Perceptions

I was listening to a podcast where John Caputo, an American philosopher, made a point of conceiving God not as an agent, but as an agenda. His comment resonated with me because, as a Quaker, it aligned so well with my conception of God/Ultimate Reality. The perception of a God as a supreme being making all the decisions that impact the circumstances of our lives never rang true for me. Rather, I saw a divine presence in the people and things in ordinary life that contributed to our continued existence and expressed itself in love. If you seek help from “God”, ask your neighbor.

My experience with the Quaker meetings I have attended, it that we don’t make vocal requests to a supreme being, but rather consistently try to make the the divine presence known by living the testimonies. In the context of what John Caputo was saying, I view the testimonies as the “agenda”. In viewing the divine not as an agent, but rather an agenda, the testimonies make clear how we view the essence of the union with the mystery that many call “God”.

There are those who approached their conception of “God” with near total certainty. When difficult and horrendous things occur in life, as they inevitably do, the certainty is not questioned. Rather, many choose to avoid questioning with the easy and comforting reply of “God works in mysterious ways”.

My experience as a Quaker has taught me to not begin with certainty, but to begin with mystery. My understanding of the divine contains little certainty. I need to open myself to the practice of continuing revelation with endless questioning and sufficient doubt. This allows me to deepen my experience of the presence and not let any preconceived perceptions cloud my practice. For me taking this path requires much more faith than one of complete certainty.