Connecting with God

First, let me apologize for the current infrequency of my blog postings. I am writing a book on an unrelated topic--if any topic can really be said to be unrelated to God--and lack both time and available brain cells. So, readers who have not given up on me, thank you kindly. And now back to the subject at hand.

I honestly believe that we are all connected with God, all the time. For some reason, though, we don't always feel that connection. Much like a long marriage, the God connection needs an occasional refresher, a reminder of what it's really all about. Unlike a long marriage, of course, there is no danger of the bond deteriorating; God's presence in our life is permanent and unchanging. For our own well-being, though, we need to renew our awareness of it once in a while.

Let us say for argument's sake that God and humans dwell on two separate plains. Our everyday lives take place in the physical sphere, God exists in the realm of the sublime, and the two realities intersect in our consciousness. As miraculous as consciousness is, however, our everyday experience of it can be pretty mundane. We think about money, and job stress, and gossip and arguments and pop culture--and why not? This is the stuff of life. But sometimes we need to rise above the everyday, to that place where consciousness meets the unknowable essence of God. In short, we need transcendence.

In rural Vermont, where my father lives, the roads predate the advent of heavy machinery, and rise and fall naturally with the terrain. If you are driving at a certain speed--not that I recommend it--you are likely to experience that moment at the top of a hill when the car leaves the road and you are momentarily airborne. This is transcendence--or, at least the physical equivalent. It's that slight loss of control that allows you to take flight. Transcendence is a state akin to inspiration, with one key difference: rather than waiting passively for inspiration, you actively seek transcendence.

The path to transcendence is different for every individual, but the activities that I have found most conducive to transcendence fall into three categories: participation in nature, participation in culture, and service to others. Each deserves its own blog entry--and more, but blog entry is what we have--for further discussion. So stay tuned...