We have always been here; a human being is God’s being, temporarily clothed in human attributes. In silent prayer, we journey through layers of experience—thinking, feeling, relating—until we reach our essential, irreducible being: our soul. This soul maintains a constant, silent communion with God, the one being from whom everything and everyone derives its apparently independent existence.
In this understanding, the distinction between the devotee and God gradually fades until there is no difference between them. Their love transcends relationship; it becomes the absence of relationship. This leads to the collapse of the belief and feeling of self and other, individual and God. Thus, when the body dies, nothing happens to being. It does not suddenly reunite with God’s being because it was never separate from it to begin with. Being is eternal, unchanging, neither born nor dying.
In the words of Blue Sky God by Don Macgregor: “We are living in an era where mystical and scientific proof are coming ever closer, opening up a wholly new way of approaching reality and potentially solving the enormous problem that keeps science and religion apart. For many of us, the churches have seemed like the Flat Earth Society, hanging onto old interpretations of institutional faith despite our contemporary knowledge and understanding.”
The relevance of a Christian path today should be clear, but why does it need to evolve like everything else? Evangelical faith and literalist Christianity are rigid and lack credibility. We have moved on from the idea of an all-powerful, interventionist God or an unforgiving tyrant. We need to move beyond the human-like God we have created. One of my many questions has always been: “Was Jesus divine, or just a human being who achieved his full potential, as the Dalai Lama would say?”
The scientific world is constantly changing with discoveries in quantum physics, Darwin’s theory of evolution, Einstein’s theory of relativity, laws of motion, and new sciences like epigenetics and genetics. Concepts like energy fields, morphic resonance, the nature of consciousness, the power of intention, nanoparticles, and space exploration further shape our understanding. God has often been called the “ground of being” and consciousness. While we speak of individual consciousness, we are actually part of one universal consciousness. Imagine the empathy that could exist between all of us and nature. This mystical experience of oneness is present in all faiths.
Could God then say to us, “Make your hearts big enough to contain me and your actions loving enough to express me”? Regarding the trinity, perhaps the Father represents consciousness, Jesus the Son is the expressive being, and the Holy Spirit is the driving force. This God is not a supernatural being living in time and space but the source of life and love. How can we best open our hearts to this consciousness, ever-present within us?
Chris Hill