Are You There, God?

Question

I took your words to heart in the last issue, and over Shavuot decided I’d like to try and experience some Torah learning for myself. I’ll admit, it was amazing. It was intellectually stimulating, and deep, and challenging on so many levels; really unlike anything I’ve ever done. But here’s the problem -- I’m not sure I believe in God. I’m a logical, intelligent person, and the notion of the old man in the sky seems imaginary and juvenile. So all that Torah learning, while enjoyable, felt like a strange, hypocritical practice. 

Answer

You’re actually in great company, because the old man in the sky thing isn’t my jam either. I’ve actually heard that sentiment many times -- “I don’t think I can believe in God because I don’t think God is [fill in your choice of personification].” But I think there’s room to expand our conceptualization of God a bit. 

I’m not sure where the genie in the sky imagery originated from. Perhaps some combination of pagan and mythological lore? Judaism, historically the first religion based on monotheism, has never expressed or perpetuated that conceptualization. So it must have been introduced elsewhere. 

I do have to mention here that there are certainly corporeal expressions in the Torah in describing God. We read about his “mighty arm” and “open hand” and “sitting on His heavenly throne” and “listening” to prayers and “turning His face.” But our Sages teach that these are strictly allegorical, the Torah uses human terms to describe God so that we can “kind of” imagine Him or His actions. But those characterizations are expected to be taken strictly as just that, characterizations. 

So how does the Torah Jew conceptualize God? How does the Torah Jew relate to God? Intangible, invisible, omnipotent… It can sound kind of fantastical. 

In truth, we’re actually very used to interacting with things that we can’t see. Think radio waves. I actually like that example a lot because radio waves are in the air around us constantly, but you need a special instrument to convert them into a reality that we can interact with. Or, in other words, you need to be intentional to be aware of them. 

But there’s an even more sophisticated and, in my opinion, accurate way to visualize God’s presence and interaction with our world. There’s an “invisible” force that we’re all familiar with, that affects every object on earth and beyond, that rules how we interact with things and space around us. It’s gravity. It’s everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It’s not an external force, it’s something that’s built into the universe around us, between us and within us. 

Imagine such a force that’s not gravitational in nature, but spiritual in nature. It doesn’t necessarily pull objects toward each other, but it creates them and keeps them in existence. It’s not created by interactions between objects with mass, but it’s a wholly independent and causative force. 

In Judaism we don’t see God as a genie in the sky who manipulates people and objects at whim, punishes vindictively, grants wishes if He thinks you ask nicely enough. What we do see is a consistent, underlying Force that’s simultaneously everywhere and nowhere, affecting everything around us, between us, and within us. It’s a Force of many things, but above all and foremost, it is a force of Love and Kindness. It’s the causative quality that created all existence and the consistent power that sustains it. 

And if you think about it, it resides in each of us, too. A smaller, more limited, but equally significant and effective force of good that powers us and enables us to create, sustain, and influence in our own human ways. Even if you don’t feel familiar with God, hopefully you do feel familiar with that refraction of His goodness that shines through you. Your own caring, generosity, thoughtfulness, discipline, sense of justice, seeking of balance, are all the colors of that spectrum. And the more you consciously express those traits, and develop them, the more you’ll be able to see and relate to His. 

A common question people ask is, it’s hard to relate to God when He doesn’t communicate with me, or answer me when I talk to Him. But that’s a question born of an old man in the sky picture. If you think of God as a glorified person-like being, then you expect Him to speak to you the way you speak to Him. But if you have a more accurate, sophisticated picture, you can realize that God doesn’t communicate through a corporeal voice for a reason -- He’s just so much bigger than that. He communicates through the causative reality that He is. And then the voice becomes unnecessary. When we demonstrate love for another person in the proper way, there’s no need to say the words “I love you” -- the actions speak for themselves. Our universe, our world, the gifts we have, the people in our lives, our possessions… So much goodness, a voice shouldn’t be necessary. And if you have the instruments to convert the radio waves of kindness into a reality that you can experience, it won’t be. 

So go ahead. Call it God, call it Higher Power, call it He or She (They?) or whatever you like. But if you can see intentional and divine goodness in yourself and the world around you, you’ve found it.