Gabrielle Cuebas
HUP 105.6447
Prof. Barber
October 11, 2009
Writing Asst. 1
There are many questions as to what the ultimate sacred reality is in our world. There are
many theories and religions that can give us possible answers to this question. Over much
contemplation, I cannot agree with the ideas of just one religion or philosophy, so I have
combined ideas from different world beliefs with my own that make up what I believe to be the
ultimate sacred reality. The particular ideas of Chinese philosophy, and my own personal
philosophy, will provide a foundation for my approach.
From a general standpoint, I feel that the ultimate sacred reality has nothing to do with
religion. It has to do with how spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically connected we
are with the all of the realms in the universe. These realms consist of many things, such as the
very earth we live on, to the nature and people within it, and the realm beyond the earth, in the
planets, stars, and other bodies of the universe. It is difficult to define whom or what the creator
of our universe is, but I simply go along with calling it God. This is not the god of Christianity,
Islam or other religions, but it is the very entity of everything that exists in our universe. God is
the world, nature, the people, the universe. God created everything, and God is within everything
and everyone.
I do not believe that anyone can truly know what God is, yet most western religions
believe that they have the answers. They have just merely composed ideas of their own to put
into their bibles and other scriptures. An idea such as extreme as God should be left as it is: an
idea. The world seems to agree to some extent that there must be something greater than us
humans that created our universe and the world that we live in. To attempt finding out whom or
what is responsible would simply be an endless journey. However, I feel that it is important to be
connected with the universe in such a way that we may feel connected to the creator, such as
through meditation, spiritual practices and other things of that nature.
The idea in Chinese philosophy that connects to the meaning of an ultimate sacred reality
is that of yin and yang. This is the idea of the interconnection and interdependence of opposing
forces in the universe. The symbol for yin and yang is divided into two parts, one black, one
white, with a small dot of the reverse color on either side. Yin (black) is the side of darkness,
rest, and softness. Yang (white) is the opposing brightness, movement, and firmness. These
forces are working against each other in their own equilibrium, yet they are working with each
other, because of the small force of its opposition within each other. From Chinese philosophy
developed Taoism, which simply states that humans are in the yin and yang, and the yin and
yang is weaved within us. Tao is the way in which it is weaved. The ideas in Taoism also put an
emphasis on constant creativity and transformation in the world and universe. I agree with these
ideas because it cannot just be one force at work in the universe. There must be a balance
between what we call good and evil, right and wrong, justice and injustice, so on and so forth.
Also, nothing is absolute, which is why Taoists believe things are in a constant transformation.
Through this, we can assume that this balance is being controlled by God.
When speaking of God, I prefer to use it as a sexless term. The problem that Christianity
creates is that the God of the universe is a man. That is not only sexist, but is impossible to
know. Considering that God is the ultimate entity, it can be both a man and woman, or have no
gender or human qualities at all. The bible says that humans were created in the image of God,
which shows right away that Christianity gives God a human identity of some sort. Not to say
that this cannot be, but how can one know? Religions, often times, try to convince humans that
whatever their beliefs are, are the absolute truth, without question. I do not believe that any kind
of absolute truth exists in this world, because the universe is constantly changing, which goes
back to Taoism and Chinese philosophy.
No one can ever truly know what the ultimate sacred reality is. But these are basic ideas
that seem to make sense. Being able to connect with forces outside of the human conscience, are
to me, what defines this ultimate sacred reality. God is not a being with human qualities, but a
force, the same way that yin and yang are the balancing forces of the world, as claimed by
Chinese philosophy. God created the universe. Through the cosmos, the earth and humanity, this
is made clear. To say that we know how and why this universe was created is only theoretical.
We are constantly acquiring new knowledge, or expanding on what we already “know”.
Although most of the things that humans seem to understand have a uniform truth to them, no
information is ever absolute. All that matters is that we are connected to the world and universe
in a way that lets us feel as close as possible to the truth.