Presence

Inscribed above the door of the Swiss Psychotherapist Carl Jung’s home is the Latin phrase Vocatus Atque Non Vocatus Deus Aderit. “ Bidden or not bidden, God is present.” Jung wanted to remind all those who entered of the presence of the spiritual in everyday life.

I can’t say who God is, nor can you. The best we can do is share our experience of God, or not God. And for the record we could easily be delusional.

When it comes to my own personal theology I am more at home with doubt than certainty. I have no propositional truths to put forward. What matters most to me is presence not proof. That’s the mystery I’ve been chasing as far back as I can remember. All theology is autobiographical. All revelation is personal. If God shows up at all it’s into our personal lives that she is most present. Through literature, art, music, and nature she speaks. She is present in those everyday moments, friendships, encounters when we come to experience life feelingly. Faith has nothing to do with buying into a bundle of religious goods and services. Faith begins, as does all good theology, with a lump in the throat.