I see my soul, my essence, as grounded in oneness with something larger than myself. I most often call that “something greater” God or the Divine. Yet there’s a whole range of other words that fit too—like Source, Oneness, God, Allah, Great Spirit, the Infinite Field, love or Love, universal energy, a higher power, the quantum field. The vast range of religious and spiritual traditions across the world all have different names for this something greater, and each name speaks to a particular understanding of it. (If you find discord with this last thought, look up the term religious pluralism, another eye-opening concept I learned about in graduate theology school.) Each of these terms might be accurate, but each is also limited. It reflects just one perspective, one aspect, or one kind of experience of the greater something. The more I walk with people who are exploring their faith, meaning, and purpose and wanting to feel more fully alive, the more I think our words can only begin to touch on what that something greater is like. The whole of it is ultimately unnamable.
