11 Jun Oh my god

Then he turns around, tosses his racket back with a casual yet theatrical gesture, takes a few steps forward, kneels on the floor, and looks up. He spreads his arms wide, makes a broad sign of the cross, and bows his head toward the tennis court. Djokovic has just defeated Sinner in a thrilling game.

Could there be a cloud above the clear blue sky of the Australian Open, upon which a smiling old man with a beard and a long robe looks down, and this time has granted Novak the victory?

Back room
If I’m honest, however, this image of God is so deeply ingrained that I catch myself, hidden deep in a back room of my own, maintaining a relationship with this man on the cloud, especially in good times and bad, even though I’m a Zen monk and maintain no image of God, either for myself or outwardly. Of course, this image of God as a cheerful, but often also angry, old man was strongly instilled in me as a child.

You yourself are God
“You yourself are God,” says my Zen master, “you yourself are the creator.” Spinoza revolutionized the idea of ​​God in the 16th century by situating God not outside of us or the universe, but in unity with the universe and us. But even then, if you try to imagine this, you run up against our limitations. Every conception is necessarily just a new image.

Darkness
The Tao Teh King begins with: “Darkness within darkness, the gate to all the mystery”, first entering the darkness and then forgetting everything you know. My Zen master goes even further: “Believing”, he says, “is an option. The moment you believe something, it takes shape and becomes true.” I smile when I realize that, besides the dark night, my subconscious also maintains the naive image of God in that back room, and I allow myself to do so!

*This post has been automatically translated from Dutch