Monakhos

What is God?

[Note: I am using 'what' below instead of 'who' not because I do not think that God is not personal, but rather because God is so much more than that. Also, if I slip into using male pronouns for God, know that I only do so because writing he/she is awkward and writing it seems demeaning to such a thing as God. God has no gender.]

Today I was pondering the question “What is God?” I realized I could not exactly answer this question in my head, but it made sense that the easiest way to know that I was going down the right path was to ask, so I did. The response (from God, or from that little voice in my head that makes more sense sometimes than my actual head) responded “Only by practice can you know me.”

The more I think about this, the more I understand. God cannot be defined by any sort of communication. What I mean by this is that while statements like “God is Love” or “God is One.” are true, the big picture is a lot more than that. We cannot understand God unless if we practice.

What do I mean by practice? It could be prayer, fellowship, or study, but I think the most effective way would be meditation, a practice I have only recently started again formally. A more fundamental Christian may find fault with this, but while I am writing I am reminded of Psalm 46:10

“Be still, and know that I am God!” (New Revised Standard Version)
“Cease striving and know that I am God;” (New American Standard Version)

When God came to Elijah at the mountain, when Elijah was full of despair, God was not in the earthquake, fire, or wind but in silence (1 Kings 19:11-14)!

Of course there are other verses in the Bible, in other Jewish and Christian books, in the works of Buddhism and Hinduism, etc. but there is simply not time today to write about that, and I wanted to make sure to write this down before I lost inspiration. Also, given my current situation, the Bible is probably the best place to see this kind of talk (after all, I expect it other writings.)

This was just inspiration today to meditate and listen more. Not only will it be relaxing after work, but practicing will bring enlightenment.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 27th, 2006 at 20:37 and is filed under God.