Dear Spiritual Companions,
I was reflecting on what I would be writing this week while I was having my weekly conversation with my oldest daughter. She told me about her nephew who at age 7 said these words, “Sara how can I shut off my thoughts? Even when I am thinking about nothing I am thinking about something!” This child has to be an old soul, someone who has been here many times before. His words are profound and lead us deeper into the journey of life.
No matter what World Religion you study there is always a Creation Story. It seems we humans need to be assured God has made everything. Being a Christian my knowledge of God creating my world is found in the first chapter of the book of Genesis. “In the beginning God created…….” Before there was anything there was God – so goes the story. Out of Nothing – No Thing God creates Some Thing ! I put an exclamation point there for emphasis. Have you ever tried to make something out of nothing? This is what I do when I write my prose or poems, but in a limited way. I have something to work with – the words and thoughts that are already there. The thing that is different with God is God started with Nothing. God created the molecules, atoms and smallest particles out of No Thing. In fact, if you discuss this with a scientist they will tell you that when we take atoms or molecules down to their smallest particles there is actually nothing there but space. So our world is made up of No Thing.
It has fascinated me how religious folk can be threatened by the scientific community. The only threat comes if we want others to think the way we do, which means fundamentally. Did God create the Earth in seven days? Yes if you take the Christian Creation Story literally. The scientists have proven the earth was actually created in billions of years. There is the fundamental difference, 7 days versus billions of years. BUT if we look deeper into what the story is about, God creating our world, then it doesn’t matter how long it took. Now we can embrace the Mystery of God creating Some Thing out of No Thing. So many people want to take the mystery out of life and replace it with God created everything in seven days and one of those was a day of rest! How sad and limiting of Life.
Now back to what that old soul said, “Even when I am thinking of nothing I am thinking of something.” That, of course is true of all of us. When I am in prayer and my thoughts have slowed down to a trickle I stand on tip toe watching God create Some Thing out of my No Thing thoughts. God’s Thoughts suddenly and mystically become my thoughts. My nothing becomes God’s Some Thing. I now see life in new ways. What used to be so important, what the world is selling – fear, war, violence, achievement, being right, control and on and on becomes what it truly is – an illusion. There is nothing there of value. It will all go away one day at death to be replaced with God’s Some Thing. When we shut off our minds of illusion we find God’s Mind of Enlightenment. God’s Light shines into our darkness and we are shown how God is making Some Thing very profound out of our nothing physical life. This time and place, this journey of a physical lifetime is here to remind us that we are Spiritual Beings having a human experience. This then tells us God is using our physical lives to teach us about the Creation out of our no thing life the Some Thing which adds to the depth of our eternal adventure of our Soul.
Like the 7 year old we just need to realize that when we shut down our no thing minds we discover that now God’s Some Thing Mind reveals Itself.
Peace
Gary