Mere mortals with a sprinkling of fairy dust
I was trying to explain spirituality to someone who is a self professed atheist. This person didn’t like Martin Luther King’s speech because it had too many religious references. My response is that we – mere mortals – are stuck in the metaphor. The one that was handed down to us so people say words and phrases like God will provide, or Jesus loves me, but when an individual sits down and contemplates his or her place in the universe it is really not through the lens of religion – that is what most people use to communicate with others, but the silent conversation we have with the universe is a different one – one where we are trying to get out of the ego, trying to let go of one track thinking, trying to sprout wings while trying to root down into the essence of who we are.
How do you explain that to a friend? You don’t. You use language that others understand – words like God, words like prayer, words like blessing, words like heaven and earth. You use words because you don’t have other words that explain things that are larger than yourself, that are mysterious and wonderful.
God is a metaphor for that which transcends all levels of intellectual thought. It’s as simple as that.
Joseph Campbell