"I want to see you and speak to you. I know you don't listen or at least pretend or don't listen, but I shall bang on your door until you open, and if you don't open . . . if you don't open your door, I shall break it down!"
The Abbot's Prayer
Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ, p 103
"I was sent forth from the power,
- and I have come to those who reflect upon me,
- and I have been found among those who seek after me."
"Nail in my hand from my creator
You gave me life, Now show me how to live"
Chris Cornell
How do people relate to the Divine? How should people relate to the Divine? Should we be fearful children, following superstitious practices to ensure that the bogeyman under the bed doesn't get us in our sleep? Should we be sheep, quietly following those who claim to be our leaders? Are we to shut up and obey the commands they claim come from God? After all, it is not given for us to understand?
Doesn't this degrade us? Were we not created as inquistive creatures? Are we to be made into bleeting animals? And futhermore, doesn't this degrade God? If we meekly accept only what we are offered and what we are told is the truth does this not indicate that The Divine and Knowledge of the Divine is not worth fighting for, not worth striving for, not worth knowing in its complexity and confusion? A challenge to God, "I will know YOU, not what they say of YOU, but YOU" is hardly disrespectful. It is recognition and respect for the complexity of the Divine. And while we may never know the totality of the Divine, we will never deepen and enrich our understanding if we do not challenge what others tell us and strive to know more and to know more perfectly.
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