My Thoughts on God 2020

 

Communion in the Churchyard at Litchfield August 2020 - the first service following lockdown. The services are now by video, and are followed by a coffee meeting by Zoom

My letter to the Padre at Litchfield, Mark Christian in November 2020 following remarks he made about God in one of our Zoom coffee talks

Mark, your interesting homily at coffee yesterday prompted me to write to you with my thoughts on the subject of God. When you read them, you will understand why I didn’t raise them in company, and I hope they won’t lead to my ex-communication!

I believe that there is God - so let’s get that out of the way - but I also believe that he/she/it is COMPLETELY unknowable. And with that understanding, goes many of the conundrums that we wrestle with, such as why a ‘loving God’ lets terrible things happen. There is no such thing as a ’loving God’ - or indeed a 'vengeful God’.It’s a comfortable human-sized construct that doesn’t accord with reality. Yes, love exists - it’s the ‘power the moves the sun and the other stars’, and love is a property of whatever  God is, but so is hate and all the unpleasant opposites that you have seen in action far more than I. And yes, Jesus is the ’son of God’

- but so are you and I. It’s just that we are cut off from that knowledge and believe ourselves only to be an earth-bound personality and a soul that will one day know the truth. Jesus wasn’t; he was someone who had parted the veil and could see clearly.

Controversially, I believe that are others who have parted the veil - or who were born on the right side of it - like the teachers I went to for 30 years in India. And many others, mainly in India, where they revere and support such genuinely advanced souls (though there are many charlatans too) who can also attest to what reality is really like. None of them ever talk about God (Brahman in Hindu terms). One of the greatest sages of modern times, Sri Ramana Maharshi, refused ever to discuss the nature of God. He said it’s completely pointless as it's completely unknowable by our limited intellect and senses. His only teaching- and that of all of them at the root - is 'Know Thyself'. Know that, and everything else is known.’Be still, and know that I am God’. 

This is not to say I don’t love the Christian path and take great comfort from the liturgy, the psalms, the hymns and your sermons as well as the loving friends that one makes along the way. But I don’t accept the standard Christian vision of God (particularly not the childish Evangelical simplification of it or its dreadful American chimaera) and I interpret the creed and the eucharist in my own way, that accords more closely to my understanding and beliefs. 

I have kept a spiritual blog for many years, in which I put some of my own experiences as well as writings that I find particularly interesting This is a page from it. 10 years ago I did try and write a personal statement which is still relevant, even if it needs updating, https://whoamiadvaita.blogspot.com/2010/03/ I hope it’s Advaita slant doesn't trouble you too much.

Warmest good wishes

Herry