I’ve been lurking, of late ~ eavesdropping on the myriad of on-line message boards hosting hot debates about the identity of "God." The recent, alleged "moral values" election evidently ignited our mass human consciousness, so the internet is rife with attempts and refusals to establish some spiritual commonality. If we could only get over that name thing. Alas, the most striking characteristic of the current cyber quarrel is the chronic conviction of the people who are posting the messages. Be they Christian, Pagan, Muslim, or "Other," their rabid defense of dogma does little to bring anyone closer to God and much to deepen the religious chasms that sunder one human heart from another. And it seems that all this righteous ruckus boils down to, anyway, is an eternal dispute over semantics. 
Think about it. Over the millennia, official human history (vastly different than the unofficial version) references thousands of names for a male deity. When one also recognizes the manyfold ancient and sacred Goddess names, as well as the more obscure divine monikers, one realizes that humanity is absolutely awash in different perceptions of God. How can only one of them be right? 
Just for a moment, let’s suspend our devout defensiveness and look at this whole name thing with some logic and compassion. First of all, we must remember that every indigenous culture is defined by its environment. The native animals and vegetation determine the cuisine, the architecture, the colors used in art . . . ad infinitum. The intrinsic value of anything is relative to the local resources. Even linguistics and cultural metaphors spring forth from the landscapes and seasons. How, then, can we expect the inner symbology of a Tundra-dwelling man to mirror that of a Tahitian girl if the very dirt beneath their feet is different? How can they possibly squeeze an abstract concept like God through limited words that are constrained by imperfect translation? Further, since each of us occupies a very circumscribed position in reality, how dare we presume to speak for All That Is? 
A friend of mine says I have a convoluted mind, and I believe him. It’s not an insult, either. He simply means (and rightly so) that I see patterns and relationships in the world at large where others see only randomness. To my peculiar perspective, there is no discrepancy between quantum physics, elemental magic, and mainstream Christianity. All of them say the same thing: Your faith determines your experience. Everything else is dogma or cosmic semantics based on the truly disheartening notion that God has an ego as fragile as man’s. 
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Kitty R. Connell
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