God and the Stick People – a metaphor

There are countless religions on this planet. Whether they are monotheistic or polytheistic, most believe in the existence of a supreme being or supreme beings that interact with us in our physical world. Many of them recount stories of men and women who have had a deep and meaningful spiritual experience, an epiphany leading to a change in their personal views. Often, these encounters become the seeds for a new belief-system and the basis of doctrine. Over time, these doctrines become the major points of contention between different religions each one believing that they alone know the intrinsic nature of God.

What follows is not meant to be a theological statement. It is a personal philosophical view in the form of a metaphor that attempts to explain the reasons for disagreement between many belief-systems.

The Stick-World Metaphor

Imagine a black and white two-dimensional world; essentially, a piece of paper inhabited by living, thinking stick-people. These two-dimensional creatures would not be able to perceive the world like you and I do. At best, they would see lines and colors but there would be no height to the lines, only length.

Now suppose that you, a three-dimensional being, had the ability to pass your hand through that world without ripping it apart. What would the stick-people see? They would see a line magically appear, at first very small as this is only the tip of your finger. As you continued to pass through, the line would get longer, shorter, and longer again, depending on what part of your body was passing through their world. The colors would vary depending on what you were wearing that day, the shade of your hair, skin pigmentation and so on. If you stopped for a moment, they would see a steady constant line unlike anything they had ever seen before. It would feature color, the pores of your skin, little darker spots which are actually body hair, and any other features of your body that are present at the point in time you paused. When you started to move again, the line would again become chaotic in its appearance. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, when you had completely passed through their world, the line would disappear altogether.

The stick-people would be amazed and would likely believe that they had encountered a spiritual being, perhaps even God. The ones closest to the event would no doubt be profoundly moved by the experience. The point at which you stopped momentarily would have given them a ‘glimpse’ of your nature. These stick-people would share the experience with others and a belief in the ‘magical line being’ would be born.

If you passed through their world again the next day, you would probably pass by a different stick-person. If you paused again at a different part of your body, that stick-person would have a very different ‘glimpse’ of your nature. If you paused more than once, the stick-people present would claim to have a deeper connection with you because you chose to show them more of yourself. They might start their own belief-system claiming to know the real nature of the ‘magical line being’. They would eventually argue with the stick-person who saw you the day before claiming that they had a more profound relationship with the ‘magical line being’ and that their view was the accurate one.

Ironically, neither stick-person really knows much about you at all. They simply can never fully understand your nature. You are after all, three-dimensional. Even if they did share all they knew about every intersection you had made in their world, they could never completely know you.

The stick-world metaphor explains why there are so many arguments between faiths. This is really a shame and so unnecessary. If the men and woman who have had deep spiritual experiences would come together and share their spiritual experiences, we would have a much deeper understanding of the spirit world and I believe we would all be better for it. Certainly, there would be less fighting, wars and division of classes.

Consider this. Suppose you and I have known someone called Gus for many years but that you and I have never actually met. Our relationships with Gus are unique. You could never know everything about Gus that I know nor could I ever know all that you do about Gus. One day, we finally meet and I tell you something about Gus that is new to you, a deep insight about Gus that you did not know. Does this invalidate what you know about Gus? No, it does not. It might however shine a light that leads to a deeper understanding of Gus’s true nature.

I believe the same ‘should be’ true with respect to how we discuss spiritual matters. Alas, it seldom is. By the way, I have led you on a bit about Gus. You see, a friend of mine uses Gus as an acronym for the ‘Great Universal Spirit’. Now, with that in mind, I encourage you to read the previous paragraph again.

Do I believe that the spirit world intersects with ours in a similar way that I imagine with the stick-people’s? Yes I do. I have had my own deep and meaningful spiritual experiences that I will write about in the months to come. After many years, I am still learning from them, still processing them as it were. I consider them precious gifts and I look forward to sharing them with you.

Do I believe in a supreme being, a great universal spirit, God? Absolutely, yes I do but not in the classical sense. I was raised a Catholic and then later in my early twenties joined a Full Gospel style church. I eventually left because I found them too restrictive for my evolving spiritual beliefs. As well, I was disheartened by their unwillingness, or perhaps fear, to embrace other people’s ideas and philosophies.

In closing, please understand that this is my personal opinion and that I am not trying to sway anyone away from what they may believe. If there is something that I implicitly believe, it is that we should love, accept and hope for everyone, not just those who happen to subscribe to our particular belief-system. We need to be far more open-minded than history has proven us to be thus far. We can all learn so much from each other if we will but listen with our hearts.

© Gil Namur, 2009