If you were angry or depressed and I wanted to help you to relax your nervous system, I could try asking you to think of love. But this would not likely change how you feel. Because if I asked you to think of love you would think of it instead of feel it. So, I would instead ask you to visualize someone you deeply love. More than anyone else. Then your nervous system would soften and open as you witness your beloved.
If I asked a roomful of students to do this, each one of us would imagine someone different, but all of us would find ourselves in the state of love. For me, to access love, I would think of my wife – but I will not ask you to think of her. She is my portal to love and probably not yours. You will think of someone else. It is the same with what we often call God. I will not ask you to imagine my image or name of God, you must use your own.
Just like to enter a website, you must have your own username and password, to enter the deepest part of us, we each have our own codes which are names, symbols, images, or even feelings. These are all essentially portals to the beloved.
God, Vishnu, Jesus, Yahweh, Allah, the Divine Mother, Shakti, are terms or names with which we access the divinity within us. And without the correct password we are denied access--but not by the Divinity, but by ourselves. We deny ourselves access because we mistakenly believe that there are no other passwords, or portals—only our own.
But people across the globe and across time have given this idea of God various names, faces, and personalities. It is as if people need different keys to unlock the same door. These keys, languages, and rituals open the heart and enable us to know reality beyond this material world.
For some, it is a distant feeling of knowing and faith, while for others, it’s a blazing experience they can touch and breathe. And so just as there are hundreds of names for the one sun that warms this earth, I invite you to seek the sun within you. And remember that the person sitting next to you in the sunlight, or across the world, may call the sun by a different name than the one you use, yet it will shine its light on everyone regardless of what we name it.
Max Strom is a teacher, speaker, and author who teaches personal transformation and yoga. His latest book is "A Life Worth Breathing". Please visit his website at MaxStrom.com.
From: Unique D'Vine | 4/11/11 at 2:10 pm
What a wonderful analogy! Perfect explanation. I will be sharing with my Divine Mind blog readers! Thank you!
From: Liz Guthier | 4/11/11 at 2:25 pm
Wow, I really enjoyed this. It was so easily stated. Thank you for this post!
From: Jodie | 4/13/11 at 12:49 pm
Max,
You always rock my world and put what into words what I can't. So simple so ture. Can't wait to see you again at Jonnys mid year conference and attend A Life worth Breathing workshop. See you in May. \With Health and Happiness,
Jodie
From: Tricia Kelly | 4/13/11 at 2:05 pm
Beautiful; this is a must share with friends and family. Gratitude for your words, Max.
From: jennie lee | 4/13/11 at 3:26 pm
Aloha Max,
Having just met you last fall in Oahu it is so nice to receive your updates. This is a beautiful explanation, so accessible and open hearted...just like you! Many blessings, Jennie