Our every action reflects God’s presence
by Michael Ketterhagen
Every time we act we are demonstrating the presence of God in our lives.
That’s what Christianity and the Vedic tradition, the philosophical foundation of Yoga, would say when we look very closely at Christianity’s and Yoga’s philosophical tradition understanding of Reality and God.
Let me explain!
Christianity believes that God is Ultimate Reality and Trinitarian in nature. That means that, according to Christianity, God is One and There are three persons in that one God. Christians call those three persons, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This fundamental dogma of Christianity was formed during the first six centuries of Christianity.
The word that the leaders of Christianity chose at that time for the specific activities of Creator, Savior or Sustainer of the Creator’s life, and the Active presence of God in the physical world was “persona,” the Latin word for the English word, “person.” “Persona” in Latin means “mask” and is the root of our English word, “personality.” Our personality is the mask we wear in the physical world. It covers/masks our spiritual essence.
Therefore, then, this One God of Christianity has three masks or coverings of its spiritual essence. This one God relates to us in three different ways—as creator (Father), as sustainer expressed in love (Son), and as change agent in the world (Holy Spirit).
The Yoga Tradition believes this also, but uses different words. Brahman, which is the One over-arching Universal Consciousness, is the Creator, and Vishnu is the manifestation of that consciousness in the form of Love, and Shiva is the constant activity of the Creator’s presence in the physical world.
Furthermore, everything that we do is trinitarian and reflects God’s/Brahman’s presence in our lives. We manifest this divine reality every time we do anything.
In order for anything to exist there are three parts to that reality; namely, that which acts, that which is acted upon, and the process of the action itself. Let’s use our action of reading as an example. There is a reader (me). There is that which is read (this blog). There is the process of reading itself. Three parts of one reality that cannot exist unless all the parts are there. There would be no reading if I weren’t doing it; no reading if this blog was not here; and no reading without the process of reading.
It’s the same with everything that we do—love, eat, pray, think, smile, walk, play, etc. We are in a trinitarian world. We participate and bring the Oneness of God/Brahman to life in our choice to act. Every action shows us that this trinitarian God exists.
May you continue to know the Divine Source of Life, the One God, the Universal Consciousness (Brahman) whenever you act!
Namaste’