Freeing God from Theology

About the Book

In this book, the author, Cliff Ratzlaff, presents the idea that theological definitions of God are not only confusing but also implicated in so many of the social problems afflicting the world of people on planet Earth. God as a spiritual concept, however, invites discussion of seeing God in each other. Spirituality of necessity ends wars, alienation, enemies, hate, and wrath. The author includes reference to Gestalt psychology and to the writings of Martin Buber to help us experience spirituality in a way that frees us. As we free God from theology, we invite experience of God in our “I Am” experience. To be is equivalent to “to be” in union and unity with the infinite God of the infinite universe. When we meet others, we look for God in them. If you look for God, you see God. The religious experience of God is the experience’s sacred presence: presence without location. Ratzlaff makes much of Gestalt’s figure-ground phenomenon involved in human perception. The human seeks to put order on chaos, rule over the unruly, and direct over lostness. The experience of transcendence helps us to validate our self-awareness. The person is always sacred, godlike, and holy. God as our experience is inclusive of our fellows. God is love, acceptance, order, and life itself. It all makes sense as soon as one releases God from the fences we have put him in. Those fences are theologies. Among the worst theology to ever be imposed on the chaos of human essence is the Nicene Creed. Paul’s description of Yeshua of Nazareth was a gross distortion grabbed by both Constantine of Rome and the church. Rome liked Nicaea; the pope liked Nicaea. Behold politicized theology and theologized politics, followed by the grossest distortion in human history; Nicaea led to the Dark Ages, the demonization of women, the witch trials, the Inquisition, fundamentalism of the reformation and contemporary Islam. Islam started during the Dark Ages. Awareness and practice of spirituality releases God from the fences of theology. When you free God, you free yourself.

About the Author

I, Clifford Nelson Ratzlaff, an octogenarian of 88 years, am doing what could be described as an act of defiance. I am defying the idea that it is best for old people to shut up and start their rocking chairs. I believe I have something to say about the human spiritual condition on planet Earth. This is a revision of a previous book entitled FREEING GOD FROM RELIGION. In this revision I make a sharp differentiation between religion and theology. I use Gestalt Psychology ideas about Figure/Ground perceptual dynamics to show that religion is spiritual stuff and theology is human male stuff about spirituality. Briefly my curriculum vitae include two undergraduate degrees in Psychology, an M.Sc degree in Counselling Psychology, and a Ph.D. in the same discipline. I was privileged to learn to know Dr. Gene Kasper at KSTC, Emporia, Kansas, back in 1965. With no hesitatioin I credit him with giving me information about the professional hazards of Transference and Counter transference in the therapy hour. It was Gene who came to me after a session behind the glass wall, with a very significant message, "Cliff wake up; you're headed for big troubles unless you learn how to handle client/therapist relationship issues in the counseling hour" He proceeded to teach me how to handle situations in which a client falls in love with her therapist. I have never forgotten that hour of epiphany. Then too during my Ph.D. studies I was privileged to have Dr. Willard Blaesser as my committee chairman. Willard was a man of amazing empathy and gentleness. He encouraged me, corrected me, and wished me well as we left ASU with graduate degrees. There is also one more person who contributed very extensively to my development. He was Pius Wakatama of Zimbabwe. Once a student of mine in teacher education, Pius became a widely read provocateur type journalist in a regime headed by Mugabe, a heavy handed dictator. I have asked Pius to say a few things about me. "To those who knew you from those days when you were in Zimbabwe, your name became a household name. So many ask me about you and are so happy when I tell them you are well . You are regarded as part of the Zimbabwe revolution. You were so different from all the other missionaries. You may not believe this but those who know you regard you as highly as they do all the liberal minded whites who worked for the true development of African people. You did not see us as savages to be civilized, evangelized and exploited , but as homo-sapiens like any other. You were very meaningful to us all". (Pius Wakatama) Nothing unusual qualifies me to write as I do in this anthology of essays. Interest per se, experience and reading books have produced in me a sense of awarenress of human "Ursachen" that I find both bewildering and inviting. I was thrilled to read about homosapiens experiences of spirituality that are the same around the world; whether the Zambezi valley or Wall street. To be human is to be spiritual. When I saw it I woke up to the awareness that I had something to say about human spirituality.My last chapter, FREED BY EPIPHANIES, adresses this awareness. When one can allow imprinting of epiphanal sayings and then keep them in mental readiness for instantant recall, life becomes exiting to live. Do my sensitivites show? Yes they do; and they are evidence that at times, reenergized memories bring back the pain and sadness of a previous day. But this sensitivity has also been the key to my effectiveness as a psychotherapist. As I am sensitive to me own experiences, I have been sensitive to those who have shared their lives with me is session. Often I have felt a deep stirring of love and compassion for hurting people; and done that without "falling in love" with any. If they andswered "Yes" to my invitation to tell me their story, they would begin and within minutes tears would flow; too often in my eyes too. They accepted my tears as I did their's.