Discovering God in You

Is the Divine at the heart of your being?  What about your Buddha-nature?  Have you been filled with the Holy Spirit?  What does it mean to have God at the center of who you are? In this video, I’m exploring what it means to find God in us.

The following is a text version of this posting.

It’s a belief that’s confusing to many people.  Within each of us, there is something of the Divine.  It’s described a bit differently in various traditions.  Buddhists talk about our Buddha nature.  Pagans understand the Divine as being present in all nature and taking various forms, including humanity.  In the Judeo-Christian traditions, it’s understood that the heart of each person is an image of the Divine.   Despite these beliefs held by the spiritual traditions of the world, many people on their spiritual journey look inside and have a sense that all that’s there is the person him or herself.  They wonder where this Divine essence is.  After all, isn’t God uniquely God and we’re just people? 

Those who have a background in the Christian tradition may not have encountered the understanding that God is at the heart of who we are.  But it’s central to the Bible and found in Christian theology. In the Hebrew Bible, what Christians call the Old Testament,  the book of Genesis explains that God created humanity, breathing life into the first humans, making us living beings.  Genesis conveys that because of this process, the image of God resides in each of us.  This is further affirmed in the Christian teaching on baptism, the sacrament of becoming part of the Christian community.  In baptism, the Holy Spirit fills the person enabling that person to lead a new life.  Of course, the Holy Spirit is one dimension of the Divine. 

Early Christian spirituality that emerged among those who lived in the Sinai desert in the 4^th and 5^th centuries is known as hesychasm or hesychastic spirituality.  Hesychasts hold that the spiritual journey is focused on letting go of everything about us that is not part of the Divine essence so that the Divine will radiate more fully from us.  This is not substantively different from the Buddhist perspective of killing the ego so that we achieve enlightenment and live from our Buddha nature. 

I recently had a man say to me, “I understand the concept.  But when I look inside, all I find is me.  I don’t find God in there.”  It’s not the first time I’ve heard this sentiment.  Over the years, I’ve worked with people in spiritual direction who have struggled with attempting to encounter the Divine within them.

When I hear someone say that they are unable to experience the Divine within themselves, that they can’t find God, I wonder if there’s a preconception of what it means to be a spiritual person.  Sometimes people think that a spiritual person is contemplative, a person who meditates and encounters the Divine in silence.  That image is reinformed both in various religions as well as in popular spirituality that promotes particular types of meditation.  It’s just not correct.  Yes, some people find themselves at home in a contemplative, meditative environment.  There are also those for whom a contemplative way of life is contrary to who they are.

I find it helpful to encourage people to reflect on their own experiences.  Consider putting aside assumptions of what spirituality should be and think back on the moments of your life that you consider spiritual.  No one else needs to think it’s spiritual.  It’s your experience.  Maybe the word, “spiritual” gets in the way.  Instead of “spiritual,” think about the times in your life when you felt most alive, when you were most deeply connected to something greater than yourself, or connected with something deep inside.  It may have been working as a volunteer or on some project helping others.  It could have been a time in nature, whether that was hiking or gardening.  Maybe it was a time with a pet or other animals.  It could have been an experience with music or art.  Recall moments like that.  Those moments will help you learn about the spiritual dimension of your life.  Pay attention to what those moments were like and the deep connection you experienced.  Those experiences are indicators of the Divine presence within you. 

Once you have more insight, it may be helpful to work with a spiritual director who is focused on your experience rather than someone trying to make others fit into some form of spirituality.  A spiritual director who listens carefully can help you to build on your experience and enable you to explore the life-creating aspect of the Divine within you.