The Connection We All Share

One of the themes of the God conversations, has been having GOD as the focus.  The center point.  Yet, the all inclusive, GOD IS ALL.  For me personally, one of the gifts of this past year was being reminded afresh that we are all connected. The only distance between us, is in our own perceptions and thoughts.  Once the skin to this onion-like present slid away?  I return daily to the connection, the unity, the wholeness with my fellows. We are all created by GOD in HIS image. All belongs to GOD.  All eventually returns to GOD.

I wonder what GOD thinks about these conversations?  Surely, it must be pleasing to him to be the focus of talk at the dinner table, on the work place, and in our personal or recreation time.  If a person allows themself? It is easy to find things that bring unease or discomfort in our world. Real and imagined, these serve to keep us turned inward in self-defense, instead of upward to GOD and outward towards one another.

Reminded by a friend recently, that GOD and his flow is always turned "ON".  The only disconnect is in me.  Turn the spigot to "on".   The Source is then flowing again, in uninterupted Connection.

Warmed to know I am not alone or adrift, I am grateful to recognize Connection.

Connected and turned to "on",
Jan M. Olsen
~J~

My friend's mom, Donna writes:

Sorry to take so long on this. Dad and I actually took a class on this way back when Father Jim was at Holy Cross. Lots of people still use the old man in the white robe with a long white beard and hair to match. Lots of people use a cross when they pray. For some reason I use a mountain. I think because it is strong, stable and chances of it going anywhere are pretty slim.

I would be interested to know what some other people see – just curious.

Love,

Mom

Tommy writes:
I see God in a white robe with His hands spread wide to welcome home His children who were good and faithful servants. I see me as falling short daily trying to carry out His will. We all fall short of the glory of God....thank goodness for His sufficient Grace He has on us!

Peter writes:

WHEN YOU SEE G-D, WHAT DO YOU SEE? PLEASE DESCRIBE IT…

Okay, here goes (slighted edited and updated, 7/15/11)…

Sometimes I “see” God, sometimes I “feel” God.  When I do my healing work, I “see” with my feeling hands, with my heart, and with my soul.  How about re-phrasing the question to “What do you experience when you experience God?  Please bear with me…

I encounter God in the celebratory song of the birds outside my window as I awake each morning.  I voice a prayer to God as I arise, giving thanks for another day, another breath. I see God in that very breath ~ the breath of life ~ and in meditation and in prayer.  God tickles my nose and dazzles my eyes with flowers that burst forth and dance in the breeze that rolls across the lake.  The breath of God caresses my face as I step forth into the morning sun (or the morning rain). 

I find God in music ~ in the chants I sing, in the symphonies of Beethoven and Mahler, in a Puccini opera, in a simple acoustic guitar riff.  I see God in the smile of a stranger, the cry of a child, the infectious laughter of a group of friends engaged in spirited conversation.  I connect with God in deliberate worship: in my Kundalini Yoga class; in my Sacred Circle; in the Kabalistic, mystical song and dance of Temple Adath Or.  It doesn’t matter where I worship ~ in church, temple, home or out in the woods, on a lake, stream, on top of a mountain.  God is omnipresent.  I’m at one with the Quakers, who speak of the Christ within, the Light within. 

I connect with God when I do my healing work, getting out of the way and letting the healing energy flow through me.  I become the Lightworker conduit.

From a Judaic perspective, God is the Force that makes it possible to not let existing reality constrain our visions.   The whole point of Judaism is that there really is a Force or Power in the universe (we call it YHVH or “Adonai” or “HaShem”), a breath and spirit which makes it possible to move from “that which is” to “that which ought to be.”  That Force is what we celebrate when we talk about God.

But our task is not to speak of God, but to speak to God.  And for that, the ancient words still resonate, and so I sing and say Hallelu-Yah, praise to you, Yah, the breath and spirit of the universe.