Greg Leake emails: Hi Luke,
to some extent I think I understand the dilemma that you write about.
In a way it reminds me a little of Rabbs feeling that he had to choose between Judaism or a medication regime that might eliminate his compulsive dilemmas.
However, I think you may be turning this whole matter into an unnecessary problem.
I think that we would probably agree that G-d is omnipresent. G-d is everywhere, from the most distant galaxy to the most intimate part of creation.
As G-d is everywhere, G-d is both “out there” and “in there” — because there is no place where G-d is not present.
This being the case, it is only natural that some people find G-d more easily “out there” and some find G-d more easily “in there”.
This whole line of reasoning that causes an inside and an outside is probably spurious, because these categories are simply inventions of the human mind.
(You will recall your interview with Bruce I Kodish, the subject of which was his book Drive Yourself Sane. And, of course, he is a student of Alfred Korcybski, and the whole view of what is subjective and what is objective is only a conversation for the public sphere. You probably realize that the entire philosophy of idealism essentially states that the world of our perception is essentially the product of a mental phenomenon… which has something to do with why Kant said that we “cannot know things in themselves.”)
My suggestion for those who find G-d within themselves is to see if they can also find G-d outside themselves. Likewise, those who find G-d outside themselves should see if they can locate G-d within.
Sometimes in the study of religion it is pointed out that there is a horizontal and a vertical dimension.
The horizontal dimension is the one we mostly see with our outward forms and cognitions about our religions.
There is also a vertical dimension to religion, which is the dimension of depth, and it is often felt that the dimension of depth is the one passed over.
So anyway, if G-d is omnipresent, there is no real reason why we should be discouraged with the idea that G-d is also within us.
