"To do what He is"

I've been reading a lot lately and the thing I love about reading several books at once is that little similarities pop up where you would least expect them. Last week I finished reading Neale Donald Walsch's Conversations with God: Book 1. I still have about 135 pages left to finish Abraham Joshua Heschels's God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism. While they both deal with man's relationship with God, they come at it from very different perspectives.

Heschel was a rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and Jewish philosophers of his time. (On a side note, he also marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma.) His work is beautifully written and quite profound and enlightening. This is not, however, a quick read. This is a book where you read a few paragraphs or at most a chapter and then you have to stop and give yourself time to fully process everything he said. It's deep.

Walsch believes that he did not write his book, but merely took dicatation from God in answer to his own questions. He says, "...God was responding to my questions in direct proportion to my ability to comprehend. That is, I was being answered in ways, and with language, that God knew I would understand." This statement is actually what I also believe regarding personal revelation. It also accounts for the fact that Walsch's God has a sense of humor and occassionally makes slightly sarcastic comments. (I like this God!)

Sometimes these 2 books are almost completely opposite with regards to issues and doctrines. And sometimes, they are saying exactly the same thing, like in the passages I found in Heschel today. He says, "The Torah is primarily divine ways rather than divine laws" and "The plea is not to obey what He wills but to do what He is." We tend to think of the Torah as The Law of Moses, a complicated system of Thou shalts and Thou Shalt Nots. We teach that the law was given to prepare Israel for the higher law that Christ revealed. But it is not just about what we (or they) should and shouldn't do. It is about doing things the way God does and becoming as he is.

I love how Walsch (or God in Walsch's book) talks about this. In reference to the Ten Commandments, he says, "You shall know that you have taken the path to God, and you shall know that you have found God, for there will be these signs, these indications, these changes in you". He then explains each of what we refer to as commandments and how it would be impossible to do anything else if we are truly seeking God.

I really have trouble with the concept of obedience. Maybe it is because regardless of how I reframe it intellectually, my gut still hears, "Do what I said because I said so. End of discussion." Even though it may be the right thing to do, obeying because I should just doesn't work for me. I love the idea of learning about who God is, what he does, and how he does it and using that as the map for my journey--no commandments, just sign posts and commitments. You may argue that I'm saying the same thing, but it feels different to me. I am making a personal choice to do something that I want to do, rather than just doing what I'm told by someone who may or may not understand me and what us happening in my life.



-- Posted from my iPhone