Unusual and unprecedented access to information through internet, as well as our progress in science and general education, makes some of the "hidden knowledge"of the past available to all of us!
For instance, how many people would be interested in discussing the Nature of G-d, let's say, even when this was seen as the most important philosophical question? All those treatises were written by few philosophers, and "common people" were absolutely unaware of the matter- and it certainly wasn't practical in any sense.
Now, WATCH THIS-
As self-help psychology becomes more spiritual, it actually BRINGS FRESH PERSPECTIVE to these deepest question human been can ask! And as I was reading one of these free online brochures (10 steps to Divine Connection by Rebecca Smith)- I realised HOW WONDERFUL THIS IS!
Truly, we can witness the prophecies of the Zohar are coming alive- wells of Wisdom, including the innermost esoteric Wisdom, BECOME PART OF OUR DAILY LIFE!
And here's what's been discussed in the brochure- G-d as a PERSON versus G-d as NOT A PERSON
And here's the argument (get ready for a long quote! Highlighting is mine, to stress the point)
If you’re anything like most people, you’ve been exposed to a variety of ideas about what God is and isn’t. And no matter how adamant you may be about the idea that God is not a person or even a person‐like being, we live in a world where God is usually personified, and almost always personified as a father.
Personifying the Divine makes God a lot smaller than God is.
We experience people as flawed and parents as inconsistent and whether we know it or not, holding an image of God as a father—or even a person‐like being—keeps us from having an authentic experience of Divine Connection.
I believe that Step One in cultivating your Divine Connection is to retrain yourself to experience God as something (rather than someone) that is everywhere—filling every bit of space and time simultaneously.
In fact, God may just very well be every bit of space and time simultaneously. If we are all One, perhaps God is the very system of connectivity though which runs the love that binds us all into one loving being.
If the majority of your thoughts about the nature of God have personified God as a human‐like being, I invite you now to let God be bigger than that. Try on the notion that God is the limitless space between the beings (sentient and otherwise) that flows through everything for the sheer joy of the experience.
And then try on the notion that God is each and every being (sentient and otherwise) at the same time.
In a belief system in which God is this infinitely big, an experience of “Godness” is infinitely available to usNow, let's bless the desire of so many people today to RECONNECT to G-d...It seems, like we are entering a new Era of G-d - Man communication!
And yes indeed, this primitive thinking of "father with the beard" caused so many people to dismiss the whole concept of G-d - in that sense, this NEW UNDERSTANDING is most welcomed!
And it's pretty clear, that one can find NUMEROUS EXAMPLES of the validity of such understanding of G-d's nature- especially in our mystical sources. For instance G-d as MAKOM- the Place of Everything, or Ein Sof of the Kabbalists- the Ultimate Reality- is certainly indicating this kind of vision.
At the same time, as you are reading the quoted source- you will probably feel the same as I did- HOW ABOUT ALL THOSE MANY EXAMPLES IN THE TANACH?
It goes without saying, G-d as "The Heavenly Father" is the most common and familiar image for all of us, who knows the Scriptures.
AND HERE COMES THE QUESTION- IS THIS IMAGE SIMPLY NOT RELEVANT TO US ANYMORE?
Instead of giving you my own answer, I will point out to you the most unusual and thoughtful article,
that appeared in 'Enlighten Next' Magazine- called "The Second Face of G-d"
I would strongly recommend to read it-
http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j45/guru-pandit.asp
Here's my very brief review-
Ken Wilber speaks about what he called the three faces of God- he articulated and put into a simple framework the different dimensions of the Divine : God as the great all-knowing Other, God as the entire cosmic Process, and God as our deepest Self. And he connects these three very different expressions of Spirit to the three fundamental perspectives that integral theory is built upon: first person, second person, and third person, or I, You/We, and It.
Spirit, or God, can be looked at through all of these perspectives, which (as Ken often points out) correspond to the perspectives found in all major languages. “First-person Spirit,” Ken explains, “is the great I AM, the pure radical subjectivity or witness in every sentient being. Spirit in second person is the great Thou, something that is immeasurably greater than you could ever possibly be in your wildest imagination, something before which surrender and devotion and submission and gratitude are the only appropriate responses. And Spirit in third person is the great web of life, the Great Perfection of everything that is arising.”
Now comes the most fascinating part- here's the quote
If we want to develop spiritually, we need both an intellectual or philosophical framework and an experiential grasp of what many of these very profound spiritual concepts mean. And what could be more empowering or inspiring for a sincere spiritual aspirant than learning to make these distinctions and then beginning to discover the actual manifestations of these different dimensions of Spirit within his or her own self?
Finally, the part that is MOST RELEVANT to our discussion here- WHAT ABOUT G-D AS THE FATHER, G-D IN SECOND PERSON? IS HE STILL RELEVANT TO US?
And that's what the author, Andrew Cohen, has to say in this regard
For this issue’s Guru & Pandit dialogue, I chose a section that focuses on the second face, God as the great Other, because as I explain in the pages that follow, I’m convinced that while all three faces are important, this one in particular is essential for our time and culture and is all too often dismissed.
So HOW IS THIS HEAVENLY FATHER, OR THE GREAT OTHER, IS SO RELEVANT TO US?
And here comes the answer
Especially for those of us who have grown up in postmodern Western culture, the second face of God is absolutely essential. Without God as Thou becoming a living, felt dimension of our own experience of Spirit, without that great Other before whom we must ultimately submit, I wonder if it’s possible for us to move beyond ego and our culturally conditioned tendency toward extreme narcissism in any kind of authentic way...
Spirit in second person is an extremely important dimension because it is spirituality in its relational form, its intersubjective form. When Martin Buber spoke about the I-Thou relationship, he was talking about God in second person. Awakening to this face of Spirit means being in dialogue with God, in direct communication with God, face-to-face with the Creator of everything that’s arising moment to moment. It’s Spirit in a form that can be communicated with.
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