Hide and Seek

It’s all a game of hide and seek.    God hides himself in the phenomenal world.  Like a treasure trail, he leaves clues and hints for himself all around.    You can find these clues in all the spiritual traditions of the world.

The game can’t be too easy.   If it’s too easy, it’s just no fun.   It has to be a serious challenge to keep us engaged.      You can’t simply be told where the treasure is.   Where’s the fun in that?    As the Tao Te Ching puts it, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao”.   Language itself is the very mechanism by which the treasure is hidden in the first place.    You have to untangle yourself from the deceiving net of words to get to the truth.   Behind the world of “I”, “You”, “He”, “She” and “It” is a seamless interconnected realm where conventional borders aren’t recognized.   It’s a truth that can’t be told, it can only be felt.

God has a sense of humour.   There’s a little joke waiting at the end of the spiritual treasure hunt.    This might account for the vague half-smile playing on the face of the Buddha.    The final clue for the treasure was in your back pocket all along.   You travelled half-way round the world on pilgrimages to India, Mecca or Lourdes looking for something that was under your nose all along.   Where do you go to look for the Ground of Being itself?    How far does a fish have to swim to find water?   The eyes with which you searched for God were God’s eyes all along.    God has billions of eyes.    Two of them are in your face.