The central principle of the Universe (call it God, call it Tao, call it by any name) is so mysterious not because it is too far away from us to understand, but because it is too close. It is too all-encompassing to ever get an objective look at it, in the way that a scientist looks into a microscope to view the object of her research.
If we were to try to find the central principle or essence of an object in front of us – let’s say a tea cup – we forget that the essence of the tea cup is also the essence of our eyes, our senses, our brains, and even our consciousness - everything that we would use to observe the tea cup. There is no way to get an objective viewpoint of this principle because we always are this principle, just in the way that we can’t taste our own tongue, hear our own ear drums, or see our own eyes without the help of a mirror.
Modern scientists are actually discovering this paradox as they dive into the realms of quantum physics. There is no ground separate from the fundamental rules of the Universe on which to stand and observe, because we are always in the Universe.
Mystics have long understood this. Rumi once wrote that “When you look for God, God is in the look of your eyes, in the thought of looking, nearer to you than yourself… There is no need to go outside.”
God seems so ungraspable to our minds not because God is so far from us, never making Himself/Herself known, but because we can never step outside of God, never once leave the embrace of the Tao, never once become exiled from the Universe.
Our sense of separateness and alienation from God, from the world, and even from ourselves is an intellectual phantom. It is as if we have fallen asleep smack dab in the middle of the Garden of Eden, having a horrible nightmare that we’ve been kicked out.
All we must do is wake up.
~ Matthew Foley
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