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Our Unfolding Perspective of the Divine
Seeing the
parts of the whole reflected though our many perspectives
So much has been said in this world about the differences between we human beings -- philosophical differences, religious differences, cultural difference, etc. I thought I would take this space to speak to what is the same between us. In Taoism, as in early Christianity, the spiritual teachings were simply called "The Way". But it was taught that our understanding of The Way varied -- from person to person, and era to era. The Way, as an eternal ideal, might be fixed, but our understanding of it shifted, flickered, and adapted. In short, "the Tao which can be spoken is not the Eternal Tao." Meaning, perhaps, that the Tao [Higher Power, That Which Is, God, Truth) is -- in its wholeness -- so great, so complex, so beyond our human order of experience, that we may only describe facets of it -- not the whole thing.
THE BLIND MEN & THE ELEPHANT This is reminiscent of the Sufi story of the Blind Men and The Elephant which illustrates this concept well. One blind man, upon exploring the trunk of the elephant with his hands, declares he has found a snake. Another, feeling the leg, declares he has found a tree! And so on. Each man can only experience his limited, concrete encounter with what -- in its wholeness -- is an elephant. Each man's perspective is limited, by perception and personal circumstance (i.e. where he is standing, relative to the elephant). Only by sharing their observations and respecting each other's perspectives can the blind men solve the riddle of what is before them.
Similarly, in our everyday lives we each interpret our experiences through the filter of our personal perspective. And, also similarly, each persons perspective is shaped by limited perception and personal circumstance, circumstances such as upbringing, character, culture, neighborhood, and nationality. We have therefore a variety of perspectives and opinions on everything: marriage, education, finances, child rearing, and of course ... religion and spirituality. The diversity of opinion as to how to relate to a Higher Power or Divine intelligence, what It is, and what It wants, reflects the diversity of our human experience.
But, as with the blind men and the elephant, could our diversity of opinion simply mean that we are all -- from different perspectives -- trying to describe something that is larger than any single person, culture, or religion has yet described? Or even, could we consider, that they are all describing the same thing -- but in different terms? All the blind men are touching an elephant, but each describes and experiences it differently.
Should we human beings continue to argue and debate and bully each other over our attempts to pin down the precise nature of the Divine? Should we close our ears to each other, feel threatened by each others perceptions and beliefs? Or could we respectfully listen to each other? Maybe the picture of something bigger would begin to emerge...
POINTING AT THE MOON That is to say: "IT" IS. We attempt to understand IT. But, must we equate our descriptions of IT with IT ? (Feel free to substitute your favorite word for the Divine in place of "IT".) As a species we tend to be awfully attached to our descriptions and proscriptions concerning IT. Maybe, as little children are wont to do, we like to feel we are in control of the one who supports and nurtures us. So we stuff IT into tidy little mental boxes. Feeling that having defined IT, we now have control over it. But unfortunately we often end up putting these descriptions and definitions themselves on the pedastool, turning them into objects of worship and veneration -- into false gods that we must kill each other to defend. Meanwhile our spiritual and philosophical traditions abound with warnings about such behavior. Buddhism, for example, instructs that all sayings and teachings about the divine self are "but fingers pointing at the moon". They should not be confused with the moon itself. They are given to help us go in the right direction, but they are only approximations. At a certain point, we must be willing to let go of them and open ourselves to a more direct experiencing of the divine. (This is what Buddha called "laying down the raft".) We can even find such warnings in the paradigm of modern physics! Any college physics student can tell you that in our attempts to understand the atom and its components, we can make models, we can verbally describe -- but the actual thing, the actual atom itself, remains slightly mysterious, ever drawing us forward into deeper understandings. Those who become too rigidly attached to past or current models will not be available to embrace that expansion of understanding. And finally, in Islam, it is taught that we should shy away from creating and worshipping idols -- i.e. representations of the divine. In this way, we will not confuse the actual living presence -- Allah --with our ideas and representations. This helps us stay present and receptive to the divine will, the will of Allah. Or, to put it another way -- it keeps us in harmony with the flow of the Tao.
A TALE UNFOLDING All of this however, takes nothing away from the wisdom, beauty and the practical value of our present attempts at understanding -- both humanly created and divinely inspired. They serve and have served us very well. (The better we have understood and been true to them, the better they have served us however.) And, they contain within them much to draw us deeper into the mystery. But, as with the stories that we tell to our own children, the stories which God tells to us may be ever unfolding, ever expanding. So that, as we are ready to receive -- as we are ready to grow in our perception -- so to it may be that the divine self is ready to give us yet more, to therefore advance our understanding, and to bring us yet one step closer to understanding the totality, the vastness, the complexity and the elegant simplicity that is God. Therefore, rather than arguing which spiritual faith is superior, rather than arrogantly holding our up our own faith or form of spiritual worship as more "advanced" than that of others, perhaps we could humbly turn our attention to which one works the best for us -- for our own individual self, in our own individual circumstances. How can we best attune ourselves to the wholeness that is God? How best can we each relate to the divine presence or higher power so as to thrive -- emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually -- and, so as to allow our Earth and our fellow beings to thrive?
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