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'Sunset over a River'
You ask
Who is God
What is God
Where did God come from
Is there really a God or not
You listen to the opinions
of believers
of non-believers
of possibly and possibly-not
When are going to stop
this nonsense keeping you
stuck to the ground
Enamored with questions
addicted to reason
you forfeit the ecstasies of Love
The wine glass sits there
always right before you
drink! - the proof is in the tasting
This sweet, intoxicating Grace
takes you from where
reason led you and left you
Drink up! - then you'll enjoy
the God of no words -
the One no one has ever said one thing about
The lover asked his beloved,
"Do you really love me, my dear?"
She said, "Come near and taste these lips"
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Many persons have replaced the experience of God with belief in God. This, while likely many who do not believe in God experience God.
To experience the Sacred, we need to drop all ideas about the Sacred. This abdication includes dropping into the heart from the mind. This descent means the suspension of our belief or disbelief. As long as we think we know what we will experience, we experience what we believe we will experience, not the reality. We trifle with the shadow, missing enjoyment of the substance.
What function, then, does belief in the Supreme play? Belief is a custodian that assists us in our approach to the entrance of the Temple. Without belief, we might never get there. At the door, belief, having served its purpose, remains outside.
* * *
Sadly, many persons of religious faith remain in the courtyard, not entering the Temple. They long to enter, for the heart longs to enjoy this intimacy. Yet, they have often not even been told by religious leaders, many - likely most - of whom do not enter themselves, that such intimacy is possible. These religious leaders are experts in filling the head with facts yet cannot guide believers in entering the Temple.
But misery to you, you religion scholars and Pious Party members, you play-actors! You lock the door of the realm of the heavens before worshippers; you will not go in yourselves, and neither will you permit those at the entrance to enter.
*Jesus, in Gospel of Matthew 23.13
* * *
When we enter, though we may not have been told how, we enjoy heart-with-heart communion with our Beloved. An ardent longing to surrender to Grace will lead one through the Temple entrance with or without help or permission to enter. The heart opens when desire becomes so strong that one can say with the Psalmist - "Whom have I in the heavens besides you? And there is nothing on earth I desire but you" (Psalms 73.25).
* * *
Then, in the fellowship of Love, enjoying oneness, belief loses its supremacy. One enjoys intimacy with the Sacred with persons of different faiths and beliefs, for the union is not about what anyone thinks. This sublimest of intimacies is experience heart-with-heart, both with the Sacred and others who are willing captives of divine Love.
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*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2020
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse. The book is a collection of poems based on mystical traditions, especially Christian and Sufi, with extensive notes on the teachings and imagery in the poetry.
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