in 2006, I came to the realization that using the word God in this day and age was problematic. It is too defining, too divisive, and too exclusive. Here is some of the conversation that I had last night with a friend. This conversation again reminds me that
If I were to say or write 'God', my Islam friends would think Allah, my Hindu friends would think of their many gods, my Buddhist friends would think of their conception or image of god, my wiccen and pagan friends would be thinking of the whole of nature and Earth's cycles, and my atheist friends would be thinking of a whole myriad of things.
The word God is quite exclusive in most belief systems. So I wanted to use a language of peace and inclusion which would best reflect Living with Open Hands as an expression of an open mind, heart, and will.
For more foundational thinking about this please see my last post, The Image of God.
BUT WHAT IS THAT WHICH IS GREATER?
What if it is...
Our "ground of being" (Paul Tillich), our “humus of common ground” (Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak), the silent yet pregnant (with life and energy, love and peace) Space Between, within, and through everything and everyone? This is what I see as sacred, pregnant with the divine. Quantum Physics is beginning to show us that the "empty" space that we once thought made up most of the universe is really not empty but bursting with energy and intelligence. Is that the force that sustains the universe, holds it together, and keeps it from flying apart? Is that the force that is behind all life and creativity?
“… gotta search the silence of the souls wild places to find a voice that will cross the spaces.” (Bruce Cockburn)
What if it is...
...the Truth that comes to us daily, moment by moment, as manna, our daily bread, measured with only what we need for daily sustenance, from all of creation, if we are paying attention? My sense is that creation was designed to communicate its own truth, the truth of the universe, and to be a reflection of its own source… the creative life force. But do remember that I have no intent or interest in defining that Source nor that Truth. That is not my place. That is for you to do within your own heart… as you do the inner work of going deeper, through the facade, to your Source, your Truth, your Ground of Being. I do not need definitions or labels so that I can try to contain that greatness in my head. This cannot fit in my head (nor in words and hence not in books) but nothing is too great to fit in my heart.
What I am attempting to do is call to you — call you out — and touch your heart from a deeper place, a place of oneness, the essence of our own humanity, the hummus of our common ground of being… a place beyond religion and creeds, beliefs and philosophies, opinions and ideas; and even beyond space and time.
My simple purpose is to find a voice that’ll cross the spaces between people of diverse cultures and beliefs, finding common ground, the Sacred Space Between.
What if it is...
The very things that we have discovered but have named differently like
The power of intention
The law of attraction and gravity
The Synchronicity
The Divine Matrix
The Ether
The Cosmic Consciousness
The Life Force
The Space Between
The Tao
Silence
Love
"We’ve all had those perfect moments when events that could never be predicted, let alone controlled, remarkably seem to guide us along our path. Carl Jung called this phenomena “synchronicity” – “a collaboration between persons and events that seems to enlist the cooperation of fate.” In this book, Joseph Jaworski argues that the right state of mind will make you the kind of person who can enlist the cooperation of fate and take advantage of synchronicity, creating the conditions for 'predictable miracles.' If you are tired of being the victim of circumstances, this book will teach you to be the kind of person who creates your own circumstances.
"Jaworski shares the story of his own escape from an inauthentic life and his journey into a world filled with possibility. He maps out the inner path of leadership for those who feel the call to achieve their full potential, using his own life story to teach readers a greater truth. He examines the fundamental shifts of mind that free us to seek out the power of synchronicity. After reading this book, you will discover your own power to help those realities unfold. You will learn to “listen” to realities that want to emerge in this world and acquire the courage to help them be born."
"The experience of meaningful coincidences is universal. They are reported by people of every culture, every belief system, and every time period. Synchronicity examines the evidence for the human influence on the meaningfulness of events, and the way the modern computational model of the mind predicts how we create meaning.
"It demonstrates that these events, based on the activity of the mind, are caused by the person who perceives them.
"Synchronicity will show you how you already create events around you, and make you a conscious co-creator of your reality. Dr. Surprise describes the miracles of your brain's processes, merging the worlds of modern physics and ancient mysticism to reveal abilities you have always possessed, but which were not fully understood--until now."
"
C.G. Jung was intrigued from early in his career with coincidences, especially those surprising juxtapositions that scientific rationality could not adequately explain. He discussed these ideas with Albert Einstein before World War I, but first used the term 'synchronicity' in a 1930 lecture, in reference to the unusual psychological insights generated from consulting the I Ching. A long correspondence and friendship with the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Wolfgang Pauli stimulated a final, mature statement of Jung's thinking on synchronicity, originally published in 1952 and reproduced here. Together with a wealth of historical and contemporary material, this essay describes an astrological experiment Jung conducted to test his theory. Synchronicity reveals the full extent of Jung's research into a wide range of psychic phenomena."
Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. (from Vol. 8. of the Collected Works of C. G. Jung)
"Synchronicity: the uncanny and fortuitous timing of events that seems to go beyond pure chance. Synchronicity can act as a guide along our life path, helping us through challenging times and nudging us toward self-fulfillment:
"
Psychologist Chris Mackey offers astounding case studies, alongside a lucid explanation of the brain science underlying synchronicity and many practical suggestions for working with it, from journaling and symbol analysis to dream interpretation and ideas for accessing flow. He is convinced that synchronicity has a crucial role to play in helping us “go within” and tap into our intuitive and spiritual selves."
What if it is...
THE POWER OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT
If not soul, then what???
If not god, then what???
Synchronicity, power of intention, power of attraction, the will of god, holy spirit? There is something within me that guides me toward reality or truth or wisdom. A hunger for meaning and purpose anchored in my identity.
To me, this consciousness or awareness is static.
But this is more; that which drives and sustains us is dynamic.
Three questions underlie my writing and my silence:
Who Am I? (my Identity)
Why Am I here? (my Purpose)
What Am I going to do about it? (my Mission)
Are these driving questions part of something greater than me, even though they come from within???
LAW OF ATTRACTION
Simply put, the Law of Attraction is the ability to attract into our lives whatever we are focusing on. It is believed that regardless of age, nationality or religious belief, we are all susceptible to the laws which govern the Universe, including the Law of Attraction. It is the Law of Attraction which uses the power of the mind to translate whatever is in our thoughts and materialize them into reality. In basic terms, all thoughts turn into things (images) eventually. If you focus on negative doom and gloom you will remain under that cloud. If you focus on positive thoughts and have goals that you aim to achieve you will find a way to achieve them with massive action.
http://www.thelawofattraction.com/what-is-the-law-of-attraction/
To go a few steps deeper to the Source of all things, we see that it is the law of gravity and attraction that has has nurtured and created all things and that holds all things together to create all of creation and all experiences in the universe.
THE POWER OF INTENTION
Wayne Dyer has another term for the concept behind the Law of Attraction. He calls it the Power of Intention. His philosophy is pure and simple, “The law of attraction is this: You don’t attract what you want. You attract what you are.”
According to Dyer, the process of allowing, just being and embracing this heightened level of consciousness, goes back not to attracting what you want, but attracting what you are.
“You have to just be. You have to let go. You have to allow. You have to be free and make this your consciousness.” He continues, “Basically, what you would see is a frequency (of energy) that manifests itself through the process of giving, of allowing, of offering and of serving. It asks nothing back.”
Dyer illustrates the concept of giving without expectations by quoting the great poet Hafiz:
“Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth ‘you owe me.’”
"Loving people live in a loving world.
Hostile people live in a hostile world.
Same world." (Wayne Dyer)
COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS
What if “that which is greater than I” is this all-encompassing cosmic consciousness?
What if simple consciousness and self consciousness are all contained within this cosmic consciousness, which, of necessity, would encompass all in all?
What if consciousness comes first? Before all material things including the universe, the earth, human beings, and the brain?
What if apart from the whole, the parts cease to exist?
What if it is “out of” this consciousness that the universe emerges?
What if it is not a step upward into some cosmic ether but rather a step inward or downward to the essence of life, our ground of being, that which always has been and always will be at the center; individually and collectively and universally???
THE SPACE BETWEEN
What if? What if the power of intention, the law of attraction, synchronicity, cosmic consciousness is the very stuff that quantum physics is saying has been there all the time filling the “space between” that we thought was empty with real, tangible, palpable energy and force and intelligence which is the stuff that sustains the universe, holds it together, and keeps it all from flying apart? The Life Force that we all sense is there. That which is greater...
I believe there is a sacredness within us and between us and among us that also makes us one with each other and with the universe. What if this is the stuff that has been there all along? What if, because of our drive to define and label, this is what we started naming as God? And as we continued to refine and contain our understanding of “that which is greater,” we defined that greatness into oblivion by creating God in our own image. Anthropomorphism, personification, and projection are very natural and deeply ingrained human tendencies. So is labeling and defining something that we have done to create a bit of certainty in this world of chaos and endless mystery?
“The question Christianity, as well as every religious tradition, puts to men and women yesterday and today is: Do I find my fulfillment in asserting my will to power over myself and others, or in surrendering to myself and others in a spirit of empathy and compassion? And if I can only be myself by surrendering, to what, to whom do I surrender?” (Sam Keen, Fire in the Belly–on being a man, p. 102)
Philip Simmons wrote that “living at the edge is not so extraordinary as it may sound”:
“We all have within us this capacity for wonder, this ability to break the bonds of ordinary awareness and sense that though our lives are fleeting and transitory, we are part of something larger, eternal and unchanging.
“Deep within the recesses of our very being, we are held . . . known . . . treasured . . . not ‘out there’ somewhere, but in the very Wonder of Love . . . in the very seat of the Heart . . . in the very core of the Soul.
“The more we live in the Wonder and welcome our placement in this very heart of Love, the easier it is to trust . . . to ‘release our fears’ . . . to live without proclaiming certainties . . . to settle into this very core we can only call Love.”
(Philip Simmons, Learning to Fall: The Blessings of an Imperfect Life, Bantam Books: 2000, 2003)
“What we long to surrender to is not an ideal or a safety net, but Wonder itself. . . . [We] have held on to the concept of Wonder as a guiding concept . . . a way to focus our attention in these days when life is so uncertain.” (Shelley Chapin Drake, “What We Treasure about Wonder,” January 20, 2019)
"When the center starts to wobble, it's a pretty sure bet that what's lacking is not means but depth; a vision rich and sustaining enough to contain all this restless striving and shape it into a more universal and subtle understanding of human purpose." (Cynthia Bourgeault)
"The more we live in the Wonder and welcome our placement in this very heart of Love, the easier it is to trust . . . to “release our fears” . . . to live without proclaiming certainties . . . to settle into this very core we can only call Love."
Or is it that some people simply think they have a corner on the truth?
