God takes a #nomakeup selfie and the deconstruction of your belief

"God Takes a #nomakeup Selfie" (by nakedpastor David Hayward) When we experience the deconstruction of our faith and beliefs, one of the most challenging deconstructions that we must endure is the one that demolishes, slowly or rapidly, our ideas and images of God. This includes the language we use to understand and describe That-Which-We-Call-God. Even the word "God" itself will decay. God without makeup. God without all the human accretions we apply to "God". As unsettling and disturbing this is, it is also inevitable and necessary. It is terrifying to watch your god crumble. It is shocking to witness the erosion of everything you held dear. It is depressing to relinquish that which you thought sustained you. It is sad to let it die. One of my favorite philosophers helped me through this process, Krishnamurti. Here is a quote from one of his writings that I want to share with you in the hopes that it might help you through this agitating process as well:

"A man who believes in God can never find God. If you are open to reality, there can be no belief in reality. If you are open to the unknown, there can be no belief in it. After all, belief is a form of self-protection, and only a petty mind can believe in God‚ As long as belief exists, there can never be the unknown; you cannot think about the unknown, thought cannot measure it. The mind is the product of the past, it is the result of yesterday, and can such a mind be open to the unknown? It can only project an image, but that projection is not real; so your god is not God, it is an image of your own making, an image of your own gratification. There can be reality only when the mind understands the total process of itself and comes to an end. When the mind is completely empty - only then is it capable of receiving the unknown. The mind is not purged until it understands the content of relationship - its relationship with property, with people, until it has established the right relationship with everything. Until it understands the whole process of conflict in relationship, the mind cannot be free. Only when the mind is wholly silent, completely inactive, not projecting, when it is not seeking and is utterly still - only then that which is eternal and timeless comes into being."

You see, it is very difficult to not hold on to anything at all. The mind refuses to let go of its own creations, it's babies-- ideas, thoughts, language-- to dive into the deep, thoughtless, and wordless silence where the eternal and timeless come into being. Our minds demand to know what it's giving up and it won't give it up easily. It also demands a guarantee of the outcome. But you can't provide it. You must surrender to the process. The mind will abhor the insecurity it experiences as its props give way. It will act like a drowning man grasping for straws. Expect it. This is normal. Let it happen. It will eventually resign. You will be afraid. But do not fear. This is deconstruction at its worst. This is deconstruction at its finest. But again I say that this is absolutely necessary. So fasten your seatbelt and try to enjoy the ride. There is peace. newsletter    art     community     books