*How Great Thou Art, Engo Mathew, Flickr
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God has no religion.
*Mahatma Gandhi
*India - Prayer on the River, Valerio Pandolfo, Flickr
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Every theology is an ideology; that is, a system of ideas. Since ideas are not the Truth, but more or less are refractions of the Truth, any passive, staid subservience to any doctrine is a denial of the Truth.
Possibly, seeing Truth as Presence can assist us in devotion to Truth. If Truth is Presence, not ideology, then we are able to see that all truth in some degree represents and misrepresents Truth. Why? Simply for an idea is always relative, while Truth is not only absolute but the Absolute.
Possibly, then, specific scriptures can assist in our seeing this ultimate devotion to the Truth. For example, below are three from what some refer to as the Abrahamic faiths, or religions ...
In Islam we see the the first Pillar of the Five Pillars of Islam, the Shahadah, which derives from two scriptures in the Koran, 47.19 and 48.29:
There is no God but Allah and Muhammad his His messenger.
In Christianity is the statement attributed to Jesus, in which he speaks of being identified with the Absolute. The text is unclear as to whether he is equating himself with God or confessing that his true identity is one of union with God; therefore, he, like God, is the Way, Truth, and Life. If this latter, he could be saying that he is not the Absolute, but essentially a oneness-in-communion with the Absolute. He could be saying, also, so is everyone in and from God as he is in God and from God. Regardless of interpretation, here is the scripture, from John 14.6:
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
In Judaism is the Shema, the fundamental confession of the Jewish faith and the basic prayer in the Prayerbook. When reciting the Shema in synagogue, Orthodox Jews recite each word carefully and reverently, and cover the eyes with the right hand. Many Jews recite the Shema twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening. The whole Shema is Deuteronomy 6.4-9, and the most vital part is the beginning, which reads:
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.
In the above scriptures, we could say each points to an Absolute. The One is not diverse, though diversifying. This Absolute is the Truth, however we might understand and refer to It. And the absolute Signified cannot be equated with the linguistic and symbolic signifiers, for the latter are relative and the Absolute is absolute.
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The person of Prayer in Silence comes into awareness of the Truth that is liberating. The Truth is liberating partly for Truth deconstructs all claims of thought, even the thought embodied in the scriptures of faiths. So, ironically, Silence and Solitude is humbling and freeing in this sacred deconstruction, leading from faith in ideology to awe before and with and within Grace.
If we truly Pray beyond reliance on words, we will come to a question: Am I willing to allow the Truth to free me, even from the essential, mental idolatry of truths? These truths were, ironically, the Absolute's means of freeing us to use truths as they serve Truth and relinquish truths when they are seen not to adequately be a means of serving Truth.
Gandhi reminds us the Absolute has no religion. This being so, no religion can contain the Absolute, cannot contain Truth. No religion can do more than point to the Truth. This means, likewise, to belong to Truth means not belonging to any religion or to any truths. Religion, like truths, can be a means of Truth, but in realizing the Absolute is that One to Whom, or What, we are formed to be absolutely in Love, we only belong to One and to nothing and no one other. Prayer leads us to the threshold of this letting go into the Love of and Loving with Truth as Presence, as the Absolute.
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*I Believe in God, Ben Heine, Flickr
* * * CLOSING BLESSING * * *
Grace and Peace to All
The Sacred in Me bows to the Sacred in You
*You are welcome to contact Brian at briankwilcox@yahoo.com .
The presentations at this site cover a long time period. Each one represents part of an on-going Pilgrimage, and the writer's ideas, practices, and experience have changed over time. This change is the quality of any living Journey. Please read with this in mind, allowing the inner Teacher to speak to you as you need at this particular time in your own living Journey. Thanks!
