I don't know how to answer the question, does God exist?, but I do know this...
God is a loaded term - my shorthand for a transcendent force for good, that exists in every living thing, in our planet and through the cosmos.
There is that of God in every child, woman, and man.
I have been wondering if my experience of God, inner experience of this transcendence, Light, can be communicated to others. My God is all shapes and beings and none. I heard others tell of a God who acts with benevolence to some and with vengence to others - mine does not act in that way. God works from within and through each of us, and thus acting together the experience and power of this God exceeds the experience and power of one person.
I do know God is Love, because when I experience or observe acts of kindness and love in others and myself, they seem holy to me. Meanwhile I don't have that holy experience when I experience or observe others (or myself) behaving cruelly, selfishly, hatefully. So I don't believe in a God who supports retribution, oppression, and the domination of others.
Recently, I read this excerpt from the writings of an early Quaker, Isaac Penington, and it articulated how I experience the moving of the Light, of that transcendent force with-In and with-Out:
“What is the nature of the seed of God, or the seed of the kingdom?...4. It is of a seasoning, leavening, sanctifying nature. It is like salt, it is like leaven. It seasons and leavens with life. It seasons and leavens with righteousness. It seasons and leavens with the image of God. So soon as ever it springs in the heart, it begins to leaven it; and if it be not snubbed, or grieved, or hurt, or quenched (for it is of a most sensible, tender nature), it will go on leavening more and more wit he the nature of truth, into the likeness of the God of truth (Mark ix. 50; Luke xiii. 21; Col. iv.6)” From the writings of an early Quaker, Isaac Penington (1617-1679).
I may not experience any more mercy or good fortune in this life, but in deepening my relationship with God, my experience of bad and good fortune or sorrow and joy is leavened as the yeast working in bread dough lifts it up, gives it resilience, fosters its inner strength, and makes it tasty!
