So Vijay's looking for an identity that describes positively what he believes. "Californian" is not enough because it carries no belief. "Atheist" is not enough because it describes the negative space of what Vijay does not believe. If Vijay just had a word to call himself so that he could identify himself with his values then he would be self-assured, comfortable in the world, directed, and connected. Right?
Well, I'm not so sure. I don't think human life or human consciousness is built on a logical structure of axioms or beliefs that then orient a person toward the logical consequences of those axioms or beliefs. And I don't think that identifying, clarifying, and isolating those axioms or beliefs is especially meaningful. I think instead that human life and human consciousness is built on a structure of relationships. We are all born directly into relationship; physically attached. Our early development is a process of discovering, evolving, and creating relationship with our parents, with the world around us, and through that, with ourselves.
So what's the value of an identity or a label? It's the way it relates us to people and to the world. And the same is true of the label "God." To me "God" is not a question of belief but a question of how you relate yourself to existence, to the universe, to people, to yourself. I recently came across a quote from Rabbi Arthur Green:
"the step from 'wonder' to 'God' is not an act of inference, but an act of naming."
The act of naming is an act of relating oneself to what is; addressing yourslef to what is. And this I think is what I've been looking for and what I've started to find. Vijay, what do you think holds you back from that act of naming?
