won't.
Still, it doesn't feel quite right to hear that I don't believe in "god." The god I contemplate and seek to worship isn't a separate Other. The god I contemplate and seek to worship isn't gendered, human-like, or provable. It may in fact be only a concept, and this possibility doesn't disturb me.
When I say I'm a non-theist, I mean I don't believe in Zeus (by any name, including the generic "God"). But mystery, that's something else! Beauty? Absolutely! Hope? You betcha. The interconnected, infinite web of all existence? Without doubt!
So, I do believe in the field of infinite possibilities, the energy of life, the great and grand Whole that is more than the sum of its parts (and in which we each "live and move and have our being"). One could call It spirit or principle or life or mind (and, of course, each of those words could be capitalized: Spirit, Principle, Life, Mind).
When we examine it all closely, I seem to believe in much (maybe even most) of what "god" represents - I just don't think that god is judging or condemning anyone. I don't think god is making arbitrary decisions or controlling every event in life. I don't think god is someone/something separate from us (or from the earth or the universe).
I believe in the powerful process of life in which we each participate. The "isness" that many call "god" is not separate from you and me - we are part of It! That's my theology. God is all, and because god is all, we can call It anything we want. I usually don't call it "god" but It is no less what It is regardless of what we call It. The energy field of existence and possibilities is definitely something in which I believe, but that still isn't a warrior-thunder god on a throne, punishing the wicked and rewarding the faithful, is it? So, until I find a better term, I'll stick with non-theist. And yes, a religious non-theist at that. That's the fun part!
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