Daniel Holden Smith
August 6, 2025
God is a Silk Spinning Spider
Daniel Holden Smith
11.13.24
Young folks these days don’t talk about God much — until they do.
As humans, we’ve grown enough to know that there’s no such thing as
mysterious powers controlling us. Right? Anything and everything can be
plainly explained by entering your name and birth information into a
website. Are you lonely and moody? Must be that your planets are out of
line! Are you the coolest mf alive? Such a Libra! Are you hungry for
purpose and fulfillment in a world that seems to profit off choking life
and luster out of you?! Take a mental-health day!
We are starving, and it seems that the ancient method of turning to God
for sustenance is less popular now among youth. But it still survives in
these new forms: astrology, self-care, mindfulness, spirituality, etc.
We live in a world of mystery, and many of us are still mysterious to
ourselves. And we still attempt to grasp this mist, or at least ease the
burden by passing our selves up to the stars.
***
If you don’t know much about God or the Bible, or anything of that nature, that’s quite alright. Perhaps you’re familiar with the “Big Man Upstairs” moniker. This is a great place to start. While it may sound silly, this nickname sums up many Christians’ understanding of what God is: an XXL human-looking fella that lives up above. The reason for this understanding comes from many verses and stories, but most notable is the Genesis passage that tells us that we were made to look like God.
Gen. 1:27 “So God created man in His own image, in the image of
God created He him; male and female created He them.”
— NIV
This passage refers specifically to Adam & Eve, the Biblical
first man and woman. They were said to have walked and talked with God
in the Garden of Eden. So it’s no wonder why many think God a great big
man! (Even though creating female in this passage indicates that God is
both masculine and feminine, but thats for another time).
But if you ask me, the all-knowing all-powerful all-encompassing God
most definitely does not look like a bearded dude. That’d be boring! It
lacks an imagination that I’m certain a universe-creator would cherish.
As if They’d be caught in the same outfit as us stinky freaks!
Another thing many Christians might tell you is that the Bible has no contradictions. But since pasting the previous quote from Genesis, it took me just one loosely targeted Google search to find a contradiction. And one that makes perfectly the point im trying to find —
1 Samuel 16:7 “But the LORD said to Samuel, ’Do not consider his
appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does
not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward
appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’”
— NIV
So if we are made in God’s image (so says God) and God does not LOOK at the things man looks at (so says God), how can we be sure that “image” is a word for physical appearance? Perhaps image means something much greater. And perhaps the Lord is not using x-ray vision to look at the anatomical heart of the man, but rather the mysterious longings and drives that people inexplicably possess. Perhaps we were made in the image of the heart of God, which is itself metaphorical for the essence of God’s being. And if the Christians are right in striving after Christ: **Love Trumps All**.
And before I go too deep down a rabbit hole of metaphysical stuff, let’s step back. What might this mean for us? For you? That perhaps God and the brand that has been built around Him is a bunch of fluff from a bunch of nutters? Maybe painting God as a powerful “man” was beneficial to some powerful men with interest in holding that manpower? Maybe liberating the “image” of God is key in redefining individual relationships with the Almighty.
And perhaps a nation “under God” tries to keep people far enough away so that they cannot see God clearly. So they cannot see that God is in fact entirely undefinable and cannot be claimed. And perhaps it might help us realize that as humans, all descriptions of God are humanized, which inherently limits the scope of God the Unlimited. But that’s just the way it looks from where I’m standing\! And that’s okay.
***
Biblical stories of God are often isolated to the characters in the story being told. But if God is God, he is simultaneously in every story, on every side, in every heart. Perhaps God looks more like an octopus, given that he has his hands in so many places. Perhaps tentacles and tree branches more accurately depict God’s image. Or maybe the roots in the ground and lightning streaks in the sky show how deep and high God’s reach can go. It seems to me, right now, there is no right or wrong to the God *you* know.
My mom has always noted that dogs are “God” backwards. Pretty cute huh? I always loved that take, and for a long time I gave weight to it. Then I became a teenager and thought — “well God is just an English term for an ancient name spelt many different ways to many different people, and dog is just one English animal name.”…Such a prick\! But now I think she was onto something big. God seems to like a good game of hide-n-seek too — clues and tricks tucked behind pews and licks\!
I’d go so far as to say that everyone believes in God. And if you don’t agree with me, mozel tov\! Humans have been describing God for quite some time, and all this talk about which religion is “right” dilutes the fact that we are all desperately trying to grasp the same mysteries. We have all lived on the same Earth with its natural laws and human natures and the same questions about ourselves and our place. So, to say you do not believe in God is to say that you do not see any mystery. But I’m finding that those who do not believe in God do not believe in the spoon-fed God. But how about we slap that spoon away and find our own food? Because really, the customer is always right.
And maybe you really don’t see any God or mystery, and this might be your truth. But if you ask any frontier scientist — especially the ones that like space or biology — this existence knot is still all twisted\! Wait…quantum science shows that matter can be augmented by being observed? Huh. Autistic savants redefine the limits of conscious human ability? Well, I bet I could do that too. Dogs can sniff out undiscovered cancer and predict unpredictable blackouts? Suuuurreeee — give a Golden a vest and they think they’re all that\!
No no no, there is indeed something magnificent and mind-bending operating under our little noses each and every day. This deep cooperation and coordination and deliberation of nature is itself evidence of *intelligence*. It is a reflection of the traits humans hold so dear in ourselves, but fail to acknowledge elsewhere.
***
Big Science: God didn’t create the universe, the Big Bang
did!
Me: Well what spawned the conditions which allowed for the Big
Bang?
Big Science: I dunno, your mom?
There’s loads of science out there. But I still feel lonely, I get indigestion, and I still don’t have the “right” routine. I still resent family sometimes, I don’t understand butterflies in my stomach, step goals feel empty, and dreams still haunt me. There’s some science to address all those things, but are you machine enough?
People denounce God perhaps because pride spurs us to raw-dog life and deal with its suffering without leaning on some higher power. But like, compadre, be real with me…you ever sneezed? You ever sweat and heart pound because you’re around someone you like? You ever wake up thrashing from a dream? You ever feel so hot you just collapse on the floor and give in? You ever had the wind knocked out of you? Don’t even get me started on earthquakes and tsunamis and hurricanes and tornadoes and Big Agriculture. We are constantly being hammered at by powers beyond our control. Higher powers. Powers that are higher than us. Big men. Upstairs men. Big men that come from upstairs. It’s all the same. It’s all very simple. God is a spider. “Ahhhh kill it\!”
The Sky-Bound Silk Spinner weaves her threads around each and every
one of us. When a line is plucked, she knows where, when, why, and by
whom. When a strand is cut, she’s there to re-weave and repair. She
resides at the center of it all; her net is spun far and wide, so that
she may reach anywhere at any time. Ohh the patterns she can make
between the stars! Here on Earth, the spider spins homes in my basement
overnight. Imagine what they could do with a galaxy, or universe?
She flows in the wind, her near-invisible threads holding so tight one
can’t help but wonder at their might. Many are caught up in her webs,
waiting fearfully to be consumed. Others hack through, outmaneuvering
her clutches. And still she remains. If Jesus were a spider, walking on
water would’ve been a cinch! Quite the magic trick that’d be. Penn &
Teller would have a field day!
God has been gentrified. That is, taken and repurposed for a bunch of better-off white fellas. And I say fellas cause the ladies hardly had a say in who or what God was to the people, and to the land. I think God benefits from a little socialism, and especially a lotta imagination.
***
Mr. John Krasinksi is a stand-up guy. Helluhvan actor and quite a
talented director. He came out with that new movie: IF (imaginary
friends).
Now, consider this; every child with an imaginary friend is a person
with a direct line of communication with God. And before you react to
that statement and judge its merit with your pesky adult brain, let it
sizzle for a sec. At what age or developmental stage would we say it’s
“inappropriate” for a child to be talking with an imaginary friend?
Folks like to joke that believers are doing the same with their “gods”.
But consider for a moment, that children might be more imaginative and
tuned into mystery than conditioned adults. And consider what an
imaginary friend represents to a child: companionship, safety, joy,
consistency. Consider the sublime power of being able to gaze at
nothingness, and say “Hi, how are you?” No heart-bearing person would
dare shame a child for this relationship.
A child faced with hardship alone may call on their imaginary friend to
cope. But once we’re older, we muddy this sacred relationship by
attaching it to sacrament, ritual, punishment, and doctrine. But at the
end of the day, these same religious organizations make clear that you
have your own relationship with God. When heads bow and grace is uttered
before a meal, each individual is saying thanks to their very own
version of God. Each child is sharing a meal with their very own
imaginary friend.
In a world full of woes and suffering and loneliness, I wonder who gets
more blissfully by, those who believe in nothing, or those who believe
in all of it?
***
And If you take anything at all from my words, let it be this: Wonder is your personal gateway to God. It is what connects you to others, and to the excellence of the world. It is what allows us to have what we have. “I wonder if we could fly like the birds?” we said. “I wonder if we can touch that lamp in the night sky?” we said. “I wonder if I could share a life with my love?” we say. The boundaries of human imagination are limitless, and I believe it is high time we reconsider the boundaries we’ve set on God. Perhaps these webs that connect us are the Body and Blood of Christ. Perhaps spiders truly are His spies — and Her webs tie us together through the union of eyes.