Where is God Not?

Dear Friends,

The founder of the Sikh religion was a great teacher named Guru Nanakh. He was truly a man who dedicated his life to the study of the religions of the world and the spiritual quest, a wise being, scholar and guru. You could say that guru means, “gee, you are you,” someone who helps you become aware of your unique existence. In his quest he went to Israel and studied Judaism, and Christianity, and he journeyed to Mecca to study Mohammed’s teachings. He went to the Kaaba, which is a cubical building in the center of the big square in Mecca, and on the eastern wall of the Kaaba is the sacred stone, a meteorite set into the wall..

He walked into the square and lay down on his back in meditation with his feet toward the sacred stone, but the rule of the temple was that you never point your feet in the direction of the sacred stone. You are only to bow down to it because it is a symbol of Allah and the feet are considered unclean. Everybody kneels down and faces it in a great circle, and anybody who reverses that is a blasphemer. He lay down that way and the Muslims around him were deeply offended.

They cried out in their language, “Blasphemy! Blasphemy! How dare you put your feet to the sacred stone?”

They pushed his feet away, but he just spun around and they were magically brought back to the stone. They kicked him, but he rolled and sat up again facing the same way. They dragged him out, but he just followed them back in. No matter what they did his feet would return to the stone like a compass needle. They rolled him around and over and dragged him away, and nothing they did seemed to make the slightest difference. He kept his feet pointing to the stone.

“You must not do this, it is sacrilege and blasphemy! Why do you put your feet to the sacred stone?” but he just lay there calmly, without reacting.

Everyone was upset and screaming at him, and he finally asked them, “Brothers, why are you so upset?”

“Because you put your feet to the sacred stone!”

“And why is that so terrible?”

“Because the sacred stone represents God, and you don’t put your feet in the direction of God. That is bad!”

He said, “If you can tell me where God is not, I will gladly put my feet there.”

I tell that story because we’re all hypocrites when we say we’re spiritual but don’t sit in a state of gratitude and grace for the magnificence of everything, just as it is. None of us are going to do that 24 hours a day, but we are wise to be honest enough with ourselves to acknowledge the times when we’re not grateful, know that’s the journey, and humble ourselves to our sacred journey of love.

Love and Gratitude,
Dr. John Demartini

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