God is in the Rain

I couldn't sleep last night, thanks to the beautiful Tulsa storm- lightning illuminating my room, thunder shaking the house.

I couldn't sleep last night because I was reminded of my favorite scene from V for Vendetta- Evey's semi-baptismal experience after V releases her from her cell...

"God is in the rain..."

How do we redefine our understanding of God? How do we break free from cultural given beliefs about a Father God, one who has a physical body and controls our every move?

How do we get away from the cop-out of calling God "Mother" which is still dangerously anthropomorphic?

God is in the rain...

God is a self-perpetuating existence- life-giving, powerful...

But then to say God even exists doesn't work (as you've all heard me say) because that puts God on the same level as things like a table, and my shih tzu Leia.

There's a passage in Living Buddha, Living Christ, and I wish I had my book here so I could reference it but I don't, so bear with me as I try to paraphrase.

We call things by names when we don't truly understand what they are. For example we call a mountain a mountain without truly understanding what "it" is.

Then we realize that it isn't actually just a mountain-it is sunshine and air and all the people who have climbed it. Its arising was interdependent on everyone and everything else.

Once we realize this, we can go back to calling it a mountain.

Maybe I'll find some time today to sit and realize. To come to terms with what I want to call God but can't...quite yet.

But for now, God is in my piano...in the form of music and "Let it Be" and a duet with Leia.