The Orthodox Paradox

"When you worship, you are aware of your separateness from God; you are the subject and He is the object. The more you worship, the more you acquire this sense of separateness from God. Union with God comes when this sense of your separateness from God is stripped away."

-Qushayri, "Risalah" (Muslim)

This is an unfortunate paradox, but one I suspect is true. Our traditional forms of worship tend to focus on a God "out there" and separate from us. This certainly begs the question of how best to "relate" to God or, better, to commune with God in such a way that avoids the separateness. Certainly meditation is one way and contemplative prayer another, but it is difficult, at least for me, to avoid wanting to make a connection to God which in itself emphasizes the otherness. If I don't have a real sense of connection all the time, attempting to create the connection involves the sense of otherness. It's a real paradox for me.

"Rabi'a," Hasan asked, "how have you attained such a degree of holiness?" Rabi'a replied, "buy losing in him all that I have attained." Hasan asked, "How do you know God?", Rabi'a replied, "You want to know how to know God. I know God, without knowing how to know him."