God is none of these things.
He is not a thought we can summon, an image we can construct, a sensation we can produce, or an emotion we can hold. We cannot simply turn our attention toward God as though He were another object waiting somewhere inside our minds. But then, how do we direct our attention toward that which cannot be found within the mind?This is where prayer truly begins.
We go beyond. Beyond words. Beyond language. Beyond images and thoughts. Beyond everything the mind can create, remember, imagine, or explain. We turn toward that mysterious place from which all these things arise. The silent space in which thoughts are born, yet which is not itself a thought.Consciousness.
This is our Holy of Holies. Not because our consciousness is God, but because it is here, in the innermost sanctuary of our being, that we become aware of our connection to Him. We do not become God. We do not dissolve into Him. We do not become His equal.We remain connected.
Like a branch growing from a tree. The branch is not the trunk. It is not the roots. It cannot contain the fullness of the tree. Yet the same living sap flows through them. The branch lives because it belongs to the tree. And so do we. But what is this connection? How can we recognize it without turning it into yet another thought? We recognize it not by imagining what God looks like, but by remembering our relationship to Him. He is **our Father**. The source from which we come. The One to whom we belong. His identity remains concealed, beyond every name, image, and definition the mind could invent. > *Hallowed be Thy name.* We approach Him not to establish our own kingdom, but to surrender to His. > *Thy kingdom come.* We open ourselves to His will, allowing His purpose to flow through our lives, just as the life of the tree flows through its branches. > *Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.* We trust Him with our existence. Not with the imagined future, not with the remembered past, but with this very moment, the only moment in which life is ever experienced. > *Give us this day our daily bread.* We bring Him the guilt, regrets, wounds, and burdens that have accumulated within us. We offer them rather than allowing them to become the identity we carry. > *Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.* We ask not to fall into the great temptation of possessing what is sacred: of reducing God to a thought, claiming His power as our own, or using our connection to Him in service of our lesser desires. > *Lead us not into temptation.* And we ask to be protected from every adversarial force, within us or around us, that seeks to capture our attention, turn our hearts away, and draw us from the source of our life. > *But deliver us from evil.* Finally, we recognize that nothing belongs to us. Not the kingdom. Not the power. Not the glory. All belong to the Father, the source of all that is and all that shall be. > *For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.* Amen. And here lies the great mystery of The Godward Way. These words are not merely sentences to be repeated. They are not a description of God, nor an attempt to contain His infinite being within human language. They reveal the direction of our relationship to Him. The Father. The source. The unknowable One to whom we belong, whose will we seek, whose provision we trust, whose forgiveness we receive, whose protection we ask, and whose kingdom we acknowledge.This is our kavanah. Our sacred direction.
When we enter the Holy of Holies, we do not search for a divine image or wait for a supernatural sensation. We remain awake within consciousness, while our deepest intention rests upon the Father. We observe everything that arises, yet we do not allow anything that arises to become our God. Every thought, emotion, desire, fear, and longing is caught and offered. Not in two separate movements, but in one continuous act of attention and devotion. We do not need to see the Father to belong to Him. The branch does not need to comprehend the entire tree to receive its life. It only needs to remain connected. And perhaps this is the secret of prayer.We do not perceive God as an object of consciousness. We become conscious of our relationship to Him.
The connection is not God Himself. It is the sacred relationship through which we turn toward Him. It is the gate, not the One beyond the gate. It is where our consciousness meets the mystery of His. And there, without an image to worship, a thought to possess, or a word to contain Him, we remain. Conscious.\ Receptive.\ Directed.\ Godward.And through this living connection, we pray.