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What Is God?
In his most deeply personal work, religious scholar Needleman cuts a clear path through today?s clamorous debates over the existence of God, illuminating an entirely new way of approaching the question of how to understand a higher power.
I n this new book, philosopher Jacob Needleman? whose voice and ideas have done so much to open the West to esoteric and Eastern religious ideas in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries?intimately considers humanity?s most vital What is God?
Needleman begins by taking us more than a half century into the past, to his own experience as a brilliant, promising, Ivyeducated student of philosophy?atheistic, existential, and unwilling to blindly accept childish religiosity. But an unsettling meeting with the venerated Zen teacher D. T. Suzuki, combined with the sudden need to accept a dreary position teaching the philosophy of religion, forced the young academician to look more closely at the religious ideas he had once thought dead. Within traditional religious texts the scholar discovered a core of esoteric and philosophical ideas, more mature and challenging than anything he had ever associated with Judaism, Christianity, and the religions of the East.
At the same time, Needleman came to realize?as he shares with the reader?that ideas and words are not enough. Ideas and words, no matter how profound, cannot prevent hatred, arrogance, and ultimate despair, and cannot prevent our individual lives from descending into violence and illusion. And with this insight, Needleman begins to open the reader to a new kind of The inner realization that in order to lead the lives we were intended for, the very nature of human experience must change, including the very structure of our perception and indeed the very structure of our minds.
In What Is God? , Needleman draws us closer to the meaning and nature of this needed change?and shows how our present confusion about the purpose of religion and the concept of God reflects a widespread psychological starvation for this specific quality of thought and experience. In rich and varied detail, the book describes this inner experience?and how almost all of us, atheists and ?believers? alike, actually have been visited by it, but without understanding what it means and why the intentional cultivation of this quality of experience is necessary for the fullness of our existence.
I n this new book, philosopher Jacob Needleman? whose voice and ideas have done so much to open the West to esoteric and Eastern religious ideas in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries?intimately considers humanity?s most vital What is God?
Needleman begins by taking us more than a half century into the past, to his own experience as a brilliant, promising, Ivyeducated student of philosophy?atheistic, existential, and unwilling to blindly accept childish religiosity. But an unsettling meeting with the venerated Zen teacher D. T. Suzuki, combined with the sudden need to accept a dreary position teaching the philosophy of religion, forced the young academician to look more closely at the religious ideas he had once thought dead. Within traditional religious texts the scholar discovered a core of esoteric and philosophical ideas, more mature and challenging than anything he had ever associated with Judaism, Christianity, and the religions of the East.
At the same time, Needleman came to realize?as he shares with the reader?that ideas and words are not enough. Ideas and words, no matter how profound, cannot prevent hatred, arrogance, and ultimate despair, and cannot prevent our individual lives from descending into violence and illusion. And with this insight, Needleman begins to open the reader to a new kind of The inner realization that in order to lead the lives we were intended for, the very nature of human experience must change, including the very structure of our perception and indeed the very structure of our minds.
In What Is God? , Needleman draws us closer to the meaning and nature of this needed change?and shows how our present confusion about the purpose of religion and the concept of God reflects a widespread psychological starvation for this specific quality of thought and experience. In rich and varied detail, the book describes this inner experience?and how almost all of us, atheists and ?believers? alike, actually have been visited by it, but without understanding what it means and why the intentional cultivation of this quality of experience is necessary for the fullness of our existence.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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329 people want to read
About the author
Jacob Needleman
88 books113 followersJacob Needleman is Professor of Philosophy at San Francisco State University, former Visiting Professor at Duxx Graduate School of Business Leadership in Monterrey, Mexico, and former Director of the Center for the study of New Religions at The Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He was educated in philosophy at Harvard, Yale and the University of Freiburg, Germany. He has also served as Research Associate at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, as a Research Fellow at Union Theological Seminary, as Adjunct Professor of Medical Ethics at the University of California Medical School and as guest Professor of Religious Studies at the Sorbonne, Paris (1992).
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July 16, 2025
A Philosopher's Spiritual Autobiography
People frequently are led to the books they need. I recently read a book by United States Congressman Tim Ryan "A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit" about the practice of mindfulness meditation. Ryan's book reminded me of a book about the nature, spiritual character, and potential of American democracy, with all its flaws, that I had read some time ago by the philosopher Jacob Needleman: "The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders". I wanted to read Needleman again and found this book, "What is God?" (2009). The book gave me a broader understanding of Needleman, a Professor of Philosophy at San Francisco State University and a prolific writer. More importantly, the book helped me to better understand philosophy and the religious search.
Needleman's book is largely a memoir about his development as a philosopher and about the formulation of his own religious convictions. In the process of telling his own story, Needleman has a great deal to say about questions philosophers in common with other people ask about religion. The book does not purport to be a philosophical study of religion as such, but rather is intimate in tone and personal.
I became absorbed in the book because I could identify with much of Needleman's life. Like Needleman, I was a non-practicing Jew fascinated with religious questions and doubts who majored in philosophy in college. Although Needleman wants his readers to focus on the heart, this work is steeped in books and in philosophy. Here as well, I remember sharing the author's passion for Kant, Hume, Plato, Nietzsche, Eckhart, Jewish mysticism, Buddhism, and William James' "Varieties of Religious Experience". Conversely, a good deal of the people and books that influenced Needleman, particularly the teachings of Gurdjieff and his circle, is unknown to me. And Needleman makes no mention of a thinker important to me and to contemporary thought, religious and secular: the excommunicated Jewish philosopher Benedict de Spinoza. Spinoza and Enlightenment influence my own religious thinking in a way that seems to be less important for Needleman. Kant appears to play a somewhat similar role for him.
The book focuses on Needleman's lifelong quest for understanding "what is God?" The story is told chronologically in part but skips and moves around to show steps in how the philosopher came to his religious position. A large part of the story is that what comes out at the end or in the process of growth is implicit in the beginning. Needleman states at the outset: "To think about God is to the human soul what breathing is to the human body." Needleman discusses his early years with early experiences of the vastness of the sky and the death of a loved one seemingly contrasted with the religious formalism of his parents. Needleman seems to have been drawn into philosophy as a career by his reading of Kant as a Harvard sophomore. A meeting as a young graduate student with Zen master D.T. Suzuki troubled Needleman in its studied ambiguity but led him to put a purely empirical, scientific philosophy behind him. As a young academic, Needleman received the opportunity to teach a course in Western religious thought which led the way to his personal and professional approaches to religion. He did not return to Judaism but learned immeasurably from Jewish writers and Jewish mystics. Needleman also learned a great deal about Christianity and Christian theology.
The book has a tone of speaking closely to the reader. The book's language is rich, with long, descriptive, passionate sentences that one does not always associate with philosophy. The subject is indeed, as Needleman says, the "discipline of the heart". I learned from the passages of self-revelation as well as from Needleman's philosophical discussions of many of the books he has read. Although Gurdjieff receives the largest amount of attention, the book that interested me most was "The Crisis of the Modern World" by Rene Guenon. According to Needleman, Guenon offers a "merciless critique of modernity", a "critique based on Guenon's vision of an ancient primordial tradition from which all civilizations and great religions, including Christianity, had arisen." I need to read Guenon's book.
I also was moved by Needleman's portrayal of his philosophy classrooms and his interactions with two students, the first an elderly woman who professed herself an atheist and the second a young man who professed Christian fundamentalism. Needleman seemed particularly drawn to this latter intelligent, dogmatic individual, with his similarities and differences from Needleman himself.
Among other things, Needleman made me think again of my own possible alternative life and career path if I had pursued my work in philosophy.
The book moves towards Needleman's growing interest in Gurdjieff. His teachings encouraged Needleman to experience God and self in an apparently paradoxical manner. The final part of Needleman's book is devoted to a brief exposition of Gurdjieff's thought together with its practice of Attention. From my initial reading, Gurdjieff's practice of Attention appeared similar to Buddhist mindfulness. Needleman sees a substantial difference, and I am not in a position to disagree. The point of the book, however, is not to make the reader a follower of Gurdjieff. Rather, the presentation is open-ended and is intended to bring the reader to focus on what is valuable and important in the religious search. Needleman engages in what he describes as a method of "indirect communication" he attributes to Kierkegaard. This is a form of writing which was "intentionally designed to point me toward finding the answer not only for myself, but in myself and not on the printed page or in the abstract words of an author."
I learned a great deal from revisiting the philosophical life and the search for religion with Jacob Needleman.
Robin Friedman
People frequently are led to the books they need. I recently read a book by United States Congressman Tim Ryan "A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit" about the practice of mindfulness meditation. Ryan's book reminded me of a book about the nature, spiritual character, and potential of American democracy, with all its flaws, that I had read some time ago by the philosopher Jacob Needleman: "The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders". I wanted to read Needleman again and found this book, "What is God?" (2009). The book gave me a broader understanding of Needleman, a Professor of Philosophy at San Francisco State University and a prolific writer. More importantly, the book helped me to better understand philosophy and the religious search.
Needleman's book is largely a memoir about his development as a philosopher and about the formulation of his own religious convictions. In the process of telling his own story, Needleman has a great deal to say about questions philosophers in common with other people ask about religion. The book does not purport to be a philosophical study of religion as such, but rather is intimate in tone and personal.
I became absorbed in the book because I could identify with much of Needleman's life. Like Needleman, I was a non-practicing Jew fascinated with religious questions and doubts who majored in philosophy in college. Although Needleman wants his readers to focus on the heart, this work is steeped in books and in philosophy. Here as well, I remember sharing the author's passion for Kant, Hume, Plato, Nietzsche, Eckhart, Jewish mysticism, Buddhism, and William James' "Varieties of Religious Experience". Conversely, a good deal of the people and books that influenced Needleman, particularly the teachings of Gurdjieff and his circle, is unknown to me. And Needleman makes no mention of a thinker important to me and to contemporary thought, religious and secular: the excommunicated Jewish philosopher Benedict de Spinoza. Spinoza and Enlightenment influence my own religious thinking in a way that seems to be less important for Needleman. Kant appears to play a somewhat similar role for him.
The book focuses on Needleman's lifelong quest for understanding "what is God?" The story is told chronologically in part but skips and moves around to show steps in how the philosopher came to his religious position. A large part of the story is that what comes out at the end or in the process of growth is implicit in the beginning. Needleman states at the outset: "To think about God is to the human soul what breathing is to the human body." Needleman discusses his early years with early experiences of the vastness of the sky and the death of a loved one seemingly contrasted with the religious formalism of his parents. Needleman seems to have been drawn into philosophy as a career by his reading of Kant as a Harvard sophomore. A meeting as a young graduate student with Zen master D.T. Suzuki troubled Needleman in its studied ambiguity but led him to put a purely empirical, scientific philosophy behind him. As a young academic, Needleman received the opportunity to teach a course in Western religious thought which led the way to his personal and professional approaches to religion. He did not return to Judaism but learned immeasurably from Jewish writers and Jewish mystics. Needleman also learned a great deal about Christianity and Christian theology.
The book has a tone of speaking closely to the reader. The book's language is rich, with long, descriptive, passionate sentences that one does not always associate with philosophy. The subject is indeed, as Needleman says, the "discipline of the heart". I learned from the passages of self-revelation as well as from Needleman's philosophical discussions of many of the books he has read. Although Gurdjieff receives the largest amount of attention, the book that interested me most was "The Crisis of the Modern World" by Rene Guenon. According to Needleman, Guenon offers a "merciless critique of modernity", a "critique based on Guenon's vision of an ancient primordial tradition from which all civilizations and great religions, including Christianity, had arisen." I need to read Guenon's book.
I also was moved by Needleman's portrayal of his philosophy classrooms and his interactions with two students, the first an elderly woman who professed herself an atheist and the second a young man who professed Christian fundamentalism. Needleman seemed particularly drawn to this latter intelligent, dogmatic individual, with his similarities and differences from Needleman himself.
Among other things, Needleman made me think again of my own possible alternative life and career path if I had pursued my work in philosophy.
The book moves towards Needleman's growing interest in Gurdjieff. His teachings encouraged Needleman to experience God and self in an apparently paradoxical manner. The final part of Needleman's book is devoted to a brief exposition of Gurdjieff's thought together with its practice of Attention. From my initial reading, Gurdjieff's practice of Attention appeared similar to Buddhist mindfulness. Needleman sees a substantial difference, and I am not in a position to disagree. The point of the book, however, is not to make the reader a follower of Gurdjieff. Rather, the presentation is open-ended and is intended to bring the reader to focus on what is valuable and important in the religious search. Needleman engages in what he describes as a method of "indirect communication" he attributes to Kierkegaard. This is a form of writing which was "intentionally designed to point me toward finding the answer not only for myself, but in myself and not on the printed page or in the abstract words of an author."
I learned a great deal from revisiting the philosophical life and the search for religion with Jacob Needleman.
Robin Friedman
November 19, 2010
Needleman is one of the few people writing on religion who gets it right: most of the religious traditions of the world have precious insights about what really matters in life, what human beings are capable of, and practices to help us do the kind of self-work that brings spiritual growth. But those insights are often obscured by dogmatic creeds and hubristic mythology, and those practices are often misconstrued as magical rituals for removing suffering and fulfilling unexamined desire.
This book is largely autobiographical: an account of how Needleman moved from staunch atheism to a kind of spirituality that isn't quite a theism.
One sure way of telling if a religious or spiritual person has integrity is to get their reaction to the "new atheists." Here too, Needlemen is exactly right: Believers and non-believers alike owe the new atheists a debt of gratitude for their function of "the purgation of illusion and fantasy from our concept of God; the exposure of the superficiality of our so-called beliefs; the masks our minds put over our inability to be what we are meant to be.... That bittersweet absence of illusion and self-deception, that empty space swept clean by astringent skepticism and purgatorial self-honesty: here perhaps is a truly sacred space in our otherwise self-deceived, chaotic world." (223)
This book is largely autobiographical: an account of how Needleman moved from staunch atheism to a kind of spirituality that isn't quite a theism.
One sure way of telling if a religious or spiritual person has integrity is to get their reaction to the "new atheists." Here too, Needlemen is exactly right: Believers and non-believers alike owe the new atheists a debt of gratitude for their function of "the purgation of illusion and fantasy from our concept of God; the exposure of the superficiality of our so-called beliefs; the masks our minds put over our inability to be what we are meant to be.... That bittersweet absence of illusion and self-deception, that empty space swept clean by astringent skepticism and purgatorial self-honesty: here perhaps is a truly sacred space in our otherwise self-deceived, chaotic world." (223)
October 11, 2021
I was enthralled by Needleman’s research, deeply insightful religious, psychological and spiritual probing spanning decades and by his raw, personal revelations to his readers. That said, many passages required multiple reading, and many bright and poignant points were made unnecessarily convoluted by strained prose.
Needleman traces his beginnings as a young Jew, learning and struggling with the religion of his fathers, diving deeply into and teaching many other religious and spiritual approaches, and ultimately being mostly influenced by Gurdjieff, of whom I had never before heard. Ultimately, Needleman draws some captivating conclusions about how inextricably and deftly the human being is linked to God, and the awe-filled role we play in how God manifests Himself in the world. This, to me, is the true “humanism,”—not the “We are God; No! We are bigger than God!” humanism that is so destructive today; but the deeply spiritually linked humanism that answers the riddle: “Q: Where would God hide Himself if He wanted no one to find him? A: Inside each of us.” I already knew as I read the book that at least one more reading will doubtless be required for me to fully comprehend and remember Needleman’s more important ideas, so I very humbly submit my immature review of the book; but, for me it was fascinating and highly recommended.
Needleman traces his beginnings as a young Jew, learning and struggling with the religion of his fathers, diving deeply into and teaching many other religious and spiritual approaches, and ultimately being mostly influenced by Gurdjieff, of whom I had never before heard. Ultimately, Needleman draws some captivating conclusions about how inextricably and deftly the human being is linked to God, and the awe-filled role we play in how God manifests Himself in the world. This, to me, is the true “humanism,”—not the “We are God; No! We are bigger than God!” humanism that is so destructive today; but the deeply spiritually linked humanism that answers the riddle: “Q: Where would God hide Himself if He wanted no one to find him? A: Inside each of us.” I already knew as I read the book that at least one more reading will doubtless be required for me to fully comprehend and remember Needleman’s more important ideas, so I very humbly submit my immature review of the book; but, for me it was fascinating and highly recommended.
October 30, 2022
„Volalo mne Poznání, a Poznání bylo Životem, a Život byl mým Bohem. Půjdu tam, kde je Život“.
Cesta filozofa k objaveniu Boha. Rozprávanie bolo miestami chaotické, čo sa mi ale k tejto téme náramne hodilo, aj slzy boli.
Cesta filozofa k objaveniu Boha. Rozprávanie bolo miestami chaotické, čo sa mi ale k tejto téme náramne hodilo, aj slzy boli.
April 27, 2011
Reading Jacob Needleman’s spiritual, yet philosophical memoir What Is God? is akin to watching a slow-paced movie where you know it’s worth watching because you have this inkling that something big, shocking, revelatory—a giant epiphany—will surface at the end like the lost city of Atlantis. But all along you are thinking, where is he going with this? And will he ever answer the question he posed? Three quarters of my way through the book I was still asking myself that question. Patience, I told myself. And that is the same thing I would tell the reader. The book builds up slowly, but in the end delivers the answer to its question.
My first impression upon seeing Needleman’s book in the religion section of my local bookstore was that it must be an ambitious work. Needleman, who I had never heard of, was certainly tackling a gargantuan question. When I opened the back flap, I discovered that he was a professor, and not just any professor, a professor of philosophy who had penned over fourteen books. Clearly, he was up to the task of posing and possibly answering such an age-old question. As a philosopher and former atheist-turned man of faith, Needleman’s perspective was bound to be compelling.
What Is God? is a challenging read. It requires attention, concentration, maybe even a pencil in your hand. It does not swiftly move by like, for instance, Deepak Chopra’s How to Know God. You really have to pay attention. It’s almost as if you are a student in one of Needleman’s classes, such is his pedagogical tone.
The book begins with the chapter “My Father’s God,” where Needleman writes of looking at the night sky with his father when, he says, “something deep inside me started breathing for the first time” and “the whole universe itself suddenly opened its arms to me.” Such is his earliest experience with God, though he eventually turns to atheism. A skeptic of organized religion and original sin (at one point he admits to burning The Confessions of St. Augustine), he believed that religion, in particular, the Judaism of his family, “had nothing to do with the sky full of stars, the still and silent mantis…it had nothing to do with what…I had learned to call God.” So it seems his atheism was not totally devoid of God.
What then follows is the course of his career as an undergraduate student of philosophy at Harvard and a graduate student at Yale. Needleman spends many pages sharing the writers and thinkers who marked a profound affect on his philosophical and spiritual life, namely D.T. Suzuki, P.D. Ouspensky, G.I. Gurdjieff and Jeanne de Salzmann.
Needleman charts how his faith had developed from reading the works of Immanuel Kant (he devotes an entire chapter to The Critique of Pure Reason), David Hume and others of the Age of Enlightenment, focusing on the power and importance of empirical thought. For Needleman, God can be known through an empirical process, what he calls “higher attention.” By simply focusing, giving one’s full attention, one can engage in higher attention, and thus, God. Higher attention inward may allow one to experience the Self with a capital S, the true self, that deeply quiet higher being, behind the self with a lowercase s, the egotistical me. In the end, this is his epiphany, that God can be experienced empirically, and does not have to be divorced from science or philosophy.
Though it is not an easy read, and may not work for the mainstream reader (I found the narrative disorganized at times and the chapter headings random and disconnected), What Is God? is ideal for a philosophical or spiritual reader. Needleman brought back my own memories toiling through philosophical texts in my undergraduate courses: Philosophy of Law, The Age of Enlightenment and Modernism. These were courses that changed my own thinking.
“…I learned from my own years of inner work that the great questions of life cannot be answered by the mind alone,” Needleman writes, “but only when they are asked with the whole of one’s being.”
My first impression upon seeing Needleman’s book in the religion section of my local bookstore was that it must be an ambitious work. Needleman, who I had never heard of, was certainly tackling a gargantuan question. When I opened the back flap, I discovered that he was a professor, and not just any professor, a professor of philosophy who had penned over fourteen books. Clearly, he was up to the task of posing and possibly answering such an age-old question. As a philosopher and former atheist-turned man of faith, Needleman’s perspective was bound to be compelling.
What Is God? is a challenging read. It requires attention, concentration, maybe even a pencil in your hand. It does not swiftly move by like, for instance, Deepak Chopra’s How to Know God. You really have to pay attention. It’s almost as if you are a student in one of Needleman’s classes, such is his pedagogical tone.
The book begins with the chapter “My Father’s God,” where Needleman writes of looking at the night sky with his father when, he says, “something deep inside me started breathing for the first time” and “the whole universe itself suddenly opened its arms to me.” Such is his earliest experience with God, though he eventually turns to atheism. A skeptic of organized religion and original sin (at one point he admits to burning The Confessions of St. Augustine), he believed that religion, in particular, the Judaism of his family, “had nothing to do with the sky full of stars, the still and silent mantis…it had nothing to do with what…I had learned to call God.” So it seems his atheism was not totally devoid of God.
What then follows is the course of his career as an undergraduate student of philosophy at Harvard and a graduate student at Yale. Needleman spends many pages sharing the writers and thinkers who marked a profound affect on his philosophical and spiritual life, namely D.T. Suzuki, P.D. Ouspensky, G.I. Gurdjieff and Jeanne de Salzmann.
Needleman charts how his faith had developed from reading the works of Immanuel Kant (he devotes an entire chapter to The Critique of Pure Reason), David Hume and others of the Age of Enlightenment, focusing on the power and importance of empirical thought. For Needleman, God can be known through an empirical process, what he calls “higher attention.” By simply focusing, giving one’s full attention, one can engage in higher attention, and thus, God. Higher attention inward may allow one to experience the Self with a capital S, the true self, that deeply quiet higher being, behind the self with a lowercase s, the egotistical me. In the end, this is his epiphany, that God can be experienced empirically, and does not have to be divorced from science or philosophy.
Though it is not an easy read, and may not work for the mainstream reader (I found the narrative disorganized at times and the chapter headings random and disconnected), What Is God? is ideal for a philosophical or spiritual reader. Needleman brought back my own memories toiling through philosophical texts in my undergraduate courses: Philosophy of Law, The Age of Enlightenment and Modernism. These were courses that changed my own thinking.
“…I learned from my own years of inner work that the great questions of life cannot be answered by the mind alone,” Needleman writes, “but only when they are asked with the whole of one’s being.”
July 14, 2014
This is the story of how an Atheistic Jewish Philosopher comes to appreciate, not just from an academic perspective but from his own experience,the meaning of God and Self.
He sees the questions: "What is God" and "What am I" as the same question, one experience, and also one answer, the same answer.
As he begins to understand what ancient and more modern wisdom means when speaking of God and of our obligations as creatures made in the image of God, Needleman states: "It is only in and through people, inwardly developed men and women, that God can exist and act in the world of man on earth. Bluntly speaking, the proof for the existence of God is the existence of people who are inhabited by and who manifest God." And "This evidence is perceived by means of what their presence evokes in oneself."
He emphasizes the one thing necessary to be a inwardly developed human being and that is "attention." For most of us most of the time our attention is taken, swallowed, by conditioned thinking, emotional reactions, fear, wants, daydreams and imaginary worries. So we don't really exist as I, myself, here. "We do not live our lives; we are lived and we may eventually die without ever having awakened to what we really are--without having lived."
Essentially "I am my attention" and for Needleman "one of the names of God is Attention, the Attention that fills the world and the universe and that Man is created to incarnate in himself so that he can freely obey and be as God in the created world of his own body and thereby manifest toward man and nature what is needed from him."
Needleman tells a compelling story of his spiritual, his inward development. But he drags the story out a bit too much for my taste, not that I couldn't pay attention of course. I just appreciate the concise teaching in the following Zen tale as recorded by Charlotte Joko Beck:
A student said to Master Ichu, 'Please write for me something of great wisdom.'
Master Ichu picked up his brush and wrote one word: 'Attention.'
The student said, 'Is that all?'
The master wrote, 'Attention. Attention.'
The student became irritable. 'That doesn't seem profound or subtle to me.'
In response, Master Ichu wrote simply, 'Attention. Attention. Attention.'
In frustration, the student demanded, 'What does this word attention mean?'
Master Ichu replied, 'Attention means attention.'
Source: Charlotte Joko Beck. 1993. Nothing special: Living Zen. New York: HarperCollins. 168.
He sees the questions: "What is God" and "What am I" as the same question, one experience, and also one answer, the same answer.
As he begins to understand what ancient and more modern wisdom means when speaking of God and of our obligations as creatures made in the image of God, Needleman states: "It is only in and through people, inwardly developed men and women, that God can exist and act in the world of man on earth. Bluntly speaking, the proof for the existence of God is the existence of people who are inhabited by and who manifest God." And "This evidence is perceived by means of what their presence evokes in oneself."
He emphasizes the one thing necessary to be a inwardly developed human being and that is "attention." For most of us most of the time our attention is taken, swallowed, by conditioned thinking, emotional reactions, fear, wants, daydreams and imaginary worries. So we don't really exist as I, myself, here. "We do not live our lives; we are lived and we may eventually die without ever having awakened to what we really are--without having lived."
Essentially "I am my attention" and for Needleman "one of the names of God is Attention, the Attention that fills the world and the universe and that Man is created to incarnate in himself so that he can freely obey and be as God in the created world of his own body and thereby manifest toward man and nature what is needed from him."
Needleman tells a compelling story of his spiritual, his inward development. But he drags the story out a bit too much for my taste, not that I couldn't pay attention of course. I just appreciate the concise teaching in the following Zen tale as recorded by Charlotte Joko Beck:
A student said to Master Ichu, 'Please write for me something of great wisdom.'
Master Ichu picked up his brush and wrote one word: 'Attention.'
The student said, 'Is that all?'
The master wrote, 'Attention. Attention.'
The student became irritable. 'That doesn't seem profound or subtle to me.'
In response, Master Ichu wrote simply, 'Attention. Attention. Attention.'
In frustration, the student demanded, 'What does this word attention mean?'
Master Ichu replied, 'Attention means attention.'
Source: Charlotte Joko Beck. 1993. Nothing special: Living Zen. New York: HarperCollins. 168.
August 24, 2012
Jacob Needleman speaks with a sensitivity and an intelligence that is extremely rare these days. And he speaks from experience, and not just from his thoughts, or his mind. I have read and loved many (but not all) of Mr. Needleman's books and this one might be his best work and also his most important book.
I highly recommend this book for everyone.
Mr. Needleman writes with a down-to-earth sincerity that is also unimaginably rare these days, and it informs this book with a depth that is almost unnoticed in his plain, honest and direct voice.
And while he does not try to convince anyone of anything (that is clearly not his main objective,) I feel his is a much needed voice in our times,
when Atheism is such a popular "intellectual" trend.
These things need to be questioned, that is all I am saying.
A child may have very primitive and fantastical notions of what the president of the United States is, but just because the child may have very stupid ideas about the POTUS does not meant that the POTUS does not exist. This is my analogy which I paraphrase thus:
Just because we may have stupid ideas about something, does not mean that that something does not exist. Maybe instead of dismissing the "thing," what needs to be got rid of, is one's own stupid ideas.
This book encourages us to seek and to question.
And isn't that what the best books do?
I highly recommend this book for everyone.
Mr. Needleman writes with a down-to-earth sincerity that is also unimaginably rare these days, and it informs this book with a depth that is almost unnoticed in his plain, honest and direct voice.
And while he does not try to convince anyone of anything (that is clearly not his main objective,) I feel his is a much needed voice in our times,
when Atheism is such a popular "intellectual" trend.
These things need to be questioned, that is all I am saying.
A child may have very primitive and fantastical notions of what the president of the United States is, but just because the child may have very stupid ideas about the POTUS does not meant that the POTUS does not exist. This is my analogy which I paraphrase thus:
Just because we may have stupid ideas about something, does not mean that that something does not exist. Maybe instead of dismissing the "thing," what needs to be got rid of, is one's own stupid ideas.
This book encourages us to seek and to question.
And isn't that what the best books do?
May 1, 2012
I love Needleman. He's down to earth and unpretentious, though a great philosopher and teacher and he has a deep heart based on the interviews and books I've read. Much of this book has autobiographical anecdotes. Needelman's personal journey from atheist/skeptic to accepting the unknown with new perceptions and trust based on experience speaks to our genuine experience in the 20-21 century as we move toward deeper understandings of the unseen power around us.
He doesn't speak from one tradition, though he appears deeply transformed by Gurdjieff. I'd love to open a dialogue with him. I tire of New Age and New Thought sugar water like we get from Chopra, Osteen, Dyer and others. I want solid thinking and Needleman delivers.
He doesn't speak from one tradition, though he appears deeply transformed by Gurdjieff. I'd love to open a dialogue with him. I tire of New Age and New Thought sugar water like we get from Chopra, Osteen, Dyer and others. I want solid thinking and Needleman delivers.
June 9, 2020
A complex and slow read, but rewarding if you take the time to read it slowly and let the ideas percolate. The book is a little difficult not only because of the complexity of thought, but also because his writing style is a little obscure. However, it was made much more readable by virtue of being very personal -- it is about his personal search and his experiences, so there is a storytelling flavor to the narrative rather than just being a philosophical tome. While his "answer" is not all that unique or surprising, the main source of his key idea was very unlikely (especially considering his background as an academic philosopher) -- such that had I known beforehand, I might have skipped the book.
March 16, 2011
I read this book on the advice of a friend. Jacob Needleman has taken on a rather large question here, and really he has written a spiritual autobiography, which includes reference to the Gurdjieff work, but I actually think he's written a superb book, and given a wonderful answer to the question. This was one of those rare books where I would read a chapter, then sit down and read it again. It was a very rich reading experience. I felt that his last chapter tried to sum things up a little too much, which must be a temptation for a book with this title. But I really loved this book.
February 14, 2017
I was going to give this complex and thought-provoking book 4 stars, based on my enjoyment. But this book is about so much more than "a good read." It is the most intimate and comprehensive journey of discovery I have ever encountered. It pushed me, frustrated me, challenged me, and ultimately enlightened me. I don't pretend to understand all of it, but I do know that it has earned its 5 stars by expanding my thinking. I'm pretty sure this is not the last time I'll read it.
February 12, 2013
This is philosopher Jacob Needleman's personal "faith" journey. As the saying goes, "biography is theology," and that is certainly true here. I appreciated his openness and self-probing as well as the lack of dismissiveness of those who do not come to the same conclusions as he does.
June 22, 2019
I really loved parts of this book, it was thought provoking and I really liked the personal aspect and his recounting experiences with certain beloved religious writers and philosophers, and his learning to appreciate ancient books that he wants despised. I loved his stories of being in a classroom teaching.
With that said, it is a struggle coming away from this book and being able to state "What is God" according to Needleman. He wrote beautifully about attention, genuinely awareness, those people who have a transcendent quality about them, and such streams of thought seemed to come together somehow for him, on what is God. I got the sense he is more inclined towards understanding God more like a force/energy, though he is a reflective philosopher and it doesn't come across as a new age mess of pottage.
I've been reading "Honest to God" by Robinson, who though Robinson was a Christian, he seemed to move some way from the view of a theistic view of God. Yet at the same time seeing God as love. He quoted Bonhoeffer, and I have been thinking about this quote in connection with Needleman's book.
"God allows himself to be edged out of the world and on to the cross. God is weak and powerless in the world, and that is exactly the way, the only way, in which he can be with us and help us....
...What do we mean by 'God'? Not in the first place an abstract belief in his omnipotence, etc. That is not a genuine experience of God, but a partial extension of the world. Encounter with Jesus Christ, implying a complete orientation of human being in the experience of Jesus as one whose only concern is for others. This concern of Jesus for others the experience of transcendence. This freedom from self, maintained to the point of death, the sole ground of his omnipotence, omniscience and ubiquity. Faith is participation in this Being of Jesus. Our relation to God, not a religious relationship to a supreme Being, absolute in power and goodness, but a new life for others, through participation in the Being of God. The transcendence consist not in tasks beyond our scope and power, but in the nearest Thou at hand. God in human form, not, as in other religions, in animal form--monstrous, chaotic, remote and terrifying--nor yet in abstract form--the absolute, metaphysical, infinite, etc.--nor yet in the Greek divine-human of autonomous man, but man existing for others, and hence the Crucified. A Life based on the transcendent."
It is interesting thinking of God with the music metaphor. Even if we've never heard any music, there is something innate that would be able recognize and appreciate rhythm, harmony and order. In a weird away even without a song, its like the song exist, but human beings must sound it forth, enter into it, express it. When we hear music, we have a sense of wrongness with that which is not harmonious, and a sense of rightness with a beautiful melody. Sometimes we'd be able to experience those transcendent moments with music, and other times not so much, but still enjoy music even when it doesn't completely raise us to another realm. But yeah, though we have this innate ability, if we or others don't make music, its not like its going to sound forth. In a weird sense, for Needleman and others, I kind of wonder God is like a song, not a song that will sing aloud and embrace us, but more like the force/energy/principle/order that we can somehow part take in if we DO, we can in essence abide in, sometimes experience the transcendent, when we ourselves or when we are with others who are singing in harmony with the Song. When we truly are aware, when we genuinely love others, and give them our full attention, when we are raised above the animal self, when we experience that deeper conscience that isn't simply socially conditioned, then we perhaps are abiding in God.
With that said, it is a struggle coming away from this book and being able to state "What is God" according to Needleman. He wrote beautifully about attention, genuinely awareness, those people who have a transcendent quality about them, and such streams of thought seemed to come together somehow for him, on what is God. I got the sense he is more inclined towards understanding God more like a force/energy, though he is a reflective philosopher and it doesn't come across as a new age mess of pottage.
I've been reading "Honest to God" by Robinson, who though Robinson was a Christian, he seemed to move some way from the view of a theistic view of God. Yet at the same time seeing God as love. He quoted Bonhoeffer, and I have been thinking about this quote in connection with Needleman's book.
"God allows himself to be edged out of the world and on to the cross. God is weak and powerless in the world, and that is exactly the way, the only way, in which he can be with us and help us....
...What do we mean by 'God'? Not in the first place an abstract belief in his omnipotence, etc. That is not a genuine experience of God, but a partial extension of the world. Encounter with Jesus Christ, implying a complete orientation of human being in the experience of Jesus as one whose only concern is for others. This concern of Jesus for others the experience of transcendence. This freedom from self, maintained to the point of death, the sole ground of his omnipotence, omniscience and ubiquity. Faith is participation in this Being of Jesus. Our relation to God, not a religious relationship to a supreme Being, absolute in power and goodness, but a new life for others, through participation in the Being of God. The transcendence consist not in tasks beyond our scope and power, but in the nearest Thou at hand. God in human form, not, as in other religions, in animal form--monstrous, chaotic, remote and terrifying--nor yet in abstract form--the absolute, metaphysical, infinite, etc.--nor yet in the Greek divine-human of autonomous man, but man existing for others, and hence the Crucified. A Life based on the transcendent."
It is interesting thinking of God with the music metaphor. Even if we've never heard any music, there is something innate that would be able recognize and appreciate rhythm, harmony and order. In a weird away even without a song, its like the song exist, but human beings must sound it forth, enter into it, express it. When we hear music, we have a sense of wrongness with that which is not harmonious, and a sense of rightness with a beautiful melody. Sometimes we'd be able to experience those transcendent moments with music, and other times not so much, but still enjoy music even when it doesn't completely raise us to another realm. But yeah, though we have this innate ability, if we or others don't make music, its not like its going to sound forth. In a weird sense, for Needleman and others, I kind of wonder God is like a song, not a song that will sing aloud and embrace us, but more like the force/energy/principle/order that we can somehow part take in if we DO, we can in essence abide in, sometimes experience the transcendent, when we ourselves or when we are with others who are singing in harmony with the Song. When we truly are aware, when we genuinely love others, and give them our full attention, when we are raised above the animal self, when we experience that deeper conscience that isn't simply socially conditioned, then we perhaps are abiding in God.
November 4, 2017
A very written spiritual autobiography, but as an autobiography, the reader, necessarily younger than Needleman, might not understand the contexts in which he is speaking as the backdrop to his thought.
He comes from an assimilated, acculturated, secular Jewish background. All he knows about Judaism, he admits, comes from vestigial memories (largely negative) of his immigrant grandparents and their children.
When, as a junior instructor, he "discovers" Judaism, he does it thought liberal, secular sources: Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem (who in actual life disliked one another intensely!)
Buber's Tales of the Hasidim were already known to be romanticized retelling Of tales ripped out of context.
Scholem's knowledge of mysticism was based on his reading of sources and historical contextualizion. (Aside: my favorite Scholem anecdote - When Scholem as a young man arrived ay Jerusalem, someone asked if he would like to meet the venerable Kabbalists who inhabited the Old City. Scholem declined, saying he could read Hebrew as well as they could! In other words, the accumulated practical and non-verbal knowledge was of no interest!)
Needleman mentions Maimonides is passing, but did he read and absorb the Guide? Did he look at Halevi's Kuzari?
The Zohat fascinated Needleman in the early 1960s, a time when only partial and often inaccurate translations were available.
As Judaism was perceived through liberal German (pre-WWII spectacles), so too was Christianity: Bultmann and Barth.
Did he read Thomas Aquinas or Bonaventure for another (more orthodox) view?
Gnosticism also fascinated him. But the only source available at the time was Han Jonas' then magisterial opus, and the "problem" with his work is that there were at the time no Gnostic texts available, translated or studied. Everything was extracted from ante-Nicene Church Fathers, who saw Gnosticism negatively.
Reading other reviews on Goodreads, I am struck by how many praise the book highly, having read it more than once.
Are they aware of how constrained and limited his perceptions were 60 years ago?
Still and all, the book is a valuable resource, for it does ask the right questions. As for "what is God?" There are as many answers as there are stars in the heavens Needleman looked as a small child at the start of the book.
He comes from an assimilated, acculturated, secular Jewish background. All he knows about Judaism, he admits, comes from vestigial memories (largely negative) of his immigrant grandparents and their children.
When, as a junior instructor, he "discovers" Judaism, he does it thought liberal, secular sources: Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem (who in actual life disliked one another intensely!)
Buber's Tales of the Hasidim were already known to be romanticized retelling Of tales ripped out of context.
Scholem's knowledge of mysticism was based on his reading of sources and historical contextualizion. (Aside: my favorite Scholem anecdote - When Scholem as a young man arrived ay Jerusalem, someone asked if he would like to meet the venerable Kabbalists who inhabited the Old City. Scholem declined, saying he could read Hebrew as well as they could! In other words, the accumulated practical and non-verbal knowledge was of no interest!)
Needleman mentions Maimonides is passing, but did he read and absorb the Guide? Did he look at Halevi's Kuzari?
The Zohat fascinated Needleman in the early 1960s, a time when only partial and often inaccurate translations were available.
As Judaism was perceived through liberal German (pre-WWII spectacles), so too was Christianity: Bultmann and Barth.
Did he read Thomas Aquinas or Bonaventure for another (more orthodox) view?
Gnosticism also fascinated him. But the only source available at the time was Han Jonas' then magisterial opus, and the "problem" with his work is that there were at the time no Gnostic texts available, translated or studied. Everything was extracted from ante-Nicene Church Fathers, who saw Gnosticism negatively.
Reading other reviews on Goodreads, I am struck by how many praise the book highly, having read it more than once.
Are they aware of how constrained and limited his perceptions were 60 years ago?
Still and all, the book is a valuable resource, for it does ask the right questions. As for "what is God?" There are as many answers as there are stars in the heavens Needleman looked as a small child at the start of the book.
June 2, 2011
After several attempts at a detailed review I will leave you with this. There is a basic problem with this work, the author can almost be described as an adherent to none, apologist for all. A spongy sort of theism much less satisfactory than the way Martin Gardner (for example) works around much of the same vast body of work (mainly Western) and tradition to arrive at a theistic but by most standards unreligious position (that is not aligned with any of the most popular myth systems or any specific organized body of believers), and explaining as clearly as possible why and acknowledging inherent limitations all around, and in readable non-academic prose comparable to this book. As a young adult, Gardner survived and transcended a journey through an ardent and amazingly ignorant obscurantist fundamentalism to arrive at a safe harbor between religion and pure reason. Needleman also seems to come around the opposite way, minus the period of intense misguided devotion to a specific sect, from a non-western, if not solidly atheistic orientation, to a mushy all-accepting position as a Professor of Philosophy. His transition occurred when he reconciled with virtually all the Abrahamic tradition (Islam does not get much mention that I can recall), in particular some of the harshest early Christian writers (when his previous student experience, as he admits, was to burn his copy of Augustine once the ordeal of a class was over) and his own Jewish roots under the compulsion to prepare for teaching a Western Religion course for prospective divinity students at San Francisco State by which he secured a much needed job, and ultimately his career position to date.
There is repeated emphasis on the notion of finding and valuing authentic representatives for a belief system that moves the focus from the beliefs themselves to something hard to separate from being taken by the charisma, talent and proficiency of the representative in question, the composite of which is presented as evidence of the real thing, whatever that is. Is the author actually hopeful or even yearning, to find living saints and prophets in his time? In particular, he seems to be interested, if not convinced by, the work of Gurdjieff which is mentioned and re-mentioned more than any other, and the authenticity he found in Lord Pentland (John Henry Sinclair) and Jeanne de Salzmann. (He has authored other works specifically about Gurdjieff and "the work".) Gurdjieff does not deal with God explicitly in his own works (I am taking Needleman's word on that) but at least one of the disciples, de Salzmann, seeks to link the Gurdjieff work with at least elements of Western theism, bringing God directly into the discussion in a way that neither the master nor his other immediate students did. Not mentioned here, there is another noted disciple of a sort, P. D. Ouspensky, whose broke away to expound his own version of these ideas having had some serious differences with Gurdjieff. The details are not too important here, the point is that even this close to the "authentic" origin we already see the division into schisms and sects, and the plunge into revisionism so evident in the other older systems with far more adherents that so weakens, if not invalidating outright, their claims to authentic revelation, truth and a preordained right to dictate to an individual's inner and outer life, notwithstanding whatever good ideas lie buried under the mythic nonsense found in every major belief system.
You will not find, nor will the author claim to deliver, the answer to the title question "What is God?". That is to his credit lest his book degenerate into a mere tract. It is only a catchy title. And I do not think there is dishonesty in it, just fuzziness.
=====================
An Aside, and a Rant.
=====================
I will say one thing very favorable about Dr. Needleman apart from the work itself. He apparently writes some of his books for use in classes but does not seem to be a part of the present day odious practice of exorbitant price gouging on required texts with obvious conflict of interest that should be a continuously screaming scandal around higher education until it is rectified. The cause is a distorted perversion of a market where not the ultimate consumer, the student, but a related group, the professors and institutions, with either no financial stake or a corrupt one reeking of payola or direct conflict of interest (e.g. the professor wrote the book), is the focus of an expensive and competitive marketing effort whose cost is passed on to the hapless ultimate consumer held hostage by the present day requirements for education, or at least its certifications and merit badges on a transcript, in the job market. It has escalated from occasional nuisance (my mother reported such abuses related the GI bill in the late 40's and 50's) from when I was in school (1970's) to business as usual today. It is manifestly apparent while book shopping to see prices jump from $20-$50 to $120 upward for essentially comparable works, the latter range is obviously for the currently required texts. It is especially galling when the works are slim or voluminously vapid, often politically tinged by ongoing subject area wars, dreck in soft subjects like "education" or the latest retread in a established areas like mathematics (my subject) covering well established core material that has not changed substantially for 50 years or more (is there any need whatsoever for a new Calculus text?) where the impact of actual innovation does not affect core preparation work until well into graduate school or beyond. This is then compounded by frequent superficial revisions making a large body of existing texts worthless on the market, often belatedly reflecting their essential worthlessness on the day they were printed to exploit a captive audience many of whom will be paying back loans to pay for them for years to come. Perhaps this is a pale microcosm of the fleecing that goes on in the corporate state of the USA (in particular in regards to war and high finance), but perhaps it is one on a scale that can be managed and corrected, the "too big to fail" model does not apply to academe, nor can it hide behind urgency of a poorly conceived policy of endless war.
There is repeated emphasis on the notion of finding and valuing authentic representatives for a belief system that moves the focus from the beliefs themselves to something hard to separate from being taken by the charisma, talent and proficiency of the representative in question, the composite of which is presented as evidence of the real thing, whatever that is. Is the author actually hopeful or even yearning, to find living saints and prophets in his time? In particular, he seems to be interested, if not convinced by, the work of Gurdjieff which is mentioned and re-mentioned more than any other, and the authenticity he found in Lord Pentland (John Henry Sinclair) and Jeanne de Salzmann. (He has authored other works specifically about Gurdjieff and "the work".) Gurdjieff does not deal with God explicitly in his own works (I am taking Needleman's word on that) but at least one of the disciples, de Salzmann, seeks to link the Gurdjieff work with at least elements of Western theism, bringing God directly into the discussion in a way that neither the master nor his other immediate students did. Not mentioned here, there is another noted disciple of a sort, P. D. Ouspensky, whose broke away to expound his own version of these ideas having had some serious differences with Gurdjieff. The details are not too important here, the point is that even this close to the "authentic" origin we already see the division into schisms and sects, and the plunge into revisionism so evident in the other older systems with far more adherents that so weakens, if not invalidating outright, their claims to authentic revelation, truth and a preordained right to dictate to an individual's inner and outer life, notwithstanding whatever good ideas lie buried under the mythic nonsense found in every major belief system.
You will not find, nor will the author claim to deliver, the answer to the title question "What is God?". That is to his credit lest his book degenerate into a mere tract. It is only a catchy title. And I do not think there is dishonesty in it, just fuzziness.
=====================
An Aside, and a Rant.
=====================
I will say one thing very favorable about Dr. Needleman apart from the work itself. He apparently writes some of his books for use in classes but does not seem to be a part of the present day odious practice of exorbitant price gouging on required texts with obvious conflict of interest that should be a continuously screaming scandal around higher education until it is rectified. The cause is a distorted perversion of a market where not the ultimate consumer, the student, but a related group, the professors and institutions, with either no financial stake or a corrupt one reeking of payola or direct conflict of interest (e.g. the professor wrote the book), is the focus of an expensive and competitive marketing effort whose cost is passed on to the hapless ultimate consumer held hostage by the present day requirements for education, or at least its certifications and merit badges on a transcript, in the job market. It has escalated from occasional nuisance (my mother reported such abuses related the GI bill in the late 40's and 50's) from when I was in school (1970's) to business as usual today. It is manifestly apparent while book shopping to see prices jump from $20-$50 to $120 upward for essentially comparable works, the latter range is obviously for the currently required texts. It is especially galling when the works are slim or voluminously vapid, often politically tinged by ongoing subject area wars, dreck in soft subjects like "education" or the latest retread in a established areas like mathematics (my subject) covering well established core material that has not changed substantially for 50 years or more (is there any need whatsoever for a new Calculus text?) where the impact of actual innovation does not affect core preparation work until well into graduate school or beyond. This is then compounded by frequent superficial revisions making a large body of existing texts worthless on the market, often belatedly reflecting their essential worthlessness on the day they were printed to exploit a captive audience many of whom will be paying back loans to pay for them for years to come. Perhaps this is a pale microcosm of the fleecing that goes on in the corporate state of the USA (in particular in regards to war and high finance), but perhaps it is one on a scale that can be managed and corrected, the "too big to fail" model does not apply to academe, nor can it hide behind urgency of a poorly conceived policy of endless war.
March 2, 2024
This book fascinates me - and I still don't think I fully grasp what he is saying. Not because he isn't clear, but because his ideas are so different from ones I've encountered before.
The book proceeds in a mostly chronological order of the progression of Needleman's own thinking on matters of spirituality, religion, and philosophy.
As a philosophy professor and product of Western scientific, materialistic thinking, for most of his life he stands relatively firmly in his atheistic beliefs. His perspective changes as he teaches philosophy and history of Western religious thought. Kudos for his inquisitive, open mind!
He provides an intriguing alternative definition of faith and explores the limitations of relying solely on intellect for complete understanding. His concept of God is still not clear to me, but it is quite different than the vengeful, demanding, omnipotent God of the Bible. It seems to be a blend of the various unitary consciousness beliefs in ancient wisdom traditions and the mystical sects of Judaism Christianity and Islam. But that's where i'm still not clear and a second reading may help me understand better.
If you are interested in exploring the questions of who are we, what is consciousness and what (if anything) is God - I recommend giving this book a read.
The book proceeds in a mostly chronological order of the progression of Needleman's own thinking on matters of spirituality, religion, and philosophy.
As a philosophy professor and product of Western scientific, materialistic thinking, for most of his life he stands relatively firmly in his atheistic beliefs. His perspective changes as he teaches philosophy and history of Western religious thought. Kudos for his inquisitive, open mind!
He provides an intriguing alternative definition of faith and explores the limitations of relying solely on intellect for complete understanding. His concept of God is still not clear to me, but it is quite different than the vengeful, demanding, omnipotent God of the Bible. It seems to be a blend of the various unitary consciousness beliefs in ancient wisdom traditions and the mystical sects of Judaism Christianity and Islam. But that's where i'm still not clear and a second reading may help me understand better.
If you are interested in exploring the questions of who are we, what is consciousness and what (if anything) is God - I recommend giving this book a read.
April 19, 2024
Needleman is a Jewish philosopher, which is why I was especially interested in his point of view on this one. He presents all the great philosophers and their stances on God, so we get to review Kant, Hume, and Socrates, while also tuning in to Zen considerations. Fascinating stuff, and yes, I'd recommend this one if you're into philosophy.
Here's a good paragraph, toward the end of the book, regarding atheism:
"Might we allow 'atheism' to challenge our passive, hypocritical, or superstitious beliefs in order to make room for ideas and thinking that can nourish the human soul in the way that breathing nourishes the human body? Might we allow honest atheism without seeding into our culture and into the minds of our children toxic concepts of what we are and what reality is? By toxic ideas, I mean ideas that deny the higher nature within ourselves that is still calling to us; concepts that smother the sense of wonder, the sense of the Higher in nature and in ourselves waiting to enter our lives. Such toxic concepts are now everywhere, presuming to be realistic only because they fight against an equally toxic religious arrogance."
Here's a good paragraph, toward the end of the book, regarding atheism:
"Might we allow 'atheism' to challenge our passive, hypocritical, or superstitious beliefs in order to make room for ideas and thinking that can nourish the human soul in the way that breathing nourishes the human body? Might we allow honest atheism without seeding into our culture and into the minds of our children toxic concepts of what we are and what reality is? By toxic ideas, I mean ideas that deny the higher nature within ourselves that is still calling to us; concepts that smother the sense of wonder, the sense of the Higher in nature and in ourselves waiting to enter our lives. Such toxic concepts are now everywhere, presuming to be realistic only because they fight against an equally toxic religious arrogance."
November 4, 2019
Excellent sincere account
"reason cannot go toward God without at the same time seeking the presence in oneself of the real I. Likewise, one cannot have genuine faith in God without the experience, if only for a moment, of one’s real I. Everything else that passes for faith—when it is not simply fantasy or self-deception—is a preparation for faith, often a necessary preparation as becomes evident when, for example, the bottom falls out in our life, or everything is lost, and then an individual experiences the faith that until then, unknown to him or her, had been no more or less than a preparatory, guiding hypothesis."
"reason cannot go toward God without at the same time seeking the presence in oneself of the real I. Likewise, one cannot have genuine faith in God without the experience, if only for a moment, of one’s real I. Everything else that passes for faith—when it is not simply fantasy or self-deception—is a preparation for faith, often a necessary preparation as becomes evident when, for example, the bottom falls out in our life, or everything is lost, and then an individual experiences the faith that until then, unknown to him or her, had been no more or less than a preparatory, guiding hypothesis."
March 28, 2025
Awe inspiring and poetic, Jacob Needleman brilliantly conveys with passion and wisdom the “whispers of the divine.” His explanation of Gurdjeiff’s teachings and thorough explanations make the book enthralling. His writing style is chaotic while and the same time concise, bringing you into not only his mind, but a glimpse of his soul. A truly beautiful work and I found his lecture on impersonal emotions very insightful. If you have an open mind going into it, your real I am (as he calls it) will truly be touched.
October 19, 2020
Surprising!
I was surprised by a self biography, instead of a thesis; by a humble heart, instead a mind like a cup full of tea. I strongly recommend to all who strive the search for ownself and "God".
I was surprised by a self biography, instead of a thesis; by a humble heart, instead a mind like a cup full of tea. I strongly recommend to all who strive the search for ownself and "God".
February 20, 2023
As a non-expert in the study of philosophy of religions, I probably shouldn't have read this book. I don't think I get it (I understand it, that is, but I don't "get" it). I enjoyed the memoir components, though.
March 18, 2023
Too roundabout. I ultimately gave up about 75% of the way through when I realized I didn't actually have any idea what his answer to the titular question was. I appreciate the personal nature of the work, but I was unable to get his point.
October 18, 2023
5/5
Like a long, private conversation with a close friend. Not plot driven, but thrilling nonetheless. Many things I felt and thought but could not verbalize in my own spiritual life, which I believe has been reaffirmed and repaired through his work.
Like a long, private conversation with a close friend. Not plot driven, but thrilling nonetheless. Many things I felt and thought but could not verbalize in my own spiritual life, which I believe has been reaffirmed and repaired through his work.
June 11, 2018
Some lovely sentimental recollections and reflections, mixed in with nods to various historical theological and ‘spiritual’ heavyweights, but mostly well meaning but pointless drivel.
October 22, 2023
It had its moments, but the Gurdjieff stuff made no sense to me and I walked away pretty much empty-handed.
August 14, 2012
One man's philosophic search for God. "What is the inner experience of this search?" is the primary question ... Jacob Needleman applies a lifetime of wisdom into the search, beginning with himself, as a boy, under a starry night ... I cherish this book in part because Needleman admits to once having been "allergic" to the word "God" ... just as I was ... and I realize, from reading *What is God?*, that my "allergy" has been to religion. ~ Masters and teachers who have influenced the author include Jesus, the Desert Fathers, the Gnostics, D.T. Suzuki, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Plato, Buber, William James, the mystics of Jewish and Christian faith, and G.I Gurdjieff. ~ This book is beautiful -- intricately crafted, rigorously and lovingly thought out.
Quotes:
What is God? What am I? It was the same question, it was one question, one experience.
... to begin to understand what God is, demands from the very outset the presence in ourselves of what God is. ... we will discover that the presence of a higher vibration within ourselves is already there ...
When thought races ahead of Being, a civilization is racing toward destruction.
The "eternal" ... comes toward man through a paradoxical fusion of pure gift from Above and radical inner choice from within ... a paradoxical inner reconciliation of two opposing realities: the eternal and the temporal, the infinite and the finite.
That religion at its root is also a great work of the mind was nowhere even imagined. (Needleman thought this in 1962.)
The real mind, the real instrument of understanding, is a blending of at least two fundamental sources of perception -- the intellect and the heart; the intellect and genuine feeling. And I was discovering that genuine feeling is not the same thing as emotional reaction.
[This] is the meaning of the Christian idea of faith -- an act of pure receiving of the gift.
... the idea of God, the word itself, has taken on as many connotations and denotations as there are types of gradations of the human psyche.
... both world events and a man's own individual life either more toward a genine aim or, on the contrary, go nowhere at all, repeating, repeating, endlessly, meaninglessly ...
By what intelligence did it all appear, an intelligence that embraces even the automatisms of Darwinian evolution on the ground of which everything from a mosquito to a Buddha appears on this earth?
Real Truth can never bring despair because the real experience of Truth transforms the knower into everything he had yearned for in vain ...
... to think about God is to the human soul what breathing is to the human body.
Quotes:
What is God? What am I? It was the same question, it was one question, one experience.
... to begin to understand what God is, demands from the very outset the presence in ourselves of what God is. ... we will discover that the presence of a higher vibration within ourselves is already there ...
When thought races ahead of Being, a civilization is racing toward destruction.
The "eternal" ... comes toward man through a paradoxical fusion of pure gift from Above and radical inner choice from within ... a paradoxical inner reconciliation of two opposing realities: the eternal and the temporal, the infinite and the finite.
That religion at its root is also a great work of the mind was nowhere even imagined. (Needleman thought this in 1962.)
The real mind, the real instrument of understanding, is a blending of at least two fundamental sources of perception -- the intellect and the heart; the intellect and genuine feeling. And I was discovering that genuine feeling is not the same thing as emotional reaction.
[This] is the meaning of the Christian idea of faith -- an act of pure receiving of the gift.
... the idea of God, the word itself, has taken on as many connotations and denotations as there are types of gradations of the human psyche.
... both world events and a man's own individual life either more toward a genine aim or, on the contrary, go nowhere at all, repeating, repeating, endlessly, meaninglessly ...
By what intelligence did it all appear, an intelligence that embraces even the automatisms of Darwinian evolution on the ground of which everything from a mosquito to a Buddha appears on this earth?
Real Truth can never bring despair because the real experience of Truth transforms the knower into everything he had yearned for in vain ...
... to think about God is to the human soul what breathing is to the human body.
June 17, 2010
This is by far the most readable of Needleman's book that I have read. I found it very interesting to follow his journey from agnostic to atheist to believer. I'm not sure he ever explicitly said what he believes God is, but he certainly left me with much to think about.
He talks a lot about being influenced by Gurdjieff's teachings. I didn't know much about them and may be interested in reading more.
Some things I'd like to ponder further:
p196: "It is only in and through people, inwardly developed men and women, that God can exist and act in the world of man on earth. Bluntly speaking, the proof for the existence of God is the existence of people who are inhabited by and who manifest God. Furthermore,... this evidence is perceived by means of what their presence evokes in oneself."
p204-206: Needleman discusses "attention" and the idea that "the quality of man's attention is the key to the meaning of our lives and the possible growth of our being."
I'd recommend this book to anyone who is interested in considering such ideas and isn't absolutely convinced that they already have all the answers.
He talks a lot about being influenced by Gurdjieff's teachings. I didn't know much about them and may be interested in reading more.
Some things I'd like to ponder further:
p196: "It is only in and through people, inwardly developed men and women, that God can exist and act in the world of man on earth. Bluntly speaking, the proof for the existence of God is the existence of people who are inhabited by and who manifest God. Furthermore,... this evidence is perceived by means of what their presence evokes in oneself."
p204-206: Needleman discusses "attention" and the idea that "the quality of man's attention is the key to the meaning of our lives and the possible growth of our being."
I'd recommend this book to anyone who is interested in considering such ideas and isn't absolutely convinced that they already have all the answers.
June 3, 2010
A university professor and former atheist recounts the autobiographical story of his developing understanding of human consciousness and its relationship with "what the religions call God." One important idea he develops along the way is "inner empiricism" - in which reasoning is rigorously drawn directly from experience, but the definition of experience is not limited to the five senses we use to relate to the material world. Lots to think about. Having followed him through his story, I still want him to say more and draw out what he means by his answer about what God is. I can't decide if that means he doesn't go quite far enough with it, or if I just need to let it sink in more. But what he says is consistent with my experience, and it is awesome to see philosophical and religious thought within the academy heading in this direction.
December 17, 2015
Buku separa outobiografi akan pencarian Tuhan oleh seorang bekas atheis yang bergelar professor dalam bidang falsafah. Yang akan kita temui ialah pencarian itu pada akhirnya akan mengetemukan beliau akan Tuhan yang hadir bukan dalam bentuk agama tetapi sesuatu yang lebih mendekati pegangan sufi melalui penerimaan beliau bahawa Tuhan tidak akan mampu dicapai menggunakan akal semata-mata.
Walaupun saya tidak dapat memahami semua apa yang cuba dibincang dan diperjelaskan oleh beliau, namun sekurang-kurangnya pembacaan ini menunjukkan betapa watak-watak intelektual barat tidak lagi dapat bersembunyi dalam kepompong sains bagi menidakkan keperluan spiritual sebagai seorang manusia.
Walaupun saya tidak dapat memahami semua apa yang cuba dibincang dan diperjelaskan oleh beliau, namun sekurang-kurangnya pembacaan ini menunjukkan betapa watak-watak intelektual barat tidak lagi dapat bersembunyi dalam kepompong sains bagi menidakkan keperluan spiritual sebagai seorang manusia.
July 11, 2016
A must read for anyone wanting to get way beyond the usual answers to the title's bold question. Jacob Needleman is at his best as he recounts his journey into the question "what is God". His answer, which can only be called his living response, gradually unfolds as he discovers over many decades who "He" really is. The reader will also see how his difficult, inner (spiritual) work directly relates to his answer. This book has a quality of honesty and seriousness that helps us understand the relationship between his questioning and his answer, and may very well challenge a reader to begin his/her own approach to the question.
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