Do you have a concept for God? Perhaps one (or more) that you no longer embrace, or have grown out of, or threw away? If this describes you, we have something in common.
Like you, I was left high and dry as I explored new territory and names for the unknown. As I sat with Ultimate Reality, Ground of Being, All That Is and many more, I was intrigued to read that over 95% of people believe in a higher power and over half of that percentage call it God. As I pondered the word, I was flooded with an image and the phrase Grid Of Divinity -- with the acronym G.O.D.
As I shared this with SoulScapes visionary Susan Slotter, a How Do You Pray? contributor, she too had come up with one: Grace Opening Depths.
As I collected prayers for the book, I heard from Gail Larsen. She spoke of how she prayed for a way to reframe the word God. She was inspired with Great Open Door.
Well, by then I was on a roll! I asked How Do You Pray? contributor and creative thinking expert Michael Gelb, author of How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, and he immediately said, "Generate, Organize, Do."
As I shared this compelling exploration with our cousin Lawrence Peltz, he said, "I have one: Good Old Dude!"
The awesomeness formerly known as God is just too big for one name or religion.
Join the conversation. Share in the comments your new name for God. You don't have to stop at one, or limit yourself to the G.O.D. acronym. Got Other Descriptions?
Here are more of Gail Larsen's thoughts from How Do You Pray? on the nature of the name of the divine:
I used to contract when someone would speak too often and evangelically of God, harkening back to my teens when it was a prelude to someone wanting to save my everlasting soul. For that reason, I abandoned church, and with it, prayer. Coming home to Spirit has been a process spanning decades, until finally I came to the point when I realized sometimes those who talk enthusiastically about God may have something really wonderful to share. And I don't want to miss it!
That was the day I prayed, my way, for a way to reframe the word God. My way is to feel my feet firmly on the sacred Earth, so I can breathe that energy up through my body until it reaches my heart. Then I extend that Earth energy up through the rest of my body, out the crown of my head, and extend my arms up and out around me to open my personal sacred space where I call in the Great Spirit, my guides, ancestors, helping allies and angels. Asking from that perspective, the answer came in an instant: God is G--O--D, Great Open Door, the gateway to the vastness and generosity of the Universe, All That Is.
Prayer, to me, is the recognition that Spirit is not going to intervene unless I ask. I can move through life on my own, hoping for the best, or I can ASK for support and guidance. I can commune daily and learn how Spirit speaks to me, which is often through automatic writing, and then I know how to listen in those moments when I am overwhelmed or facing a crisis. I have learned to trust what I hear in those split seconds when I am challenged to act.
Prayer won't stop the inevitable cycles of loss and death and pain inherent in the human condition. But because it has become a practice that enriches my life, it opens me to grace in times of grief and a place to surrender when there is absolutely no way I can figure things out. (I still usually try to work it out myself first, characteristic of the human condition!) God is, to me, the Great Mystery. And prayer is the way to connect with All That Is.