What is God?
March 23rd, 2009 by RyanThis is one of those questions that can be a very sensitive topic for many people.
Who is God? Or better yet, What is God?
I know for me, the meaning of this question has changed quite profoundly in the past few years.
Like many in the west, I seemed to have this notion of a judging, watchful, man in the sky who would dole out punishment to those who did “wrong” and help those who did “right”.
I can understand when people question “if there even is a God” or reject the ideas that were handed down to them earlier in life.
What is God?
For one thing, God is subjective; a little different to each person. To some it is a silly fantasy, while to others, a lifelong companion.
For most of Western man’s history, the way to know God was through a middleman – a priest, rabbi, or otherwise holyman.
For the average person, the experience of God was just not a possibility, let alone a part of their life.
Because of this setup, most men had to rely on their designated holy man to guide them in spiritual matters.
Of course, in their humanness, there were some who misunderstood or misused their position and overtime this notion of God became a mixed bag of ideas, agendas, misunderstandings, and wisdom.
Soon a dogma formed around “God” and many positionalities became entrenched in some of the organizations and people.
(A dogma, in my opinion, is a strict adherence to an idea of which the person does not have any direct experience regarding. A positionality is the state in which a perspective is skewed to one polarity, or side, of the mind, which blocks out a large, opposing, part of reality).
Fast forward to today and we see a new definition of “God”. As we stop relying on outside sources to tell us what our own personal spirituality is, we begin to take our power back.
No longer is God an idea or a belief system…rather God becomes a direct experience.
What is God?
To me, when I sit quietly, close my eyes and calm my mind, I allow my awareness to fade out. I let all that is going on in the world drift out of my mind and I become open.
Soon I feel a presence, a feeling within me yet also encompassing me. I feel a connection, a communion is you will, with an intelligent field of pure love engolfing my being.
My awareness extends beyond my personal self and I begin to feel as if I am going up, not up as “in to the sky” but more “back” as if I were drifting out of this dimension of existence.
In these moments, it feels as though all is well, and a powerful peace encompasses my awareness. I feel a deep and personal love; a 2 way love going out and coming in.
I am the giver and the receiver all at once.
Waves of blissful energy pulsate through my body and for a moment, I am home.
Then I return to my world, but this time, I bring more of that loving state of peace with me.
And every once in a while, during my day to day life, I will run into someone who says “God doesn’t exist” or who “Isn’t sure about God”.
And I smile, knowing that they are really just releasing an outdated concept; a belief system.
I know that as they search for their own truth, they will come to experience that same presence as I have.
With this awareness, there is no longer any question about it. There is nothing for me to argue or defend. Instead, I just allow…and trust.
All IS well.
I know that this question of “what is God” is a reflection of our relationship with our own inner masculine energy.
Do we deny it? Or do we realize our own true nature?
I know that as our culture finds what true masculine power is and begins to heal it, it will come face to face with this question of “What is God”.
For God is the ultimate masculine, the unmanifest, the silent presence…”The Father”.
As we heal our relationshiop with God, through direct experience, we begin to integrate true masculine power.
As we do that, we also begin to integrate our deepest purpose and, simultaneously, start to live from our authentic, loving, and joyful Self.
Stumble it!
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Hey Ryan,
I love your description of going “back” as if out of this dimension and into another. It doesn’t seem so much as if we expand literally in three dimensions, but expand into another dimension altogether. 🙂
Ariels last blog post..Losing the False self
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:55 pm
I think what you are trying to say is this: “God may be not the person; for me, it’s a state”.
My reply to that is two fold:
(1) as far as God-person is concerned, the whole concept is flawed, mainly because it was concocted by our ignorant ancestors, as a way of coping with unknown; sure, I may believe into some mystical creature, claim “I know it exists”, even have hallucinations about it – the fact remains it only exists in my mind (that’s why we say “it’s subjective”, right?); now, I’ve no problems with religion, that is as with psychotherapeutic practice;
(2) as for God-state, my only question is why would you decide to call some state (whatever it is) God anyway? I know every “spiritualist” does it, it just doesn’t make any sense to me – unless you are trying to confuse consciously?
March 27th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Hi Ryan,
I think you did a wonderful job discussing a sensitive topic 🙂 That’s the same feeling I experience when I give or receive a Reiki healing. “I” kind of fade away and feel a connectedness with all & a wave of love washes through me.
Blessings,
Tania
Tanias last blog post..Rhythms of Nature ~ Spring
April 21st, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Hey Ariel, exactly. It’s quite an incredible feeling. It’s like we are filling in a space that has always been available to us.
Hey Acess, thanks for sharing your viewpoints and helping us get clear on this idea. As for God being a state, I don’t view it like that at all, its really one of those things that cant be explained in words on through ideas of any kind, but rather can only be known by experience.
If I am with a lover, for example, I may enter into a state of ecstasy…but it would be silly to say that all I experienced was a certain state and she does not exist. The state is simply how I experience the union with spirit. The same goes with God, the state is what happens as I commune with Divinity. It’s paradoxically very impersonal yet very intimately personal all at once.
Hey Tania, thanks for sharing, it’s good to have input from a reiki healer, since that kind of work is all about connecting with subtle divine energy.
July 8th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
What a wonderful Blog i have found here, well done!
Yes little miss Divinity is all around us in a constant yet ebbing flow. the universal sound of ommm could also be described as godliness.
Words do little to apprehend something so vast ad infinite, even understanding will just torment and confuse us when trying to understand what is god.
Just simply be and let go of all… and u will be with god!
July 12th, 2009 at 4:20 am
Thanks for the post. I get the same sort of connection when I relax and let my thoughts slip away. It weird but you can sort of feel a warmth entering your body. Its very comforting and I feel safe liek there is someone there looking after me.
August 13th, 2009 at 7:58 am
Spirituality is something that is not definable in words. I would like you to go in more depth so that we are enlightened by your knowledge…
September 7th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
What a facinating article. I’ve bookmarked it and added your feed to my RSS Reader
September 10th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Could you recommend any specific resources, books, or other blogs on Reiki?
September 22nd, 2011 at 1:15 pm
Thank you for this great article. Isn’t it great that we are at this point where we are beginning to understand that God is within us and without us and we can tune in any time we want. I go inwardly each day and connect with the holy spirit and come back with that feeling of all is well.
July 30th, 2012 at 6:36 am
Great post. Thanks for making us to understand more about our spiritual God. God is always on our side and guiding us on the right pathway.
August 6th, 2012 at 7:07 am
Thanks for sharing this information about our Mighty God. For me God is my savior, my defender and my guide on the right pathway.
October 19th, 2013 at 5:30 pm
How can you know the taste of an apple, without eating an apple. Talking about it does nothing. How can those who do no meditate question someones experiences during meditation? They cannot, FIRST learn to meditate, then have your OWN experiences, with an OPEN mind, then and only then is a true conversation possible. Otherwise you may be the person describing the apple who KNOWS all the “facts” and theories about apples, but has never eaten an apple. “Whosoever seeks…. shall find” “The Kingdom of God is WITHIN You”