“God” (a different perspective) by Keith Basar
Ah, the question of God. He, She, It, the Universe, the Great Spirit, Heart of Hearts, the Flow, Being, Tao, Heavenly Father, Divine Mother, Love, Compassion, Power, Omniscience, Wrath, Judgment, Kindness, Mercy — the list goes on. I’ve pondered, considered, rationalized, been terrified by, and felt smaller than small with this question — and to this day the enigma lives on…
GOD AS OBJECT
Over the decades, inside this ever expanding, often perplexing mystery, a personal insight has surfaced.
“Consciousness as God” (excerpt - ‘From Science to God’) by Peter Russell —— bonus content: Youtube interview entitled, ‘A REVOLUTION IN CONSCIOUSNESS ’
To many, the statement "I am God" rings of blasphemy. God, according to conventional religion, is the supreme deity, the almighty eternal omniscient creator. How can any lowly human being claim that he or she is God?
When the fourteenth-century Christian priest and mystic Meister Eckhart preached that "God and I are One" he was brought before Pope John XXII and forced to "recant everything that he had falsely taught." Others suffered a worse fate. The tenth-century Islamic mystic al-Hallãj was crucified for using language that claimed an identity with God.
PURCHASE ‘FROM SCIENCE TO GOD’
"In Order to Discover God "(excerpt) DEMOCRACY IN THE KINGDOM by Alan Watts
In order to discover God you have to stop clinging entirely. Why does one cling to God? For safety, of course. You want to save something; you want to save yourself. I don’t care what you mean by saved, whether it means just feeling happy, or that life is meaningful, or that there is somebody up there who cares. If you do not cling to one god, you cling to another: the state, money, sex, yourself, power. These are all false gods. But there has to come a time when clinging stops; only then does the time of faith begin. People who hold on to God do not have any faith at all, because real faith lies in not holding on to anything.
SUPPORT THE ALAN WATTS PROJECT
"God" (excerpt) The Essence of Alan Watts by Alan Watts
Modern Protestant theologians, and even some Catholics, have been talking recently about the death of God and about the possibility of a religionless religion, a religion which does not involve belief in God. What would become of the Gospel of Jesus Christ if it were shown that Jesus' own belief in God was unnecessary and invalid? What would remain of his teachings? Of his ideas about caring for other human beings, about social responsibility and so on. I think that would be a pretty wishy-washy kind of religion. If you're going to say that this life is fundamentally nothing but a pilgrimage from the maternity ward to the crematorium and that's it, baby, you've had it, I think that indicates a singular lack of imagination. I would like to look at the death-of-God theology in an entirely different way. What is dead is not God but an idea of God, a particular conception of God that has died in the sense of becoming implausible. And I find this a very good thing.
SUPPORT THE ALAN WATTS PROJECT
"Moving Beyond A Human Image Of God" by Jeffery Small
When you think of God, what images come to mind?
Do you think of a supernatural being who sits outside the four dimensional (space + time) universe who created us as a potter might? Do you picture God as a supreme designer who built the intricate laws of the universe as a watchmaker assembles a fine timepiece? Do you see God as a grand chess master who has an elaborate plan for the figures on his cosmic chessboard? Do you imagine the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, where the outstretched hand of Michelangelo’s God (who looks like someone’s muscular grandfather!) reaches toward Adam?
SUBSCRIBE TO THE HUFFINGTON POST AND SUPPORT MR. SMALL’S WORK
"Freedom from a Punishing God" by Sam Alexander
When you’re a Christian preacher sometimes you get a real earful concerning the nature of the Christian God. Things like this, “I despise the Christian God with his arbitrary judgments. This God who makes people feel ashamed of who they are and doles out punishments to the guilty. Guilty of what, being human? I want nothing to do with the Christian God. All he does is rip families apart, cause hatred, condone prejudice, send us to war, and let unspeakable acts of violence be perpetrated on the guiltless.”
BE A SUPPORTER OF PATHEOS AND RE. ALEXANDER’S MINISTRY
"A Revolution of Authority" by David Steindl-Rast
The editorial staff at What Is Enlightenment? magazine ask: These days there is a wary climate regarding people who hold themselves out as spiritual authorities. There is a tendency to be very skeptical about the possibility that someone could be a genuine authority. Yet traditionally it’s been fairly common for people to seek out a spiritual teacher for guidance, and to commit themselves to that teacher. What are your thoughts on this?
Brother David replies: Some twenty years ago, there was a much greater openness to making anybody who came along and seemed to have some great credentials for teaching your guru. Nowadays many people have been burnt and they will look twice. That is skepticism, and it can easily become cynicism
BE A SUPPORTER OF BR. DAVID STEINDL-RAST, OSB and A NETWORK FOR GRACEFUL LIVING
"A Friendship, A Love, A Rescue" by Parker Palmer
“…I stand among you as one who offers a small message of hope, that first, there are always people who dare to seek on the margin of society, who are not dependent on social acceptance, not dependent on social routine, and prefer a kind of free-floating existence under a state of risk. And among these people, if they are faithful to their own calling, to their own vocation, and to their own message from God, communication on the deepest level is possible. And the deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless. It is beyond words, and it is beyond speech and beyond concept.” ~Thomas Merton
— The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton
I met Thomas Merton a year after he died. I met him through his writing and through the communion that lies “beyond words,” met him in the seamless way good friends meet again after a long time apart. Without Merton’s friendship and the hope it has given me over the past forty-five years, I’m not sure I could have kept faith with my vocation, even as imperfectly as I have.
THANKS SO MUCH TO MR. PALMER FOR GIVING US GREAT INSIGHT INTO SUCH A SPECIAL MAN
"A Toxic Image of God" by Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM
Your image of God creates you. This is why it is so important that we see God as loving and benevolent and why good theology is still important.
One mistaken image of God that keeps us from receiving grace is the idea that God is a cruel tyrant. People who have been raised in an atmosphere of threats of punishment and promises of reward are programmed to operate with this cheap image of God. They need deep healing, because they are actually attached to a punitive notion of God. Many experienced this foundational frame for reality as children, and it is hard to let go. It gives a kind of sick coherence to their world.
BE A SUPPORTER OF FR. ROHR AND CAC
"Names of God" by Matthew Fox
Fourteenth-century mystic and activist Meister Eckhart says “all the names we give to God come from an understanding of ourselves.” If he is correct, then as humanity’s self-understanding and understanding of the cosmos evolve, then clearly our God-names will evolve in response.
Rabbi Arthur Waskow reminds us that the Book of Exodus is also known as the Book of Names because God goes through two name changes within its pages. Why is this? In his article “When the World Turns Upside-Down, Do We Need to Rename God,” Waskow suggests it is because “the old Name cannot inspire a new sense of reality … God is different when the world is different.”
PLEASE DONATE TO MAKE POSSIBLE THE CONTINUATION OF TIKKUN AND ITS WEBSITE.
“Re-imagining God in the 21st Century” by Jeffery Small
Unlike the age of the Biblical writers, we live in a world ruled by science, technology and secular thought — a world that is interconnected in ways that a few decades ago was unimagined. Today we understand that our world is governed by physical laws from the subatomic realm to the cosmic, so where do we find room for God to act? Is God still relevant? How can we conceive of God today in a way that is honest to our intellects while satisfying to our hearts?
BE A SUPPORTER OF JEFFERY SMALL’S WORK