THE TAO OR THE TABLE?

Another book; another discussion. I have a feeling this is the pattern of the rest of our lives. I have now been given If God Is Love: Rediscovering Grace in an Ungracious World by Quakers Philip Gulley and James Mulholland. I’m just a few pages into the first chapter but I already know I often find Tao in the peacefulness of the Quakers. My grandma was a Quaker and the peace that surrounded her felt like that cool blast of air in your house when you walk in after a really hot day.

I freely admit, as Dan grows in his faith, I am forced to grow in mine. He is a sharer; he wants to explore his faith actively, by sharing what he thinks and discussing the conclusions to which he has come. Practically every night we have conversations about the nature of grace, whether evil really exists, whether the HP (Higher Power) really keeps watch on every single thing that goes on in the cosmos. We talk about books, the Bible, the craziness of the world and whether Donald Trump is really a brilliant actor performing an elaborate piece of performance art as his boredom in a slow economy deepens.

Sometimes I am exhausted by my son’s active mind. Other times I feel the loss of his companionship, which occurred just a few days ago. I have no doubt my son has made me a better person, albeit an exhausted one. Since he accepted his call, I have witnessed him grow in ways I never anticipated. He is wiser, more compassionate and more thoughtful. He is also more likely to question and requestion his responses to everyday challenges. Most of the time, his spiritual lens is getting clearer but still, quite often, it is murkier than before his Call. I’m guessing as he begins his spiritual study, his questioning will be more commonplace than his answering. Doubt is implicit in faith.

It must be an occupational hazard. Questioning as part of the journey is replete in If God is Love. The authors tell of their early years as newly ordained clergymen with answers fresh out of the Bible and their seminary textbooks. They acknowledge the power of a punishing God but argue that this punishing God does not reflect Jesus’ teachings of unconditional love. This is a conundrum of the Christian Church.

The authors also argue that grace, as they describe as God's "unfailing commitment to love all persons regardless of belief,” does not work as a life raft thrown to the repentant by a loving God as so typically portrayed but as a life raft already waiting for you if you trip along the way. The authors propose that Grace is not relational to sin but to love.

As a Taoist, the idea of grace as Gulley and Mulholland describe it is certainly intrinsic to the Tao but an unnecessary explanation of the river of peace the Tao offers. Tao and grace may be similar – they both rely on an interconnected web (The Way in Taoism and God's unending love in Christianity). A believer in the power of the Tao tries always to incorporate in life a constant understanding that every single action and even lack of action affects the Tao, moving the Taoist closer or further away from it. On the other hand, Christians are motivated to be morally appropriate and loving in order to be deserving of God's infinite love.

For me, Tao is somewhat like the brass ring on a carousel. It is always there; you pass it many times as the music of life plays and the carousel turns. Your forward trajectory moves you closer until it begins to move you further away. That is the contradictory nature of Tao. But unless you actively reach for it, by listening to the way Tao is working within you, fully realizing the Tao inevitably remains out of grasp. When faith emanates from within, it is the spiritual practice of listening to the voice within that becomes paramount, not the rules and regulations that early tribes and Christians have proposed for the faithful in order to be 'judged' by God as acceptable for God's love.

I agree that Grace, defined as deeply relative to love rather than redemption, is a far more powerful attraction to the Christ than Judge God. Gulley and Mulholland admit that an unconditionally loving God may be more difficult to ‘sell’ than hell fire and damnation and certainly more difficult to raise funds for but a powerful, vengeful god, looking to separate rather than include, completely misses the point of Spirit, leaving the faithful afraid and paranoid of God’s wrath.

To be afraid of God? What a horrible misuse of God’s love as it is expressed through Grace. If all three Abrahamic faiths always promoted a loving, inclusive God what a wonderful world this would be. And I must admit, perhaps if God’s love had always been the main course of the spiritual meals meted out in my young life, I might still be drawn to the Table rather than the Tao.