What’s your God experiment?

We all have beliefs about the nature of “God,” a term that to me is synonymous with “ultimate reality.” If you believe that the physical universe is all there is, that’s your hypothesized God. Alternatively, if you believe that there is a spiritual reality apart from materiality, then that’s your hypothesized God.

I’m interested in how you are trying to turn that hypothesis, whatever it might be, into certainty or near-certainty. Specifically, what is the One Thing you do that is most central to your pursuit of truth and meaning?

By “do,” I mean that this One Thing is an action you perform that can be described to others. It is something specific that another person can do, just like you. In other words, it’s a God experiment. This is how you have chosen to seek answers to the big questions of life.

Reading an article today in the online New York Times, “Scientists Speak Up on God and Science,” helped spur me to ask this question of Church of the Churchless visitors. A scientist is quoted as saying, “Belief is never an issue in science.”

For Dr. Miller and other scientists, research is not about belief. "Faith is one thing, what you believe from the heart," said Joseph E. Murray, who won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1990 for his work in organ transplantation. But in scientific research, he said, "it's the results that count."

So, how are you seeking results that would help answer the God question? There may be lots of things you’re doing. What, though, is the One Thing that is most important to you? Maybe you haven’t gotten meaningful results from your God experiment yet. Maybe you don’t have a theory about why you’re doing what you’re doing. That’s fine.

Again, I’m interested in the doing—not the theorizing or believing. I’ll try to make this more clear by sharing my own One Thing. It may be that nobody else will choose to leave a comment to this post describing their One Thing, but I hope some people will.

For me, spirituality and the search for truth isn’t an abstraction. It’s really real. If my search doesn’t involve doing something concrete, I’m building spiritual castles in the sky, not in reality. So here’s my One Thing. I’ve shown you mine; will you show me yours?

I meditate for an hour every day. Sometimes in one chunk, sometimes in two half-hour blocks. My meditation chamber is in a walk-in shower that we don’t use often (definitely not while I’m meditating). I sit on a pillow, put an eye mask and noise-deadening headphones on to lessen sensory stimulation, and meditate away.

I use two meditation techniques: (1) I repeat a single word. That slows my thinking down. My goal is to be conscious of my own consciousness, not of anything else. I figure that if reality is everywhere, then if I can get in touch with the core of what’s most real about me, I’m getting closer to universal reality. And (2) I do nothing. I just open myself up to whatever is there in my inmost consciousness. Usually that’s also nothing. Sometimes, there’s something.

During the rest of the day, apart from the meditation hour, as much as possible I try to mentally repeat that word like a mantra, or just remain mentally quiet. Easier said than done, of course. I figure that the less I think about what I’m experiencing and simply experience it, the more real those experiences will be.

And that’s about it. I could go on and on about all the fancy metaphysical theories that support my One Thing practice, but what’s most important is what I do, not what I hypothesize about what my doing will lead to, or why I do it. Like the scientist said, “It’s the results that count.”

Comments

[punkin dunkin]

I spend time in nature, by myself. It's the closest I've come to a spiritual experience and to any kind of concept of a God. I take in the world around me- the river bubbling by, the animals roaming for food, the leaves twirling down from the trees and crunching beneath my feet... it's the best I can do at the moment.

When I was a child, I used to climb up tall hills, turn myself around and lie backwards with my head toward the bottom. Not only did I get an incredible head rush, but I also could feel a pull away from the earth and I could see myself floating off into space towards...a heaven perhaps.

I can't get to a God within a church. If I do find God, I'm sure it will be outside. I need to see it, feel it and do it. I can’t have someone tell me that it’s there and I don’t get moved by someone preaching to me.

Frank Lloyd Wright is quoted as saying "I believe in God, only I spell it nature."

Is this what you're talking about?

[Brian]

Yes, punkin dunkin, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Your "spiritual practice" is very much like my wife's. She meditates some each day, but spends much more time outdoors. Like you, she feels closest to a higher power when immersed in nature.

Thanks for sharing. There are so many ways to be spiritual--we need to accept and embrace every person's chosen path, so long as it doesn't obstruct anyone else's (which is why I object to religions intruding into politics.)

[Peter D]

Having studied and practiced several systems of meditation I have come to the conclusion that the various systems are designed to first of all bring about concentration of the meditators mind. This "concentration" is not quite the same as that often understood by westerners but is in fact much as the word is defined in the Oxford dictionary ie" bringing to bear on one point, collect (attention, power, troops);~e ones thoughts or efforts (on, upon). Whilst one may concentrate on solving a problem (the most common understanding of the word)this is not what is meant by concentration in the meditative sense as the emphasis here is on one pointed concentration not indulging in the flow of thoughts that concentration on trying to solve a problem can produce. In fact concentration in meditation is to do with unification of mind which has the function of calming the mind, the very outcome that Brian refers to as becoming mentally quiet. To move from this concentrated state to the next stage is not something the meditator can bring about by an act of will and a certain "letting go" is needed although even this letting go has to be skilfully managed otherwise concentration is lost. At this stage an activation of the two faculties of mind that are applicable to observation of the mind itself is needed ie "seeing and hearing" . This is using a seeing and hearing faculty inherent to conciousness but not the seeing and hearing we engage in everyday life. The hearing faculty is in fact possibly more important than the seeing one as it pointed out in the Buddhist Surangama Sutra that the hearing faculty is all pervasive, permanent, complete and perfect. More on this later.

[Eric]

About 10 or 15 years ago I was more spiritual than I am today (I'm sorry to say). I guess something just took the wind out of my sails. However, that does not mean that I won't get back into something. I now take a Tai Chi class which is very helpful, and the people there are equally as inspiring.

During my more spiritual days I too would spend a lot of time outdoors. Many times it was just in my "front yard" in a little town 40 miles from Albuquerque, NM. It was wide open range. Granted, there were mobile homes around, but still, there was plenty of room. The night skies were (and are) spectacular! It was the first time I had seen the Milky Way.

Now, I have always enjoyed music. I can't read it or play it (although I try), but I do enjoy it. Aside from the rock 'n' roll that I listen to I enjoy what has been called "New Age" music. One of my favorite artists is a Japanese gentleman by the name of Kitaro. His music inspires me. And it was with his music that I would do my "God experiments".

I would generally lie on my bed and put on my headphones and just let the music drift over me. I would close my eyes and let whatever images the music conjured up just pop into my head. What I consider my most spiritual experience was when I was drowsing to his music. I was half asleep in the heat of the day and I suddenly felt I was floating. I could literally feel myself lifting off the bed. It was perfect!