god in my coffee cup

god in my coffee cup / words and pictures #5
 
While it is plainly obvious that yes of course God is in my coffee cup, it’s worth some deeper diving beneath the surface of this most holy of creations.
 
Afterall it is a very small word with a very big and fraught meaning. 
 
It for sure means something entirely different to you than to me. That’s the limitation of words. Spoken or written, they’re intended to tell the same story to all eyes and ears. But instead become like a ridiculous game of Chinese whispers.
 
It’s also a word that tends to divide people. It’s not like slug or spoon - words that don’t get much thought of. It’s a word that people kill and die for, lose friends over, choose friends over. 
 
I too have had a turbulent relationship with this word. 
 
I’ve gone from blowing it off as a word that causes people to do silly things like clap together and kill together, to investing a powerful amount of loathing into it, to finding a place in my heart for it, along with an ever shape shifting understanding of what it means to me.  
 
Why all the fuss?
 
I think it’s because it opens a door to a whole lot more questions that us humans with our thinking machines, spend so much time mincing over.
 
Those pretty words beside the coffee cup in the drawing are from a book of Indian philosophy called Aparokshanubhuti. That verse is essentially asking some of the biggie questions that come along with the ‘God’ doorway…
 
Who am I? Who made me and the world? What is it all made of?
 
(Note that this is my interpretation, definitely not a direct translation.)
 
I’ve been thinking a lot about this verse.
 
The words ended up in a drawing with my favourite little coffee cup after I was gazing lovingly into my coffee and thought to myself, well if that’s not God then I don’t know what is.
 
And then I thought about that verse and the question Who am I? Am I the hand holding the cup? Am I the eyes looking at my hand holding the cup? If I cut off my hand or gouge out my eyes do I stop being me? 
 
Obviously not. So who am I then? 
 
Who is the me that is using that hand to hold the cup, and the eyes to see it happening? 
 
The book goes on to apply (in my opinion) some literary theory to this question. Looking at it from the perspective of subject / object - which cannot be one in the same. You can’t look at your own eyeballs is a good way to think about it. Therefore if I am holding, drinking, feeling, seeing etc, the ‘me’ is the doer / feeler, not the action or feeling.

And the me who is looking is not my eyes it's something else. It is It. The question is, what is It? 
 
And then there is the question, who made the coffee cup? One answer is Ikea, but then you’ve got to ask well who made the stuff it’s manufactured from? Who made the machinery that mass produced a million other cups just like this one? 
 
Is there a guy sitting up above the clouds making those cups and stocking the Ikea warehouse each night? Doesn’t seem likely does it. 
 
To that, the book says that you and me are the creators of this world through our identification with mind and form. So in a way I made the coffee cup and I am God. Also true, the coffee cup does not exist and neither do I.
 
At this point, I think it’s safe to say that I have not answered any questions. I’ve just created more.
 
I’ve discussed this with some much smarter people than me, and it seems to all boil down to one simple truth… Thinking can take us only so far. And the ‘truth’ of God or reality or existence or whatever word you want to use is not contained within our very limited sense perceptions.
 
And that is just a little bit frustrating isn’t it!
 
My mind would really love some solid answers.
 
I’ve been researching hiking backpacks, and I want to choose one that will be comfortable for days on end in the forest, and I don’t want to have to buy another one for a lot of years, so I’ve been searching ‘best hiking backpack for women’ and of course different people have different recommendations.
 
After a bit of digging and cross referencing though it did seem that there was one that was recommended more often than others.

What I wanted was to get to a point of being 100% sure, then buy it online without having to actually go anywhere. But then a lot of people said it’s really important to get the fit right, according to your body shape.
 
So I thought, ok I’ll call a place a friend recommended, that stocked the one I thought was the answer, and they can help me to confirm my decision and then I can feel certain, buy it and stop thinking about it.
 
But no, instead they gave me a range of recommendations, so that I ended up feeling less sure and more confused. And confirmed that yes, I should try a few on.

I guess finding a meaning for the word ‘God’ is just the same. You have to try a few on first. You can’t just search ‘the best meaning for God’ then know for sure that’s the answer.
 
And even then, you’ll never know for sure that you chose the best backpack or the best definition. Until you do know for sure, and maybe that will be never and maybe that’s what keeps life interesting.

At least that's what I think right now, and that could change.

What do you think? What did you hear in the game of Chinese whispers? Let me know.

Leonie x