Monkey and God

There was a young monkey living in a forest near a river. One day he took a fish out of the river and brought that fish up in the tree. Of course the fish was struggling to breath. An old monkey saw it and asked, “Why do you bring a fish here, he supposes to live in a river?” The young monkey said, “I saved him from drowning.”

Perhaps we will say that monkey is foolish. But isn't that the picture of a man who does not experience God, yet always talks about God?

Why am I talking about the experience of God?

Since the love commandment written in the Gospel of Matthew 22:37-39 is to love our God with all our heart, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. This means that our love to our neighbor depends on how we experience of how God loves us and how we love God in return. Then based on this experience we can love our neighbor. We cannot love our neighbors truly if we have not any experience of the love of God toward us. Nemo dat quod non habet,says the Latins, it means that nobody can give what they don’t have. Therefore, if we don’t have rich experience of loving God, how can we love our neighbor as ourselves? We are just like the monkey who saved the fish from drowning.