Where is the Door to God?

Where is the door to God?

In the sound of a dog barking,

In the ring of the hammer,

In a drop of rain,

In the face of

Everyone

I see.

Hafiz

God is a word pulsing with energy and, for many, a source of tremendous controversy.  Maybe you were raised in an environment where God was portrayed as apart from us, on a throne in the sky (or somewhere), smiting us if we misbehaved, banishing us to hell if we were unrepentant sinners, full of judgment, anger, war, and punishment, and, yes, loving us if we were worthy enough.  This God was not warm and fuzzy and not much fun to be around.  Or perhaps you learned that there is no God, that the idea of God was a contrivance of fearful, lemming like beings who could not face life without some fictional character.  You may have chosen other terms to express the idea of God.  Words such as the Source, Nature, the Creator, the All that Is, the Almighty, The Highest Self,and the like. God is one of the subjects we are warned against discussing as it, along with sex and finances, are thought to be much too dangerous to raise in polite company. But then, as Hafiz tells us, God is everywhere.

As a beginning yoga teacher, I sought to separate any idea that yoga was a religion (which it is not) by consciously deleting the word “god” from any of the spiritual lessons I taught.  As my continuing studies indicated that God was very much a part of the ancient  texts of yoga belief, I can well remember the night that I referred to God in a yoga class.  In the silence of the room, I heard one student mutter, “She said the “G” word,” as if I had spoken an expletive.  Shortly thereafter, she ceased attending class. 

The renowned Jewish scholar, Abraham Joshua Heschel, tells us: Faith in the living God is not easily attained. Had it been possible to prove His existence beyond dispute, atheism would have been refuted as an error long ago. Had it been possible to awaken in every man the power to answer His ultimate question, the great prophets would have achieved it long ago.

Note that Heschel refers to a living God.  Living now, at this very minute.  But where?  Where is this living God?  What if God is alive in everything you see, hear, taste, touch, and smell.  God is with you in every moment of your life and travels with you.  Because God is you, in the immense love that courses through your body and mind, in the tender and peaceful moments of your life.  There is no place that is not God. 

One of my favorite lessons taught in my spiritual classes is this:  In the purpose of our being, we have only two questions to ask in life — Who am I?  and Why am I here?  Only two, think of it!  Once you can answer those two questions and hold steadfast to those answers in the face of anything life can mete out, you are free.  Truly and completely free.

As one of the most popular teachers on this subject, who has illuminated these teachings on a global scale, Dr. Wayne W.Dyer states in his book, Wishes Fulfilled:  It is totally unnecessary to be subtle or obsequious with your higher self.  You are God — not the ego oriented model of a deity superior to everyone and everything, but the God Who is spoken of in the New Testament: “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:8)…This is not the concept of God that you were probably raised with, even though this couldn’t be more clearly delineated in the scriptures of virtually all faiths.

So you don’t have to go anywhere to look for God.  God is all around you and within you.  Believe it! Trust it!  See how it feels to have complete unconditional love at the core of your being. It is surely not an act of arrogance to believe this.  After all, we share this same God within us.  Try seeing that same God in everyone you meet. 

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