What I Mean When I Use the Word “God”

I mean universal truth as described in The Tenets of Ecumencial Mysticism. I don’t claim to know what that is…I’m just using the word “god” as a label, a kind of abbreviation. I could call it UT for “universal truth”, or OAE for “the origin of all of existence”, but using words like that would detract from readability in a way that might create obstacles to understanding.

Of course, the counter-argument, and it’s a good one, is that using the word “god” is likely to create obstacles to understanding, because people already have strong associations with that word. Some think the very concept is ridiculous because it requires belief in the supernatural, some think the word should be capitalized, some think it means a man with a long grey beard sitting on a cloudy mountain top, etc. I’m willing to take this risk, though, in part BECAUSE this tiny word has become so overburdened with images and interpretations. I use it because it’s short, and everybody understands it to mean “the power that created everything”, even if they claim not to believe in that power, or they have a lot of additional concepts like judgement or wrathfullness built in as well. It’s OK, because it doesn’t matter what you believe…remember? :-)

So when you see the word “god” here, just substitute “the absolute truth regarding the origin of all existence”, and you ought to be good to go, regardless of your background or personal beliefs.

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