Seeking God

Many of us desire to find God, and some spend their whole lives just doing this.  But why?  Is God so the center of the meaning of our lives that we should be seeking Him?  Is God the Source we should be seeking, or is there another Subject that is more true, more to the core of our being?  Some have said that we should not be seeking God, but ourselves, humanity, reality, love, economic stability, truth, power....  If we find God will we find all these as well?  If we find these will we find God?

Is God even an object to be discovered?  We can discover most things within our own universe, eventually, but if God is outside of our universe, then can we truly discover God?  Can we only describe God through what God is not, because we cannot see or measure what God is?  Is it possible to describe or communicate God at all, if God is beyond our imagination?

What would be the tools to discover God?  If God is beyond human comprehension, then perhaps God is the only one to describe what or who God is.  But what is this revelation in which God describes God?  Is it creation, made by God, but ravaged by time?  Is it physics, the building blocks of creation?  Is it the human mind, the most sublime creation?  Is it a text in which God laid out the most important thoughts about God?  Is it a person, who communicated God most sublimely through both words and action?

Who are we to make such choices?  Can we grab onto one of these tools and call it the ultimate revelation?  Or should we live our lives and hope that God is some rock that we will stumble upon and everything will make sense? Is such a search ultimately futile or fruitful?

What is Love?

"The Beatles sang, 'All you need is love', then they broke up." -Larry Norman

Most of us acknowledge the importance of love, in general terms.  Love is a central theme in our societies,  movies, books and songs.  But when we talk about love as being central, what do we mean?  When the Torah says "Love your neighbor as yourself" does that mean the same thing as Donna Summer singing "Love to Love You Baby"?

In a sense, they could be.  Perhaps love just boils down to one's needs or desire.  We need our neighbor, so we will act in a positive way toward our neighbor.  To love your neighbor as yourself is to put oneself in the center of the world and everyone else is receiving of the love that we have for ourselves. We desire sexual satisfaction and we express that sexual need/desire to others, and they may share such need and so we express it.  It is a psychological principle that expressing love to others usually is reciprocated.

But is love only about desire and what we want?  Is that even the primary basis of love?  Is romantic love simply selfishness?  Is there no benefit for the other involved?  In fact, could love only be about the benefit to others?  Is "love" in its pure form, focused completely on the Other, not on the self?  Although to "love your neighbor as yourself" begins with the self, isn't it actually teaching us to move beyond ourselves, to leave the self behind?  

And is there a different category of supernatural love?  Or is the love of God and for God simply aspects of human love?  Is God's love for people simply desire, for God's own attainment?  Or is it other focused, not having anything to do with the self, other than knowing what the self requires?

But do the desires and needs of God actually relate at all to human needs or desires?  And what about between humans?  Can the needs of a human male be the same as the needs of a human female?  And if we loved trees or loved dogs, would we give them the same kind of love we would give a spouse or a cup of coffee? Are there a variety of loves, or only one?

If love is really what makes the world go around, then why is it so confusing to even figure out what it is?  How does one express love politically?  Or is that even possible?

Does It Really Matter?

There is a lot of discussion about whether God exists.  Does it really matter whether there is an over-arching being who is behind all things?  Does it change our character any, or change our motivation whether there is or is not a divine presence?

If there is not a God, will anyone change their minds and stop worshiping one?  If there is a God, will that change the actions of any human being, really?  Or is God just an excuse to do what we were going to do anyway?

I am not denying God.  Nor am I affirming one.  I am asking what it really matters.

Finally, is it even possible to "prove" the existence of God at all?  If there is proof, wouldn't the rational atheists be convinced?  If there is a solid proof against God, wouldn't the rational deists be convinced?  Since no one is convinced one way or another, then why discuss the subject?  Is there a good reason to have discussions as to the existence or non-existence of God?