"When I refer to 'God,' I mean the inner force of existence itself, that of which one might say, 'Being is.' I refer to it as the 'One' because it is the single unifying substratum of all that is. To speak of Being as a religious person, however, is to speak of it not detachedly, in scientific 'objectivity,' but rather with full engagement of the self, in love and awe. These two great emotions together characterize the religious mind and, when carried to their fullest, make for our sense of the holy. A religious person is one who perceives or experiences holiness in the encounter with existence: the forms of religious life are intended to evoke this sense of the holy. In a mental state that cannot be fully described in words, such a person hears Being say, 'I am.'"
--from "Sacred Evolution: A Radical Jewish Perspective on God and Science" by Rabbi Arthur Green in the March/April issue of Tikkun. Emphases in the original.
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