52 Moments With God

The Hebrew name for God is VHYH the ineffable name which should not be uttered. Instead one may use the word Adonai (My Lord) in its place. Then theres the boy who ran home from school exclaiming that hed finally learned Gods name - Harold. His mother asked him why and he patiently explained: Our Father who art in heaven Harold be thy name. We each have our own God carved in the like of our own different self-images. Some are utterable and some are not; some are judgemental and some loving; some are savage and some kindly. The simple fact is that no one knows the true nature of God not even Albert Einsten who spent his whole lifetime trying to work out how God thinks. We know as much of God as does an unborn child knows of adulthood and anyone pronouncing knowledge of God is fooling himself and guessing ... were all guessing in fact. The established male-dominated church holds that God is a bloke; Feminists that shes a woman; others say God is without gender. I remember the horror and elation I experienced when I first came upon the possibility that God is not a being - human or otherwise - but a system a process. This God doesnt care or not care - we just live our lives trying out what works and what doesnt and eventually we hit upon the system and how it works. None of us have it down pat yet and its exciting experimenting with the possibility that were getting nearer and nearer to what makes life work. When what were doing flows with comfort and ease and when peace fills every bone and cell in our bodies I suspect were coming close to the workings of God whatever God is. Theres also a huge freedom in arriving at the place of not needing to know the shape colour and mood of God ... just knowing what works is all thats necessary. Living with the unknowing is not only peace-inducing it just takes the angst out of daily life and the pain out of daily activity. Ive come to a deep and abiding trust in what I call God and what I know as a consistent system; a system based on letting the past go on realising that nothing is personal and that everything out there is a reflection of whats in here; that taking self-responsibility for our thoughts and when we do God takes care of our lives. We do however need to give up control - one of the hardest things for a human to do.