What is the nature of God according to St. Bernard and Eckhart?

Question: Maneesha's question: OUR BELOVED MASTER, ST. BERNARD WROTE: "WHO IS GOD? I CAN THINK OF NO BETTER ANSWER THAN: HE WHO IS." ECKHART STATED: "THOU MUST LOVE GOD AS NOT-GOD, NOT-SPIRIT, NOT-PERSON, NOT-IMAGE, BUT AS HE IS -- A SHEER, PURE, ABSOLUTE ONE, SUNDERED FROM ALL TWONESS AND IN WHOM WE MUST ETERNALLY SINK FROM NOTHINGNESS TO NOTHINGNESS." IF ONE SUBSTITUTED THE PRONOUN `HE' WITH `IT', WOULD NOT THESE TWO CHRISTIAN MYSTICS BE SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE OF ZEN? Maneesha, you can change the `he' into `it', and certainly they will be speaking the language of Zen, but you cannot do that. It is their statement, not yours. They are still saying `he'. They are not even saying `she'; `it' is far away -- although they have come very close to the point.

Osho, what is god?

God has to be freed from all concepts of personality. Personality is a prison. God has to be freed from any particular form; only then he can have all the forms. He has to be freed from any particular name so that all the names become his. Then a person LIVES in prayer -- he does not pray, he does not go to the temple, to the church. Wherever he sits he is prayerful, whatsoever he is doing is prayerful, and in that prayerfulness he creates his temple. He is always moving with his temple surrounding him. Wherever he sits the place becomes sacred, whatsoever he touches becomes gold. If he is silent then his silence is golden; if he speaks then his song is golden. If he is alone his aloneness is divine; if he relates then his relating is divine. The basic, the most fundamental thing is to…

Imam muhammed baqir is said to have related this illustrative fable: 'finding I could speak the language of ants, I approached one and enquired, "what is god like? Does he resemble the ant?" 'he answered, "god! No, indeed -- we have only a single sting, but god, he has two!"'

So, an experiencing.... And what is an experiencing? What is the difference between experience and experiencing? The difference is that in experience you remain separate from the object. For example, you are listening to me. This can happen in two ways. For those who are here just as spectators, as listeners, as an audience, it is an experience. I am here separate from them; they are there separate from me. I am an object and they are the subject. They are there centred in their egos listening to me. And they are continuously judging whether this is right or wrong, whether this applies or not, whether this can be practised or not, whether this agrees with their scripture or not -- they are continuously judging inside. This will be an experience. But those who are in deep love with me, who are not standing against me, who are not there…

Question: BELOVED MASTER, IF GOD IS A SHE, WHY DO YOU KEEP ON CALLING HER A HE? AND ANOTHER QUESTION: YOU SAY THE ENGLISH ARE LADIES AND THE ITALIANS, WOMEN. WHERE WOULD YOU PUT THE GERMAN FEMALES? So don't cling to my answers; they are not answers. I am not a teacher at all. I am not here teaching you a certain dogma, a certain creed. I am simply trying to help you to be unburdened of your knowledge so that you can be silent with me. And I am in a hurry because soon I want to go into silence, so you also have to be quick. Don't linger too much. Don't go on postponing because I will not be talking for ever and ever. Soon I want to be silent.

What is god?

God is not a person, he is an experience. The vision, the experience one has of the universe after the dissolution of the ego, is what I call God. There is no particular type of experience of God, rather, the experience of perfect and universal love is God. It has no center; it is all existence. All existence is its center. It is incorrect to talk of the experience of God but you can say the experience of perfect love is God. Love is the relationship between two persons. When this same relationship exists between an individual and existence I call it God. The ultimate stage, the flowering of love, is God. And I am reminded here of a saying of Christ's: "God is love". When the "I" disappears, what remains is love. When the walls surrounding the ego crumble, what remains is love. And love itself is God. It…