Hunting God to the finish
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 11:12AM I read this phrase in "How to Know God" by Deepak Chopra, and it seemed to me to capture absolutely the sense of pursuing God, or the source, or the light (choose your own metaphor). The stages of spiritual development that he describes in this book show a wonderful, humane understanding of the the journey that we find ourselves on, hovering somewhere between the gross material world and the world of spirit, light and truth.
Abandoning fundamentalist religious thinking is a scary thing to do, especially if you have experienced something of the presence of God/the Holy Spirit/the quantum world, where it's possible to come into contact with a deeper reality that pervades and underpins the material world. It's a little like climbing into an old attic and finding an old treasure, just as the ladder that brought you there collapses, leaving you with only the old treasure and the skylight. You can stay in the attic, of course, but sooner or later you have to move on, and up is the only way out, onto the roof, where you won't be able to balance too well and there's no obvious next step.
Old certainties lose their usefulness. They may even become harsh burdens, depending on your state of mind. But there's nothing you can do but move on into what the mediaeval mystic called The Cloud Of Unknowing. Here there are no guarantees. Here is where the virtual world and the material world may meet. Here's where you have to do the searching. Here's where the more primitive God who held you in thrall and submission, or who promised to save you from his own wrath, suddenly vanishes, leaving only the faintest clues and echoes to work with. Here's where the hunter becomes the hunted. There's only one thing to do, and that's to press on.
All the old religions, and some of the new, teach something about this hunting, this burrowing in, this determination to find the treasure. And it takes some discipline, which is what we most lack in our quest. And it is a quest, like the old legends and myths we have all inherited. It is noble and heroic. It takes sacrifice, strength and intelligence. Seek and ye shall find. Hunt God to the finish.
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Your link isn't working Jason, so I can't find your response.