Thursday, January 24, 2013

The Nature of God

There's a reason I don't talk religion or politics here. It's clearly not because I'm focused and can avoid rambling about random things--I just don't want to see my little corner turned into a debate ground.
So we're going to say that this post has nothing to do with religion, because it doesn't mkay?

When I was 11 or 12 I read a series of books called Conversations with God. In all fairness, I don't have a good recollection of the books. I do remember thinking that the guy who wrote them might be terribly delusional, but I was willing to let that go because some of it made a lot of sense to me.

Two of the things that I do remember are the concept of God being love and existing within all of us as opposed to being an external construct, and that fear, not hate, was the opposite of love.

I found the preposition that fear was the opposite of love to be...Not compatible with my view of hate as being the opposite of love.
I have however, found that love and fear are intrinsically entwined for me.

Opposites are necessary for life as we know it--without dark there is no light, we cannot truly appreciate pleasure if we have never known pain, and perhaps we could never know love if we did not also know fear.

Getting to the moral of the story...

Before falling in love, I had no fear of death. Admittedly, I was young enough not to have a great grasp of the speed with which life passes by. But my knowledge that life was finite didn't bother me. I saw death as merely an inevitable culmination of life.
I still do, and I'm still not terribly afraid of the finality of it in terms of my own life. But the concept of existing without that which I love most? That is very scary to me.

Perhaps God is love, and fear is its opposite.
When we really and truly love, we know the fear of losing that love.
Perhaps without that fear of loss, we could never really know what it is to love beyond ourselves.
Perhaps when we love something beyond ourselves, and we hold fear's hand, we come to another understanding of God.
Because without darkness there is no light.
Without pain there is no pleasure.
Without that which is unclean, we cannot revel in that which is pure.
Without severity we cannot know grace.
And without death, there is no life.

Perhaps the nature of God lies in knowing and experiencing the opposing factors of existence.

I spilled my first cup of coffee this morning. Can you tell?

16 comments:

  1. The concept of living without my husband terrifies me, so I get where you are coming from. I like this.

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  2. oh, the Neal Donald Walsh books? I discovered those a few years ago and very much enjoyed them.

    The idea that Love/Fear are the two base motivates made sense to me, because I had already begun to work out (slowly and clumsily) that fear was at the bottom of hate.

    I used to say it was a rule in our marriage that I had to die first! I was only half joking...

    Now I see it more like Lydia, an Angela Thirkle character, who found her love for her husband Noel kept her sane, and whether he was dead or alive (the books spanned WWII) she would going on loving him the same.

    I also saw a Jim Rohn quote recently -
    The greatest gift you can give to someone is your own personal development.
    I used to say 'If you will take of me, I will take care of you'.
    Now I say 'I will take care of me for you, if you will take care of you for me.'

    I REALLY like that. I think I would go on, and even go on to enjoy life, if my husband died. I don't really want to contemplate it, but we've done such a good job of loving each other that we've made each other more whole somehow, we would survive without the physical presence of the other now, I think...

    But as I said, I do NOT want to test that theory!

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    Replies
    1. mamacrow,
      I'll admit that I don't remember the author's name *bad lil.
      I say I get to go first...I can only hope that I get my way lol.

      That's a wonderful theory...Not one I would want to test either though!

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  3. Too hard to think about because of some RL issues regarding this very thing. I read those books years ago too. Have forgotten all about them.

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    Replies
    1. sunnygirl,
      I hope that those issues turn out to be non-things and that everything is okay.
      Hugs.

      Delete
  4. Death for myself does not scare me but the death of my husband scares me so much. No matter what one believes about after life, the thought of being left alone here on earth is a terrible thought. Very thought provoking post, thank you.

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    Replies
    1. Blondie,
      my dad always said that the ones who died took the easy way out. After watching my mother for the last couple of years, I would have to say that he was right.
      It is scary isn't it.

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  5. It is interesting how the universe balances love.
    When you're granted it, the cost is to know fear.
    For those of us who don't have it, the return is a very real (if odd) sense of freedom.
    Funny ol' thing, life...

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    Replies
    1. Jz,
      life does work in very odd ways doesn't it?

      I think that it's easy for people, in D/s relationships especially, to forget that all love comes with chains, and that there is a certain and very real kind of freedom that one can only have without it.
      Was one of the biggest reasons I never wanted to fall in love lol.

      The universe and its various balancing acts can be quite a conundrum...

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  6. Hmmm - Daddy works hard with me to rid myself of negativity - it's a hard battle. He always says let my love in - which gave me this great wash of deja vu when you said the opposite of love is fear. I am terrified of losing him, he is military, and beyond that, what if he wakes one day and realizes that I just am not enough?

    So maybe I should redouble my efforts. I don't think I am doubting him, but....yeah, I can see how that's what it would say to him.

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    Replies
    1. June,
      Oh the battle with negativity...I have been losing it my entire life lol.

      Odd how we don't see it as doubting them but they do. I can see both sides, but it's harder to adapt to theirs when you're spinning in that circle of negativity!

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  7. We just found out that my Sir has brain cancer. It scares me to death that i will lose him.
    Jodi

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    Replies
    1. Jodi,
      I hope that you are able to enjoy every day that you have together, and wish you both the very best.

      Fear can be so all consuming--but try not to let it eat the moments you have. Whether they be for a lifetime or less.

      Good luck to you and your Sir. My thoughts and prayers are with you both.

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    2. Thank you for your prayers lil. I try to stay positive for my sir, and not let fear get to me.

      Hopefully we'll have a lifetime together. I'm going to enjoy every minute we have together.

      Thanks again,
      Jodi

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    3. My Daddy and I will keep you and your Sir in our prayers, as well, Jodi.

      (((hugs)))

      Delete

Play nice.