Mature believers eventually move toward a
transpersonal notion
of God as presence itself,
consciousness itself, pure Being, the very
Ground of Being,
God with us, and God in all things—and yet
many of
these very same people frequently
find it helpful, if not necessary,
to
still relate to God through the intimate sharing
of one trusting self
to another.
My only question would be, “Why not?”
I believe it takes
two to love—a giver and a receiver.
You really cannot fully give
yourself, fall in love with,
or surrender to a concept, an energy, a
force,
or even to enlightenment as an idea.
Persons love persons, and
the brilliance
of Judeo-Christianity
is that it keeps the whole
spiritual life
intensely personal in this very rich sense,
and yet also
moves beyond it
(“Transcend and Include” is the big principle here).
The
personal God revealed in both
the scriptures and the Perennial
Tradition
makes known a divine nature that is
seductive,
self-disclosing,
and immensely self-giving
to those who are interested.
This experience of “overflow”
invites us into more freedom
than most
of us are even ready for,
along with intimacy and real friendship.
Such a relationship deeply empowers
anyone who engages with it.
For
me, it really comes down to this:
the individuals I know who are most
genuinely happy and also fruitful for the world
invariably relate to
God in a way
that is deeply personal,
intimate, and almost
conversational.
Yet these same persons would be the first to admit
and
recognize that their personal God is also
transpersonal and sometimes
impersonal,
and
“the one in whom we all live,
and move,
and have our
being”
(Acts 17:28),
and, finally, beyond all names for God.
God is humbly recognized as
beyond any
of our attempts
to domesticate, understand,
or control the
Mystery.
All names for God are “in vain.”
Adapted from
Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi,
pp. 237-238, 239, 245-246
Gateway to Silence:
I am a hole in a flute that the Christ’s breath
moves through—listen to this music.
—Hafiz
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