To find God … ( 04 / 08 / 2012 )
To find God … ( 04 / 08 / 2012 )
The average man does not know what to do with this life , yet wants another one which will last forever .” ~ Anatole France
Here we are on Easter Sunday , a day when many will go to church in one form or another to get back in touch with the Divine – a day when we will enter “ God ’ s house ” and look for answers , or salvation , or grace , or God Itself .
“ Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me .” ~ Alice Walker
Personally , I was taught that God resided in the church , and yet I have discovered during the course of a life dedicated to spiritual adventure that , while God does indeed reside in churches all around the world , He ( or She , or It ) tends to define “ church ” a bit more loosely than most of us do . To the Divine , which encompasses literally everything in this glorious Universe , “ church ” is wherever you happen to consciously BE at any given moment in time . Essentially , I have found that – to truly access God -- it is not enough to go anywhere in particular ; but rather , we must first choose to pause and fully BE wherever we already are .
Of course , step two on this search is even more important : Once we are conscious of the Divine that resides within everything around us , we then become aware that the very same perfection reside within us as well — and then we realize that the only way to sincerely honor that Essence is to ACT ACCORDINGLY ; that the only way to truly “ do God ’ s will ” is to reach out to Care for another .
Being a member of a church or attending church regularly or being baptized in the Holy Spirit or professing Jesus as “ your only Lord and Savior ” are all fine and dandy . Heaven knows that the Christianity ’ s “ Apostle ” Paul would be immensely pleased with all four of these choices . Of course , to truly please the Divine — to actually enter the “ Kingdom of Heaven ” that Jesus himself describes in the Bible , it is necessary to reach out for one moment and be Kind when least inclined . It is necessary to care for the downtrodden ; to forgive those who insult or cheat you ; to actually embody the Love we all so wish to see .
“ If anyone brands you as an infidel , tell him that Love occupies a position more exalted than religion , and has nothing to do with faith or heresy . Whoever sets his feet firmly in the abiding-place of Love transcends both the bounds of infidelity and the limitations of faith .” ~ inspired by Attar
78