Dear Sylvia,
I got triggered into an expression by your words on faith and experiences
of God, even if that wasn't meant by you as other than examples of
difficulties in knowing what's beyond the phenomenal.
There is something about the Christian language that repells me and makes
me unable to identify as Christian. Language carries so much of a certain
view, that is preestablished, that I often find myself stuck in a
linguistic prison when trying to understand another human being's
expression of his/her experiences - and particularly spiritual experiences
in the Christian formula. So I turn to images, which give me far more space
for emotional interaction and understanding.
The concept of God certainly carries a whole history of preestablished
views, that I experience as forcing me into visionalizing the very symbol
of Christianity (represented by Jesus Christ in a more materialistic form)
as a person. If not a HE or a SHE, God must be an IT (gosh, what a
coincidence in relation to the medium we use for this interaction). And as
an "it" is a thing that is material and substantial, there is no room for a
vision of God in a linguistic sense. And still there is so much talk about
God in the Christian view.

Suddenly, Sylvia, I recognize a little - but significant - twist in your
formulations below: you write "my experiences WITH God". That makes sense
for me in another way. I usually say "experiences OF God". Now I can find
meaning in the WITH, which I believe is what I'm looking for. The
objectification of God gives nothing left to find - while the opening of a
relation is what it's all about for me.
The missing point.
Waoh!

I'm glad I started to write this message - opening myself to a process out
of my feelings of frustration over the word God.

Thank you, Sylvia, for this opportunity.

Warmly in relation to you,
Lars

> Like you, I base my own religious faith on my
>experiences with God and my shared experienced with other religious people.
>However, I do not know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God exists, and I
>certainly do not know what God is in and of himself or as he knows himself.
>The last sentence brings up another point, my personal experience of God is of
>him as a loving father, among other things.  I do not know if maleness makes
>any sense about God as he/it really is, but that is how he appears to me.
>
>Warmly, Sylvia