All is Well: A Journey in Contemplation

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How do we think about God?  Yes, how do we even begin to think about whatever we call the force that holds everything together?  It seems to me, more and more, that in trying to understand we have squeezed and squashed God into a box.  In making the indescribable describable we have limited him.  In defining what it is right and wrong to believe we have excluded God – we have shut the bigger part of her outside of the door. 

At this time in history I believe it is critical that we open up the doors and see that God is everywhere.  We need to wake up - open our eyes - and see that God is in everything.  At the beginning of time there was no written word but God was manifest in creation.  You don’t need to believe in God to wonder at the way that the natural world is designed: to marvel at its beauty; to observe its patterns; to be amazed at its resilience and strength; to stand in awe at what surrounds us.  Who is not struck by the beauty of a rainbow?  Or the swell of the ocean? Or the grandeur of mountains? In the natural world each one of us finds phenomenon that stop us in our tracks and give us the sense of something beyond us.

Those of us who come from a Christian background need to be careful with the way we think.  When we are struck by the beauty of creation we get opened up.  But we also so easily get closed down again by trying to own this beauty: by trying to own the creator.  God is love, and God is manifest in his love - in his creation - all over the planet.  Life abounds where it has not been nurtured or fed – something comes from ‘nothing’: is that not seemingly how the world began, whatever story we subscribe to? When we understand that creation is God manifest we understand that God is available to all.  When we understand that we too are part of that creation – fearfully and wonderfully made – we understand that each human life has the imprint of God.  We open our eyes and recognise that God is in everything and everyone – he always has been and she always will be.

I am not a scientist but I am intrigued by the knowledge that science gives us, and by the way that so many fields of study are being drawn together even as they expand.  Science teaches us that the universe is unfolding and expanding.  This is in essence what we need to do with our thinking – let it unfold and expand.  For me, if my thinking is unfolding and expanding then God is unfolding and expanding.  This in turn means that love is unfolding and expanding.  I want to be a part of that and believe that is what this journey of contemplation is about. 

As science uncovers and explains more and more, the truth is that there is always still more beyond that to understand.  Again, is that not a picture of God?  God is so big that we can’t get outside of him to look back and make objective observations of what she is like.  Which is why it is just impossible to put God in a box.  It is a bit like being on planet earth.  Most of us will not have the opportunity to go up into space and see what earth looks like from a distance (although of course we have photographs).  But equally we don’t need to see earth in this way because there is so much to explore even in our vicinity.  This is also true for us as individuals – I can never get outside of myself and look at myself objectively, but there is so much to explore and work on, on the inside, that it doesn’t really matter.  And however far we go- whether it be to orbit and look back at our earth, or beyond our solar system to look back, there is always a further place to be.  For me, this is a picture of the immensity of God.  It is a picture of infinity – I can never reach the end.  This gives me a sense of wonder and awe, and a sense of the limitations of my own understanding.  But this does not put God out of my reach because, as far as he expands, she is still right here with me.

I am struck that whilst the universe is unfolding and expanding, gravity keeps us rooted to where we are.  There is an expanding force and a grounding force.  Again, this seems to me to be a picture of God – ever creating and expanding and always beyond our grasp.  And yet at the same time so firmly within us – drawing us down as we search for him in our souls; rooting and anchoring us when we feel set adrift.  This is also a picture of what I need to let my mind do – I want my mind to expand, to open up to all that is there and I want my mind to be rooted and anchored in God.  My mind, or my soul?  Probably both. The sense of being opened up to all there is, to all God is, is freeing.  The sense of being rooted and anchored, of finding God deep within me, when I explore under all the masks I wear, is grounding and gives me a safety and a peace which is beyond that which the world gives me.  With these contrasting forces it is not an ‘either, or’ but a ‘both, and’ – a picture of the love that God is: more generous and all-encompassing than our finite brains can understand.

How do I begin to recognise God in everything?  I begin to slow down, to take time, to pause.  There is a presence in animals – we may sense it more clearly in animals we are close to – those who work with animals or who have pets may be particularly attuned to this.  There is something powerful in recognising God manifest in an animal you are close to.  But can we also recognise God’s presence in: trees and plants; rocks and stones; the sea and the sky; the stars and the planets.  St Francis called all things sister or brother.  This gave him an affinity with all of creation which in turn gave him an affinity with God.  ‘Draw close to God and he will draw close to you.’  She is on your doorstep wherever you are: whether you are privileged to live in view of mountains or sea; whether you live in a tower block or cramped conditions where you jostle against other humans.  In the smallest plant that pushes its way through the tarmac; in the biggest creature moving through the ocean; in the planets and stars we see as we orbit and are orbited.  God’s presence – love available at every turn.