Those of us of a
certain age will remember the long-running television sitcom Seinfeld, which was known as “a show
about nothing.” That is exactly what a blog about spirituality is: a blog about
nothing. Spirit is by definition beyond the world of things. Spirit is not of
this world - not matter or energy - and therefore not verifiable by the
scientific method.
Writing about spirituality is literally talking about “no
thing,” not even an ultimate Spiritual Thing called God. God is not the Greatest
of all things. God is not the Supreme Object, not a Divine Superman sitting on
a celestial throne somewhere “up there.” The spiritual realm is not “up there,”
as any astronomer can tell you.
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human launched
into space, purportedly remarked that he had been into space and did not see
any God. Of course not. God is not a divine Helicopter Parent orbiting our
planet. God is not an entity in space, like Bertrand Russell’s rhetorical
teapot. God is literally no-thing.
Likewise the Kingdom of Heaven is not a place, as Jesus
repeatedly said. Jesus said to Pilate: “My Kingdom is not of this world.” When
the Pharisees asked Jesus about it, he replied, “The kingdom of God will not come
with observable signs. Nor will people say, ‘Look, here it is,’ or ‘There it
is.’ For you see, the kingdom of God is within you.”
The Gospel of Thomas, which you won’t find in your Bibles
but was written at the same time as the gospels in our Bible, has a very
similar saying. When asked by his disciples about the coming of the Kingdom, Jesus
said, “It will not come while people watch for it; they will not say: Look,
here it is, or: Look, there it is; but the Kingdom of the Father is spread out
over the earth, and men do not see it.”
God is No-thing that dwells No-where. (For some reason I find
myself whistling the Beatles song, Nowhere
Man.) Those born of the Spirit participate in this nowhereness. Jesus said,
“The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don't know
where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the
Spirit."
An unknown 14th century Christian mystic called this the
Cloud of Unknowing. Buddhists call it Void. Taoists call it Tao. Ancient Hebrews
called it YHWH. Early Christians called it Logos. There are a dozen
names for the Divine, all of which are merely placeholders for That Which Cannot Be Named.
While doing my daily walk round the village recently, I was very
aware of this ever-present Reality, which underlies and permeates all existence.
This Presence is my constant Companion. (Jesus called this the Comforter or
Counselor.) A life of Presence is living in
the world but not being of the world.
This Reality is so obvious and so simple - so omnipresent that it is routinely overlooked.
If we stop naming things, the Nameless is revealed. If we pause
the internal dialogue in our minds for a moment, then the Unthinkable is
present. If we step back from our “self” for a moment, then God steps to the
forefront. If we just stop – stop all this selfness – then God is. This is the
everyday truth that Jesus called the Kingdom of God.
Theologian Paul Tillich called this the Ground of Being. It
is the background and foundation of existence. We don’t have to be taught it. This
is our present awareness. Everyone knows this intuitively, but not everyone recognizes
this consciously. Everyone notices this Awareness at some level, but not
everyone pays attention. This is the answer to every spiritual question and the
end of every spiritual quest.
This is the Kingdom of God. It is spread over the earth, but
people do not see it. It is behind every thought and beneath every emotion. Everything
lives within it and cannot exist without it. The universe is born from this. It
is within us and enfolds us. It is inseparable from who we are. It is us, and
we are it.
In the Christian tradition this via negativa is symbolized by a Cross, which is the center of
heaven and earth, where the human and divine meet. In some incomprehensible way
the Cross is the death of a human and the death of God … or at least the death
of our concepts of God and human. Most importantly, it is the prelude to
resurrection and an embodied spiritual life.
The “wise ones” of this age – both secular and religious - call
it foolishness, according to the apostle Paul. He calls it the wisdom of God
and the power of God. He also calls it “good news” – the gospel. It is what
every spiritual seeker is looking for. It is nothing, and it is everything. It
is present … here … now … for those with eyes to see.
