As life has settled back to normal and things are pretty boring, I'm struggling to find things to write about. I don't write about work in this blog (unless is very general). I haven't seen any movies or plays - we're saving that until next week. The news is rather bleak, and I wrote about Julian Assange last night. I can only write so many blogs about ironing or my cat. So, I've turned to my trusty journalling cards for help.
I drew this one:
Describe your 'God'.
Oh, a big one.
And strangely apt considering I've done a bit of thinking about God, and religion, and spirituality over the last week.
See, I do believe in God - or something bigger out there, whether that be one being, or the universe, or lots of Gods, like the Greek and Roman Pantheons, or the stable of Hindu Gods. In many ways, I find them all the same.
Don't get me wrong. I don't do religion. I identify as a wiccan with some kabbalistic tendencies? What does this mean? I celebrate and to a point venerate nature and the elements. But I like the structure of the kabbalah and that gives me a lot of solace. I'm definitely not a Christian, nor Jewish. My faith is in something larger than myself. Not the dogma attached to religion.
Ask me to describe my god, and I can't. I like the thought that God is in me, and God is me, just as everybody has something of God in them. It's like a spark that's in people.
God is also big and small. They're in every sunrise and sunset, down ever river, and in the ocean, in every morsel of food we eat, in every breath of air we breathe. God is the stars, and the planets and the universe.
Interestingly enough, on the weekend, I conducted an atheist ritual at the writer's retreat I attended. I was asked by the convenor to keep the ritual strictly atheist. It was their retreat; I was happy to comply.
"So, I can't refer to the Goddess?" I'd asked.
"No. But the Universe is fine," they told me.
See, to me, there is no real different between the Goddess and the Universe. You can tip in here Spirit too - they all are equal in my eyes. It's something bigger than all of us, and it's something we all have an attachment to, whether to choose to believe or not.
As somebody who's agnostic, I don't subscribe to any pure vision of god. I'm good that god is different for everybody. For some, like the Hindus, there are many Gods. For others, there is one.
The most palpable feeling of God can be found in places of worship, where you can sense the prayers of millions as they have sat in contemplation over the centuries. If you want to get a real feeling, go into an old cathedral and place your hands on the nave columns.
To me, God is a feeling. They are not overly benvolent - I mean, they took my niece with leukaemia. They allow wars, and disease and suffering.
But there are plenty of ordinary, everyday visions of God. Think of a baby's laugh, or the smile of an old person. A perfect rose. A friendly dog. That parking space you find on a busy road. Those small coincidences that happen. Moments of joy. Moments of sadness.
God is everywhere. You don't have to tie them down.
No comments:
Post a Comment