Christians often begin their prayers with “Our Father who art in heaven…”. I often ask myself: Where is heaven? Does it mean that God is somewhere beyond the clouds, in the void? Upon careful thought, one realizes that this is not the case. If God were somewhere beyond the clouds in the sky, that sky would be a greater existence encompassing God. To say that God is the creator of heaven and earth, and then to try to find God in some specific place on earth, is undeniably a contradictory act.
If God exists in a certain place, that place becomes a larger world that embraces God. A world greater than God. Of course, a god in some part of the void would still be a god. But it would be a god imagined by humans. One must encounter God that exists before human imagination, the source of imagination, and beyond imagination. We must be freed from the narrowness of human thought. The reversal of thought is needed: instead of finding God in a space or location, we must see God in everything and everywhere.
Nietzsche boldly declared that “God is dead”. In one sense, he was right. The God that Nietzsche killed is the narrow god created by humans, hidden in a corner of the vast world, only to satisfy all their desires when needed.
When thinking of God, we unconsciously follow the surroundings or background of the many concepts of God, but we should not remain there. We must discover God shining in the void. This requires deep contemplation, seeing the surroundings with focus. The idea of omnipresence, ‘being everywhere’ (無所不在), becomes valid expressed one way in the ritual for Azazel, the spirit that roams the wasteland.
“Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the living goat, confess over it all the iniquities and transgressions of the children of Israel, transferring them upon the goat’s head, and then hand it over to the person waiting to send it away into the wilderness. And so the goat will carry away all their sins to the wasteland.” (Leviticus 16:21-22)
In fact, a similar ritual appears in other cultures besides Israel. It is commonly a method of transferring sins or impurities onto a living creature or an object, or placing them upon it to completely eliminate them. This appears to be a purification or atonement ritual arising from the sense of guilt present in the inner human self.
Throughout history and now, the guilt, remorse, or shame residing within every human being always yearns for healing and reconciliation. The main ritual of the Day of Atonement’s great purification liturgy involves laying both hands on the live goat that has been set aside, fully transferring the people’s sins onto the sacrificial goat, so that this sacrificial goat carries all the sins of Israel far into the wilderness. We see that the atonement ritual of Leviticus 16 is deeply rooted within Paul’s doctrine of justification (cf. Romans 3:21-26). “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement.” (Romans 3:25)
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