The Quest of and for God

Since humans have had independence, they have - consciously or unconsciously - slowly inched their way back to the divine status they once enjoyed. They have learned, experienced & grown. They have passed through the many gradations of the school of nature and survived the purifying fires of trial and error.

Man has learned to use his gift of intellect to reason and make sense of his surroundings. He has learned to use his gift of emotion to love and to differentiate between good & bad. He has learned to use his gift of will to manifest and to build.

These lessons have slowly & meticulously prepared man for his eventual reunion with God through the generations. Each planetary condition, round, age & epoch investing him with new & specific gifts. Cultures around the world have donated their own understanding and tradition of the ways in which to progress mankind forward on his journey.

Approaching more recent history, man had developed their faculties sufficiently up to a point. But, it became time for something new - the second half of Earth evolution.

After countless generations of mans quest and reaching for God, it was time for God to reach back. From the creation of the world in Genesis, to God’s intervention through nature in Egypt and finally to the incarnation of the Word into Jesus of Nazareth. Like a shepherd searching for a lost sheep, the Lord has tirelessly searched for us.

Michelangelo’s famous fresco painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel gives a perfect mental image. “The Creation of Adam” depicts the outstretched arms of man & God, their fingers barely separated. The feeling of soul we receive is akin to: “Something magnificent would happen if they touch; some type of revelation or combustion of transcendence.” An interesting observation of the scene is the body language of the figures. Adam is reaching to the heavens, but in a subdued sense of wonder and caution. God however, is portrayed as reaching down to man in a fervent, energized manner; not an unsure or cautionary one. God is coming for us actively, not passively waiting for us to stumble upon his grace. To me, this image conveys a sense of mutual purpose. God and man both act with the shared purpose of reunification; and not in an independent manner, but in a complimentary one.

A parallel illustration of the two-sided quest from human a perspective is found in the story of Cain and Abel. The scriptures portray Abel as a shepherd who enjoyed favor with God, illustrating the priestly path. The life of a priest is one of asceticism and devotion; clearing away the blockages in life allowing for God’s grace to reach through.

Cain was described as a tiller of the ground, a cultivator of the physical, symbolizing the path of a laborer or craftsman taking a more active role to find God. The sons of Cain take the responsibility upon themselves to actively reach to out to heaven as Gods grace responds reciprocally.

Let us remember this image of outstretched arms from heaven and Earth, grasping for each other through the veil. The rainbow bridge is a two-way, not a one-way road. In our imperfect human condition we may not have the strength, knowledge or ability to climb the mountain of god, but every single one of us does have the ability to open the door of our hearts to the searching, questing, knocking God.