Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go. Three years ago I was giving a workshop in the Rockies. A student came in bearing a quote from what she said was the pre-Socratic philosopher Meno. It read, “How will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?” I copied it down, and it has stayed with me since. The question she carried struck me as the basic tactical question in life. The things we want are transformative, and we don’t know or only think we know what is on the other side of that transformation.
Rebecca Solnit, from A Field Guide to Getting Lost
If I was asked today, ‘How can I find God?’, I’m not sure I would know how to answer. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that the response I was taught as a child, to kneel, confess my sins and ‘ask Jesus to come into my life’, is wrong theologically. It’s just that I am uncomfortable with that language. It’s not terminology that is recognised, let alone used, by most of my friends or by many of the fellow artists I meet in person and online.
And yet, I want to convey the everyday truth of what having a relationship with the Divine Creator is like when the ‘rubber hits the road’. It is a loving relationship that infuses every moment of my life, no matter how I feel or what I think or how I have behaved. It is just ‘there’, unshakeable and inevitable, no matter if I’m shaking, doubting, hurting, dancing, laughing.
It is the only relationship in my life that cannot possibly be based on merit. God’s economy of Grace embraces me as I am. I do not have to change in order to meet God. (Are you listening to this as you write it, Kate?)
So in answer to the question, ‘How can I find God?’, perhaps today I might say ‘You can’t. God finds you here. God finds you now. Every cell of you is absolutely loved, and absolutely accepted by the Creator of the Universe - they have been since the first ‘bang’ burst and will be until the last star crumbles. God is inviting you to come to Love. Here and now. You will be held by God in every detail of your life - here, now and forever more - there is never any limit to God’s love for you. What would happen if you embraced that as a way of life from now on?’
Will I allow myself to be invited by Love today?
Will I put down the map I think I’m already following, look up, and check I’m heading towards Love today?
Will I allow myself to be embraced in my exhaustion and just be loved - be loved however that love may reach me today?
Will I allow Love to transfigure me, and the world through me, this day?
If life is viewed as a maze, every mistake is an unnecessary detour and a waste of time. If life is a labyrinth, then every mistake is a part of the path and an indispensable master teacher.
Gernot Candolini, from Labyrinths: walking towards the centre
no need to jump through hoops. Canon 7D. f8. 1/320. ISO 100.
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