God As Everything; Everything As God

Have you ever had one of those moments, sometimes referred to as mystical moments, when even if only for a split-second you knew that you are not separate from the Allness that is; not separate from God, or from anything, or anyone?

My guess is that if you are reading this, you have had one or more such experiences. Perhaps it occurred during a time of prayer or meditation, or while spending time in nature, or just looking at the stars.

Playwright Eugene O’Neill, in Long Day’s Journey Into Night, describes it this way.

“For a moment I lost myself – actually lost my life. I was set free! I dissolved in the sea, became white sails and flying spray, became beauty and rhythm, became moonlight and the ship and the high dim-starred sky! I belonged, without past or future, within peace and unity and a wild joy, within something greater than my own life, or the life of Man, to Life itself! To God, if you want to put it that way.”

I have a vivid memory of one such moment which happened the first time I visited the redwood forest in Northern California. The early morning mist was lingering just above the ground as I entered a grove of trees. I was immediately overcome by a deep sense of belonging, love and nurture as I smelled the earth and heard the soft sounds of birds singing in the trees amidst what was otherwise a glorious silence. Walking along the path, I looked ahead and noticed rays of sunlight streaming down through the trees. As the sunlight encountered the mist they joined to create the most beautiful spectrum of light I had ever seen. It seemed as though I was being invited to step into another dimension.

In that moment, time stopped. I lost all cognitive recognition of where I was. And, for what seemed to be minutes, but what turned out to be only seconds, I also lost touch with the conditioned mind that believed in a separate self. I became the light, the birds, the earth, the trees and the mist. Of course, I know now that I did not “become” anything that I was not already. I was simply enjoying a moment of knowing the truth that there is only one, and I am that.

There are no words that can fully capture the feeling that arises. In fact, it is only in the seconds following the experience that conscious awareness of feeling is evident. In the moment, there is no reference for ‘feeling’; there is simply the knower knowing Self as all that can be known.

This, I believe, is the experience of what Benedictine monk, David Steindl-Rast refers to as “Grate-Full-Ness.” He says that in these moments, “You fully accept the whole of this given universe, as you are fully one with the whole.”

During such experiences the veil between our usual waking consciousness and our natural awakened consciousness seems to lift, and we know we are known. Some have described such moments as euphoric experiences with a resulting feeling of ecstasy. Dictionary.com defines ‘ecstasy’ as “rapturous delight.”  That was my experience as well.

As ecstasy began to subside, it was replaced by an overwhelming sense of gratitude; not gratitude like one might express to someone for giving them a gift, but gratitude that arises from the core of being as the natural expression of knowing you are the gift presenting as both the giver and the receiver. According to Bro. David, this is the first aspect of “Grate-Full-Ness.”

Further, Bro. David posits that the second aspect of “Grate-Full-Ness” is thanksgiving. In those moments, when gratitude is so keenly experienced and felt, giving thanks is the natural outer expression.

When I consider giving thanks as an expression of “Grate-Full-Ness” it takes on an expanded dimension. It becomes a statement of recognition of the God in and as all. Moreover, it is a conscious expression of appreciation for the contribution the other has made to my awakening to that realization. Theologian, philosopher and mystic, Meister Eckhart once said, “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is ‘Thank You’ it will be enough.” ‘Thank You’ as an expression of “Grate-Full-Ness” is more than a thoughtful response; it is a simple yet profound statement of God in me reflecting appreciation to God in another and in all things.

To know this and to experience this awareness of “heaven on earth” in varying degrees is not, as many believe, a promise of the afterlife, but an assurance of what is possible in every moment. It is our choice to open ourselves to this realization of Oneness. We do that when we are willing to look upon everything and everyone in our experience and say to ourselves, “I Am That” and allow the truth of that statement to reveal itself to us. As this truth is revealed, we can feel it and live from that knowing with every thought, word and action.

When we see God in all as All; when we know the Truth of our Oneness, we are free. We are free to live ecstatic lives. In rapturous delight we express gratitude in every moment of every day knowing that everything and everyone is a gift we are giving to ourselves.

Bro. David said,

“Could it be that the mystic gratefulness in the depth of every human heart sings with “a still, small voice,” and is easily drowned out by the noise we endure and the noise we make?”

In this season of gratitude and giving thanks, I encourage us to give ourselves permission to create spaciousness and quiet in our lives so we can listen for and hear the “still, small voice” calling us to the experience of “Grate-Full-Ness,” allowing our hearts to feel gratitude and overflow with thanksgiving.