ARE YOU STUCK WITH THE HOUSEHOLD GOD ?

GETTING STUCK WITH THE HOUSEHOLD GOD

 ‘The Household God  you have created is no more than that…..   The God you have made to satisfy your needs is not the Ultimate Reality’  ‘Sr Ishpriya

'The Tao that can be named is not the Tao'  

                                                                          Taoit ( Daoist) Scripture

Over recent months I have been reflecting, along with others on the challenges facing many people of faith as they question some of the stock answers given by their particular Faith Tradition. Many of these can seem to fly in the face of our growing knowledge and understanding of our world, our cosmos and evolution.  So I decided to revisit some reflections I made about  this ‘theme’ at  a Satsang Meeting held in Wolverhampton about 18 months ago.  

 At that time our Meeting focused on the ‘false choice’ we often make between the concept of the   ‘Unknowable God’ and that of the ‘Personal God’.  This is often posited as an Either : Or choice  but for many the reality can be a Both : And  choice. But first let me put these ideas in their proper context.

Over  many millenniums, people have struggled with the concept of the Ultimate Reality, a God by whatever name we may call it, him or her. This ‚’Creator’ of the cosmos and all that is, is ultimately Unknowable, a Mystery and yet the Source of all and the Ultimate Reality. Over time, many of the Faith Traditions have recorded in Scripture and rituals their ideas and experiences of this Mystery. Some of the Traditions believe that this God – this Ultimate Reality has taken on a human form in order to make itself known to man.

Certainly the Christian Tradition believes that God became man in the person and divinity of Jesus the Christ. The Hindus  have  a trinity of 'Gods,' one of whom is Vishnu and he has 10 ‘incarnations’ of the God. These incarnations are called Avatars. Please remember that Hindus DO NOT believe in many Gods. These are merely symbolic and are meant to represent the many faces or aspects of the one Ultimate Reality.  In Buddhism, although not a Religion, there is also the concept that a person, such as Gautama the Buddha, can become fully realised and that through his or her life, example and teachings we can gain a better insight into our own self and spiritual journey. But these Incarnations become visible in human form and are seen by us, who are human beings. Therefore, we can but see an imperfect vision of the Ultimate Reality.

So let us return back to Christianity. Jesus the Christ became man and in so doing he gave us a vision and example of the Ultimate Reality and how we , as mere humans,  can relate to this Reality. He himself always pointed his disciples at the God or Source he called Abba – Father. So 2000 years ago this Jesus in human form left this earth but Christians believe he sent the Spirit to guide us on our Journey  back to the Source. So Christians are left with the example of the life and teachings of Jesus and these can aid us in our relationship with Ultimate Reality

In her talk Ishpriya suggested that many Christians can struggle with the idea of Ultimate Reality and fear that if they ‘let go of Jesus'  in human form they might lose him. This is because they can often see the dilemma as a choice between the historical Jesus and the unknowable Source/Reality.  Therefore, this dilemma can raise the question; can we reconcile the intellectual assent (to an unknowable Source) with the basic emotional need to relate to an identity? (e.g. with Jesus or another identity or incarnation of God). This can then lead on to a further question; ‘Can we  personalise our  relationship with Ultimate Reality?    As people, we need to remember our tendency to make a God out of anything - sex, money, politics, religion , sport etc.  We can so often make a personal God to fit our needs.   

This ‘dilemma’  posed in the questions above, is not unique to Christianity. All cultures, most  Faith Traditions  and peoples have this universal tendency to create a HOUSEHOLD GOD. The Household God is human, we can identify with it or them and we can manipulate and control them (or they can manipulate us). However, are these ‘Gods’ just projections of our reality or do and can they contain some bits of the Unknowable Source ?   So to return to Christianity, the Faith Tradition I was brought up in . Arguably in many branches of  Christianity we have tended to turn Jesus of Nazareth into a Household God. (Other Religions also create household gods connected to their main figures). 

 I was reminded of this by the Christianity of my childhood in Catholic Ireland. This was a religion with its ‘hierarchy’ of God, Jesus, the Spirit, the Virgin Mary, Angels and Saints. Somehow, God seemed to be very busy or else unapproachable. So we were encouraged to use intermediaries. The Virgin Mary was a special one; somehow she could help to get ‘her Son’ to do things for us.

Then there were the plethora of Saints, each with his or her ‘special role’.  St Anthony was called on whenever we had lost anything. I can well remember my mother losing her keys, so we knelt down to pray to St Anthony and lo and behold there we could see the keys under the table! But it was all thanks to St Anthony. There was St Christopher for travel and St Monica, mother of St Augustine, to whom many mothers pray for their  ‘ recalcitrant and feckless’ sons. Then there is  St Jude , the patron saint of ‘lost causes’, always there in an emergency if we happened to forget which saint we required. So, in a strange way we created a real set of ‘household saints’.  

Now I realise that this ‘hierarchy’ can be, and was for me, helpful. It can assist us, particularly in our early years, in relating to the Mystery or Source and to find both comfort and wisdom by being guided by the example of others. In a similar way in Hinduism, the many ‘gods’ all signify an aspect of the One God, Brahman. However, we need to be careful not to let this ‘block us’ from our search for the Mystery.  So I could see the point Ishpriya was making about ‘Household Gods’

However, as we mature, both in years and in spiritual awareness, for many of us the questions that begin to arise at both the psychological, cognitive, emotional and spiritual levels, cannot be answered by some of the stock responses from the leaders and doctrines on the Faith Tradition. The consequence of this is that many people drift away from belonging to a particular church or mosque or temple. Yet the fundamental questions are still being asked and many still seek answers, but do so outside the mainstream religions.

Ultimately we need we need to face a more essential and fundamental  question about our own belief in an Ultimate Reality. Can we say ‘Yes’ to this Reality and are we convinced it ‘Is’?.    Obviously, if we do not assent to this question, then our path continues down a non-theist road. However,  if we  do assent to this question then we can face the  next question for the spiritual seeker. This is the question of  the if, how and when this Ultimate Reality may have become ‘visible’ in human form.?

For Christians this  not only occurred but did so is in the person of  the historical Jesus the Christ.  For our Hindu brothers and sisters it may be in one of the many ‘Avatars. And if we assent to the concept of an Incarnation  then  we cannot separate’ the Reality 'and the Personal God – both are part of the same  Real, in fact , to paraphrase a famous easterrn non-dual statement, there are not two but only one.   For those of us, (like Christians) who believe in the Incarnation, this means we can relate at a personal level with this Unknowable Source. This is not an intellectual relationship it is an experience of relatedness.  In short it is an experience of the Spirit and this experience can be both exciting  and challenging.

This is not a new challenge. In most of the Faith Traditions, the contemplative path can provide an answer. The mystics of all traditions have set out certain guidelines or signposts to aid and comfort the spiritual seeker. They encourage us to journey within  because it is there we will meet and experience answers to our search for truth and mystery. In recent times there has been a growth in Integral Spirituality. This  is an attempt to harness the Universal Wisdom of all and present a better outline, for that is all we can do, of this Ultimate Mystery. Father Thomas Keating, a Benedictine Monk and founder of  Cantering Prayer and Ken Wilber a renowned philosopher and spiritual guide, have done much to foster and develop a deeper appreciation of the mystical and contemplative path in Christianity.  In her talk, Ishpriya focused on this mystical aspect and particularly on the mystical aspect of Jesus. She  used the Christian story of Jesus’ Transfiguration as an example.

In this story of the Transfiguration, when  the disciples went up the mountain with Jesus they did so as followers and disciples of a great Teacher . For several years they had followed their Master, seen his actions, his miracles, his deeds and heard his teachings. Then on the mountain something happened for and to them.   The disciples saw the Reality more clearly ,– in other words,  they had a Transfiguration Experience’.   

This experience of ‘seeing’ Jesus in a different way happened to Mary of Magdalene in the Garden of Gethsemane. She saw the ‘Risen Christ’ in a different way. In fact she only ‘recognised’ him when he spoke to her and he reminded her ‘not to hold onto him’. So often Jesus warned and advised his disciples not to focus on him but on Abba – the Father. Furthermore, at the end of his time on earth he told them to rely on the Spirit who would guide them. Consequently, it seems to me that, as a disciple of Jesus, I need to follow his advice and to focus on the Spirit. In  so doing,  I can be guided in my life  by His example and teachings.

Ishpriya then offered us a personal symbol that helped her to understand the dilemma outlined earlier. This involved pure clear water and stones. Looking at the stones makes one aware of the presence of the water and when you become aware of the water you are also aware of the stones.  One makes the other visible.  Perhaps, this is what Jesus meant when he said ‚ ‘I am the Living Water’ because through Him, we Christians can get a better (although still imperfect) vision of the Reality that is God, the God he referred to as Abba (or Daddy).

 She suggested , as do many other teachers and guides, that it could be helpful (at times) to leave the Scriptures to one side ‘and to look at the actions and see how much experience you have of the Reality – the visibility of the non-visible in those actions’  This does not mean that Scriptures are not important but they are  there to point us towards the Reality. I have found this advise to be very helpful.

 Reflecting on this advise, I was reminded of the Buddhist saying ‘ The finger pointing at the moon, is not the moon’ . We have a tendency, particularly in Western society, to rely too much on the written word, which can remain merely words on a page that can become mere concepts and thoughts. The spiritual journey is one that takes us to ‘The Cave of the Heart’

How can we then ‘know’ the Reality who is the eternal Thou and who IS?  An answer, or more properly a response, has been found by the mystics of all ages and all Faith traditions.  It is in paradox. In the West we have a tendency to ‘intellectualise’ Reality and make ‘God’ a thing of the head whereas the Eastern approach is one from the heart.  This heart is not a body-psyche experience but one that is seen as the spiritual centre or as Meister Eckhart the medieval German mystic refers to it as ‘the Ground of the Soul’. The paradox is that the eternal Thou can be known and  that this ‘knowing’ is experienced  as an encounter at the heart of ones being, in what the Hindu Upanishads call ‘The Cave of the Heart’. 

Readers wishing to explore this at a greater depth can find an excellent exposition of this ‘concept’ of the ‘cave of the heart’ in +Mascoro’s translation of the Chandoga Upanishad (8.1) and in other Upanishads. This ‘knowing’ is experienced as the absolute Person/Unity or Reality who gives unity to all and therefore, at this essential level, there are no boundaries between the I ( who is me)  and the Ultimate Reality. It seems to me, that my task as a Christian – a disciple of Jesus, It is not an either or choice. It can best be seen as a both and choice. I need to retain my relationship with Jesus the Christ but through his teachings, and more importantly (perhaps) his actions, Guided by the Spirit my spirit can better realise who and what this Unknowable Reality is.

 As I journey onwards ‘in the Spirit’ I can deepen my understanding of how, however imperfectly, I might relate to this Reality on my Journey back to the Source.

So, in writing this short reflection, which is based both on recent reflections and  on a  theme from Satsang Meeting – a place where spiritual seekers seek truth;  I am struck by the power and support of our local Satsang Group. It seems to me, that in listening and sharing in our Satsang Meetings, I get so much more than I would get by myself. The spiritual journey can, at times, be a lonely one and the meeting up with fellow travellers on the road is both comforting and enriching. It also can help me to be more awake and aware of those small , but vital, moments of ‘transfiguration’ in my life. In staying awake and aware of these moments, I can better relate to the Reality that is the Mystery at the heart of all

P. S.
Readers can use our Print Friendly option to print this Blog or go to our Main Website http://www.satsang-companionship.org.uk/  where they will find a pdf downloadable copy in our Resources pages.