Monthly Letter: July 2010

God is or God is not, each individual must decide for his or her self. If God is not, there can be no further questions regarding the nature of divinity, however, if God is, one must decide what God is. Blind faith is exactly that, it is blind. Whereas faith is a noble attribute, blindness is not so helpful in a world in which we must navigate with our own physical senses. A life well lived is an informed life, where we hold experience and understanding in high regard. We call the knowledge gained from experience wisdom, and the ability to apply it judgment. Going through life blind, if we have a choice, is not considered an advantage so why should we not strive to understand our God through experience? This does not mean we are to understand that which is beyond our comprehension but rather the portion of divinity that penetrates finite reality. As a result, the more we inquire, the more we will experience, and the more we experience, the more we will understand. Revelation is an incremental and cooperative process; the more we experience the greater becomes our finite understanding of the infinite. That which is accessible to us is increased proportionately with our willingness to experience it. 

We are told God is love, also that God is perfect. From this we can conclude God is perfect love. We can experience perfect love in many small ways, thus experiencing God. The more often we experience perfect love, the greater will become our ability to do so in an increasingly creative fashion. We need not become perfect in our application, simply persistent, for in persistence (long suffering) we are inevitably transformed. If we wish to change the patterns that fed by our old habits, we may begin by no longer responding to occurrences, but instead, by consciously acting on them. This presents us with opportunities to act in newly creative ways we may not have previously considered. Perhaps it would be helpful to slow down, to do only one thing at a time, and to pour our heart out into what we are doing. Perfection or quality is not found in volume but in application, and in persistence we perfect that which we have chosen to experience. Love is an abstract principle until we choose to experience it. The more ways we experience love in our lives, the greater becomes our ability to do so constructively, thus, the greater becomes our capacity to experience God on a personal level.

 God is expressed in our lives through us. This is grace, that we may express the infinite in a finite world in many small ways. In this way God will have a greater presence in our lives and the lives of those around us. If our goal is to express God, it may be helpful to end each day questioning not how much of God we expressed this day but how well did we do it. In perfect love there is no failure unless it is the failure to try, for perfection is the mother of persistence. What else can possibly be more important in our lives than expressing that which we understand to be perfect love? We are divine in nature and part of that infinite loving kindness we call God.

May God bless you with wisdom and mercy, and may his loving kindness pour out from you upon all of those you love.