Class on Questioning – UUCA

Using:
Ten Eternal Questions: Wisdom, Insight, and Reflection for Life’s Journey,
By Zoe Sallis

Our assignment – To read the answers in the book and to write a letter addressed
to one of the answerers that discusses our reactions to their beliefs and our own
beliefs.

First Question:

What is your concept of God?

Zac Goldsmith – 
“Every language, every culture has its own word or words for God.  And even between
the polar opposite religions like Buddhism and Islam, there are overriding
similarities in the understanding of this term.  In a sense, God is something bigger
than us.  He is beyond our understanding.  If nothing else, He should inspire
deference and humility.  For me, the living world, the planet, is a miracle or God.
It is of a beauty that cannot be re-created or improved.  It is as virtually every
traditional religion accepts, a gift, and we should treat it as such.  God is the
name given to that which we cannot understand, despite the arrogance of modern science
and technology.  It is a mystery that should remain a mystery.  Attempting to unravel
that mystery, as our government-backed geneticists are doing, will trigger
uncontrollable repercussions.  God, for me, is everything.  As is said in the Qur’an,
“In every leaf, in every shadow lis the image of God.”  The Earth itself is, in a
sense, the reflection of God.”


I read your statement on your concept of God.  I find it interesting that in many ways
we agree.  Yet it seems that we really agree in no way at all.  You state that God is
bigger than us and beyond our understanding.  If I believed in a god, I would probably
agree with that statement.  You also state that the world, planet [and universe?] are
a miracle of God.  Here again, I would agree, if I believed in a god.  To explain
this, I need to explain my own concept of “God”. 

I don’t believe in a god.  My belief begins in a touch of the earth, the leaf that
caresses my check as I walk in the forest, the water that ebbs and flows around my
calves when I step into the river or the surf.  My belief is in the non-personified
power of the universe and perhaps beyond.  When I touch the earth, lie with the sun
on my face, watch the snow blanket the ground, I feel the power of the universe and I
feel it flow around and through me.  I watch the small birds in the back of the house
and the hawks when they hunt, and I can see power in the sparrow swallowing its seed
and the hawk’s stoop and tiny feathery prize.  I see power in the wonder at new life
and in death as the elements that made the whole re-become elements of the chaos.
There is no god who decides who or what is going to live until the morning, or who’s
dreams come to fruition and who’s don’t.  And the universe, itself?  It is a mystery
– a magic of chaos.  Sometimes in the chaos, chance deals you a good hand.

So, as you may be able to see, we agree that the world, planet and perhaps universe
are wondrous and precious.  We agree that all of this is a mystery.  All we don’t
agree on is whether the miracle/magic comes from a god.  Is the difference in our
beliefs all that large?