Saying For Today: The only way we know anything is through relationship, whether that is a flower or a lover or a piece of cheese.
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Some students asked R. H. Blyth (English writer, d. 1964), “Do you believe in God?” He replied, “If you do, I don’t. If you don’t, I do.”
*Alan Watts. Buddhism, the Religion of No-Religion.
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Watts takes Blyth to have followed the wisdom of Zen teachers who reply based on the person asking. Blyth was an avid student of Buddhism. In Zen, the teacher gives an extreme reply to an extreme position. The teacher, therefore, may give two different answers on the same matter to two different persons. He is pulling one back from one extreme, the other back from the other. Both can land in the middle.
This is saying that to believe or not in God are opposites, so both are extreme. Why? God would not be a notion. Blyth would be saying, “I choose not to hold a notion ‘yes’ or ‘no.’” This does not mean he denies God. He refuses to be caught by the idea of God. Theists and atheists make the same mistake: being caught by an idea. Then, they think they have something profound to point the finger at the other side. How childish!
Of course, Blyth could have meant, “I have no interest in the question.” In absolute intimacy, interest in the question is swallowed up, or dissolved. This could be stated: the idea God is swallowed up in God or knowing God. I know peanut butter by tasting it. I know a particular brand by the same: taste. I do not know tomato soup by reading the label on the can and seeing a pretty picture of the cooked soup.
This latter, in the contemplative Christian tradition, correlates with “pure faith.” Here, you do not believe in an object - God. The faith is, not needing to go anywhere. With an object, faith moves toward the object. In the intimacy, subject and object dissolve in the one Embrace.
You may believe in whatever a word for absolute being refers to. But God - or whatever other word - the concept, idea, belief - does not stick in your mind, for the stick is not present for it to stick. Atheists and theists often have a lot of god-stick. Some of these folk are on a mission to convince others, both fascinated with an idea with three letters: G-o-d. People can get really angry over three letters.
Blyth is asked the question incorrectly, as many do. The question is, “Do you believe God exists?” His reply can be the same. In makes all the difference. In is a relational term. Jesus never spoke of believing any god exists. He used the in, too. And his word is equally rendered trust. So, “Do you trust in God?” You can trust in God, and you can have a relationship with God, while the idea God no longer appeals to you. Or it may appeal to you, while you recognize it is a sign, like "cucumber" is a sign.
You love beyond “yes” and “no.” The intimacy is love, not emotion. In that space is absolute intimacy undivided by opinion, thought, idea, belief, denial, or affirmation. Belief can arise. Then, it will recede, for, again, it finds no place to take root. Belief can be a tool, when needed, but it is not your home base anymore. You do not reject it; you simply do not build your house on it.
However, you cannot simply let go of an idea about God, and it no longer have you in its grips. Belief has to wear itself out. The more intimate you become with God as God, the weaker belief becomes, and the stronger knowing becomes. You cannot run from an idea or just push it away and think it will go hide somewhere or give up its hold on you. Keep leaning into intimacy.
Do you need a creed to be in love? Do we need to have a belief about a friend or lover to enjoy intimacy with him or her?
The way we know what “God” may allude to is the way we know anyone or anything. We know by exploring, by experience. The only way we know anything is through relationship, whether that is a flower or a lover or a piece of cheese.
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*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2024. Permission is given to use photographs and writings with credit given to the copyright owner.
*Brian's book is An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love. The book is a collection of poems Brian wrote based on wisdom traditions, predominantly Christian, Buddhist, and Sufi, with extensive notes on the poetry's teachings and imagery.
