Discussing “What Is God?”

The other day I was in a discussion among friends and the question was raised, “What is God?”

There were many good responses including God is good, energy, the creator, love, and so on, but none of them quite fit for me. Sure they all pointed to one itty bitty portion of that which we call God, but how do we know ALL of God? If I told you my name is Ariel, I’m male, and I like mangoes, would that be sufficient for you to truly know all of me? How could I learn all about you?

There’s gotta be more to the story… what is God?

What was my response to the question? Take off my shoe and set it down before us all.

“What is God? Let’s start with something simpler. What is this?”

“It’s a shoe.”

“Right, now what is a shoe?”

“It’s an article of clothing that we wear on our feet. It protects our feet and gives us style.”

“Okay, so that’s its role, yet to be worn is not what it is. To look good is not what it is.”

“It’s a stitched collection of material such as leather and rubber.”

“That’s what it’s made up of, but that’s not what it is.”

“It’s just a bunch of atoms. The atoms are made up of pure energy.”

“You’re right, but so is everything else. Those are just the building blocks. That’s not a shoe, but what makes up the shoe. What is a shoe?”

“A ‘shoe’ is a label that we apply to an item which meets certain criteria, like the ones discussed earlier.”

“That’s true. Is a mental label all it is though, or is there something more physical and tangible to ‘shoe’ than just a label and a set of criteria?”

We can go on and on, but what we’d find is that the best we can do is describe qualities and attributes about the shoe. We can point towards what the shoe is, but we can’t actually say what the shoe is.

We can give a whole collection of descriptions and stories about God, but that’s not what God is. God is not a story or a description to the same degree that you are more than just your story and descriptions.

If a shoe could speak, how would it say who it is?

“You call me a shoe to make things easier, but I just am what I am.”

If God was to speak to us, what would God say?

“You can correctly identify many of my attributes including love, forgiveness, compassion, omnipotence, goodness, and so on, but these are just some of my many attributes and I am infinitely more than any collection of colorful descriptions you can put together. Those are descriptions of me, not who I actually am. In fact, you can’t put me in a mental box and finally say that that’s what I am. I simply am what I am.”

“That’s dandy,” we might respond, “but I still have no idea who you are.”

“The mind you have can only know about me, but it can’t know me. You can only know something by BEING it. Reading about and talking about martial arts may make you know a lot about martial arts, but to truly know martial arts, you must BE a martial artist. If you continue looking for me in word and thought, you’re never going to find me. To truly know me, you must BE me.”

To know God you must be God… but that sounds like a pretty tall order. Nevertheless, it’s the only way.

We must experience ourselves as God.

To do this, let’s start with something a little closer to home and figure out what “I” am first of all.

What am I?

Answer this question and what everything else is will finally be revealed.

It may be easier to find what you are by first stripping away all that you are not. Find out what remains.