I can't tell you if God exists

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!

Do You Have to be a Hero to do Your Human Duty?

http://preview.tinyurl.com/ybro9jb

Miep Gies died at 100 years. "I don't want to be considered a hero," she said in a 1997 online chat with schoolchildren."Imagine young people would grow up with the feeling that you have to be a hero to do your human duty. I am afraid nobody would ever help other people, because who is a hero? I was not. I was just an ordinary housewife and secretary."

As we approach the birthday and celebration of the life of Martin Luther King, Jr, I think how he has been co-oped into convincing us that we need a Messiah in order for change and right action to take place. For one, Martin Luther King, Jr. was a real radical - more radical than the "celebrity" that we're given every third Monday in January. And, secondly, the progress that the civil rights movement made is attributable to a lot of ordinary and unknown people like Miep Gies. Martin Luther King, Jr. was just one of them.

Doing our human duty, whether it is marching in support of immigrants, speaking up for those in prison, giving a panhandler a kind word, or witnessing for policies that respect the dignity of each person...one wouldn't think courage would be necessary in order to do that.

The Personal Hi-Lights of the Last Decade

Perhaps by listing the highlights of the past decade, 2000 -2009, they will explain a bit about me. Here they are as they occurred to me, and this is not an exhaustive list:

• Lived on two coasts and in the middle.


• Lived in New York City and Brooklyn for short periods.


• Visited Japan, the first foreign country (not counting Canada) that I have visited.


• Learning Qi Gong.


• Became a more knowledgeable citizen, learning more about public finance and economic development and housing as an advocate for the field of California redevelopment. I learned more about subjects I would not have learned otherwise.


• My daughter graduated from high school AND college with honors.


• Learned to knit and picked up crochetting again, and have been busy ever since.


• Participated in some great grassroots efforts with Drug-Free Indiana and The Eyes Wide Open (or "Boots") Project (in Sacramento), meeting great people and working with them to make positive change happen.


• Earned my Masters of Public Administration.


• Participating in two ballot initiative campaigns - successful, which makes it more fun of course.


• Learned to live without television - surprising how easy it has been.


• Becoming a better pet owner. Gave up two cats and took on two more a long the way, and learned some things in the process.


• The 2008 Presidential Campaign! That was fun, and affirming!


• Cynicism is losing its cool.


• Becoming a member of Sacramento Friends Meeting. Attended Quaker meetings in Washington, D.C., New York City, Brooklyn, San Jose (CA), Seattle, Bloomington (IN), San Francisco, Berkeley, and Vancouver (BC). Not to mention Friends General Conference in Tacoma, Washington, and College Park Quarterly Meeting in Grass Valley, CA.


• Became a Great Aunt.