I use a lot of different words for God - infinite intelligence

When Alex Grey, the visionary artist of light and spirit, spoke these words—“I use a lot of different words for God – infinite intelligence, primordial, perfection, or universal creativity. All of these, to me, are God. And ‘God’ is a word, I think, that some people feel uncomfortable with, so they can use another word, you know? It’s the great mystery.”—he gave voice to a truth as old as the human soul. In his statement lives the echo of ancient seekers who gazed beyond names and symbols, yearning to grasp the ineffable essence that animates all creation. Grey does not speak as a preacher of dogma, but as a mystic who has seen through the veil, who knows that the Divine cannot be confined to a single word, image, or creed.

In the ancient world, the wise spoke often of the Great Mystery. The Greeks called it Logos—the divine reason underlying the universe. The Hindus named it Brahman—the eternal reality behind all appearances. The Chinese sages whispered of Tao—the Way that gives birth to all things but cannot be described. To the mystics of every age, God was not a person upon a throne but the infinite intelligence from which all life flows. Thus, when Alex Grey paints radiant beings woven of energy and light, he is not merely creating art—he is revealing this same ancient truth: that divinity is not somewhere else; it is within everything.

Grey’s words also reveal a deep compassion for the human heart. “Some people,” he says, “feel uncomfortable with the word God.” And indeed, through centuries of war, division, and control, that word has been burdened with fear. Yet, as Grey reminds us, names do not change the essence. Whether one calls it God, Spirit, Love, or Universal Creativity, it is one and the same. The sunlight does not cease to shine because a man calls it by another name. The river does not lose its source because we have forgotten where it begins. Thus, the wise do not quarrel over words—they look to the mystery behind them.

Consider the life of Spinoza, the philosopher who, in the 17th century, declared that God and Nature are one. For this revelation, he was exiled, cursed, and condemned. Yet he held fast to his vision: that the divine was not a being apart from the universe but the very essence within it. Every star, every leaf, every thought, he said, is a mode of God’s being. Like Alex Grey, he saw perfection not in separation but in unity. To him, understanding the world was a form of worship. Such men remind us that to know life deeply is to touch the face of the divine.

When Grey speaks of universal creativity, he calls us to see God not only in temples and scriptures but in the act of creation itself. Every painter’s brushstroke, every poem written in love, every act of kindness is an echo of the eternal Artist. The divine breath flows through the sculptor’s hands, the dancer’s movement, the scientist’s curiosity, and the mother’s embrace. God is not an object to be found but an energy to be felt—a current that moves through all who dare to live with imagination and wonder. The artist who creates in reverence touches that infinite intelligence and, for a moment, becomes one with it.

Yet Grey’s insight also invites humility. For though we may name the divine as Primordial, Perfection, or Infinite Intelligence, it remains forever beyond full comprehension. The greatest sages—Lao Tzu, Rumi, Teresa of Ávila—all confessed that the divine cannot be captured in thought. It is mystery, not doctrine; experience, not definition. As the ancient poets said, “The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon.” Words are paths, not destinations. To cling to them too tightly is to lose sight of the truth they signify.

And so, the lesson is this: seek the essence, not the name. Call it what you will—God, Love, Truth, Creativity, or Mystery—but know that it lives both within and around you. Do not quarrel with others for their choice of language, for all rivers return to the same sea. Instead, live in awe of the infinite, the unseen intelligence that shapes all things. Practice gratitude, create with sincerity, and look upon every moment as a brushstroke in the painting of the cosmos.

For in the end, Alex Grey’s words remind us that the greatest act of faith is not believing in God—it is recognizing God in everything. To see divinity in all, to call it by a thousand names and yet bow to the same mystery—this is the wisdom of the ancients, and the destiny of the awakened heart.