The Nothingness of God

[Music] [Music] hello again and welcome back to all saints church here in Bakewell for another conversation with John Butler on a creaky chair by the sounds of it heard John one of my destinations was Oxford for a Friends Meeting House workshop on the meister eckhart the german medieval mystic and i found a lot that puzzled me I was both inspired and puzzled and I thought I thought it would kick off this conversation to see to see if you could help my puzzlement one of the things that meister eckhart is reported to have said before I have to say he was excommunicated after he died is whoever speaks of God as nothing speaks of God properly I could have a go at that but honestly I'm not equipped to to comment on the nothingness of God so I thought had to pass the past the bat-ball to you I suppose much depends on the intonation of the voice no thing things can usually be described can't they how do you describe God the world consists of well mostly things doesn't obvious yet in the midst of things sitting here the squat is still feet on the ground where of surroundings all the things are surrounding us there is this invisible stillness that cannot be described there's a nice wind outside I like to sit here when the wind's blowing because you feel the church sort of blows and the roof somewhere and makes a nice sort of like a ship at sea you feel the other ones around you yet that even the wind is contained within this stillness the wind is something isn't it a very subtle thing may be compared to the floor and the furniture here but still a thing and yet this Crescent a spiritual presence so deeply obvious to those that have connected with it there's not really a thing in fact that is all its nature that things come and go things have limits things are here today and gone tomorrow even the stones we're out there Isla snow thing is eternal and forever when all else passes away yes we do make an error when we refer to God as something because we bring it down captive within our own conceptions and that's always the beginning of confusion good for meister eckhart [Music] so John this no thing nothing I cannot be described does it have any substance not substance what is the presence of presence that in which in which we swim we're insatiable odd we are craving to put everything in a little box give it a label we do our best and we took little bit deliberateness funny snap we find it much easier to do that then let go our limits and unite with the limitless we want to bring it down to our level well of course that's the story of Jesus Jesus gives us a human model he refers to God as the father and it is rather like a because there's a verse that's a blessed to be able to rest even occasionally and even better abide for considerable periods of time in this presence it's infinitely comforting trustworthy benevolent and you think that sitting here all human foolishness is contained within it without a word of criticism or judgment it's infinitely gentle isn't it entirely torrent of waywardness just here like invisible arms enfold eNOS and when if and when we ever stopped trying to figure out what love is usually rather lowly human terms we may find that that's actually what we're talking about I'm going to describe love we all have a go don't we know they say there are the eskimo language has a hundred words for snow or however many but in the english language we only have one for love john love freedom peace I love freedom peace there one or two others out there anyway don't think of them none team can be described in me and that is really as you draw nearer to this indefinable nothing that we refer to as God it becomes ever less possible to describe that's why I love peace and freedom bliss which you could say was the you could call them the highest of the heavenly hierarchy all the most subtle of the human experience is they they melt they melt into the great undescribable don't they they're all stepping stones to the ultimate so whilst this nothingness of God defies adjectives do I sense they're worse attributes bubbling up there John as a Jesus referring to God as its Heavenly Father or compassionate or merciful these are attributes if not adjectives it's not the difference is effective [Music] but I can't improve on those can I can only repeat what what are the men have repeated you know just sitting here as I always do waiting for questions to be thrown at me from what gives me confidence it's in being able to hold on with an invisible hand to this presence like holding my father's hand invisibly is spiritual persons and whatever I have of a strength or confidence we have an ability to answer questions comes from that and the more obvious it becomes the easier it is to forget about that rather long long ago entity known as John Butler which simply fades out of the picture you know it just melts before the greater reality that we're endeavoring to talk about indeed the most men meaningful answer I could give you is just to look at the camera from that point of infinite rest other piece [Music] completeness [Music] there's nothing lacking at all which the wind and this performance of you and me having this conversation the camera the church around us really like the stage props you could almost say this performance of what we call creation knife and john you often refer to your meditation practice here in this church as the work and you you know take it very very disciplined very you treat it very seriously actually if we're having a cup of tea and it gets to 2022 for you you get shuffle e and nervous and say all you tap your watch and say it's time to get to work and we walk up there and to meditate at 4 a 4 o'clock a Meister Eckhart has a similar outlook on what he calls becoming emptiness he says our work is simply this to become the emptiness that can receive oh that's a lovely description of meditation it's just that absolutely hits the nail on the head becoming the emptiness that can receive yes that's it that have often described meditation it's like this this is letting go all the things the attachments the things because it's the attachment to things that holds us prisoner you think the things we've gathered together you see to form this prison of separate existence and what meditation helps us to let go meditations nothing we do meditation is all about letting go and then you know there's that phrase let go let God because in one's surrender to this infinite nothing you realize that's really the the original motive of creation it is the create or it is the source of all goodness and this is the source of all limitation and the absence of good is what we call bad that is religious absence of God dark is the absence of light because if we do this we absent ourselves from the presence of God we go into a little house close the door draw the curtains sit there and say oh the world so dark it's full of problems I don't know what to do with it how do I make the world a better place so you ring up your friend who's also sitting in a dark little world you talk about it well silly could we get why don't we just open the door step out into the sunlight you know I think in our last video you asked me about thoughts and afterwards I thought well there's another way you can look at thoughts when we just are like this and open to this infinite presence that's undivided isn't it it's one one God one perfection one completeness you can't have to complete that says can we but you see when we do that which is the beginnings of separate existence instead of one we see life as little bits you and me light and dark and thought is really just chopped up little bits of oneness as long as we go on believing in separate existence we'll go on having thoughts and when you come into oneness what happens two thoughts rotted it just melts away they all melt away into the original one wanders it's all containing could you say that this emptiness so that we can receive is a quality of thoughtlessness it really is really what it's one of the benefits that we get from just beginning to practice and it's if we do have to it's a long process you don't just suddenly jump into it although we do get glimpses just yesterday afternoon after meditation number three of us here and we walked up the hill behind the church and up there you get a wonderful will you're high up above the town and it's easy you look down on the town there's the town with all its human problems everybody thinking and you know buying and selling and getting tea ready and things and up there you just look at it all with an overview and there you are underneath the sky and one of the most obvious things is that you're quiet you're at peace you forget to think of course we start talking about it but that is the effect isn't it of rising up raising rising up in consciousness which is what happens because if we do this like a balloon we rise up the only reason balloons stay on the ground is because they're attached and when you do this which is meditation consciousness automatically rises up so you get more of a bird's-eye view of creation and so instead of seeing millions of alternatives you tend to see it all as a home lo and behold then you have less thoughts and if you're fortunate then we often think well what happened does it I was asleep or something we could hardly conceive of life without thoughts did I show you life without thought is absolutely super it's what lets you get the taste of it you begin to really puffed off could be lost without thoughts very very nice is it thoughtlessness or is it infinitely richer thoughtlessness imply some sort of mental poverty oh no it's just the opposite of that it's the infinite richness the fullness not only thoughts but words on a recent retreat you are asked how how do we encourage this presence thank you quick quick as a flash you said stop talking almost invariably yes our goal is to empty ourselves so that we may be filled with the fullness meister eckhart says when you are finally empty God will find you will find has God ever lost us we just lost God where is God here what are we sitting in what's this present don't be here and outside say everywhere we're like fishes in the sea you cannot not be in God except we either do this or do that or in some way absent ourselves absent our consciousness from who eats mice records prescription for us Dennis become simply enough to receive the one who is nothing and empty enough to hunger for the nothing that is God oh yes I like that hunger well certainly when I was younger oh I did hunger because like every young man desperate for love desperate for for freedom and meaning to life Oh hunger yes indeed that's what drives one on and through one worldly disappointment after another you eventually if you're lucky come to realize that what you're looking for is actually not a thing is not a theme of this world as here here today and gone tomorrow which is why worldly satisfactions all fail but is actually in spirit in this invisible presence and the deep are you going to that the deeper you realized that this is the origin of all the separate particles of this ultimate satisfaction that we try to make do within this world so we enjoy love until it goes sour we enjoy our holiday until it comes to an end we enjoy good health until we lose it but this once you find it you don't ever want to let it go and we don't have to because it's just even holding onto it because it holds us infallibly know what we got to do is just surrender into it melt into it just Oh until I hand so Lord and then we begin to find out much home would you love it oh yes coming if I still yo guys like a butterfly on your hand one the first violet of spring [Music] you

Channel: Spiritual Unfoldment with John Butler

Views: 77,543

Keywords: asmr, awakening, bakewell, bob ross, christ, christian mystic, farmer, freedom, friends meeting house, gentle, jesus, john butler, meditation, meister eckhart, mr rogers, mystic, organic farmer, oxford, peace, relaxing, self realisation, sleep, soothing, spiritual awakening, spiritual healing, spiritual unfoldment, unintentional asmr, what is truth, whispering

Id: 0TO7JWpiTv0

Length: 26min 36sec (1596 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 22 2019