Day 21: Naming the Nameless

"The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name." The Tao Te Ching

Many mornings I sit on a zafu cushion and start my centering prayer time praying the Daily Office. Actually, I have taken to amending the prayers. It seems arrogant for me, an unschooled layperson to mess with these sacred words. I simply hope that the Holy One to whom I pray is pleased I am showing up.

Here is the deal. Consistently in these morning prayers God is referred to as "Father" and "He." I love my father. I think guys are great. I adore my husband. It is not that I don't like men, but sometimes I am weary of all masculine language we use to describe the Divine. Truly, the Beloved I worship is greater than "he" or "she." So sometimes I insert "Mother" or "Mother and Father" instead of "Father" or "GOD" instead of "He;" however my favorite is "Beloved." This language feels softer, more expansive. And yet, even these modifications are inadequate to express the magnitude of the Creator.

Lao Tzu, the presumed author of the Tao Te Ching, had the right idea. The moment we begin to name the Nameless, we have diminished this Presence. Yet, we need language to communicate with one another.

If the language of the Spirit is intended to be used metaphorically and not literally, why do most of the metaphors point in one direction? This language conundrum hit home when I was helping with Vacation Bible School last summer. The children in my care were to act out a scene about Noah's ark. Two of them wanted to play the part of God, one was a boy and the other a girl. I was unsuccessfully mediating a solution when the young man confidently declared, "You can't be God because God is a boy." The little girl opened her mouth and then shut it, as if she didn't have a better response.

We were on a tight schedule and I made a snap decision that I didn't have time to give my "God is bigger than 'he' or 'she' speech." Humorously, the young man relented when he found out that if he played one of the other parts, he could bang sticks to make the ark. Still, the memory of that young girl opening and then closing her mouth continues to haunt me. The thought that this future father holds this one-dimensional image of God, disturbing.

Maybe we rely too much on language. Maybe the mystics have the right idea in their pursuit of direct experience of Reality...through prayer, poetry, art, service.

On the other hand, the Islamic tradition recognizes 99 names for Allah (God), names like, "The All Beneficent," "The Most Merciful," "The Creator," "The Ever Forgiving." Beautiful names.

Holding the Beloved in our hearts, reaching toward union is what we are called to do. If naming is a catalyst toward this communion, then let's follow our Islamic brothers and sisters and fling the door wide open. Naming is important.

What are your favorite names for the Nameless? Say them aloud...write them down...honor them and praise the Presence they feebly describe. Namaste