No God or Only God

What is God and how do we make God a reality?

Is God an outdated idea? Or is God all there is? For the seeker, when the word God is spoken, these questions arise. They can’t be settled by the mind but need to sink deeper into the heart. To make God a living reality, it is up to us to discover and fall in love with our own ideal. God is a seed within that grows and blossoms by our care.

“With an open heart, an appreciation of beauty, and a desire to peer behind the surface in everything, we are ready to pass through the door. Transcendence in the form of concentration on an ideal, on perfection, allows us to see sacredness in nature and in ourselves. It is hidden beneath the surface. It can be seen by those who have eyes and heart to see. Such transcendence prepares us to experience true immanence, the presence of God in ordinary life.”

—W. H. S. Gebel

William Hassan Suhrawardi Gebel earned a BA in physics from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in astrophysics from the University of Wisconsin, followed by postdoctoral work at the University of Chicago’s Yerkes Observatory. He was an assistant professor of astrophysics at SUNY Stony Brook. Leaving academia in 1971, he performed in original shows with the Omega Theater company and worked as a technical writer. Completing an MA in counseling psychology from Leslie University, he then became a psychotherapist. He served as Secretary General of the Sufi Order International until his retirement in 2012.