Paula Craig - Pondering Belief

 

PONDERING “BELIEF”

 

If by “belief” you mean a particular shape of thought, a framework of ideas, a structured hypothesis, the hedgerows of your lifework, the ordering of your interior universe --- what you depend on (hang from), that to which you are tethered in order to dangle into mystery, then I am with you, agreed and agreeable.

 

But if you mean when you ask, “Do you believe?” that there is only one true perception of the Divine and that it matches yours; that certitude of the spirit I deem Holy is possible, that Mystery can be encompassed and institutionalized by humans; that I (or anyone) is somehow wrong in what we experience or  feel (not in what we do); that ethical behavior is the whole of religious practice and meaning --- then, well, I have to answer,  “I don’t believe that.”

 

If you want to tell me how you have experienced God, or not experienced God or gods and genuinely want to hear of my experiences and conclusions – to share knowledge of the Divine, then I say,  “Yes, yes.  I agree.  Let’s.  I’ll learn from you and you from me and whatever God is will be among us.

I believe that because I’ve experienced it.

 

 

 

pcraig  11-14-11