On Language
God Language
We realize that our use of the word “God” evokes for some an entity which is judgmental, condemning, harsh, shaming, and even violent. That has not been our experience of the Divine. While we know we can’t begin to affix a definition to God, it seems important to us to give language to what we mean when we use that word. What we know is a Reality which welcomes all, sustains all, nurtures all, embraces all, and Is, in fact the All. We lean on the understanding of Teihard de Chardin who wrote that Love is the very fabric and structure of the universe.
But what do we mean by "Power"?
Let’s start with what we don’t mean:
- Hierarchical
- Dominant
- Controlling
- Destructive to goodness
- Egocentric
- Humans citing Divine power to justify the use of the kinds of power named above, resulting in ungodly behavior that has been destructive in innumerable ways throughout history.
Okay, what do we mean?
- Where the good is raised up and the evil lessened.
- Heart space: one we enter into to connect with God and with each other.
- Quality of the Divine, a tensile strength we are born with, and often lose touch with.
- One that heals, makes whole, empowers, encourages, and liberates.
- Experientially felt and manifested through connections with the Divine, ourselves, God, and creation.
- Passionate Mystery found at the center of all beings, and living from this Divine Center, means living in whole-hearted relationship with this power.
We understand the risk of using the word power, as it is usually defined in our culture as hierarchical, and which is felt as dominant, aggressive, and controlling. We acknowledge that humans have appropriated Divine power to justify the use of the kinds of power named above, resulting in all sorts of ungodly behavior that has been destructive in innumerable ways throughout history.
We offer a counter-cultural view of power as a heart space: one we enter into to connect with God, and with each other. It is a quality of the Divine, a tensile strength we are born with, and often lose touch with, this power that heals, makes whole, empowers, encourages, and liberates. It is felt experientially and manifests through connections with the Divine, ourselves, God and creation. It is the passionate Mystery found at the center of all beings, and living from this Divine Center, means living in whole-hearted relationship with this power.
How do we find this Power?
Many of us have had a sense of this power, a moment of unity, or timelessness, or a felt understanding of our unique place in the vastness of the universe. Often, we can deepen our connection to this place through an intentional crucible.
This program seeks to be such a crucible, one which helps us to come into greater awareness of the unconscious drivers of our behaviors. Doing so allows us to see the ways we try to hide our human vulnerabilities from,ourselves, others, and even God, leading us to project our own unhealed aspects outwardly as “other.”
By knowing ourselves, all of ourselves, as both beloved and wounded, both magnificent and flawed, we develop the ability to live from a more grounded, embodied place, letting go of perfectionism and outcomes, and moving into relational truth and trusting the goodness of being in process. Coming into the “power of love”, the power of human relationships, the power of surrender to the Divine, the power of becoming aware of our impact, both positive and negative, takes us deeper into the root of who we are.
This inner work helps us to redefine “Who is my neighbor?” moving us away from the dehumanization of others, and into a movement of caring for the Oneness of humanity. Through a contained community of honesty and “staying in it,” we encounter and feel how we connect with ourselves, God, others, and creation.
These experiences help open our eyes to seeing our wellbeing as intricately entwined with God, others and creation. That new awareness and gaze can move us into anywhere along a continuum that stretches from spiritually grounded action to a life devoted to prayer, all being a full embodiment of participating with God’s power.
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