–I look forward to reading more from you

God Bless always, Naima

Thank you for reading and writing. I believe I understand what you mean when you say God is everything – though it is not precisely what my own spiritual practice teaches. A Course in Miracles, like many spiritual traditions, particularly those of eastern origin, places great emphasis on our thoughts and our minds. “Nothing real can be threatened – nothing unreal exists.” That is a very powerful statement about matter! I think often of Meister Eckhart in these discussions who said – I paraphrase – “The mind with which I perceive God is the mind with which God perceives me.”

It’s not that I think God is not in that tree or this tea mug or that bar of chocolate. Rather, I think God is in my mind and thus my perceptions – be they of physical things (form) or the love that infuses them (content) – are holy. What is in my mind is not concrete but abstract – in other words thoughts, ideas. For me, the awareness of the fullness of God begins in the mind. Our true identity is that we are thoughts in the mind of God. In a sense, there is nothing but God – and the rest of it (all these other people, places and things) are merely the ego’s sideshow designed to keep us from remembering and celebrating this Oneness.

However, I think debates on this subject can be distracting. I am learning to be sensitive to the differences between right-mindedness and the intellect (though as this comment might indicate, I still have a long way to go). What matters is our choice to find a path that leads to God and pursue it whole-heartedly and joyfully. A Course in Miracles is merely one way – not the only way, not even the best way. Just a path that I have chosen to take that – step by little step – brings me closer to the natural joy and peace of knowing God. I am very grateful that so many people have similar experiences in other traditions, or have different – and often quite helpful – ideas than I do about how all this works. It keeps me both humble and motivated.

On some level, when I wrote those words – “God is a good idea” – I meant simply that choosing to make God the center of one’s life is more helpful than only thinking about God on Sunday, or for fifteen minutes of meditation in the morning and at night, or not at all. People whose aim is ending their seeming separation from God – regardless of how they define God – are doing a lot to spread peace and love and end strife and loss and pain and I think that’s a good thing! My way of doing that – seeing God as thought, and me as thought, and the world as one of ideas only – feels right to me. It works. No hard feelings at all with those who make different choices!

No, I don’t have a Facebook account. I used to, but it was very distracting. In terms of keeping in touch with people, I am always very honored by emails – agreeing, disagreeing, agreeing to disagree.

Thank you again for your note and for caring about God and finding God and helping others to find their way to God. It was the perfect start to my day!

~Sean