When I decided to write a book about my 2nd great grandfather’s murder, I discovered through research that the true story had never been told. Eye witness accounts conflicted with one another. Whether the two brothers accused of the crime both shot, or only one, was never clarified. Everyone seemed to have a different spin on the murder and why it happened.
I decided to work from the perspective that everyone was telling the truth as they saw it, and that the full truth was most likely a composite of all the stories. I kept asking myself, “What scenario would have had to happen for everyone to be telling the truth as they perceived it?”
I told the story from what I deduced by compiling all of the perspectives.
A fun thing happened several months after I published An Uncertain Justice. The niece of one of the accused brothers emailed to thank me for writing the book. She said the way I had written it matched her uncle’s account. Some years after the murder, he turned his life around, became a psychologist and regretted the role he played in the events. The motive and the particulars I had deduced were the way this man had shared the story with his niece.
I have tried to apply the lessons I learned from An Uncertain Justice to every aspect of my life. The truth in every situation is most likely a composite of all perspectives. No one is all good or all bad. Even someone who is given a great deal of truth is filtering it through his or her own perspective.
I love the story of the blind men and the elephant. Five blind men approach an elephant and are asked to describe what they have found. One touches the ear and says it is a fan. The second touches a leg and says it is a tree. A third touches the side and says it is a wall and the fourth touches the trunk and says it is a snake. The last holds the tail and insists it is a rope.
All five men are telling the truth, yet each might argue persuasively that his perspective is correct and that the other four are lying, deceived or crazy. I believe the truth about our existence on this earth is much like this. We are each experiencing life, God and each other as blind men approach the elephant.
I went to the Oprah “Life You Want” Weekend and throughout the event there was a lot of reference made to God, Spirit, and Universe – but a lot more reference to God than I imagined I would hear at such an event. During the last hour of the program, Oprah pulled her trailblazers back on stage, had them sit in chairs and answer questions sent in by the audience. The first question was something to the effect of “What is God to you and how do you experience it?”
Each presenter defined God a little differently. I don’t recall all their answers, but Elizabeth Gilbert’s stood out to me. She said,
Anything that makes you look up is God. When your face is down in the dirt and you’re broken and scared and something comes along to help you look up, that is God.”
Each presenter’s answer was good, and each defined God by how he or she experienced God. No one suggested God could be an individual, a personage, a literal being with personality, passions, a body or anything of a physical nature.
I believe what they were describing and what most people perceive as God are evidences of God – signs that God exists. I agree with Elizabeth Gilbert. Anything that causes you to lift your head up out of the dirt and feel your worth is from God. But is that the actual definition of God? Is that who God is? Or is that an attribute of God? A “symptom” of God, if you will.
The apostle Paul talked about people “having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.” I do not believe this means that they deny there is a God; they just aren’t tapping into the full power of God. When we worship the evidence of God as God, we’re onto something, but we haven’t seen the full elephant yet. Will the man who is content to see the elephant only as a rope ever know he can climb onto the back of that elephant and ride it to a faraway destination? Probably not.
Most of us on this planet are groping in the dark, feeling for attributes of God, trying to piece a picture together. For many, this is a quest of a lifetime. Yet many more stop feeling around because they think they’ve figured it out. Or perhaps they have preconceived notions about what they will or will not accept as God.
I’ve noticed perceptions about God fall into two camps. There are those who see God as a literal being, a Father who has expectations and commandments and is intricately involved in our lives. And then there are those who see God as a spirit or essence who isn’t interfering in their lives, isn’t trying to control them, accepts them as they are and lives inside each of us. This God doesn’t have rules or commandments. There’s no right or wrong, only experiences we can learn from with this type of God.
And I believe it’s understandable for people to prefer this latter form of God.
- What if the blind man who saw the elephant as a wall became militant and forceful, demanding that anyone who perceived the elephant as anything other than a wall should either convert to his belief or be taken out and shot?
- What if the blind man who felt the trunk insisted that anyone who thought the elephant was anything other than a snake should be ridiculed and mocked?
- What if someone who saw the elephant as a fan waged war on anyone who perceived the elephant as anything else?
- What if someone who had eyes to see the entire elephant felt himself better than his blind brothers and became pushy, judgmental and holier-than-thou for his ability to see the full elephant?
The wedges that drive us apart have nothing do with who God is or even our perceptions of Him, and everything to do with our fears and our propensity to judge, force, control or condemn others. None of these characteristics have anything to do with God.
And so you have these two broad camps about who God is. There are those who believe in a God with clear expectations and a code of “binary laws” which govern “good and evil.” Then, there are those who believe in a merciful, loving spirit essence that spreads itself throughout every individual and wants what is best for each of us.
What if both perspectives are true?
- What if God is both just and merciful?
- What if God is both a physical distinct individual and is a spiritual essence that illuminates every person, plant, rock, planet or animal in the universe?
- What if God operates under fixed laws and moral absolutes, yet is merciful, loving and resourceful enough to allow for His children to live without knowing all the laws and without damning them to an eternal punishment for violating them?
- What if God wants us to do the best with the light we’re given yet is patient and merciful enough to forgive us when we succumb to the darkness?
- What if God has expectations, but isn’t the least bit controlling?
- What if God has a plan for saving all of His children? No matter what belief, background or life situations to which they are born, and yet has a very clearly defined path for doing that?
What if the truth about God isn’t “either/or” but “yes, and…?”
About Marnie Pehrson Kuhns
Marnie Pehrson Kuhns is a Certified SimplyAlign Practitioner™ who uses music and creativity to mentor you past barriers, fears and doubts to discover, create, align with, and deliver your soul’s song (the mission, message or purpose you are on this earth to live). Marnie is a best-selling author with 31 fiction and nonfiction titles. If you'd like Marnie and her husband Dave to work with you personally on Your Great Reinvention, get a FREE 20-minute strategy session with Marnie here.
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