As I am about to embark on a brand new fifty-two-year cycle, per the Thirteen Moon calendar, I would like to share a lovely poem from Rainer Maria Rilke, entitled God Speaks to Each of Us.

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.

Flare up like flame
and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~

This poem gives me an opportunity to reflect on the way through which I apprehend God, and what it means to me. Interestingly, the ‘mundane’ question “Do I believe in God?” doesn’t speak to me; knowing that, in the first place, God may very well be an unfathomable entity or cosmic force.

I would rather reflect on my own behavior, my own words, my own thoughts, and see if they increase goodwill in the world, or if they don’t. One of those behaviors this evening, during dinner, certainly didn’t increase goodwill, and I apologized to our son. I rapidly saw why and how it occurred and I will do my best to get to the source of it and rectify its cause.

I do not feel the need to share with others my so-called ‘apprehension’ of God, except, of course, this is what I am doing tonight! Many individuals and institutions throughout the ages have justified their words and actions ‘under’ the name of God, but do they, in the first place, know who God is?

I like the way Rosicrucians qualify the concept of God. They talk about “the God of my Heart, the God of my Realization.” Come to reflect on this position, it makes spiritual sense, especially in the light of a human heart’s expansion—my heart’s expansion. I believe  that the more I expand my heart, the more I invite other people in, especially without their conscious knowing, the more I work on removing the veils that ‘clog’ my heart, the more I ‘realize’ God. When an old negative belief or attitude about a person suddenly turns positive, I can tell that my heart is expanding; I can tell that I am getting closer to God or what it means.

The heart is where the ‘seed of God’ dwells, and it is present in each and every one of us, as Rainer Maria Rilke so beautifully says.

To end this little prologue about God, and to close my first fifty-two year cycle, I would like to share a quote about God, which came to me in French in a Martinist publication (author unknown). I must admit that I like the quote!

Dieu ne peut pas se contempler sans s’aimer et ne peut pas s’aimer sans s’engendrer lui-même/elle-même.

God cannot contemplate Him/Herself without Loving Him/Herself, and cannot love Him/Herself without engendering Him/Herself.