"Just Thinking"

There is a movie currently being shown, "I'm Not There", which portrays Bob Dylan at various stages in his life: a young boy, a folk singer,etc. with each stage portrayed by a different actor ----in one case an African-American boy, and in another case by actress Kate Blanchett! It's an intriguing way to portray a character, especially one so chameleon-like as Dylan.

It reminds me of the T.V. series a few years back, "Joan of Arcadia" in which a teen-age girl was advised by "God" how to react to situations. It was a bit on the "Touched by an Angel" -side, but you never knew which person on the street was going to turn out to be "God"---- one time an old man, next time a pre-teen girl, a bank president or a dog-walker.

I was brought up to understand concepts by"Objectification": It's easier to think of "freedom" if you can put a face on it, hold it, smell it, taste it. And so I, and alot of other people, see "God" as a person, "heaven" as a place, and "time" and "space" as things. But if we get away from thinking in terms of objects, thoughts begin to open up.

Why assume "God" is one thing and one thing only, when "God" can be many or all things to people and still not lose that "God"-identity. Instead of being an old man on a lofty throne, a meticulous bookeeper, a "hanging judge", I can think of "God" as the connection we have to each other, the "soul" of creation we all share. [To paraphrase the Evangelist, "the more one loves, the more one knows God; the less one loves, the less one knows God."]

Is heaven a place beyond the clouds to which people either go or not go? Again, doesn't the Christian scripture say the kingdom of heaven is already among us and within us? Could it be each creature carries around a tiny piece of heaven, a tiny piece of the puzzle of Creation, which when all put together would still have one important piece missing, And that piece is "God."

Just thinking...