Your Relationship With Deity
Via Zerahelstree.
1. What have you been told or taught about God/Deity?
(Reader's Digest version - I will also keep this short!)
This is my instinctive list in shorthand. This is what I've been told or taught God is:
love
justice
the ground of all being
Triune
Woman-Wisdom (Sophia)
my Grandmother
a rock
a woman seeking for the lost with all the tenderness and fierce love a woman can summon
a shepherd carrying lost sheep to safety out of love for them and with great courage
refuge
fire
light
lover
Jesus Christ
Holy Spirit that binds us together with each other and all of creation as one
in all of creation
with me and in me
in everyone through the divine image in which humanity was created
my friend
my lover
God is NOT a white Caucasian man up in the sky looking down in judgment on me or us.
2. What do you believe about God/Deity?
God is the ground of all being and intimately involved in our creation and re-creation every day. God wants nothing more than for us to discover love and justice with each other and the universe around us. We are all created in the image of God and we are to recognize that image in each other and respect it. We are all damaged, broken and in need of healing and we have been given the gift of healing each other and creation around us, if we can both individually and collectively learn how to increase our understanding and recognize the reality of God from the illusion the world casts, then act upon it. Paul writes about this very eloquently and summarizes the gift of the Spirit so well: 'It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.' As we grow and mature in faith, we do not become immune from suffering but more able to endure it, and our compassion towards others in creation increases our capacity to be aware of the suffering around us, which in turn, increases our ability to act in accordance with relieving suffering wherever we find it.
3. What is your personal experiences with God/Deity? This must be totally apart from what you have been told or taught, or what you believe to be true. (I am excluding anything here that I believe to be connected with angelic or ancestor/spirit guide connected)
In one moment, I experienced love. I was loved and accepted and freed. I had never felt that before. There are no words capable of describing that moment. At the same time that this love was falling upon me in abundance and I was soaking it up into my very being, my consciousness expanded to the point that the 'I' that was Karen was no longer there. There was no 'I'. 'I' died. There was only nothing, which was also full of everything. At some point, I came back to myself but I will never forget that experience. It was odd to me that no-one else could sense what had happened, but I think that my friends have probably seen me changeover the last few years. I say that at this moment I was given the template and knowledge for the rest of my life. When I learn something new now, it's more like remembering it which is why I get hold of the information and understand it so fast. Putting it into practice takes longer but I have also begun to see that happen too.
4. Do you believe that God/Deity can have a feminine face or aspect? Why?
Yes. Why... Because God is beyond both male and female yet includes both. Thus God can also be talked about in sexual imagery, andgroynous imagery, non-human imagery and in terms of 'both/and rather than either/or.
5. Do you believe that God/Deity can have a masculine face or aspect? Why?
Yes. Why...See above.
6. Where is God/Deity’s Dwelling Place? Explain, if you would like.
From Zerahelstree -'Within, and everywhere in the Universe. Also to quote Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven is within us.' Couldn't have put it better myself. I would also add that because of this belief, God is seen within every other human being that I meet as well as in the creation that I meet every day.
7. Do you believe in Angels, Saints, ancestors, devas, etc, and how do you believe that they influence our lives? Yes, of course. Do I think that angels look like human beings with feathered wings that fly down from the sky? No. I think that God's presence is experienced and interpreted in many different ways. I recognize angels as one of those ways. I think that saints are human beings who dedicate their lives to God and who attempt to live their faith out, so I think that anyone who tries to be and do that is a saint. I see no reason why through the work of the Holy Spirit I should not feel the presence of those who have gone before me in the faith. In fact, I would be surprised if I did not feel their presence. The way we express our belief in these beings depends on the maturity and understanding of our faith, our universe and ourselves.
8. Can you prove...any of this? If so, is it worth someone else’s, or your life to do so?
No... I cannot prove any of this. Asking for proof is missing the point. The experience is open to all. If you want to see it proved, go and practice the disciplines in a community, learn the faith with an open mind and heart and see what happens. Of course, it's worth my own life. But we are here to live life to the full, or as close as we can to it. Are there people and things worth dying for? Is my faith worth dying for? Yes. Do I think I'm capable of giving up my life for someone else? I wouldn't know until I was faced with that decision. I'm not very courageous but I would hope that I would.
1. What have you been told or taught about God/Deity?
(Reader's Digest version - I will also keep this short!)
This is my instinctive list in shorthand. This is what I've been told or taught God is:
love
justice
the ground of all being
Triune
Woman-Wisdom (Sophia)
my Grandmother
a rock
a woman seeking for the lost with all the tenderness and fierce love a woman can summon
a shepherd carrying lost sheep to safety out of love for them and with great courage
refuge
fire
light
lover
Jesus Christ
Holy Spirit that binds us together with each other and all of creation as one
in all of creation
with me and in me
in everyone through the divine image in which humanity was created
my friend
my lover
God is NOT a white Caucasian man up in the sky looking down in judgment on me or us.
2. What do you believe about God/Deity?
God is the ground of all being and intimately involved in our creation and re-creation every day. God wants nothing more than for us to discover love and justice with each other and the universe around us. We are all created in the image of God and we are to recognize that image in each other and respect it. We are all damaged, broken and in need of healing and we have been given the gift of healing each other and creation around us, if we can both individually and collectively learn how to increase our understanding and recognize the reality of God from the illusion the world casts, then act upon it. Paul writes about this very eloquently and summarizes the gift of the Spirit so well: 'It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.' As we grow and mature in faith, we do not become immune from suffering but more able to endure it, and our compassion towards others in creation increases our capacity to be aware of the suffering around us, which in turn, increases our ability to act in accordance with relieving suffering wherever we find it.
3. What is your personal experiences with God/Deity? This must be totally apart from what you have been told or taught, or what you believe to be true. (I am excluding anything here that I believe to be connected with angelic or ancestor/spirit guide connected)
In one moment, I experienced love. I was loved and accepted and freed. I had never felt that before. There are no words capable of describing that moment. At the same time that this love was falling upon me in abundance and I was soaking it up into my very being, my consciousness expanded to the point that the 'I' that was Karen was no longer there. There was no 'I'. 'I' died. There was only nothing, which was also full of everything. At some point, I came back to myself but I will never forget that experience. It was odd to me that no-one else could sense what had happened, but I think that my friends have probably seen me changeover the last few years. I say that at this moment I was given the template and knowledge for the rest of my life. When I learn something new now, it's more like remembering it which is why I get hold of the information and understand it so fast. Putting it into practice takes longer but I have also begun to see that happen too.
4. Do you believe that God/Deity can have a feminine face or aspect? Why?
Yes. Why... Because God is beyond both male and female yet includes both. Thus God can also be talked about in sexual imagery, andgroynous imagery, non-human imagery and in terms of 'both/and rather than either/or.
5. Do you believe that God/Deity can have a masculine face or aspect? Why?
Yes. Why...See above.
6. Where is God/Deity’s Dwelling Place? Explain, if you would like.
From Zerahelstree -'Within, and everywhere in the Universe. Also to quote Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven is within us.' Couldn't have put it better myself. I would also add that because of this belief, God is seen within every other human being that I meet as well as in the creation that I meet every day.
7. Do you believe in Angels, Saints, ancestors, devas, etc, and how do you believe that they influence our lives? Yes, of course. Do I think that angels look like human beings with feathered wings that fly down from the sky? No. I think that God's presence is experienced and interpreted in many different ways. I recognize angels as one of those ways. I think that saints are human beings who dedicate their lives to God and who attempt to live their faith out, so I think that anyone who tries to be and do that is a saint. I see no reason why through the work of the Holy Spirit I should not feel the presence of those who have gone before me in the faith. In fact, I would be surprised if I did not feel their presence. The way we express our belief in these beings depends on the maturity and understanding of our faith, our universe and ourselves.
8. Can you prove...any of this? If so, is it worth someone else’s, or your life to do so?
No... I cannot prove any of this. Asking for proof is missing the point. The experience is open to all. If you want to see it proved, go and practice the disciplines in a community, learn the faith with an open mind and heart and see what happens. Of course, it's worth my own life. But we are here to live life to the full, or as close as we can to it. Are there people and things worth dying for? Is my faith worth dying for? Yes. Do I think I'm capable of giving up my life for someone else? I wouldn't know until I was faced with that decision. I'm not very courageous but I would hope that I would.