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LOVE YOUR MOTHER James Ishmael Ford<\/p>\n 16 November 2008 Text<\/span><\/p>\n The Tao is called the Great Mother:<\/span> Tao Te Ching<\/span>, Chapter Six As many here know I was raised a fundamentalist Baptist. The God of my childhood was a stern father, not very likable, quite distant, and mainly someone to fear. At first the only alternative I was aware of was my father\u2019s bare bones atheism, which for a while I embraced. But neither position seemed particularly fulfilling, either emotionally or intellectually. That word God seemed to stand for so many things, and just because some meanings didn\u2019t work, it still didn\u2019t feel like the word should or could be set aside without significant loss. There was just too much about it that needed, that needs investigation. And so I continued on, following a pretty fervent but engaged agnosticism, occasionally tipping toward belief, more usually not.<\/p>\n I do believe the questions of God are something big, something very important. And, right from the start one can see the difficulties. For instance I\u2019ve been teased of late by a few friends about the fact when I refer to the divine in this pulpit it seems obvious I\u2019m rather more inclined to the metaphor \u201cmother\u201d than \u201cfather.\u201d To some who know my family history that settles the why of it. I\u2019m sure there is some truth in the observation. But as with most of life I suggest this is a rather more complicated affair, not so easily reducible to a single cause.<\/p>\n Still, there is that projection thing, no doubt. Back in the fifth century before the Common Era Xenophanes dryly observed that if horses or cattle had hands, the gods they would draw certainly would look like horses or cattle. When we move into the realm of the divine we tread onto very unsteady ground. Pretty early on I decided that the God with a human-like mind was pretty obviously a projection of human minds, and almost certainly didn\u2019t exist. Still feel that way.<\/p>\n And. There are so many \u201cands\u201d in this. And, I\u2019m challenged on this by some friends who look at the beauty of nature and see in it compelling evidence of a creative mind, much like a human mind. I don\u2019t. But increasingly I try to let go of my judgment about this. And as we go forward I hope can I show why.<\/p>\n I think my first intimation that I need to keep a wide perspective happened in my late teens when I stumbled upon the story of Ramakrishna, a nineteenth century Hindu saint. He was a Bengali and a priest of the goddess Kali. I very much identified with his fervent desire to know his goddess. He pursued her with all his energy. And in this short version of the telling, eventually he was gifted with a vision.<\/p>\n I read about it and was dumbfounded. In his vision the goddess emerged from a river, swelled out in pregnancy, gave birth to a child, and then ate it. I read this and it took my breath away. I was repulsed and at the very same time felt somewhere deep inside me this was a pointing to something more profound than I had ever before dreamt.<\/p>\n Ramakrishna, himself, when commenting on this vision taught. \u201cMy Mother is the principle of consciousness. She is indivisible Reality, Awareness, and Bliss. The night sky between the stars is perfectly black. The waters of the ocean depths are the same; the infinite is always mysteriously dark. This inebriating darkness is my beloved Kali.\u201d<\/p>\n Kali means black. I\u2019ll return to this before we\u2019re done. But first, this was my initial encounter with an idea of the divine that pushed the conventional spiritual boundaries that separated the world from God, at least the boundaries I knew up until then. And at that boundary I found a door. It was about something much bigger, not entirely pleasant, not at all; but enormously compelling. For me, deeply compelling. And I rushed on through that door. I\u2019ve never regretted it.<\/p>\n Later I would stumble upon the writings of the seventeenth century Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza. And I began to find words for what I was experiencing. In my heart Spinoza is one of the greatest of Western teachers. He noticed the unity of all things, starting with a reconciliation of mind and matter. He saw that nature and God are two different names for the same thing. And he raised troubling questions, at least for me, about free will and determinism; he challenged our ideas of what is. And pushed me ever further on my quest.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the Nature of the Divine<\/span><\/p>\n
First Unitarian Church
Providence, Rhode Island<\/p>\n
empty yet inexhaustible,<\/span>
it gives birth to infinite worlds.
It is always present within you.<\/span>
You can use it any way you want.<\/span><\/p>\n
Translated by Stephen Mitchell<\/p>\n
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