Where is God?

Where Is God?

By Angie Olson

When strangers ask Unity Rev. Wendy Craig-Purcell what she does for a living and she tells them she's a minister, they often confide in a quiet voice, “I don't really believe in God.”

“I then ask them, ‘Describe for me the God you don't believe in,'” says Craig-Purcell. She says the individual will typically describe a bearded, white-haired old man in the sky who monitors everything and everyone on Earth, rewarding the “good” and punishing the “bad.”

“Then I say to them, ‘You know, I don't believe in that kind of God either,'” said Craig-Purcell.

Unity stands apart from traditional Christianity in teaching that human beings are not separate from God, but one with God. Unity teaches that God is within as well as everywhere present.

Metaphysics I: An Overview of the Fundamental Teachings of Unity states, “Human beings have a spark of divinity within them, the Christ Spirit within. Their very essence is of God.”

The implication, then, is that the search for God in one's life is not an external journey, but an internal one.

What Is God?

In his book Unity: A Quest for Truth, Eric Butterworth, a prominent Unity minister and author, described the nature of God as follows: “We could say, God is Mind, God is Life, God is Substance, but whatever we agree God is, God is you. This may seem shocking to you, to think of yourself as God. But we did not say you are God. We said God is you. All ice is water, but not all water is ice. The life in you is God-life, the wisdom in you is God-intelligence, the love in you is God-love.”

Retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong commends Unity for its understanding of God as one presence and one power and its view of humanity as questing toward oneness.

In an article for Unity Magazine (March/April 2009 issue), he states, “You're holding something crucial that the Christian church has got to recover. You are standing in a critical place in a fantastic turning away from yesterday and into tomorrow of the Christian faith.”

Dr. Paul Hasselbeck, dean of Spiritual Education and Enrichment for Unity, believes the term God may hinder some people's ability to identify with a God inside. If this is the case, he recommends using terms such as Spirit, Beingness, or Divine Mind, because they are not as “loaded” with human qualities as the word “God” might be.

Hasselbeck states, “In Healing Letters, Myrtle Fillmore (cofounder of Unity) said, ‘God is already in every part of your being, so it is just a matter of being conscious of oneness with God.' Notice how differently this reads if we simply substitute ‘God' with ‘Divine Mind.' Divine Mind is already in every part of your being, so it is just a matter of being conscious of oneness with Divine Mind.”

Thomas Shepherd, M.Div., faculty member at Unity Institute, further postulates that God is a supreme process—an ever-unfolding new reality.

“The nature of reality is not static being but a process of growth, or becoming,” he says. “You are not just the person you are today. You are also the infant you were and the aged person you will one day become—you are a process. If you are a process, so then is God. As you grow and learn and make creative choices, the God within expands and grows by those fresh experiences.”

“What if God is not a supreme being but a supreme process?” he asks.

Where and how do you find God?

Comments

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Finding God

I have been reading (over and over again) "God is a verb" by Rebbe David Cooper. When we consider God as a noun, at least in the English language, we become separated. He is he she is she and I am I. But if God is a verb, maybe I am a verb. Maybe between God-ing and Karen-ing something purposeful and unique is created.

KLMorris

10/5/2010 12:33:38 AM

Response to "Where and how do you find God?"

Hi, my name is Rev. Tom Thorpe. I'm a faculty member at Unity Institute and I've served as a Unity minister for more than 25 years. I'm writing to thank you for sharing a very powerful insight, and to invite others to follow your example in "finding God" for themselves.

Unity's great teachers remind us that we don't really "find God," for God is not missing! Rather, we find ourselves in God, as you have done so beautifully. As humans created in the image and likeness of God, we have the executive power to choose to see God in every person (including ourselves) and every life situation. We also have the power to choose to ignore the Divine Presence in our midst and focus instead on outer appearances or circumstances. Some have called this choice "praying to the problem" rather than "praying from an awareness of God." Notice that I did not say "praying to God." To pray to God is to see a God as "not present." Our Truth study and our experience teach us that there is no moment in time nor place in all the universe where God is absent.

As you reminded us, it's quite easy to "find God" when we are at peace and surrounded by beauty. When, however, we are in a time of grief or of stress, our habit is to look everywhere but within ourselves for relief. The pain we experience can become, if we teach ourselves to allow it, a reminder that we need only change the focus of our thought in order to experience God's presence immediately and completely. In Jeremiah 29:13, we read "When you search for me, you will find me if you seek me with all your heart." The important question, then, is "where is your heart?"

Thank you for sharing your powerful, bittersweet story. I pray that many hearts will be lifted by your example, that many who are frustrated in their search for God outside themselves will turn within and experience the love, comfort, and welcome of the Divine Presence.

Unity Customer Care

9/27/2010 1:53:25 PM

In all I see I see God

What a great article, it opened my mind to many subjects I have been thinking about. I had to stop and look up ideas while reading it. For me, that is Spirit working in, through and around me. I was guided to three web-sites that I earmarked for my continuing understanding of this Divine Life. In addition, I would search for the "right" wording for me to express my God-life and understanding to others. Finally, I have learned to slow down, ask for God's words to be mine, and "poof" there it is; the right words at the right time, for the right purpose. Daily prayer and meditation have (and will continue) to allow me to see, feel and hear Spirit in all. "Practice makes progress", words from a song I heard on Unity.FM - perfect! I was joyous during a meditation where I saw myself as a child being loved by God, and then I sprouted up tall and strong; given a loving hug, then back to a child I went. That vision right there of progress is so enlightening for me to know that I am a growing spiritual being within God's presence. Thanks for letting me share - Light and Love - Lisa

lberrykgj

9/27/2010 9:29:42 AM

Where and how do you find God?

Where do I find God? The question implies some loss. Perhaps it is not God I lose but my connection to God, the ever constant power within and around me. God awareness pulses in and out. How do I reconnect or "find?" Of course, in stillness and surrounded by beauty. It is relatively easy then. But what about in the darkest of times and circumstances? My own most intense re-connection was in the depths of my grief over the loss of both my parents a few years ago. It was only when I had nowhere to turn with the pain of loss that I cried out for help and opened my (broken)heart, to find God standing at the center, waiting patiently for me to see. Grief was a gift, filled with God.