Our Reality
We live in two connected realities: an inner reality and outer reality. Different people who are in the same outer reality will sense the same external stimuli. But they may interpret it or receive it in different ways and thereby create different internal realities.
In each moment, outer reality, our situation of the moment, is the question God asks us. We internalize this outer reality. Depending on our values and on whether or not our attention is to the appearance, which is manyfold, or to the essence, which is one, our inner reality either becomes one of turning toward God or turning away from God. We express our turning toward God or turning away from God by our emotions and our external actions. They are the carriers of our answer. Thus our inner reality is expressed and our outer reality is impressed. The content of the answer is in the intention behind the action. God absorbs what we impress on the outer reality and it becomes part of His inner reality.
The whole constitutes a song with four parts. In part one, God calls forth and asks: Am I here? In the second part we turn toward God or turn away from God. In the third part we externalize our answer. Depending on how we turn, either we answer with delight: I recognize You, You are here. Or we answer with despair: I do not recognize You, You are not here. In the fourth part God hears and internalizes our answer in preparation for His next question. These four parts correspond to the letters Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey of the unpronounceable name יהוה
Our answer is not just an intellectual answer, requiring an intellectual act of discrimination resulting in the simple statement: I recognize you, you are here, or I do not recognize you, you are not here. Our answer is full of intention.
If our full intention, heart, mind, and soul is to be with God and draw near to the Divine, then we will answer I recognize you, you are here. If our intention, heart, mind and soul is not fully to be with God, then we will answer: I do not recognize you, you are not here.
The issue before us is always only of one kind: whether or not the intention behind our thoughts, feelings, speech, and action is to be with God and draw near to the Divine.
Why is this an issue? Certainly not because of a question of its desirability. We would never question its desirability. However, it is an issue because we may not believe in the Song. This is called not having faith. Or, it is an issue because we may not will to be in a state of God consciousness. Or it is an issue because our attention is directed elsewhere, in the details of the manyfoldness, and we forget to be where we are suppose to be. In this case we engage in idol worship. Why idol worship? Because what we see we take as primary. In effect we worship what we take as primary. So if we do not see God, we must see something other than God. And as this something other is primary, we will be worshipping something other than God.
This makes the primary issue being what is our will. Do we will to believe that there is the Divine? Do we will to believe in the Divine Song? Do we will to have faith?