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The Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello, in One Minute Wisdom, shares the following wisdom tale:
The Master would insist that the final barrier to our attaining God was the word and concept "God."
This so infuriated the local priest that he came in a huff to argue the matter out with the Master.
"But surely the word 'God' can lead us to God?" said the priest.
"It can," said the Master calmly.
"How can something help and be a barrier?"
Said the Master, "The donkey that brings you to the door is not the means by which you enter the house."
I was asked a very good question recently. The question pertained to whether the God Christians worship and the God Muslims worship is the same God. That is a legitimate question, especially in light of political and religious issues facing us at this time.
De Mello reminds us that the word “God” is not God. Likewise, the word “Allah” is not God; nor is the word “Yahweh” or “Jehovah” God. “Our Father” or “Our Mother” or “Lord” is not God.
Who, or what, is God? God is what many Christians have called the Godhead. The Godhead is a term with origins in early Christianity for what De Mellow points to in his story. God is beyond all words and images that call our attention to the Godhead. I often speak of God as Love or Mystery, but these, again, or words.
What you mean by “God” can change for you over time. That is okay and normal. As we change, our perception of God changes. We need not fear the change, but see it has a maturing of our idea of God, growing out of becoming more whole persons. Then, as we are more whole, our image of God becomes more whole, less restricted by our willfulness, our lack of wholeness.
Consequently, not even Christians mean the same thing by “God.” The internal meanings ascribed to the word “God” differ from person to person, even when we are referring to God. Many things have influenced our inner meanings ascribed to the word “God.” Admitting this helps us avoid idolizing our perceptions of “God” and opens us to respect that God is so much more than what we think and believe, and that others having different perceptions of God may be speaking of the same Godhead, the same Mystery.
Therefore, on the path of spiritual formation, De Mello sets forth potentially the greatest challenge. That challenge is to let go of attachment to “God.” We might see that as an irreligious act. No, rather, such an act is, as taught by Christian contemplatives through the ages, a mature, humble, and reverential matter.
Does letting go of “God” mean we never refer to God by words and images? No. Letting go means letting ourselves surrender into the Reality beyond words and images. The images and words are used to lead us to that Mystery. We continue to use the words and images in other means of prayer and conversation. However, our realization of how we, in ways we do not fathom, have shaped “God” in ways that sometimes reflect our needs and image more than God’s Being allows us to be more reverential in our using God language and images.
Spiritual Exercise
1. Do you ever feel surrounded by a Presence that you cannot put into words? What is the link between that and what we mean by “Godhead” or “Mystery”?
2. How might we need to repent of assigning too much importance to our favored ways of referring to God? … repent of being critical of others who refer to God in other ways than we do?
3. Why would you, or anyone, be offended at the words or images that would help another person seeking God?
4. How might my loving my neighbor as myself, which Jesus teaches us, be evidenced in compassionate understanding of different persons need to seek God in different ways, words, and images than my own?
5. How can letting go of attachment to the word “God” and entering into reverential, prayerful Silence be a form of repenting of mental idolatry?
6. What has shaped your ideas of “God”?
7. Has your internal meaning associated with “God” changed over time? How?
8. Have you abandoned some ideas of God that you may need to return to?
9. How might the use of “God” in public life and politics help us? How might such use compromise the meaning of “God”?
10. What attracts you about moving to reverential Silence, beyond all words, even God language and God images?
11. Does anything threaten you in regard to letting go of your meanings associated with God for a short time of being open and loving in reverential Silence toward the Mystery?
12. Why not consider adding to your store of God images and words, in order to enrich your prayer and appreciation for the Wholeness that God is, beyond all our ability to conceptualize and explain?
Prayer
God, sometimes I need to speak with you like a child to a father or mother. Sometimes, I find myself needing to call you Father. Sometimes, I find myself needing to call you Mother. My heart senses you in different ways at different times. I am so thankful you are so many things to me, yet that you remain the same in yourself. Teach me, in being with you, to listen to my heart and its aspirations to address you, so that I might more wholly be drawn to you. May I enjoy more ways of speaking of your Wholeness and Mystery. But, sometimes I feel a need to let go of all the words and rest beyond all those forms in your Love. I admit that I am afraid to let go, totally, even though I know you are waiting for me as much beyond my thoughts as in my thoughts. Assure me that you wait for me beyond all I say about you and think of you. Grant me the humbleness to admit how my culture and I have shaped you in imperfect images, often more in our image than reflective of your image. Yes, lead me kindly and gently from the known to the unknown, that there I might fully rest only in you. Most of all I love you. With Love. Amen.
-Brian K. Wilcox
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