One may resist, saying that God is not something that can be explained rationally. God can only be believed in, with faith, etc. I would agree. So, believing that God unquestioningly exists and having faith that God always was, always is, and always will be, our inquiry cannot harm God. So, let's lend faith to our curiosity and proceed.
It is this last line of defense (that God cannot be explained rationally) which led me to my understanding of God as they exist today. It is my present understanding of God that God cannot be understood! God is beyond reason, logic, and certainly beyond words. Including these words! It cannot be honestly said that God is beyond words because those are words. To know God is to not know God.
In order to know God, one must relinquish every preconception.
It sounds so simple. Yet, here I am trying to explain it. My first reaction is to delete everything I've just written, unsay everything I've said, and never say anything on the topic again, but that would be counter productive. In an attempt to share my view, my understanding, and my knowledge, I must use words. Perhaps I'm repeating myself, but I would like to reiterate my initial disclaimer:
If one reads these words and says, "Yes! That is right! This is what I've been looking for! This is the truth!" that person has been deceived.
Without further delay, I will describe my experience of the truth of God. But know this: What God is cannot be told.
Place the conundrum on hold and picture with me a basic sushi roll: a California roll on plate in a restaurant in Albuquerque.
The ingredients are: seaweed, rice, avocado, and cucumber. The tables are wood, likewise the chair and the chopsticks. There is a napkin, a glass of water, and various decorations. For simplicity's sake, we will say there is one other person: Manager/Chef/Server.
God is the entirety of this picture and all that it implies.
The seaweed came from Japan. The rice, avocado, and cucumber all came from California. To keep things simple, we'll say all the wood came from a Forest in Colorado. Now, what we have is a web of places, people, activities, things, and timelines that are all connected to bring this sushi roll to this plate in Albuquerque.
There is the restaurant, of course, which implies a city, which implies people, which implies a number of things. God is all of those things. The landlord, the money that pays the rent, the action of paying the rent, the electricity, the people, wires, and fuel that provides that electricity, and the idea of a restaurant itself.
God is the land (or ocean) the ingredients grew on (or in). God is the act of growing. God is the people who harvested them. God is the act of harvesting. God is the people who transported them, the means of transportation (trucks, fuel, power, etc). God is the act of transporting. God is the parents of those people (harvesters and transporters). God is the act of parenting.
We can go on! Think of 3 things that I've left out; 3 things that conspired to bring this sushi to this plate. God is that, as well.
And it's not limited to things, because God is not limited to things. God is the taste of salt in the seaweed, the tang of the rice vinegar. God is the color of the world.
God is all of the things that make the world what it is.
God is even the things that aren't that make the world what it is. In our example, God is the non-existence of a Crunchy Roll. God is the lack of ice on the world that allowed that truck to bring the rice to the restaurant.
Look for God everywhere and you will find It. The only way to know God is to experience It. I would like to conclude with something superfluously profound sounding like "God Is", but the truth is that's too restrictive. God Is and God Isn't... but there's more to it than that.
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