Introduction“There is no greater agony than bearing an untoldstory inside of you.”

—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)

“The most important matter in life is your relation-ship to the Infinite.”

—author unknown

You were born to walk with God, so why would you walk alone?This book is about knowing God. It is not a defense for the existence of

God, however. If that’s the type of book you’re looking for, then you’ll needto go somewhere else. There are plenty of them around. Frankly, I find suchbooks amusing. What’s the point of arguing for God’s existence when it is asimpossible to prove he does exist as it is to prove he doesn’t? It’s like debatingabout whether there’s intelligent life on other planets. Either there is or thereisn’t. But, until there’s an indisputable encounter, it’s one person’s wordagainst another and, too often, that turns into needless debate.

One thing is for certain: an encounter with a UFO will have to be morebelievable than some of the preposterous stories reported so far. For example,I recently saw a video—maybe it was on YouTube—that someone had takenof a UFO as it streaked like lightning across the Mojave sky. Have you evernoticed that none of these pictures are ever clear enough to be incontestable?An imaginary tale of temporary alien abduction that accompanied this videowas equally indistinguishable and unbelievable.

As for the existence of God, my suspicion is that the real reason peoplewrite books that try to prove God exists is that they are secretly afraid hedoesn’t.

I have written this book presuming that God is and, more important,that God can be known, not in the sense of knowledge or information but inthe sense of intimacy and inspiration. You can know about God, but notknow God. That would describe most people today.

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I used to think that I, andother Christians like me, had amonopoly on God. We held, asit were, a kind of title deed toultimate Reality. What we knewabout God was not only right,but what others knew waswrong or at best inferior to ourknowledge of him.

While I no longer feel thisway, I realize many Christiansstill do, just as people in otherreligions believe their knowledgeof God is superior to that ofChristians. I have therefore come to the conclusion there may be a lot ofknowledge about God in all religions, but there may be only a few people inany religion who ever actually know God.

As far as my life is concerned, I cannot remember a time when I havenot had an interest in knowing God. Unfortunately, however, apart from theknowledge of the Divine I accumulated over the years, I cannot say with cer-tainty that I knew God—at least not in a personal way. To be sure, therewere passing occasions when I felt his nearness, but the feelings never lasted.Most of the time, I did not feel close to God at all. In fact, I felt distant, as ifhe were uninterested in me and maybe the rest of the world, too. The fewtimes I felt connected to him were usually short-lived. Of course, whenever Idid, the feeling was good. But it was always temporary and soon replacedwith the feeling that God was displeased with how things were going withme and perhaps the rest of the world, too. Consequently, most of the time,my spiritual life was one big frustration, even a disappointment. I have thefeeling it must be the same for many people.

Then, one day, something happened to me and everything changed. Iinstantly became aware of a transcendent and ineffable Presence. Was it GodI suddenly became aware of? How would I know? In fact, since that experi-ence, there are few things that I can say I’m sure about. The strange thing isthat I’m okay with it. This is not something I would have been comfortableadmitting a few years ago. Ambiguity, paradox, and contradiction used toannoy me.

2 THE ENOCH FACTOR

“God does not die the daywe cease to believe . . . butwe die when our lives ceaseto be illumined by thesteady radiance, reneweddaily, of a wonder, thesource of which is beyondall r”eason.

—DAG HAMMARSKJÖLD

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Not anymore. Ever since this trans-formative encounter—whatever it wasthat happened to me—I enjoy the para-doxical. Eric Fromm said, “Creativityrequires the courage to let go of certain-ties.” I’ve let go of many certainties inthe last few years. Now I enjoy insteadthe freedom of not feeling as if I have toexplain everything. Life’s mysteries aremeaningful when not menaced by themind.

If it was not God I experienced but, instead, a dream or somethingequally as strange, then I hope I never wake up. Since that day, I have beenaware of a Sacred Presence almost continuously. Virtually everything aboutthe way I think, what I believe, and the way I live has shifted for the better.The changes happen almost daily, too, or so it seems.

I’ll note many of these changes throughout the book. The thoughts, feel-ings, and beliefs I used to have about my life, this world, and even deathitself have morphed into something infinitely more meaningful to me thanat any other time in my life. As a result, I’ve moved beyond the narrow, oftennegative, rigid, and rule-oriented perspective that distinguished my earlyadult life and the Christian tradition in which I was raised.

Make no mistake, however. I have not written this book to bash my reli-gious heritage. As it is among all religions, the Christian religion isdesperately ill. Even so, with all its faults, it has helped shape who I am andprovided me and millions ofothers a path to follow in thehuman quest to know God.

I have written the book inthree sections. The first chroni-cles my history, the things Igrew up believing, and thestrange day when everythingchanged in my life and I foundtrue intimacy with God. In thissection, I describe the humancondition that interferes with

INTRODUCTION 3

“Even belief in God isonly a poor substitutefor the living realityof God manifestingevery moment ofyou”r life.

—ECKHART TOLLE

“Life unfolds as a series ofsynchronous events that,though appearing coinci-dental, are actuallyconspiring together to bringyou into union with”God.

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intimacy between God and humans and makes life problematic for almosteveryone.

I also detail the story of the day when my father suffered a brain attack,a stroke that ended his life ten days later. It was the most traumatic life eventI have experienced. Yet, it is amazing to me how this event conspired withother life events to create a portal through which my encounter with Godmaterialized. I found the truth in what American author Louis L’Amoursaid, “There will come a time when you believe everything is finished; thatwill be the beginning.”

In the second section, I introduce you to Enoch, pronounced ∑’-nik. Heis the human archetype of the sacred art of knowing God. History recordsthe myths and legends of persons who lived at a level of God-consciousnessnever realized by the majority of their contemporaries. A few of them areBuddha, Abraham, Lao Tzu, Moses, Confucius, Mary the mother of Jesus,Saint Paul, Muhammad, St. Francis of Assisi, and, more recently, MohandasGandhi, Mother Teresa, and the Dalai Lama. There are many, many others,of course. Jesus lived at this level, too. In fact, most Christians believe Jesusembodied the Divine presence in his earthly life more completely than anyother person who has ever lived.

Throughout history, the people who seemed to have arrived at anadvanced level of spiritual awareness were known by specific names. Jewscalled them tzadikim, Hindus called them avatars, and Christians calledthem saints.

Labels are unimportant, however. What is more important is that theywere rare souls indeed. Enoch was one of these rare souls, too, although notas widely known. Of him, it was said, “Enoch walked with God” (Gen5:22). Only one other person in the sacred record of Jewish history was saidto have reached this level of Divine consciousness. That was Noah (Gen 6:9).The words “walk with God” are an anthropomorphic way of describingcloseness, awareness, knowing-ness, and intimacy. In this book, I use thewords “walking with God” and “knowing God” interchangeably.

From the first day I met Enoch some thirty years ago, his mysterious lifehas fascinated me. A few times, I’ve actually sensed his spirit with me. Thatexplains my acknowledgment at the front of this book. It’s not like I’ve hadconversations with Enoch or witnessed an apparition of him. I’ve simplybeen aware of his presence, much like being aware of another’s presence inthe room with you. You might not talk with the person, but you know he orshe is there.

4 THE ENOCH FACTOR

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