On occasions, the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes would have to disguise himself in order to better conduct his inquiries. His assistant, Dr. Watson, would invariably fail to recognize him. Despite what we see in the movies about Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson was no fool -- he was a practicing doctor and a veteran officer of the British Army. So why did he have such difficulty spotting his friend?

The reason, of course, is that Dr. Watson would always be looking for Sherlock Holmes. He wouldn't be looking for the washerwoman, or the frail old man, or the Lebanese merchant. And because he "knew" what to expect, he never managed to see Holmes.

When we meditate, we focus on the moment -- this moment, and then this moment, and then this moment. Sometimes we can get completely caught up in that series of moments, forgetting ourselves totally in whatever we are watching or hearing, whatever is arriving at our five senses. And then, inevitably, that insight passes, and we are back in our own wandering minds again.

It has been suggested that, in that brief series of moments where we are completely caught up, we are witnessing God. This suggestion may come as a surprise to us. After all, we "know" what God is like; and God is not like that burst of birdsong, or that view across the countryside, or that baby's smiling face.

Well, perhaps we're wrong. Perhaps, in our arrogance of knowing all about God, we fail to see through the disguise. Our preconceived spiritual, religious, and philosophical ideas blind us. Perhaps in our meditation we have seen, heard, smelled, tasted and touched God countless times, but because we were expecting something else we never realized what was actually happening to us.