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Defining God

Defining God

Last updated on: October 14, 2015 at 9:23 am by Mastura Debra Graugnard

Defining God 2015-10-14T09:23:39-05:00 Mastura Debra Graugnard

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In the Name of the One, Most Merciful, Ever Compassionate.

God in a box

What is God?
In our minds, we might think we can’t define the undefinable. But we’re human. That’s what we do, even when we try not to. The mind thinks, the heart feels, the body reacts.

Take a minute to ponder this question. Even write down your impressions. What pictures come up? What thoughts, faces, voices? What feelings? What associations do you make with the word God?

I’ve been an active spiritual seeker for almost 25 years, and a student of Sufism promising to give every day of my life for God for 17 years. I have to say, I still feel reactions in my body when I hear the word “God” and certain other religious terms. The reactions are much more subtle than they used to be, but I still feel a repulsion, a tightening and turning inside.

The Spiritual Elephant in the Room
Most of us have some negative associations with the concepts of God. It most likely comes from arriving into the physical world expecting to experience Unconditional Love and Unity. It sets us up for disappointments from the start. And that’s apparently part of the plan.

Since that word describes the foundation for what we talk about on the Spirituality channel, this is a good place for exploration. We might as well address these negative triggers up front.

We can avoid using the word, God. I’ve used many alternatives in my writings and teachings. But, even if we substitute words that help us feel more open or less oppressed – Universe, Spirit, The One, All That Is, Unconditional Love, [insert your word of choice] – there’s a chance we’re avoiding or attempting to overcome discomforts we carry inside. Then we find ourselves conversing about Spirituality avoiding the Elephant Spirit in the room.

So, let’s talk about a few of the hot buttons:

Can God be personified? We might answer with our minds that God cannot be personified, because He/She/It/They is/are so much more than that. Oh my goodness! How do we refer to It?

I’ve had people turn away when I refer to God as He, but is it fair to replace He with She? Do we need to keep score and give equal use to each gender? The truth is, God has no gender. And God has all genders. God is not separate from any, so attempts to give equality are for the human, and not for God. In fact, gender introduces separation, not Unity.

So we can go genderless. Our English genderless singular pronoun is “It.” Does “It” carry the respect we want to convey when talking about that which is Beyond All? Most people express that “It” feels disrespectful – that God is higher than “It.” Is it? God has no form, and God has all forms. God is not separate from any, and God is more than imagination can conceive.

So, how about “They?” God is One, and God is All, and God is Every, and God is More. So does They convey the concept? Or does it conjure up images of multiple gods separate from the Only One? Does it conjure up images of a committee of humans? Or formless light beings? God is One, and God is All.

But God is not only out there. God is in here, too. So why not use “We?” And there is no inside or outside when there is Only One. God is the seen and the unseen, the known and the unknown. And God is Life, Living, Breathing, Moving, Expanding, Contracting, Growing, Dying.

So, is God even a noun?
God is All There Is and Is Not and the Being, All We Do and Don’t Do and the Doing, All We Perceive and Don’t Perceive and the Perceiving, All We Judge and Don’t Judge and the Judging, All We Feel and Don’t Feel and the Feeling.

God is the Life that lives through us and the living, the Breath that breathes us and the breathing, the Expression that expresses through us and the expressing, the Love that loves through us and the loving.

There is a saying: “Live each moment as if you are face to face with God, because certainly, even if you are not seeing Him, He is seeing you.”

I like to rephrase this for myself, to “Live each moment as if you are face to face with God, because, oh by the way, you ARE!”

Whether you are looking inside yourself or outside yourself, you are facing God. God is everywhere and there is nothing else. God is All That Is and Nothing.

God is the Knower, the Known and the Knowing, and I am not… and there is no I, only a reflection of what Is.

In my writings and teachings I tend to use a variety. No matter how I choose to refer to It, just know that I feel attempts to reference It already separate It from Itself which inherently limits it – and so goes the human journey.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about how you express God… or not.

Photo credit: ID 48758766 © Charon | Dreamstime.com

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