The Oasis
A man was crawling through the desert slowly dying of thirst. In is delirium he imagined a glass of juice made from the most exotic fruits. He imagined an ice cold bottle of coke, cool and invigorating. He pictured too a bottle of san Miguel beer which he had enjoyed on many a night out with his friends.
Finally he came to an oasis, and seeing an old man sitting beneath a tree he inquired,
“Do you have a glass of juice?”
“NO” said the man.
“Do you have a bottle of coke?” he asked a man.
“No” replied the old man again.
“Do you have any San Miguel?” he asked.
Once more the answer was “No.”
“Just my luck” he thought to himself, and he proceeded to crawl back into the desert, presumably to die.
That man’s mistake was in being too specific in his requirement, for had he simply the old man.
“Do you have anything that will quench my thirst?” the old man would undoubtedly have replied, “Yes, I have water, as much as you can drink.”
And so it is with God. We imagine Him in so many ways, based upon what we have been told ad what we have read. We probably have in our minds a picture of Him based upon how various artists have portrayed Him through the ages.
But it is enough simply to imagine God? Or to picture Him? Is it enough simply to imagine water if we are thirsty? Or to read a description of water in a book? Will that take away our thirst?
God is infinite, and being infinite He resides beyond the reaches of our limited imagination.
He cannot be defined by our intellect, and nor can he be conceived by our thoughts. Trying to imagine God is like trying to fit the ocean into a tea cup. It simply cannot be done. One thing is for sure however, and that is however we perceived him, however we imagine him to, he is not like that.
The God of our imagination cannot compare with that infinite being in whose imagine we have been made. Having failed to understand the true nature of God it seems that we have created another god in our own imagine instead.
I am not against religion and am myself is a Roman Catholic, but simply believing in God can never be a substitute for experiencing him directly. How can we know God, and where should we begin? What better place than within our own hearts, for the heart is God’s throne room, and it is here that we shall find him.
The problem is that we have filled our hearts with strangers so that God is unable to take up his rightful upon the throne. Never the less it is in the heart that our journey must begin, within the heart that we will discover the true nature of God, regardless of what our religion might me. It is within the hearts that we can come to realize our own true nature too, to discover our true identity, and to know we really are.
Only then we can we lay claim to the treasure that resides within. Only then can we become to know that we are so much more than we consider ourselves to be. And then your hearts will learn how to truly sing./TE
A man was crawling through the desert slowly dying of thirst. In is delirium he imagined a glass of juice made from the most exotic fruits. He imagined an ice cold bottle of coke, cool and invigorating. He pictured too a bottle of san Miguel beer which he had enjoyed on many a night out with his friends.
Finally he came to an oasis, and seeing an old man sitting beneath a tree he inquired,
“Do you have a glass of juice?”
“NO” said the man.
“Do you have a bottle of coke?” he asked a man.
“No” replied the old man again.
“Do you have any San Miguel?” he asked.
Once more the answer was “No.”
“Just my luck” he thought to himself, and he proceeded to crawl back into the desert, presumably to die.
That man’s mistake was in being too specific in his requirement, for had he simply the old man.
“Do you have anything that will quench my thirst?” the old man would undoubtedly have replied, “Yes, I have water, as much as you can drink.”
And so it is with God. We imagine Him in so many ways, based upon what we have been told ad what we have read. We probably have in our minds a picture of Him based upon how various artists have portrayed Him through the ages.
But it is enough simply to imagine God? Or to picture Him? Is it enough simply to imagine water if we are thirsty? Or to read a description of water in a book? Will that take away our thirst?
God is infinite, and being infinite He resides beyond the reaches of our limited imagination.
He cannot be defined by our intellect, and nor can he be conceived by our thoughts. Trying to imagine God is like trying to fit the ocean into a tea cup. It simply cannot be done. One thing is for sure however, and that is however we perceived him, however we imagine him to, he is not like that.
The God of our imagination cannot compare with that infinite being in whose imagine we have been made. Having failed to understand the true nature of God it seems that we have created another god in our own imagine instead.
I am not against religion and am myself is a Roman Catholic, but simply believing in God can never be a substitute for experiencing him directly. How can we know God, and where should we begin? What better place than within our own hearts, for the heart is God’s throne room, and it is here that we shall find him.
The problem is that we have filled our hearts with strangers so that God is unable to take up his rightful upon the throne. Never the less it is in the heart that our journey must begin, within the heart that we will discover the true nature of God, regardless of what our religion might me. It is within the hearts that we can come to realize our own true nature too, to discover our true identity, and to know we really are.
Only then we can we lay claim to the treasure that resides within. Only then can we become to know that we are so much more than we consider ourselves to be. And then your hearts will learn how to truly sing./TE
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