NOT-TWO One of our living-room Torah participants laid this Name on me a while ago. As a fierce non-dualist myself (meaning that I see the Universe as one whole Being rather than an assembly of parts), I instantly took to…
Tag: 365 Names Of God
2011’s Big Project, continued in 2018 and beyond.
365 Names of God: King
KING A translation of the Hebrew word “melech” (מלך), this Name has fallen out of favor in Liberal Judaism circles due to two factors: 1) It’s male-gendered, and thus anthro/patriomorphic (and conceptually inaccurate); and 2) as people who live in…
365 Names: Tao
TAO Coined in the Tao Teh Ching by Chinese sage Lao Tzu c. 7th century BCE, this Name is best known from the book’s opening line, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.” (In other words,…
365 Names: Providence
PROVIDENCE literally means “that which/one Who provides.” It’s a comfortable and comforting image: G?d as Supplier of Necessities. For some reason, it pops up a lot in 18th- and 19th-Century literature and life, including as a proper name. Perhaps it’s…
365 Names of God: Design Group
DESIGN GROUP A friend of Ann’s brought us this term, which was then current among her friend’s med-school colleagues. While I believe that scientists shouldn’t budge an inch from their pursuit of Truth, this Name can be a great way…
365 Names of God: El Shaddai
EL SHADDAI is the name used primarily by the Biblical Patriarchs, usually translated as “God Almighty” and focusing on the deity’s providential or nurturing aspect. Scholars differ over whether “Shaddai” is cognate with similar Phoenician or Ugaritic words for mountains,…
365 Names of God: The Beloved
THE BELOVED is most commonly a Sufi term, but not exclusively so. The idea of God as Lover may be outre to some, but the connotation of passion and all-involvement is a powerful one for many mystics (including the author…
365 Names of God: The Force
THE FORCE is a non-anthropomorphic term, but to a purist like me, so is “God.” It could be argued that since the Force is created by all living beings, rather than the reverse (at least, the reverse from a mythic…
365 Names: Great Magnet
THE GREAT MAGNET is what conceptual journalist Hunter S. Thompson called our mysterious Subject in his Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas. Typical of Thompson’s grim, savage outlook, the Great Magnet is mentioned only indirectly. It may be neither prayed…
365 Names: The Immensity
“THE IMMENSITY” is what Monsieur Ibrahim calls Whatever we’re now in our fourth day of naming. M. Ibrahim calls It that toward the end of the film, after spending much of the time answering his young protege’s questions about God…
Why 365 Names of God?
Why not? Well, the folks at Make Something Every Day And Change Your Life (http://makesomething365.blogspot.com/) crossed my path, and where the whim goeth, goeth I. Names are sourced from: 1. Traditional religions 2. Science fiction, fantasy, autobiography or other literature…
365 Names: Elohim
ELOHIM. Hebrew usually translated in most Bibles as “God,” but also occasionally for “gods,” “divine beings,” or “judges.” In the Torah, this Name denotes God’s judgmental aspect. It’s also the first one given in the Torah, and as it’s associated…