Parousia…Inspired by Awe

“I will give thanks to You, for I am awe-inspiringly and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.”
–Psalm 139:14

Sigmund Freud may receive credit for introducing the principles of modern psychology, but people have been trying to figure out who and what we are from the very beginning. Since we first developed self-consciousness, we’ve been seeking to understand what it means to be human.

For instance, the Genesis creation narrative asks more questions about the mysterious enigma of humanity than it provides dogma about the formation of the material universe. God speaks humanity into the divine likeness. God breathes the spirit of life — the divine wind — into humanity’s nostrils. In response, humanity rises from the ground, receives a holy wound, and obtains a commission to be fruitful and multiply.

Perplexing open-ended questions permeate the story. Is humanity a handful of dirt or a God-breathed creative partner? Are we in dialogue with spirit or slaves to unalterable universal laws? Is the essence of life found in naming and dominating others, or does intimacy require opening ourselves to the potential of sacred scars?

Intuitively and empirically, we understand our extraordinary complexity — individually and collectively. We experience life, self, and relationships on multiple levels: biologically, emotionally, interpersonally, culturally, psychologically, ecologically, and cosmically just to name a few.

Contemplating the spiraling tiers of our humanity is certain to make your head spin (not literally, of course). We possess an outer life and an inner one. Our make-up consists of the interplay between our sense of self, family, friendships, community, society, culture, and ubermind. The complete source, stuff, and goal of it all is God.

The perpetual divine-human emergence contains personal and transpersonal elements. Psalm 139 offers comfort in knowing that God understands you individually. God calls you by name, counts the hairs (or lack thereof) on your head, and knows your coming in and going out. At the same time, God transcends our egoic confinement and recognizes the comprehensive picture of all-inclusive interconnectedness. As Paul noted, all things are of, through, and to God.

Physicist, mathematician, and futurist Freeman Dyson describes the “unbounded potentialities of the universe as it becomes aware of itself through the action of life and intelligence” as the infinite in all directions. The prophet Daniel depicts this as the kingdom of God with an eternally expanding domain. Meister Eckhart calls God a sphere whose center is everywhere and circumference is nowhere. Awakening to just an inkling of the infinite in all directions fills your cup to overflowing with awe and wonder at how marvelously made you truly are — and continue to be. Your soul already knows it very well, and this blesses you to courageously go where no one has gone before-but where God already is. In Paradise Mislaid, Jeffrey Burton Russell muses, “Whatever we humans are, we are part of the cosmos, and we wonder about it, and that means that the cosmos wonders about itself …That the cosmos wonders about itself is deeply moving.”

We’re creatures with strata of deep structures composing the essence of our personal and transpersonal identity, and the layers continue to form. What it meant to be human 10,000 years ago is not what it means today, and today’s humanity is a launching pad for tomorrow’s. Perhaps we’ll never fully grasp what it is to be human, and maybe that’s the paradoxical point. Humanity, like Christ showed about divinity, is not something to be grasped. Continually asking the questions plunges us into the illimitable mystery. More than surprising us with hope or joy, it inspires us with awe. With our immersed into the unfathomable, we discover the divine blessing of finding our humanity as something to be lived rather than a problem to be solved. Behold! The wonder!

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Orignially published, March 31, 2008. (c) Presence International. Parousia is a free Transmillennial publication of Presence. To receive Parousia in your inbox each week click here.