Grounding And Connecting

Paul Knitter

C.G. Jung said somewhere that many of us, when we hit our mid-thirties, find that we have to bring our concept or image of God in for an overhaul. That certainly was the case for me, maybe even a little ahead of schedule. As I grew into adulthood, I found it more and more difficult to feel God, more and more awkward to talk to him. Slowly, I came to realize that my problems had to do with my image of God as a person, a super-person, all out there. This image just didn't work.

Fortunately for me, when I started to feel this breakdown, I had the job of studying and teaching theology - but not just traditional theology. Back in the 70s I was doing what nowadays is called comparative theology; I was exploring Christian experience and beliefs in conversation with other spiritual traditions. And this conversation spoke to my own personal problems.

As I look back now, I realize how freeing and affirming Karl Rahner's notion of grace was for me. Grace is not an admission ticket to heaven, Rahner taught us, but part of our very being; it's present from the first moment of creation, humanity's and the world's and it's not a divine seal of approval but, rather, the very life of God breathing in our own life. Then came Paul Tillich with his reminder that all our language about God - even the very word God is symbolic. So words like person, Father, Trinity should be taken seriously, but not literally. And we must be open to new words, new symbols - for the Mystery is always more than any word or image can capture.

What I encountered in other religions, especially those from Asia, seemed to connect with, fill, and expand the message I was hearing from Western theologians such as Rahner and Tillich. This was true in ideas such as the Hindu teaching that "Brahman (universal Spirit) is Atman (individual spirit)" and the Buddhist conviction that "Nirvana (the Ultimate) is samsara (the finite)," but even more so in the Zen meditational practices used to touch the reality within these images. I came to realize that what Rahner and Tillich were getting at is the non-duality of the Divine and us: God and the world are not two, but at the same time, they are not one. To experience God is to experience Other that is not other. And then came my dialogue with Native American spiritualities which told me that this Life was breathing in all life. The symbol that became real for me, thanks to this Native American vision but also thanks to my studies of ecology, was that the world is truly the Body of God, and I am part of that Body. I could feel that, sometimes even see it, in the quiet of a forest, or in the eyes of my dog.

So where has this process of overhauling my image of God brought me? Maybe that's the wrong question. I haven't arrived anywhere but I think I'm moving more meaningfully, more smoothly. The image or symbol of God that seems to infuse the many symbols that speak to me is that of a personal Presence that grounds and connects. The Divine that I feel at Sunday liturgies (sometimes!) or that I sit with on my meditation cushion everyday is not a Person but a Presence. Yet it's a personal Presence because, from what I feel in my own life and what I see in nature and evolution, this Presence is up to something. What this Presence is up to is grounding and connecting - grounding and affirming each of us in an embrace that brings peace and strength, but also connecting and relating all of us and so calling and enabling us to live lives of compassion and love.

But there's one further ingredient to this image of the Divine that speaks to and moves me; it comes especially from my Christian roots and experience. For me, Jesus remains an inspiring and powerful embodiment (incarnation) and symbol (sacrament) of what it means to live a life grounded and connected in the divine Presence. Especially, he clarifies just what it means to be connected with others. From what I see in his own life and what I have seen in the way that life is lived in Christian Communities (especially in El Salvador), Jesus reminds me that the Divine Presence connects us, in a special, maybe even preferential way, with the victims of this world - that is, with those who have been taken advantage of, used or abused, exploited by the greed or selfishness of others. And today, we understand that to talk of victims is to talk of not only humans, but also of the very Earth Itself. Jesus (and other Jewish prophets) tell me that to feel the Presence is to feel connected with such victims. To know God is to do justice.

There is a symbol in my own Christian tradition that helps me pray with this image of the Divine as Presence-that-grounds-and-connects. It is God as Spirit. Spirit is personal, but not a person. Spirit is a pervading presence that breathes in my spirit and so grounds me, but also a presence that connects me with other spirits. And because as a Christian I picture this Spirit as the Christ-Spirit I feel a special connection with and commitment to the victims of this Earth and to the victimized Earth.

To pray with this Spirit is not so much talking but being aware. Prayer for me is mainly sitting in silence and being aware. But I think the awareness has two aspects: it is an awareness in which I accept the overwhelming, peace-giving truth that I am grounded in this Spirit-Presence and that this Spirit breathes in me. But it is also an awareness in which I attend to how the Spirit may be calling me to connect with others. Prayer or meditation is a sitting in silence (a silence that is also possible during liturgies) in which I am aware of the Spirit and accept and attend to what the Spirit is doing in or as me.