Looking at the natural world around us, from a speck of dust to the moon and stars, I see an unfathomable masterpiece. I feel comfortable here. I belong. I do not feel threatened by the natural world, in spite of the transient nature of my person. That transient person is a part of this masterpiece.

My daily prayer is an eyes-open exercise in belonging here and doing what I was made to do, to experience and participate in the masterpiece. It is an exercise in being more of what I actually am rather than what I think and believe I am. We are awareness. This is conceptually abstract, but it is quite concrete in reality. It is more concrete than the etherial thoughts and notions that echo through our minds incessantly.

It is exactly that last point that drives humankind further into a disconnected abstract relationship with the masterpiece. Trying to see God in terms other than the experiential world creates a disconnect with exactly that which we try to see. For example, religious texts and practices are not in themselves holy, but instead are meant to guide one to the experience of connection and greater awareness. That is a deeply personal and individual process. The chaos wrought by religious fundamentalism can be attributed to the commoditization of that process for mass consumption. Call it religious consumerism. Awareness is cut off when belief is required. There is nothing to believe; the most potent truth for us at any given time is immediately available to our unique individual awareness. All that is required is an openness to this experience.

It is so easy to allow our inner doubt to be dispelled by devotion to thought and belief commodities. But seeking and learning occurs most profoundly with a bit of discomfort at the threshold of ambiguity and uncertainty. It is in that place that we have the opportunity to push forward into what was previously unknown to us. When we step over the threshold we are again comfortable in our belonging to this experiential masterpiece. And we are more receptive than ever to the unfolding of awareness.