Sensing Creator With Our Hearts and Spirits
The Tao Te Ching reads: “The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. The unnamable is the eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things.” The Tao goes on to say, “Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.”
We humans have a great desire to break things down to their smallest elements, to put everything under a microscope so that we can define and control them. Even using the Bible’s names for God (Jehovah Jireh--the Lord will provide; Jehovah Rapha--the God who heals; Jehovah Nissi--the Lord is my banner; Jehovah Shalom--the Lord is peace), we think we’ve caught God by the tail and captured His/Her essence. But have we?
To think that knowing the names of God would enable me to know the essence of God would be like saying I know you because I know your profession, that you like to wear jeans and enjoy working out, or that you like to eat certain kinds of foods. Seriously? Is that who you are inside?
Freed from the desire to define, we move into the freedom to resonate with our Creator—Spirit-to-spirit, heart-to-heart. We turn on our spiritual senses/perceptions, which Jesus told us to do. We listen, intuit, sense, watch, become aware, and practice presence. We slow down and start to feel the Creator and creation.
While Jesus was fluent with Old Testament teaching, which he says he came to fulfill, Jesus couldn’t do the following if his thinking was entrapped by the Mosaic law:
· Call God his “Father.”
· Claim to be One with the Father, and invite us into his Oneness with the Father.
· Say that the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.
· Make frequent trips to the mountain to stay connected with his Father and Spirit.
· Tell us to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength (versus follow the law).
Some people solely rely on Bible words to tell them about God. That’s good. But ultimately Jesus connected through relationship, just like the Tao says. Jesus experienced the mystery and he let himself become fully caught up in it in order to resonate with the Father’s Spirit, the Father’s love, their internal heart-to-heart connection, and the Father’s purposes.
The Apostle Paul said, “He [Creator] has clearly made himself known to all human beings. Ever since the world was made, his invisible, never-fading power and Sacred Spirit have been understood and clearly shown through the things he has made.” Want to experience the Tao, the Creator? You can start by studying the life of Jesus and how he connected with the Father. And, walk outside and breathe. Quiet yourself, dial down, feel, sense, ask, and wait. Bit by bit the Spirit, Creator’s and Jesus’ Spirit, will link with your spirit. You’ll connect with the God-stream and flow in it. Aho.