GOD

GOD 

GOD is such a loaded word that it is already an unconscious agreement between us not to bring it up!  Just like sex!  That's good enough reason to begin with HER.  Also I always loved controversies.  They have an inbuilt capacity to arouse energy.  What could be more controversial than to write about GOD?   Just look at those immediate reactions that surface.  What else can be expected from a rabbi anyway?!   But believe me none of the religious seminaries have a course on GOD! Every one just beats round the bush.  Furthermore I do not feel competent to write about HIM, not when I am trying to stop believing in him!

There is a famous story about the Gaon of Vilna.   He was approached by a mischievous atheist who informed him "Rabbi, I do not believe in God".  The Gaon responded: "My friend, I do not believe in that god either"

Our minds can only accept or reject what it can conjure.  Since it cannot conjure the Inconjurable(!), the atheist can only reject his self made idea about GOD.   For the Gaon, if that idea is so lacking that it can be discredited and rejected, surely it is not aligned with the Truth and hence he too cannot believe in the atheist's idea of God.

Maimonides teaches us that the main foundation of Judaism is to know GOD.  He hints in his writings that the whole Torah (Bible) is meant to help us clarify and internalize this knowing.   For Man to have any conceivable knowledge of GOD he has to use his greatest gift - the mind. But will not all that the mind will imagine fall short of what GOD is ?  In other words can the Mind really know GOD?   The unequivocal answer is No.  But as long as we develop an understanding that has semblance to His Truth we can keep on building our comprehension. That is the easiest way of comprehending the Ineffable.

Hence tangible ideas as King, King of kings, All-Mighty, Merciful, Gracious, The Provider, The Forgiver, Our Father in heaven, etc. are all used as names of GOD defining a particular way we perceive HIM.

Once we grow to a higher appreciation we have the Jewish Mystics tell us that there are roughly ten channels through which GOD allows man to become aware of HIM.  They are the famous Sefiroth – Keter (Kingship), Hochmah (Wisdom), Binah (Understanding), Chesed (love), Gevurah (Strength), Tifereth (Beauty), Netzah (Victory), Hod (Splendour), Yesod (Foundation) and Malchut (Kingdom).  In effect Kabbalah informs us that GOD chooses to reveal Himself to HIS creation through these abstract but perceivable qualities.

So we increase our appreciation of what GOD is intellectually by moving from the concrete to the abstract. We are trained to always try growing in our understanding, to clarify and refine our understanding of GOD.  In my humble opinion that is why we miss the whole point.  We never know GOD, as it remains an exercise of the intellect.  Well most of us are satisfied with that but I promise you, that is not the only option.

In the book of Exodus when Moses asks GOD for His name, GOD informs him that HE is "Ahyeh asher Ahyeh", famously translated as "I AM what I AM".  Why doesn't HE give him any of HIS names found through out the Bible?  By giving such a weird answer Moses is told that he is asking the wrong question!

What is a name?   It is a certain group of sounds that we give a particular object to universally identify it.  In truth the names we use are just symbolically connected.  The name I have does not necessarily inform anyone what I am.  On the other hand the title I have does tell others a little something about me.  What Moses needed to know is more like the title, a defining idea of GOD.   Moses is informed that any idea defining GOD is not GOD.  To define GOD verbally, one needs to first imagine GOD as an object.   It is a requirement of our minds to objectify and categorize everything when we name it, including GOD.  So GOD says: Hold it! I am not an object.

Life is a series of experiences that we learn to verbalize and hence objectify as we learn to communicate.  To use our intellect means to identify and memorize these experiences called Life.  As we grow we basically start experiencing life only through the lens of our memories.  The fundamental nature of life is not an idea but a being, a happening.  Hence instead of saying I am … - an object, GOD tells Moses, "I Am the Amness."  That which is Isness itself, Existence itself!

The only way of knowing God then is not a growth in intellectuality from concrete to abstract but an expansion of intensity of his awareness from philosophical to experiential.   To do that we need to rethink what the mystics are saying not on philosophical - theoretical lines but experiential lines.  Let us consider the easiest example, Beauty - Tifereth.

Below is embedded a collection of phenomenal pictures of sunsets.   Observe them with a very passive state.  If your mind reacts with recognizing anything in the frame, tell yourself that you are focusing not on aspects that you have learnt to appreciate but the collective effect of Beauty which is beyond the thought process.   Do not fight the thoughts in any way.  Just enjoy the pictures,  that’s crucial.

GOD Luck!