God as Groundwater
I liked these two bits of storytelling. The first is an analogy. The second is a story.
Bishop John Shelby Spong, in one of his interviews with The Religion Report, quotes ex-Catholic priest Matthew Fox as saying God is like groundwater.
Matthew Fox, a former Roman Catholic who’s become an Anglican, has written a book called One River, Many Wells, and in that book Matthew Fox likens God to the groundwater into which many people sink their wells, or into which an oasis will appear, or a brook or a spring will come out. And around those wells, you develop all sorts of cultural accretions. But when you get down to the depth of the groundwater, it’s always the same, it’s the same holy God. Now one of the things I think Christianity has got to deal with is that Judaism and Islam and Hinduism and Buddhism are wells that tap into the groundwater of the reality of God, and we’ve got to stop spitting on the religions of other people and recognise that they too have produced holiness. Now I can’t be a Buddhist; Jesus will always be determinative for me, but what I want to do is to go so deeply into my faith tradition that I escape my limits and my cultural accretions and I want my Buddhist and Hindu and Moslem and Jewish friends to do the same thing, and when each of us has escaped our limitations and our cultural accretions, then I think we sit down and share our stories with one another, not as superiors to inferiors, but as equals, and we find ourselves mutually enriched by one another. I think that’s the way we’re going to go in the next 100 years, and I think it’s going to be a wonderfully enriching time.
I like that. Various cultural groups are digging wells to reach life-giving well water, but given that their methods and practices are so different, their wells will look dissimilar. It doesn’t negate their faith.
The following illustration comes from Harvard professor Diane Eck’s interview on Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, recorded in the book The Life of Meaning: Reflections on Faith, Doubt, and Repairing the World by Bob Abernethy and William Bole.
There are many ways of understanding the one that we call God. And what we need to be able to respond to is, “How do we think of those [images of God, such as in Hinduism]?” There is a wonderful story in a novel of Chaim Potok’s about a rabbi who traveled in Japan during the Korean War and stopped at a Buddhist shrine and saw a man who was praying with his eyes so deeply closed, in deep concentration. The rabbi turned to his friend and said, “Do you think our God is listening?” And the friend said, “I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.” The rabbi said, “If not, why not? And if so, well, what are we all about?” That really is our question: if the one we call God, creator of heaven and earth, is not listening to the prayers of this man, what do we mean when we say “God?” And if God is listening, what do we mean when we say “we”—we as a group of people who have very often exclusively claimed the ear of God?
Do you have thoughts on either of these examples? If you believe in God, do you believe everyone has access to him/her/it?
[Post image: Well by kitsos13 on stock.xchng]
Renae C
I love this analogy. And the story. And per one of our earlier conversations – I’d add that even someone who doesn’t understand, believe in, or accept that the water all comes from the same source still needs to drink every so often. So regardless of how we tap into the source, whether we understand the nature of the source, or if we even believe there is a single connected source, we all need to drink the water to survive.
And for me, hearing what Spong says about going so deeply into his own tradition that he is able to escape the limits is timely.
Great post, Elissa. Hope the hand is healing!
Hugs,
Renae
Elissa
Thanks, Renae! I liked what Spong said about limits, too…
And the hand? The fingers? In a splint now, but in two weeks the pins come out, so world, watch out! Ha, ha. Thanks, Renae, for contributing to the conversation…when are you moving closer?
Renae C
Wouldn’t take much to convince me right now, we are in a string of 100+ degree days already. But I think we need to time share. Summers up there, winters down here. Guess I need to check LPC license portability to MN.
Elissa
Yes! 🙂
Don Rogers
You know I’m a huge Spong fan. Love what he said here. Never read it before. I have only recently started probing into Fox’s world, like What I see. This is a wonderful simile for God!
Elissa
And I had HEARD of both, but hadn’t “read” them. I’ve added them to my reading list…
I LOVE this sharing of stories and ideas and visual representations…it SO helps me see the world in a new light…thanks, Don, for adding your voice to the mix!