WHO IS YOUR GOD?
The following ideas about God may or may not be helpful for you.
Use symbols to represent your attitude to each idea. If you copy and paste the ideas to a Word Document you can insert these symbols.
Use symbols to represent your attitude to each idea. If you copy and paste the ideas to a Word Document you can insert these symbols.
The only person who loves me for myself.
The computer that programmed the universe.
A puppeteer who manipulates people like toys.
An energy hinted at when a baby is born, when we fall in love.
An unseen soul we are all a part of.
A creator who believes everything that he has made is very good.
A force that became inert sometime between creation and today.
A father who loves his children selflessly.
Someone who forgives the mistakes he lets me make.
A being so beyond me that words fail to describe him.
Someone who loves us enough to die for us.
An eccentric being who created the world and forgot it.
Someone who dares to let me be free.
A being who gave me life.
A lawgiver who commands urge me to do right rather then wrong.
The future, the end of all human striving.
A being the human race will evolve into.
"If God is a verb rather than a noun, then perhaps we bring God into being when we act wisely, justly, mercifully, compassionately, forgivingly".
A ruler whose power is freedom and love rather than force.
A lover who urges me to come to the heavenly marriage feast.
An idea created by past generations to explain the world.
The peace that will reign when all persons are brothers and sisters.
The perfect one who says that I am sinful and makes me feel guilty.
The one who cares that I become myself.
A clown who created laughter when he made all persons free.
adapted from Understanding Faith
The computer that programmed the universe.
A puppeteer who manipulates people like toys.
An energy hinted at when a baby is born, when we fall in love.
An unseen soul we are all a part of.
A creator who believes everything that he has made is very good.
A force that became inert sometime between creation and today.
A father who loves his children selflessly.
Someone who forgives the mistakes he lets me make.
A being so beyond me that words fail to describe him.
Someone who loves us enough to die for us.
An eccentric being who created the world and forgot it.
Someone who dares to let me be free.
A being who gave me life.
A lawgiver who commands urge me to do right rather then wrong.
The future, the end of all human striving.
A being the human race will evolve into.
"If God is a verb rather than a noun, then perhaps we bring God into being when we act wisely, justly, mercifully, compassionately, forgivingly".
A ruler whose power is freedom and love rather than force.
A lover who urges me to come to the heavenly marriage feast.
An idea created by past generations to explain the world.
The peace that will reign when all persons are brothers and sisters.
The perfect one who says that I am sinful and makes me feel guilty.
The one who cares that I become myself.
A clown who created laughter when he made all persons free.
adapted from Understanding Faith
Focus now only on the ideas that you found interesting.
Write your own sentence or two that best captures your idea about God.
You may use or adapt one of the ideas that you found interesting from the list above.
Write your own sentence or two that best captures your idea about God.
You may use or adapt one of the ideas that you found interesting from the list above.
SpiritualitySpirituality is the true expression of the human spirit, the deepest longing of the human heart. It is the lived recognition and expression of what we are most deeply - children of the great Mystery revealed to us as a loving and wise God. We are born to God. We are born of God and, consciously or unconsciously, long for nothing less than everlasting intimacy with God. All our thoughts, words and deeds are marked, more or less, by this longing. True spirituality is living out this reality in relation to God, ourselves, other people and the world in which we live.
Seeking to understand spirituality, we need to know the principles that underpin and guide this process in a healthy and life-giving way. We listen honestly and intelligently to what is happening in our lives. We look to the mystics - those pioneers of humanity - for their unique insights. We listen carefully and intelligently to the Church's tradition, to the sources of wisdom in other religious and cultural traditions, and to the wisdom of the many branches of human knowledge. Doing this we learn to embrace our human identity and live it to the fully, with nothing left out. This focus and this search will lead to the enhancement of a living spirituality, a spirituality which can transform our lives and the world around us. Genuinely-lived spirituality is readily recognisable by its fruits: freedom and love, in all their manifold expressions. By Michael Whelan S.M. |
Ways of Living a Spirituality
1. Self-knowledge - Become more aware of your thoughts, feelings, attitudes. Listen carefully to what is happening within yourself as you go about the ordinary business of daily living. Don't deny or hide from anything: explore it in trust.
2. Practice paying attention - to the people, events and other components of your world. Do reflectively and thoughtfully what you would normally do without thinking - like making a cup of coffee, washing your face, walking, sweeping the floor, talking to someone. Become more observant and receptive of what is happening, within and outside of you. 3. Be still and know that God is God - Take regular time our to be physically still. Stop running, sit down, take a simple prayer or word or image for Scripture, and focus on that, for say, twenty minutes. Give life a chance to catch you up and speak to your heart. Settle down and listen. 4. Read good words - Establish in your mind and heart good, life-giving thoughts and images, by meditatively reading passages fro the Scriptures and the writings of wise people. "Let the Word find a home in your heart." 5. Remember - Deliberately foster your memories, so you never forget who you are. Short prayers, or verses from the Psalms recalled during the day, will help. Keep a diary of anniversaries and celebrate them. Learn more of the meaning of the liturgy and immerse yourself in it. It may help to keep a reflective journal, where you record insights, questions, honest emotional reactions. 6. Seek conversion of the heart - Pursue the truth in your life, gently but firmly. Apologise when you are wrong. When you catch yourself being judgmental and angry, pay attention, ask what is happening. Celebrate reconciliation thoughtfully and honestly. Think often of the great Mystery of God, and the infinite love and mercy revealed in Jesus. Keep that Mystery as the centre and focus of your life. |
God The Interview
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from the book by Terry Lane
Sydney: ABC, 1993 pp. 15-19 Let me tell you a story…
A great and wise king once asked his cleverest court philosophers: “Tell me true, what is the meaning of life?” One philosopher said immediately: “Majesty, the meaning of life consists in great wealth. From the day of our birth until the day we die we long for that plenitude of wealth which would free us for all our lives of the tyranny of work. We crave idleness and we endure work only that we not starve.” The second philosopher replied to the king’s question: “Majesty, that which men seek above all else is honour and esteem in the eyes of others. We long for deference and respect, yet at the same time we wish not to have to defer to others. The truth is, Majesty, that all men want to be in your position.” The third philosopher told the king: “Majesty, the meaning of life is in pleasure. We desire nothing so much as constant gratification of the senses. Our lusts and our appetites are insatiable. We would exchange wealth and honour for true and lasting satisfaction of the senses.” |
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The king took note of the answers he had been given. He had all the wealth that greed could imagine and he wanted for nothing, yet still he felt that life was without meaning. He had wives and concubines without number. His feasts and circuses were legendary. He was honoured by all and was deferred to by the haughtiest of his people. Yet he was troubled. “Perhaps,” he said, “I take these things for granted, having been born to them. Yet I suspect that there is something that we value more highly than even wealth, pleasure and deference. I propose a test of the meaning of life.
“Go out into the kingdom and find for me an ordinary young man-perhaps nineteen or twenty years of age. He must be neither rich nor destitute. Neither a scholar nor a dullard. He must not be of high estate, yet he must not be a peasant. He must have every prospect of enjoying an ordinary life. Find this young man and bring him to me.”
And they did as the king commanded. They sought the young man who had been so described by the king and in time they found him and brought him to the palace.
The king looked upon the young man and said this: “Young man, I want to know what is the most important thing of all to you. Is it wealth?”
“Sir,” the young man said, “I would truly like to be wealthy so that I would never have to work again. That would make me very happy.”The king said: “And what of pleasure and the joys of the flesh? Do these things matter to you?”
“Sir, I am constantly troubled by the urging of my loins. Yes, indeed, to satisfy my lusts would be a great joy to me.”
“And your station in life-are you quite satisfied with it?”
“Well, to be frank with you, no. I resent having to pay respects to men and women whom I do not admire for either their goodness or their intellect. It seems most unjust that by an accident of birth it is I who should be tugging the forelock to those I deem unworthy of this respect. I should like very much a title and a station in life.”
The king thought for a moment and then said to the young man: “Very well. All of this can be arranged, if these are the things that would truly make you happy.
“You will from this day be a rich man. From the royal treasury you shall be paid such a sum of money that you will not have to work again.”
The young man was very pleased.
“Also, from today you shall be a Lord of my realm. You shall wear the finest clothes and the highest badges of honour. I shall decree that all who see you are to bow low and address you with due respect and reverence. Does this please you?”
“Oh, indeed. This makes me very happy. I shall be rich and of high estate?”
“Yes. And furthermore, it is in my power to see that you travel only in the finest vehicles and that you wear nothing but the most glorious clothes. You shall not. have to wear the same clothes twice. The house in which you will live will be second in magnificence only to my own. Does this also please you?”
“Yes sir.”
“To make the point most clearly that your station is above all others you must call me by my first name and must not under any circumstance use forms of address which are deferential. Is that understood?”
“Thank you Cyril, I take you at your word. Now what about the satisfying of my lusts?”
“On that score you shall have no complaints. The fairest maids in all the land shall minister to your senses. Or, if not maids, then beautiful boys if that is your preference. It is entirely up to you. Whomever you choose they shall be instructed in the arts of love and will know how to lift a man into the highest halls of ecstasy. Is this to your liking?”
“I could not ask for more. I am ecstatic in anticipation. But I cannot believe that all this will come without a - price. There must be something that you want in return. What, pray you, is your price?”
The king looked closely into the eyes of the young man and said, very quietly: “In one year I want your life.”
“ I beg your pardon. In what sense do you mean that you want my life?”
“In one year - after you have enjoyed all that your heart - desires for 365 days - you will be killed. It will be done without any pain, I assure you. You will die in complete peace after having enjoyed one whole year of your chosen bliss. Is this not fair?”
“And if I refuse?”
“Well then, of course you are free to go. I will hold no grudge against you. You will have answered my question in part. Next time I am wondering what is the most important thing in life I will know that bliss is important, but to live one year and a day is more important. So how do you choose?”
“Well, if you don’t mind I would rather not. Thank you. I will be going now, if you will excuse me.”
The king raised his hand. “Not so fast young man. Let me change my offer so that you will enjoy all the things you desire for five whole years, rather than one. And on the last day of the fifth year you shall die peacefully and without pain. Now will you take my offer?”
The young man took a moment to reflect on what he was being offered. Five years of sensual delights I such as few men could possibly enjoy, and then certain death.
“No. No thank you. I think I should be going..”
“Ten years, then,” the king said.
The young man thought a little longer. He was tempted. But again he refused. The king increased his offer to twenty, then thirty, then forty years. Finally, he said: “My last offer to you is that you should live as you desire for eighty years and then die peacefully but unnaturally. How do you choose?”
The young man thought. In eighty years he would be 100 years of age. What did he have to lose from such an agreement. It was unlikely that he should live to such an age.
“I accept,” he said. “When do I begin?” The king shook his head.
“I am sorry,” he said, “but I am withdrawing my offer. You have answered my question. Had you accepted one year of bliss in return for your life then I would have known that wealth, status and the satisfaction of the senses give life its meaning. Even had you accepted forty years and the certainty of death at sixty I could have drawn from this an inference about the things that give meaning to life. But in the end you have shown me that the meaning of life is life itself. Above all else you wanted to simply go on living. You would give up all that I had offered you for another day of living, even living in poverty and frustration. But thank you, young man, for helping me answer these questions. You may go in peace.
The young man turned to go, but then he turned back to the king and said: “Could we backtrack a little and discuss the fifty year option again?”
“Go out into the kingdom and find for me an ordinary young man-perhaps nineteen or twenty years of age. He must be neither rich nor destitute. Neither a scholar nor a dullard. He must not be of high estate, yet he must not be a peasant. He must have every prospect of enjoying an ordinary life. Find this young man and bring him to me.”
And they did as the king commanded. They sought the young man who had been so described by the king and in time they found him and brought him to the palace.
The king looked upon the young man and said this: “Young man, I want to know what is the most important thing of all to you. Is it wealth?”
“Sir,” the young man said, “I would truly like to be wealthy so that I would never have to work again. That would make me very happy.”The king said: “And what of pleasure and the joys of the flesh? Do these things matter to you?”
“Sir, I am constantly troubled by the urging of my loins. Yes, indeed, to satisfy my lusts would be a great joy to me.”
“And your station in life-are you quite satisfied with it?”
“Well, to be frank with you, no. I resent having to pay respects to men and women whom I do not admire for either their goodness or their intellect. It seems most unjust that by an accident of birth it is I who should be tugging the forelock to those I deem unworthy of this respect. I should like very much a title and a station in life.”
The king thought for a moment and then said to the young man: “Very well. All of this can be arranged, if these are the things that would truly make you happy.
“You will from this day be a rich man. From the royal treasury you shall be paid such a sum of money that you will not have to work again.”
The young man was very pleased.
“Also, from today you shall be a Lord of my realm. You shall wear the finest clothes and the highest badges of honour. I shall decree that all who see you are to bow low and address you with due respect and reverence. Does this please you?”
“Oh, indeed. This makes me very happy. I shall be rich and of high estate?”
“Yes. And furthermore, it is in my power to see that you travel only in the finest vehicles and that you wear nothing but the most glorious clothes. You shall not. have to wear the same clothes twice. The house in which you will live will be second in magnificence only to my own. Does this also please you?”
“Yes sir.”
“To make the point most clearly that your station is above all others you must call me by my first name and must not under any circumstance use forms of address which are deferential. Is that understood?”
“Thank you Cyril, I take you at your word. Now what about the satisfying of my lusts?”
“On that score you shall have no complaints. The fairest maids in all the land shall minister to your senses. Or, if not maids, then beautiful boys if that is your preference. It is entirely up to you. Whomever you choose they shall be instructed in the arts of love and will know how to lift a man into the highest halls of ecstasy. Is this to your liking?”
“I could not ask for more. I am ecstatic in anticipation. But I cannot believe that all this will come without a - price. There must be something that you want in return. What, pray you, is your price?”
The king looked closely into the eyes of the young man and said, very quietly: “In one year I want your life.”
“ I beg your pardon. In what sense do you mean that you want my life?”
“In one year - after you have enjoyed all that your heart - desires for 365 days - you will be killed. It will be done without any pain, I assure you. You will die in complete peace after having enjoyed one whole year of your chosen bliss. Is this not fair?”
“And if I refuse?”
“Well then, of course you are free to go. I will hold no grudge against you. You will have answered my question in part. Next time I am wondering what is the most important thing in life I will know that bliss is important, but to live one year and a day is more important. So how do you choose?”
“Well, if you don’t mind I would rather not. Thank you. I will be going now, if you will excuse me.”
The king raised his hand. “Not so fast young man. Let me change my offer so that you will enjoy all the things you desire for five whole years, rather than one. And on the last day of the fifth year you shall die peacefully and without pain. Now will you take my offer?”
The young man took a moment to reflect on what he was being offered. Five years of sensual delights I such as few men could possibly enjoy, and then certain death.
“No. No thank you. I think I should be going..”
“Ten years, then,” the king said.
The young man thought a little longer. He was tempted. But again he refused. The king increased his offer to twenty, then thirty, then forty years. Finally, he said: “My last offer to you is that you should live as you desire for eighty years and then die peacefully but unnaturally. How do you choose?”
The young man thought. In eighty years he would be 100 years of age. What did he have to lose from such an agreement. It was unlikely that he should live to such an age.
“I accept,” he said. “When do I begin?” The king shook his head.
“I am sorry,” he said, “but I am withdrawing my offer. You have answered my question. Had you accepted one year of bliss in return for your life then I would have known that wealth, status and the satisfaction of the senses give life its meaning. Even had you accepted forty years and the certainty of death at sixty I could have drawn from this an inference about the things that give meaning to life. But in the end you have shown me that the meaning of life is life itself. Above all else you wanted to simply go on living. You would give up all that I had offered you for another day of living, even living in poverty and frustration. But thank you, young man, for helping me answer these questions. You may go in peace.
The young man turned to go, but then he turned back to the king and said: “Could we backtrack a little and discuss the fifty year option again?”