The Nature of Divinity

By: Edward Viljoen on Tuesday, November 09, 2010

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What is Divinity like? Not like a better-quality human being who is wise and good. Not like the best my personality can project. I turn to ideas such as unlimited and infinite to guide me in thinking about Divinity as best as I can. These words help me grasp the idea that if I went to a particular location to encounter Divinity face to face, It could not be there, for to be there It would be finite. It has to be as much in the place I was before I went to that particular location as it is in the meeting zone. I turn to the pronoun It to avoid the suggestion of Divinity being male, female or a being of some kind, while at the same time I regret that it suggests an lifeless object. No word defines Divinity; it only suggests an understanding of Its nature. Yet it is a start, just as learning a few words in a new language will eventually lead to understanding concepts that are larger than the individual words.

With this in mind I think about words and ideas that expand my idea of Divinity. I mull over these words silently to thoroughly examine what they mean in their most expansive form. For example I might think of Divinity as life, but not restricted to human life, or my life or life on this planet. I think of life as existence or reality. The largeness of the idea itself has the effect of awakening hope, trust and resiliency as if some part of me is remembering its kinship with all-that-is.

Another example of a word to reflect on is truth. Again, not truth as in factually correct, or accurate, but more like reality that does not change. I’m not thinking about the word truth that some use to describe their religious belief system, and I’m not thinking about the number of things which are relatively true depending on circumstances or perspective. I’m thinking of that which is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The effect of thinking about this quality of being has the effect of freeing me from constraints set by circumstances and events and seems to make me amenable to information, answers and ideas that I have not yet considered.

Yet another example of a word to consider is love. I am not thinking about the affection we have for each other or the loyalty we express to close friends, or the kindness we show when moved compassionately. All of these expressions are wonderful even though in many cases they are temporal and conditional. I am trying to conceive of a kind of love that has no weaknesses, and no variations and no conditions. Thinking of this kind of love has the effect of calming me when I am fearful or worried. It also inspires me to pattern my own loving on this idea, so that I ask can I love everyone and everything like I am imagining the Divine does?  This consideration of love, when sustained for long periods, has the effect of eliminating the tendency to criticize people around me and develops a skill of seeing the best in people and believing in them, even at times when they cannot believe in themselves. On the other hand, when I don’t make this approach to loving welcome in my mind, it seems that I am out of step with life and that things do not go my way, so to speak. The nearer I am in my awareness to this kind of love, the happier I am and the more peace I carry with me wherever I am and the more inclined I am to forgive mistakes that I make and that others make.