some thoughts i didn't get to post, written about may 15th, on why i am practicing the sabbath
i was thinking in the shower about the conception of god that i grew up with versus the one i have now.
today's the sabbath. and we have all these connotations associated with the commandment: worship god on the sabbath day. so, reserve one day of the week to pray? thats not exactly how the jews practice today. the sabbath means no work, and for some, no technology. its respite from six days of, traditionally, laboring your ass off in the fields to support yourself or walking thirty miles a day through the desert. its respite from technology, or from those things which defer energy to other sources (people, nature) - reflection on the natural world and enslaved peoples of the world that our lives are intricately dependent on. today, its respite from hectic work weeks and time to spend with our families, and on physical, emotional, spiritual self-care.
now, some may call it egotistical and even heretical to start with "worshipping god" and to end with "self-care." after all, isn't god greater than us? this is the conception of god which i grew up with. god is great, god is good, god is love. god is so great and good that we cannot conceive of how great and good he really is.
mathematically, that would simply be
GOD < YOU
or
i'm thinking right now of an animation, i don't know who its by, but a kid says "god's love is this big" and he stretches out his arms very slowly to demonstrate, but since his arms aren't long enough they pop right out of his sockets and fly off the screen. in graphical form, there would be a bar for you're capability for goodness and love that would be about yea high, and then the bar for god would be extended infinitely tall, implying that your experience is limited and inferior to the experience of god.
the center of this philosophy is that one cannot experience god, that one cannot have that depth of experience. but i believe it is not depth but breadth that not separates but connects us to god.
the graph would include myself and every other being all lined up together in an infinite line, with an equal height representing our capacity for love, goodness, kindness, and all other godly qualities. the infinitude is horizontal, and so when we say that god is omnipotent, it is merely a realization that one's own effect on the world is limited. when we say that god is omnipresent, it is the realization that we can only be in one place at one time. and when we say that god is omnibenevolent, it is a recognition that god is the word that we use to describe the sum total of all the goodness in the world, all that is love, literally, and that while we can touch this well of benevolence in our lifetimes just as capably as any other being can, we are not flawless.
yet god, as everything, is not poisoned by this flawlessness - just as the ocean as a whole is not and cannot be wholly poisoned by the refuse of a city like los angeles.
and so when i say i'm practicing the sabbath, i really mean that i'm trying to live up to my fullest potential to love and connect with myself, others, and the universe as a whole. i share with every other being on this planet.
and we've said before that as unitarian universalists, when we say "god is love" we don't separate it into "god loves you," but we mean it quite literally - "god, is, love." the love (connection) which binds the potential for love (existence) together.
today's the sabbath. and we have all these connotations associated with the commandment: worship god on the sabbath day. so, reserve one day of the week to pray? thats not exactly how the jews practice today. the sabbath means no work, and for some, no technology. its respite from six days of, traditionally, laboring your ass off in the fields to support yourself or walking thirty miles a day through the desert. its respite from technology, or from those things which defer energy to other sources (people, nature) - reflection on the natural world and enslaved peoples of the world that our lives are intricately dependent on. today, its respite from hectic work weeks and time to spend with our families, and on physical, emotional, spiritual self-care.
now, some may call it egotistical and even heretical to start with "worshipping god" and to end with "self-care." after all, isn't god greater than us? this is the conception of god which i grew up with. god is great, god is good, god is love. god is so great and good that we cannot conceive of how great and good he really is.
mathematically, that would simply be
GOD < YOU
or
i'm thinking right now of an animation, i don't know who its by, but a kid says "god's love is this big" and he stretches out his arms very slowly to demonstrate, but since his arms aren't long enough they pop right out of his sockets and fly off the screen. in graphical form, there would be a bar for you're capability for goodness and love that would be about yea high, and then the bar for god would be extended infinitely tall, implying that your experience is limited and inferior to the experience of god.
the center of this philosophy is that one cannot experience god, that one cannot have that depth of experience. but i believe it is not depth but breadth that not separates but connects us to god.
the graph would include myself and every other being all lined up together in an infinite line, with an equal height representing our capacity for love, goodness, kindness, and all other godly qualities. the infinitude is horizontal, and so when we say that god is omnipotent, it is merely a realization that one's own effect on the world is limited. when we say that god is omnipresent, it is the realization that we can only be in one place at one time. and when we say that god is omnibenevolent, it is a recognition that god is the word that we use to describe the sum total of all the goodness in the world, all that is love, literally, and that while we can touch this well of benevolence in our lifetimes just as capably as any other being can, we are not flawless.
yet god, as everything, is not poisoned by this flawlessness - just as the ocean as a whole is not and cannot be wholly poisoned by the refuse of a city like los angeles.
and so when i say i'm practicing the sabbath, i really mean that i'm trying to live up to my fullest potential to love and connect with myself, others, and the universe as a whole. i share with every other being on this planet.
and we've said before that as unitarian universalists, when we say "god is love" we don't separate it into "god loves you," but we mean it quite literally - "god, is, love." the love (connection) which binds the potential for love (existence) together.
posted by tank at 9:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home