A Personal God?

[path_of_one]

Interesting...

I would say I personally experience God- in that I have experiences of God in a manner that is indicative of relationship.

However, I would not say God is this or that. I can't really understand God. I only get glimpses, and I've gotten enough different glimpses to make me aware that nothing quite encapsulates that Big-Whatever-It-Is accurately. Sometimes it's personal and sometimes it isn't. Sometimes it is imminent- the bit of something I see in myself, others, the earth that is Divine. I would never say God is a person-like Being, but rather that God might be experienced as a person-like Being in order to meet me where I'm at right then. It's almost certain that I experience God within my limitations rather than me really grasping what God is like.

The great thing is that I don't have to understand God to feel the love emanating from It/Her/Him, and to give love in return. I don't fully understand the earth and its inner workings either, but I can feel its abundance and be thankful and return love to it.

I prefer to be open to experience of Divinity rather than defining God- meshes better with my life.

[lunamoth]

Originally Posted by path_of_one

Interesting...

I would say I personally experience God- in that I have experiences of God in a manner that is indicative of relationship.

However, I would not say God is this or that. I can't really understand God. I only get glimpses, and I've gotten enough different glimpses to make me aware that nothing quite encapsulates that Big-Whatever-It-Is accurately. Sometimes it's personal and sometimes it isn't. Sometimes it is imminent- the bit of something I see in myself, others, the earth that is Divine. I would never say God is a person-like Being, but rather that God might be experienced as a person-like Being in order to meet me where I'm at right then. It's almost certain that I experience God within my limitations rather than me really grasping what God is like.

The great thing is that I don't have to understand God to feel the love emanating from It/Her/Him, and to give love in return. I don't fully understand the earth and its inner workings either, but I can feel its abundance and be thankful and return love to it.

I prefer to be open to experience of Divinity rather than defining God- meshes better with my life.

Been missing your beautiful posts Path of One. Great to see you around!

[Saltmeister]

Originally Posted by Sunny C.

I can't define God, so I try not to use that word. I thought for a while that I could borrow the word to try to express the object of my thoughts, but I just wind up talking past people.

As Francis King suggests, each of us could have a personal God that means whatever He means.

Here's how I see it might work . . .

For me, there's no need to define God at all. All I have to do is consider what He (or It) means for me. Everyone in the world could do the same. That's what makes God personal. We're not all the same so we don't all have the same relationship with God. God Himself doesn't have to be the same for everyone.

He can interact differently with each of us, but still be the same God. He'd have the same identity, regardless of who was connecting to Him.

We talk past each other because what we share with God is between us and God. It's sacred. Private and personal. We devote and dedicate ourselves to God and God devotes and dedicates Himself to us within the boundaries of our relationship.

Though I may use metaphors, God is neither a bird nor a plane. Whatever physical, tangible objects are used are simply symbolic of God's role as some kind of "Divine Provider" that provides whatever the physical/tangible object was meant to provide.

[path_of_one]

Originally Posted by lunamoth

Been missing your beautiful posts Path of One. Great to see you around!

Thanks! My dissertation is FINALLY done! Yay! I have a life again!