Our image of G-d, our “de facto”, operative image of G-d, lives in a symbiotic relationship with our soul and creates what we become.

Loving people, forgiving people, have always encountered a loving and forgiving G-d. Cynical people are cynical about the very possibility of a coherent, loving centre to the universe. So why wouldn’t they become cynical themselves? Of course, they do.

When we encounter a truly sacred text, the first questions are not: Did this literally happen just as it says? How can I be saved? What is the right thing for me to do? What is the dogmatic pronouncement here? Does my church agree with this? Who is right and who is wrong here?

These are largely ego questions. They are questions that try to secure our position, not questions that make us go on a spiritual path of faith and trust. They constrict us, whereas the purpose of the Sacred is to expand us. Furthermore, they are the first ones that come to our mind because that is where we live, inside our ego, and these are the questions we were also trained to ask (unfortunately!).

How about other questions? Simply having read the text, ask:

What is G-d doing here?

What does this say about who G-d is?

What does it say about how I can also meet this same G-d?