God As Mystery by Fred Castor
Humankind has untold difficulty living in the realm of the unknown and unknowable. We are highly motivated to resolve all uncertainty. For many people living within the realm of uncertainty is undesirable and uncomfortable. Because of this discomfort, we seek a resolution that satisfies us. Unfortunately, the solution we often create, using the limited information at our disposal, will necessarily will be limited. Furthermore, if we proceed to act upon it, the results could grossly misleading, even disastrous.
If this same flawed process is applied in the religious world, the results will be the same, flawed. That is precisely what has occurred. We have made many vital decisions with only limited information about God. The result is truly a disaster. We have massive divisions and separations, with each party insisting it is correct in its conclusions. We have countless denominations and numerous world religions with each group insisting it is correct, although all conclusions have been based on limited and therefore inadequate information. Consequently, the religious world is in total disarray.
All of this confusion is the result of refusing to live within God’s overwhelming mystery, and instead, insisting on creating answers that satisfy, but are inherently limited, perhaps even wrong. Because the body of truth about God is so massive and extensive, no one can begin to comprehend it in its entirety. Thus, most of it it remains in the realm of mystery. What we do with that mystery is crucial.
The irony of this cumbersome situation is that while no group holds more than a mere modicum of truth, yet each insists it has it all. It is a situation similar to the story of the five blind men trying to describe an elephant. Each touched the elephant at different a spot (tusk, snout, ear, foot] and declared an elephant is like each individual experienced it. The way each blind man described the elephant was accurate according to how he experienced it, but it was only a modicum of the total truth about the size and shape of the elephant. The same mode of thinking has been utilized by every religious group in the world.
This is the height of human arrogance. If there is a single term aptly describing all religions, it is: arrogance.
These permanent divisions persist in the religious world, all based on very limited human knowledge, while the full truth remains in the realm of mystery and is unknowable. Few are willing to say “I don’t know. It is a mystery”.
The above discourse is intended to make the case for a willingness to live within the realm of mystery when it comes to religion and our relation to God. The ultimate truth about God is so extensive and incomprehensible by the human mind, we can grasp it only in part.
Mostly, it remains a mystery and we should acknowledge it and let it rest there.
Richard Rohr, a Franciscan theologian, sums it up well: Faith driven by love enables us to give up our need to understand.
Jesus As Mystery
We might think we know all there is to know about Jesus because he lived on this earth in human form within our human history. This much we do know:
1) He came to reveal to us how God is, loving.
2) He came to demonstrate to us how we should live, lovingly.
Jesus’ life has been studied and written about voluminously in countless accounts, including the Bible which is considered by many Christians to be the last word about God, the Father, and Jesus, the Son.
Yet, a closer look at the overall situation reveals a considerable amount of mystery surrounding Jesus, which is not mentioned in many serious studies, including scripture. We just don’t know all we might think we know about Jesus. He and his life are shrouded in mystery.
The mystery begins quite early, having to do with his conception. Was Mary a virgin? Some say yes with a sense of certainty; some say we cannot know; it is a mystery. Actually, only Mary and Joseph could know, and it is a mystery for us. Yet, we continue to make conclusive statement about it in our creeds, theological teachings,
hymns and liturgies.
What we need to take away from this is : We don’t know far more than we do know about God, the Father, and Jesus. We should learn to live within this mystery of God’s overwhelming love for us all. That, after all, is what really matters.
Religion is about God. Spirituality is experiencing God. It is within the realm of religion, not spirituality, where all the confusion, described earlier, resides. Experiencing God rather trying to understand God, who forever remains a mystery, is the spiritual course to take, although it is by far the road less travelled.
