God and Me, a GUEST POST by Jeffrey Chappell
June 19th, 2008 by Rose Rosetree
As part of our ongoing theme of connecting with God, I’m so honored to present this Guest Post by my friend Jeffrey.
Aura readings of this man, or empathic merges, are highly recommended.
Here’s his photo. Here’s a link to his website. And now here’s an essay by the man who played the chimes for my audiobook, also played the chimes when Mitch and I got married. Actually Jeffrey IS a chime in my life!
You asked how my perception of God has changed.
First, I believed in God. Then I wasn’t satisfied. I didn’t want to believe in God, I wanted to know God. Knowledge is better than belief.
Experience and understanding are the two types of knowledge. Through the practice of meditation and by thinking about God a lot, I gained experience and understanding of God-like qualities: infinite love, infinite generosity, infinite creativity, infinite being.
Then it seemed as if every action was an offering to God, every heartbeat brought me closer to God, and every breath was a prayer. Attending church would have been redundant. I was in church everywhere I went.
Next, the infinite qualities were living in me automatically, constantly, and without any attention on my part, like breathing. And when something is inside of you, there is nothing more to do to get closer to it. Embodiment is better than knowledge.
How do I perceive God now? It is as if I can’t perceive anything else.
“I perceive God” has become redundant. “I”, “perceive”, and “God” are undifferentiated, in the same way that an ocean current is not different from an ocean. “God” and “I” have become just two of the names for the same nameless being, and perception is the flow of the current within itself. That is how my perception of God has changed.
First, God was outside (belief); then God was inside (experience); then there was no difference between inside and outside (being). Belief, experience, and being are the stages of embodying the awareness of God.
Wow, what a beautiful and powerful post, just fantastic.
This is a wonderful post. If only we all could move from the belief stage to the experience stage and then to the being stage easily, simply. Jeffrey makes it sound like a natural progression. I wonder if it was easy or if there were struggles behind the transition?
JEFFREY writes:
The transitions happen when you stop struggling. You might be struggling to give yourself to God, but since you already belong to God, you can’t give yourself to God. All you can do is to let God take you. And for God, that is easy.
You might be struggling to be worthy of God’s grace, but since grace is a free gift, there is nothing you can do to deserve grace. All you can do is to allow grace to invade you. And for grace, that is easy.
And this letting, this allowing, is not an intellectual decision. Instead, you yield at the level of your own being. You stop running your own show. And when you do nothing, God does everything. And for God, that is easy. The ocean comes to the drop, not the other way around.
The preparation for a transition can be meditation, which is easy. When you meditate, you practice yielding.
And a struggle with doubts, fears, loneliness, and despair can precede a transition. Those are the last feeble things to hold onto before superhuman love obliterates them completely.
A heartfelt “thank you” to Jeffrey for responding. And to Rose for facilitating.
I’ll be meditating on these words for awhile…..
Rose— Jeffrey’s post and his additional info are so beautiful. His words would help so many people if included in a future book…..