Friday, October 16, 2009

Yes, I Am Separated from God

I have become a lover of paradox and believer that seeming contradictions are due to the limitations of our minds. So for me, we are actually separated and not separated from 'God' - both are just as true and necessary for making soul.

Otherwise, when I am feeling fear, separation, anxiety, depression and such emotions - there is a little guilt voice that niggles at me saying, "Hey, you aren't really separated. You just 'think' you are." I can't play that crazy-making game any longer. My times of separation are as much 'God' as my times of connection. It is like my breathing - in and out, in and out, in and out. The breath is connected and separated at the same time. Both are necessary - just as my times of grief, depression and fear are exhalations of spirit through me, and feelings of joy, peace and love are spirits inhalations through me. Both make soul.

That is the core image of Christianity. Jesus was simultaneously wholly God in the flesh, and completely separated from God on the cross. "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" This is not to be understood anymore than we can understanding what holds the spinning electrons from flying out of an atom.

The Ying/Yang symbol illustrates this by placing a little black dot in the center of the white space, and a white dot in the center of the black space. There is unity in separation as well as disintegration within integration. Our logical minds can hold only one or the other; but our poetic minds can experience both taking place simultaneously as our souls meander through life.

"If you want to become whole, let yourself be partial." Tao Te Ching 22

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