wPractical Truth
Let's take a practical look at some ancient truths and some contemporary discoveries and examine the relationships. This is my CyberSpace Ministry. You are welcome to pause, consider, grow, and give thanks.


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wMonday, August 26, 2002


"WHAT WE BELIEVE THAT MAKES US DIFFERENT"
(10) OUR PURPOSE IS TO BE

Thought I'd start by bringing us up to date. We've had a lot of newcomers since this was originally posted.

For the past ten sessions, we've been looking at "What We Believe That Makes Us Different." That title came about as a result of a lifetime of being questioned and confronted by people whose alleged desire to understand what I believe where spiritual matters are concerned masked an effort to undermine those beliefs and supplant them with their own views. It's like they were trying to religionize my spirit. I would look at books which claimed that Unity is a cult and I would read the quotes that they would use from Unity writings and then scratch my head, wondering why anyone would find reason to disagree with Unity's viewpoint.

I eventually came to understand that this New Thought Movement, which evolved over 100 years ago as an attempt to shed the excessive baggage of doctrine, dogma, form, and ritual which had come to obscure, like plaque on teeth, the basic teachings of Jesus and other master teachers, was still having to coexist in a world where outmoded doctrines had so infiltrated the culture that one often felt like an outsider for being able to see beyond the doctrinal obscurity. (Whew, that was a mouthful.) Following one particularly pointed attempt at undermining my beliefs, I realized that I was reacting to my inquisitor more than I wished. Examining my response, and looking for a reason why this situation agitated me as much as it did, I realized that I was still uncomfortable not only with knowing what I believed, but also with being able to discern how it differed from the beliefs of the more fundamentalist people in our society. It was obviously time to get grounded once again. So I asked myself, "What is it that we believe that makes us so different?" The result has become this 11-session series on ten orderly statements.

Last time we talked about our true nature. We are, at our core, spiritual beings. At present we are spiritual beings expressing through physical bodies. When those bodies are discarded as no longer useful, we will still be spiritual beings. We always have been spiritual beings and we always will be spiritual beings. Because we are spiritual beings in a matrix of unlimited, infinite possibilities, redundancy is unnecessary. Each of us, therefore, is absolutely, totally unique: a singularity, so to speak. The singularity that you are is the way in which you allow the Christ, spirit consciousness, to express through you.

Once we understand that perspective about our true nature, we must then revisit the question which has intrigued humanity throughout its history, "What's our purpose for being?" Thus, our tenth and final statement in this series is: "Our purpose is expressed through apprehending and comprehending the beauty of the singularity and striving to consciously participate with it at every level of our being."

In a nutshell, our purpose for being is to be. Don't make the mistake here of thinking that "just being" means "just surviving." If we look around at this infinite universe of unlimited possibilities in which we are experiencing, although mere survival might appear at first blush to be a way of life or an end in and of itself, if we step back and observe the larger picture, we see that life is a process of constant change, resulting in continuous growth. Although that growth may go through seasonal changes, the still larger picture reveals that the growth continues expansively, regardless of the temporary appearances. That's why chaos theory ultimately results in exquisitely unpredictable order.

Albert North Whitehead said, "Every major breakthrough in civilization all but destroys the society from which it springs." We sometimes hear people talk of the "fall of the Roman Empire" and use the images of the ancient Roman collapse to condemn contemporary events. But, although the Roman Empire did come to an end, as such, it was succeeded by empires more grand than the Romans ever could have imagined.

We see this kind of change taking place in our world today. Many of us find the change uncomfortable. We long for the security of the past as we remember it. But, as Thomas Wolfe said, "you can't go home again." And the reason is that the past no longer exists. The only thing that exists for us is the present and it is speeding towards the future. Tomorrow, today will be the past. And while we can make it a memorable past, we can also choose to make of it a past which looks to the future, rather than being self-absorbed.

In order for this to happen, two things are absolutely necessary. First, we must be aware of who we are. And secondly, we must act upon that awareness. And that's precisely what God created us to do: to become self-aware and to act from that self awareness. We must discover and comprehend the truth of our being. Step beyond the limited belief in mere appearance and discover your source, that wellspring from which flows unlimited potential and possibility.

What we have shared here in the past several entries is an orderly process of awareness in which we start with the premise that God is all there is and finally arrive at the realization that our purpose for being is to allow God to express more fully through our lives. It is imperative that a diligent effort be made to achieve this awareness and experience. We are living in a time and at a place where we are being bombarded thousands of times each day by temptations to put the full realization of who and what we are aside and to concentrate on channeling our interest, energy, and efforts into supporting someone else's appearance-driven construct. Our sense of value of our own self-worth is often eroded. If it returns at all, it usually does with a frustrating sense of too little, too late.

I could weave a very convincing and depressing scenario detailing how our present society has negatively impacted the quality of our lives and seduced millions of people into a lifetime in which they, themselves, are no longer in control. But instead I'll merely summarize with an example of how wrapped up we are in the race of the rat.

Some friends have just retired. A couple, both retiring from jobs at relatively the same time. They were recently over for dinner and I asked them both, "do you find yourself wondering where you ever found the time to have a job?" They both concurred, wholeheartedly.

Personally, I have experienced both extremes. I had a period in my life when I applied for 600 jobs over a 13 month period before I finally got a job offer and was hired. At the other extreme, I've had a time in my life when I was sufficiently well-off financially that I could do what I wished, when I wished, with whom I wished, and in the way that I wished. And I've had a multitude of experiences between those two opposite lifestyles. As a result, based upon personal experience, I know what it is like to live in this society across the economic spectrum. Why do I look at things in terms of economics? Because that's the driving force of the society which we have created. That's right. The society which "we" have created. It revolves around the bottom line, the return on investment, the latest market quotes. Hail, Caesar.

But I also know that there are other realities out there, with millions of participants, which forego the entrapments which our society sets for us. I saw some Ram Dass audio files on Napster one night. In the titles, one said something like, "materialism is a trap." But the very next title said, "anti-materialism is a trap." And that's absolutely true. As long as we support it or fight it, we give it life and prolong it. What we want to do is to surpass it, to transcend it. As the Sufi poet Rumi said, "Out beyond right-doing and wrong-doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." We're striving to meet in that field.

At your very core, as Deepak Chopra says, you are a field of all possibilities. Every single day, when you awake, you begin "again" to choose how you will allow that field to express in and through your life. Many people think that God's reality is somehow devoid of that "again," but that's where the core of excitement lies. Again. Every day is a new beginning. Like they used to say several decades ago, "today is the first day of the rest of your life." Although it may have gotten to where it sounded trite, nevertheless, that is our reality here and now. I would modify it to say that each and every moment is a new beginning. Each and every choice is a new beginning. Will the next one be a choice leading to a new beginning that is in line with the truth of our nature and the core of our deeper image of ourselves, or will the next moment be a choice leading to more of the same. Well, it doesn't really matter. That moment has already passed into the past. Next!

Our prayer for you is that your passion for the singularity which you are gets fanned into a flame of new beginnings that allow for a greatly enhanced life in which you discover and experience your deeper purpose for being. You have our most profound blessings.


posted by Charles DeTurk at 11:46 PM


w


"WHAT WE BELIEVE THAT MAKES US DIFFERENT"
(9) YOU ARE THE CHRIST

Last time we talked about how we never left the Garden of Eden except in our ability to see it all around us. This time we want to return to an idea we first presented several entries ago. We want to talk about the Christ and our relationship to that reality.

Our statement this time is: "Our purpose, therefore, is to reveal the 'mystery hidden for ages:' that each of us is the Christ, the singularity, the totality of God in expression; that revelation comes through every choice we make, conscious or unconscious; all that we think, say, do, and feel is of God and is God."

The original notes for this topic are at the end of this session.

They are quite extensive. Most of the information is quotes from Charles Fillmore's "Metaphysical Bible Dictionary" examining the words, "Christ," "Jehovah," "Messiah," and "I AM." And I'm going to let that stand on its own. I highly recommend this material. For those who know little or nothing about Charles Fillmore, or who are curious what this talk of "metaphysics" is all about, these quotes from Fillmore's magnum opus provide an excellent window of insight into both subjects. But what I want to do here is to expand upon the contemporary practicality of what Fillmore shares with us.

It is difficult for many people to comprehend, much less to accept, the divinity of each and every one of us. This is due largely to our conditioning. We live in a society which functions in contradiction to the truth of our being. But, I don't want you to take my word for it. Allow me to explain, through an example, what I mean by that statement about society.

In the United States, we have one phrase which appears on every single piece of coin and currency. It's a four word phrase. The phrase "e pluribus unum," which is Latin for "from many, one," appears on all the coins. "United States of America" appears on every coin, but the word "The" is tacked on the front end when the name of the country is printed on the currency. The unique four-word phrase which appears on every single coin and every single denomination of currency is "In God We Trust."

I think that at this point I can rest my case. I believe that most people know that by and large this is not true. In fact, the term I hear most often bandied about recently to describe this country is that it is a country governed by the rule of law. But when this country has more people per capita in jail than any other country on the planet, I wonder if we're talking about God's laws or we're talking about man's laws.

In God We Trust. Well, I question whether institutions trust in God. As for the individual human being, that's another matter. After all, before this was a "country of the rule of law," it was a country "of the people, by the people, and for the people." I think that it is only people who can recognize the reality of a supreme being, a universal consciousness, a God in whom we can trust. I don't think that an institution can do that. After all, an institution, in and of itself, can not think or feel. It has no soul. There's probably no evidence that it's consciousness is anymore developed than that of a newt, if that.

Don't get me wrong here. I love this country. For whatever faults it may have, it has so much to recommend it that it is a beacon to millions of people all over the world who desire to experience more in their lives.

But looking at institutions, themselves, the bottom line is that an institution can not knowingly and realistically make the following claim: I am! And so, institutions, whether they be corporations, or governments, or churches, or whatever other type of humanly invented "organization," not one of them can say, "I am!" And, when you think about it, if one cannot say, "I am," then neither can one make the claim, "in God we trust." It is people, not institutions, that can trust in God.

The "I am" that you are, and the "I am" that I am, is the embodiment of the "I am" that God is. For as far back as I can remember, I have been intrigued by that line from Exodus when Moses asked God, "who shall I say has sent me." "I am that I am" was the reply in the standard King James vernacular. Thirty years ago, in an effort to better understand perhaps some of the deeper aspects of that name, that claim, that term, "I am that I am," I examined the sound itself.

Vrle Minto, a friend of mine, had turned me on to considering the possible vibrational potential in "I am" by claiming that it was a powerful tool if used properly. He recommended taking a positive statement like, "I am love," and turning it around, placing the "I am" at the end of the statement, instead of at the beginning. Therefore, you get, "love, I am." And when one says that aloud, and allows the sound, the vibration, of the "I am" to resonate as it slowly dissipates, it does feel very special. Peace, I am. Joy, I am. Power, I am. Prosperity, I am. Healthy, I am.

I am. What are those sounds? I find that all five of the vowels of the English language are inherent in that phrase, "I am." The "I" is "I-E" and the "am" is "A-O-U" and "M". Bucky Fuller once wrote a book entitled, "I Seem To Be A Verb." His contention was that a verb denotes action, whereas a noun is static. We are therefore verbs, rather than nouns. As an extension of that idea, I think of vowels as the verbs of the alphabet. Why? Because they have a flow, an ongoingness to them. Aaaaaaaaaa. Eeeeeeee. Iiiiiiiiiii. Oooooooo. Uuuuuuuu. Say those aloud and feel what I mean.

Consonants, on the other hand, by and large, feel shorter, often clipped. Vowel sounds can by made just by opening one's mouth. It doesn't require tongue or lips. AEIOU. The consonants, on the other hand, all require the use of the tongue and/or the lips. And, they, too, all require the mouth to be open. That is, all except one. The sound of the letter "M" can be made with the mouth closed and without any extra effort on the part of the lips or tongue. Try it. See for yourself. What's more, the "M" has a resonance of its own. I think of it as a body resonance since it can be expressed without even opening the mouth, so the sound remains in the body. Mmmmmmm.

So we have the five vowels, the five action letters of the alphabet, all leading up to the body resonating, unique consonant, "M." How did that happen? God didn't speak English to Moses. How did we come to have "God's name," God's identifying moniker, passed down to us into English as those particular vibratory sounds?

What's more, if you haven't already figured it out by now, there is a word in English which derives from Eastern languages that is comprised of exactly those same sounds. Now, some people might want to argue this point with me, but I'm not concerned. It's all a matter of semantics. In this case, it's vibrational semantics and pronunciation. But I find it intriguing, nonetheless. Oh, and the word? Taking the "I am" sounds "A-E-I-O-U and M" and stringing them together in precisely that order we get the vibration in "Om" or "Aum."

Wayne Dyer has produced a very effective CD working on similar ideas, using the vibrational sounds of Om and the "ah" of God's various nom de plumes, in morning and evening meditations. Powerful stuff.

If "I am" is who sent Moses to the people with the law, and we are created in that image and after that likeness, then that "I am" is the active, creative presence of God expressing through us. And it expresses in whatever way we choose, for we have been given the freedom of choice. Free will. I am … what? I am tired? I am happy? I am lonely? I am healthy? We think the thought. We speak the word. Reality manifests.

New Thought teaches the power in the declaration of denials and affirmations. In other words, the thought or spoken thought, or word. And the most powerful of the words, the most creative of all the words, the most dynamic of all thoughts are those that are driven by the vibration of "I am."

In many Christian churches it is taught that we are not to take the Lord's name in vain. And that is interpreted to mean statements like, "God damn," or "Jesus H Christ." But if God told Moses that it is "I am who sends you," and that "I am" is "I am that I am," then I think we should be a lot more concerned about the words which we use in conjunction with "I am." In fact, I think that, once knowing what I've just shared, we'd be down right stupid if we attached any negative, limiting thoughts or words to our use of the powerful "I am."

Now, what does all of this have to do with today's statement? Well, that "I am" that God is, expressing in a multitude of ways as the "I am" that I am, and the "I am" that you are, and the infinity of God's creation being "I am," is the activity which we call the Christ. And, in our infinite uniqueness, it is the singularity which each of us is. I feel here like shouting like the old time preacher, "Glory, hallelujah!"

The mystery which Paul talks about in Colossians owes its mystery to the lack of our realization of our I amness, and what that means. I say that you are divine I am, and there are Christian preachers who will cry, "blasphemer." The same charge made against Jesus in his day by the Pharisees, those who believed in the strict letter of the law. People today professing to be doing the work of Jesus still accuse those who practice his teachings. They are condemned and accused of being in opposition to the very teachings which they believe and practice. But friends, it doesn't matter what anyone else says. It doesn't matter what credentials they may have. What is that to thee? You are a child of God. Ask God, right here, right now, what is right. Within yourself, in your gut, you know, right this very moment, that I speak the truth. "The mystery hidden for ages …. Christ in you, your hope of glory." In you. Right now. Your hope. Your experience of glory.

Every one of us, no matter what path we trod, is on the path to ultimately discovering who and what we are at the deepest levels of our being. And it may take a little while or it may take a long time for one to realize the truth about themselves, and that's all right. You know, when one looks at the Deep Field pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, what we see is the light from events which took place billions of years ago. It took that long for the light which registered that picture to get to the Hubble. The Hubble Deep Field pictures are pictures of billions of years of history. When we look at it on that scale, it can make what seems "important" to us appear to be pretty puny. And yet. And yet. As James Michener put it so aptly in his novel, "Space," what little we have done "has gotten us to where we are, and that's not insignificant." In fact it is very profound.

When we take the time to "stop and smell the roses," as they used to say, it all can become extremely profound. Right here. Right now. This is not a promise of some future date. God's promises are right here, right now, just waiting for us to awake from the sleep of judging merely by appearances. I feel sometimes like screaming as Jim Morrison did in the beginning of the "Celebration of the Lizard," "Wake up!" You know, Jesus said it. "Awake, thou that sleepest." We have eyes, yet we do not see. We have ears, yet we do not hear. "Wake up!"

Recently, while downloading some songs from Napster, I got into a place where I discovered that there are a lot of versions of the song, "Amazing Grace." I began downloading them. I've been listening to that song as I prepare much of this session. Amazing Grace. I now have over 300 different versions of that song on my computer. Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound that touched a soul like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see. If you know the story of how that song came to be written, think about it again. It was written by the captain of a slave ship who had a profound realization which caused him to turn his ship around, mid-ocean, and set off in a new direction with his life. It's a song of hope, not for the future, but for right now. Anyone can turn around, any time. And now is the best time there is, because now is the only time we have.

On a recent Sunday, John Strickland, the Minister at Atlanta Unity, talked about the story of Jacob and how he was a liar and a deceiver, and how his life was filled with the lies and deceit of others. But finally one day he decided to stop running, to turn around, to find himself, to confront himself, and to be himself, without trying any longer to deceive others. And he wrestled all night, but he refused to give up until he received a blessing. And he prevailed. He confronted his past. And the way was made clear. And that very day he became Israel, the prince of God.

Today can be your day. Any day can be your day to turn from what you have been to what you can be. When I heard what John Strickland said, I decided, once again, like Jacob, to turn over a new leaf and begin again. This is the ongoing power of the I am that we are. We can reinvent ourselves anytime we choose.

Today I am love. I am life. I am health. I am abundance. I am peace. I am joy. I am strength. I am prosperity. I am wisdom. I am enthusiasm. I am happy. I am good judgment. I am understanding. I am power. I am will. I am. I am spirit, and I am grateful.

I declare for you that this is a blessed day and I rejoice with you as you let your Christ light shine. You are special. I recognize your uniqueness, and I truly love you.

Next time we'll examine what our purpose is for being who we are right now in this time and place. And we'll discover what we can do about transforming that purpose into action in our lives right now.

ORIGINAL NOTES:

Scripture:

Genesis 2:27
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

Exodus 3:13-15
From the Lamsa translation:
"And Moses said to God, Behold, when I go to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them?

"And God said to Moses, I am AHIAH ASHAR HIGH (that is, "THE LIVING GOD); and he said, Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: AHIAH has sent me to you.

"And God said moreover to Moses, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel: The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you; this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations."

From the Authorized King James Version, verse 14:
"And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you."

Colossians 1:25-29

"For which I became a minister, according to the dispensation of God which has been given to me for you, fully to preach the word of God everywhere,

"Even the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now is revealed to his saints;

"To whom God wanted to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of our glory.

"Him we preach and teach and make known to every man in all wisdom, that we may cause every man to become perfect through Jesus Christ;

"And to this end I labour and strive through the help of the power which is given to me."

Lesson: You Are The Christ

Last time we examined the reality of the Garden of Eden in which each of us now resides.

We have talked about what has transpired to cause us to lose sight of the reality of the Garden.

Whereas last time we talked about where we really are, this time we want to talk about who we really are, and what, therefore, is our purpose of being.

Our current statement for consideration is:

Ninth: Our purpose, therefore, is to reveal the "mystery hidden for ages:" that each of us is the Christ, the singularity, the totality of God in expression; that revelation comes through every choice we make, conscious or unconscious; all that we think, say, do, and feel is of God and is God

Charles Fillmore, shortly before his passing from this plane of existence, said that the greatest scripture in the entire Bible is Colossians 1:27, in which it says, "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

What is this Christ? Well, Charles Fillmore, in The Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, defines Christ:

"(From Greek) - anointed; the anointed; the Messiah.

"A name, or title, applied to Jesus of Nazareth (Matt 16:16; Acts 17:3). Jehovah of the Old Testament is the I AM or Christ of God invisible; the Messiah is the promise of the visible manifestation of that I AM or Christ, and Jesus Christ is the fulfillment in man of that original spiritual I AM, or Jehovah.

"Metaphysical: Christ is the divine-idea man. Jesus is the name that represents an individual expression of the Christ idea. Jesus Christ is the form of the name that is commonly applied to the man of Galilee who demonstrated perfection. Christ Jesus is the idea that is being expressed by men as the result of their faith in and understanding of Truth.

"Christ is the only begotten Son of God, or the one complete idea of perfect man in Divine Mind. He is the embodiment of all divine ideas, such as intelligence, life, love, substance, and strength. In the architect's mind there may be one masterpiece, but that masterpiece is the sum of all the beautiful ideas that have come to his mind. This Christ, or perfect-man idea existing eternally in Divine Mind, is the true, spiritual, higher self of every individual. Each of us has within him the Christ, just as Jesus had, and we must look within to recognize and realize our sonship, our divine origin and birth, even as He did. By continually unifying ourselves with the Highest by our thoughts and words, we too shall become sons of God, manifest.

"The cosmic man, or grand man of the universe, often referred to by religious mystics, is the Christ, and the Christ is the higher self of man. Thus a seemingly great mystery is reduced to simple numbers. We do not realize the nearness of this cosmic man, because we have not found our real selves. Jesus Christ educated His followers to discern the real man. He taught that there is a power in man that gives him authority over the things of the world. This principle is the higher self, the spiritual man, the Christ. If we would succeed we must bring forth the principle; it gives dominion and mastery.

"Spiritual perception reveals to us that we are not persons, but factors in the cosmic mind. Reveal yourself to yourself by affirming, "I am the Christ, son of the living God." Look at yourself not as flesh and blood, but as Spirit. Jesus Christ affirmed His true self and the Father acknowledged Him. The reason for the limited comprehension and power of the ordinary man is found in the fact that he sees the world about him as under material law, and agreeing with it he makes himself part of it.

"Christ is the cosmic man, the grand man of the universe, demonstrated, developed, brought out, in every man.

"The birth of Christ in man is the bringing to consciousness of the spiritual idea of man---the Christ of God---through the quickening power of the word of Truth. It is the beginning in the inner realms of consciousness of a higher set of faculties that, when grown to full stature, save the whole man from ignorance and sin. It is a growth in man as tangible to those who reach certain stages as is that of the child to the mother. In its beginnings it is a mere quickening flutter, under the stomach, accompanied often by unusual sensitiveness in the emotional nature. We do not in the first stages of this process understand it, and sometimes are moved to put it away from us. This is the spiritual significance of the statement that Joseph was merely "betrothed" to Mary, yet she was "great with child." The soul is heavily charged with divine life, and so full that it cannot express itself intelligently, because no union has yet taken place between it and the understanding (Joseph)."
Now, Charles has mentioned three other terms which are of importance in our understanding of this morning's topic. The first of those words is Jehovah:

"He-who-is---who was---who-will-be manifest; the self-existent One; Ipseity; He who is eternal. In 'I AM THAT I AM,' the absolute verb remains the same, but the prefix changes from manifestation to power, 'he' to 'I.' The word-for-word rendering of the original would be: 'I-am---I-was---I-will-be because I-am---I-was---I-will-be the power to be eternally I.'

"Jehovah is one of God's names as given in the Bible. In the authorized Version it is improperly translated 'the Lord.' In the American Standard Version the name Jehovah is given where Jah occurs in the Hebrew text (see Ex. 6:2,3 and Psalms 83:18).

"Metaphysical: Moses says in Exodus 3:14, 15 that Jehovah told him that his name means: 'I AM THAT I AM.' Hebrew students say that the original word is JHVH, which means the ever living male-and-female principle. Lee's Hebrew Lexicon identifies this name with Christ, as the manifestation of God that speaks to patriarchs and prophets. Jesus confirms this in Matthew 22:42-45, where He reveals that the Christ existed before David, whose son He was supposed to be. In the Old Testament the spiritual I AM is symbolically described as Jehovah; in the New Testament it is called Christ.

"Creation originates and exists in Divine Mind, God. In the creative process Divine Mind first ideates itself. In the Scripture this ideal is named Jehovah, meaning I Am the ever living---He who is eternal. The creation is carried forward through the activity of the Holy Spirit.

"The Hebrew Jehovah has been translated 'Lord.' Lord means an external ruler. Bible students say that Jehovah means the self-existent One. Then instead of reading 'Lord' we should read I AM. It makes a great difference whether we think that I AM, self-existence, is within, or Lord, master, without. All Scripture shows that Jehovah means just what God told Moses it meant, I AM. 'This is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.' So whenever you read the word Lord in Scripture say I AM instead and you will get a clearer understanding of what Jehovah is. Jehovah-jireh means I AM the provider. If we expect to demonstrate prosperity from without we find it a slow process; but if we know that I Am is the provider we have the key to the inexhaustible resource. God was also known to the Israelites as Jehovah-Shalom---'I AM peace.' We can demonstrate peace of mind by holding the words, 'I am peace,' with the understanding that the real I AM is Jehovah within us. But if we start any demonstration and try to apply the I AM to personality we fall short. This is frequently the cause of failure to get the desired results from the laws that all metaphysicians recognize as fundamentally true. The mind does not always comprehend I AM in its highest, neither does it discern that the all-knowing, omnipotent One is within man. This recognition must be cultivated, and every one should become conscious of the I AM presence. This consciousness will come through prayer and meditation on Truth. In Truth there is but one I AM---Jehovah, the omnipotent I AM. If you take the word Jehovah-shalom into your mind and hold it with the thought of a mighty peace, you will feel a harmonizing stillness that no man can understand. It must be felt, realized, and acknowledged by your I AM before the supreme I AM can pour out its power. After experiencing it you know that you have touched a divine something, but you cannot explain to another just what it is, because you have gone beyond the realm of words and have made union with the cause side of existence. It is the quickening of your divinity through the power of the Word. This divine nature is in us all, waiting to be brought into expression through our recognition of the power and might of I AM."

So Christ, a word which did not appear in the Old Testament, is actually a Greek word for the Jehovah of old.

Now let's take a look at the word, Messiah:

"Anointed; consecrated by unction; constituted; appointed; consecrated; dedicated.

"The Hebrew equivalent for the Greek Christos, and referring in John 1:41; 4:25,26 to Jesus Christ. The priests and kings of ancient Israel, and whoever and whatever were set apart for God's service, were anointed, under the old Jewish customs, and called the anointed of the Lord; but the word Messiah, anointed, has always referred especially to the advent of the Christ, that had been expected for ages. In Daniel 9:25,26, where 'the anointed one' is given in the American Standard Version, 'the Messiah' (25th verse) or 'Messiah' (26th verse) is given in the Authorized Version.

"Metaphysical: Set apart, consecrated, baptized of the Holy Spirit, illuminated, enlightened, endowed with a special mission."

Now, this finally brings us to the personal understanding of our relationship with this Christ, this Jehovah God creator. We look to Charles' definition of I AM:

"Metaphysical: I AM is God's name in man; it is Jehovah, the indwelling Christ, the true spiritual man whom God made in His image and likeness. The outer, manifest man is the offspring of the I AM, or inner spiritual man. By use of I AM we link ourselves with outer seemings---or we make conscious union with the Father, with Spirit, with abiding life, wisdom, love, peace, substance, strength, power, Truth, the kingdom of the heavens within us.

"The I AM always assures us that the preponderance of power is with the spiritual. Fear throws dust in our eyes and hides the mighty spiritual forces that are always with us. Blessed are those who deny ignorance and fear, and affirm the presence and power of the I AM. They behold the 'mountain' (exaltation) 'full of horses' (powerful forces) and 'chariots of fire' (life energies) round about 'Elisha' (spiritual I AM). (See II Kings 6:8-23.)

"The I AM can also be explained as the metaphysical name of the spiritual self, as distinguished from the sensate self. One is governed by God; the other, by self. Christ is the Scriptural name for spiritual I AM. Jesus called it the Father. It is the Father of the personal will and a conscious unity between the two must finally be made to preserve the oneness of creation. That is what is meant by the phrase, 'he that doeth the will of my Father.' We must do the very will of God in our will, which is virtually to surrender the whole man to God.

"Spiritual character is the rock foundation of being. Build yourself into God and you will find yourself in heaven right here on earth. Let go the little self and take hold of the big Self: 'Not my will, but thine, be done.' The I AM of each individual is the will in its highest aspect. The will may be said to be the man, because it is the directive power that decides the character formation---which makes what we call individuality."

So what this all means is that we are co-creators through the I AM because the I AM is at the core of our being. It is who we actually are. That voice which talked to Moses from the burning bush is the same voice that speaks through you and me as a multitude of ideas, feeling, actions, and perceptions.

Deepak Chopra tells us that we are a field of all possibilities. That is what I AM is, all possibilities existing in a field of potentiality. But what brings that potentiality into expression? It is the will of which Fillmore spoke. It is your will and mine.

All possibilities exist. The link from the field of possibility to the appearance of what we call reality is in the observer, the experiencer, the I am. The story of ongoing creation. 'I-am---I-was---I-will-be because I-am---I-was---I-will-be the power to be eternally I.'

All time is now. Am, was, and will be is all here and now. It's all a matter of different perspectives.

Reality is composed of an infinite number of parallel universes. We choose which of those infinite universes we live in from moment to moment by the thoughts we think, the feelings we have, the perceptions which we hold dear.
Reality is not linear; it's omnidirectional. All possibilities are available to each and every one of us. It is always up to us as to which we choose. And how do we do that? Well, that's why we're here, to discover who and what we are and how to go about making the best use of our capabilities.

The complete picture is beyond our understanding and our total communication. It must be that way because we must have the motivation and the drive to allow the I AM to manifest through us in eventual ultimate totality.

This, then, is what Jesus came to teach us and what Unity continues to teach, that we are children of God, created in God's image and after God's likeness, that we are therefore heirs to all good and the channels for God's substance to come into manifestation. We are the Christ.

Our purpose, therefore, as we will be detailing with our final statement next session is to reveal the "mystery hidden for ages:" that each of us is the Christ, the singularity, the totality of God in expression; that revelation comes through every choice we make, conscious or unconscious; all that we think, say, do, and feel is of God and is God.
I AM the Christ, child of the living God. I am not flesh and blood; I AM Spirit.


posted by Charles DeTurk at 11:45 PM


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"WHAT WE BELIEVE THAT MAKES US DIFFERENT"
(8) IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN

Last time we talked about how denying our own divinity opens up a Pandora's Box of self-created problems, giving rise to the appearance of evil and the work of the devil. This week we want to look at the effects that such actions have upon our lives and our reality.

During the day I used to work at a Fortune 100 company. In fact, globally it is in the top 150 publicly held companies. One day, security passed the word down through the "chain" that they were displeased with the fact that, out of 30,000 employees with access to the Internet, I was in the top 10 users. They thereupon asked that I curtail my activities on the net from their offices. Sadly, I agreed. The sadness, however, is not for me, but rather for them. For me, it's merely an inconvenience.

This is one of those cases of "you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good," for I now proudly use that fact of my "excessive usage" to help people understand that I am truly Internet savvy. I'm not claiming here that I invented the Internet, just that I know my way around just a bit better than the average user, not from book larnin' but from hands on. I have visited tens of thousands of sites all over the world and am fascinated on a daily basis by what the web offers and the potential which is still developing. And I am disheartened that most companies are still trying to shield their employees from investigating the new world at their fingertips. But we'll leave Major Domo to expound upon that topic.

Speaking of Major Domo. He has a wealth of information to share. Probably some of the most revolutionary, yet clearly practical, ideas I've ever seen or heard. He could use some motivation to share what he knows more quickly. A kick in the pants, so to speak. Drop him a line and let him know that there's someone out there who would like him to get his perspective out there on the Net so others can share in his awareness. I guarantee he will turn you on to ideas like nothing you'll find anywhere else. Kick him for me: zmajordomo@earthlink.net

Anyway, I mention this to give a little perspective to the fact that when preparing my ideas for this session, I had a printed copy from my website of the notes for this topic. One of the engineers with whom I work saw some of the notes and said, "that's really deep." I hadn't yet gotten around to rereading the notes myself, but when I did, I had to concur. This is deep. The author of the book of John, and Charles Fillmore, and I also wrote some real deep stuff several years ago.

Now, I don't want that to frighten anyone off. I don't mean that this is deep in an overwhelming sense. What we're going to share here is easily comprehendible by anyone. But the ramifications are incredible, for what our current subject does is to give us a different perspective from which to view our world of reality. We'll keep it light here, but for those who choose to delve deeper, the original notes appear below.

Think for a minute about what life was like for you just 30 years ago. 1970, the breakup of the Beatles, Woodstock, walking on the moon, getting out of the Vietnam War, Watergate, bell bottoms, Elton John declared the entertainer of the decade at the "beginning" of the decade. No personal computers, no CD's, no DVD's, no Internet, no clones, no Space Shuttles, no cell phones, no cable TV, no genetically engineered food. Got the picture? Okay, now imagine that you lie down to go to sleep back in 1970 or 1971 and you don't wake up again until this morning.

Whoa! Things have changed. Some things have changed dramatically. The changes may seem very deep. But the grass still grows, the flowers still bloom, night and day still follow their usual cycles, people are born, live, fall in love, have babies, raise children, die. That, too, is deep. But the depth in all of it is a matter of perspective. And so it is with today's topic. It can appear deep, but that viewpoint of depth usually occurs if the subject is a radical departure from our usual way of perceiving reality. And although this may be a dramatic change for our frame of reference, I guarantee you that we have the ability to adapt to it and to grow from it.

With that in mind, let's dive right in. We were never kicked out of the Garden of Eden! I've told you that a few years ago Pope John Paul II announced at his weekly audiences that neither heaven nor hell are places, but rather that they are states of consciousness. For those who have to see it with their own eyes, I would give you the links to the text on the Vatican's website, but when I just now looked for it, it appears that the data has been removed. Seems a lot has been changing. Major shuffling. I wonder who holds the deck.

Anyway, Heaven and hell are states of consciousness, and the same is true for the Garden of Eden. It, too, is a state of consciousness. But that should be no big surprise. When we think about it, everything that is has its reality in a state of consciousness. That's where we get sayings like, "one man's feast is another man's famine." So, the Garden of Eden, like Heaven, and like Hell, and, yes, even like the Kingdom of God, are all states of consciousness.

So, in the stories of Genesis, where the early Hebrews record their take on the origin of "reality" as we know it, we have this story about a Garden. For some reason, in my youth I was under the impression that Adam and Eve just played in the Garden, but, in fact, if we read the story, we see that Adam is the gardener and Eve is his assistant. Here they are in the Garden of Eden and yet they have to work every day.

But we've all read the story, and we know that the serpent tempts Eve to eat the apple and when God finds out about it He curses them and drives them out of the jungle (oops, the garden). Now, if you've read your Bible and paid attention to what you read, you know that that is not the way it happened, though many ministers and many churches teach precisely that, with dire ramifications.

First, this is a story. It is not history. It is not the way things happened. It is not based upon actual events of actual people. It was never intended to be viewed in any of those ways other than as a story with underlying meanings. So what is the real story and what is its meaning?

Well adam-and-eve, not Adam and Eve, but adam&eve, are representative of each of us. They stand for the intellect and the feeling nature that is a part of you and me and every human who has ever passed this way. They are partners, and they tend to the garden in which they live and the garden provides them with all that they need. That's the way it is for each of us, even today. If we tend, take care of, the garden in which we live, it will provide for us.

All seems to be running smoothly until curiosity rears its head. We wonder if there could be more to reality than this garden in which we live. And isn't that the way life is? We can be in the middle of an incredible life and waste it away by dwelling on what we think is missing. Why do we do that? Well, one major reason is because we are like our creator and we need regular opportunities to express that creativity or else we implode.

As physical beings, we have a number of physical senses, or modes of perceiving reality. We're all familiar with sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. But after awhile, the combination of all that data which is received by our physical senses begins to seduce us into thinking that the appearance is the reality, when, in truth, the reality is in the source, not in the appearance. But we concentrate on the appearance, and we get so comfortable in our relationship to the appearance that we gradually forget about the source. And the ego begins to worship itself instead of worshipping God.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that the ego is bad. And I know that there are a lot of people out there who will disagree with me and claim that the ego is something that needs to be overcome before it overcomes us. And there's some truth to that, but not in a combative "take no prisoners" sense. The ego serves certain good purposes. It is an integral part of who we are on this plane of existence. BUT, it is not all there is. It is not God, although it sometimes thinks that it is. It tries to protect us, but it also tries to protect itself. AND, as long as we refuse to assume responsibility for our lives, our attitudes, and our consciousness, the ego will continue to try to successfully deceive us into believing that it is the boss.

It is from the "knowledge of good and evil" that the ego has ascended to power. We've said before that the great lie is in the belief that we are separate and apart from God. Judging by appearances, seeing things in the context of good and evil, creates the false appearance of separation. The appearance seems so much more real than the invisible truth from which it all springs that we lose our conscious connection to the source.

And when we do that, we suddenly feel very naked. We feel as if we must hide ourselves, for there appear to be powers out there which can harm us, which can cause us embarrassment if the truth of appearance about us be known. And as we judge ourselves inferior we begin to doubt our right to continue to live in the garden. And so, by our attitudes and the ensuing actions, we banish ourselves from the garden … and then we blame it all on God through the Genesis story.

My dear friends, we never really left the garden. It has always been here. It's just that we have lost our ability to see it because we are so caught up in the appearances. The garden is God's creation. Remember the story of creation? Time and time again it says, "and God saw that it was good." Then, finally, on the sixth day, Genesis 1:31, it says "And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good."

It doesn't say that some was good and some was better. For hundreds and thousands of years people have sought the original "Garden of Eden," never realizing that they were always in it. No wonder they can't find it. Voltaire knew where it was when he wrote "Candide." Al Jolson knew where it was when he sang, "Back In Your Own Backyard." Lately I've been telling people that I have a picture of the "Garden of Eden." Then I show them the photograph taken by the Hubble Space Telescope Deep Field Project in which they discovered over 2,000 galaxies in a speck of space the size of a grain of sand. You can read about it (August 18, 2002 entry) at: http://zmajordomo.blogspot.com

And you can see the results at: http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/1998/41/pr-photos.html

If you have high speed Internet access, you might be interested in the animations at:
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/Anim.html

They visually display the depth of the Deep Field.

I think of these photos as the Garden of Eden for they demonstrate how God's creation is beyond our simple attempts at understanding it. We only discovered the existence of other galaxies about 100 years ago. Now we find over 2 trillion stars discovered down a 12 billion light year tunnel the size of a grain of sand.

At a recent Worship Service at Hillside Chapel & Truth Center in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Rocco Errico said that "the new Jerusalem is not a city, but rather is a community." He went on to say, however, that too many people would "rather have right doctrine than right action." "Truth," he said, "is not a doctrine. Truth is the right action, at the right time, at the right place."

When we relearn how to do what's right, at the time that is right, and in the place that is right, we will rediscover our abode in the garden. It's high time we all made a concerted effort to be what God created us to be. The time is right for us to come home and reassume our place in the garden of life.

With that in mind, next time we'll begin examining what it is that we are supposed to be doing. What is our purpose of being? How do we go about releasing our inner divinity? That's next time.

ORIGINAL NOTES:

Scripture:

John 8:30-59

"While he was speaking these words, a great many believed in him.

"Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, If you abide by my word, you are truly my disciples.

"And you will know the truth, and that very truth will make you free.

"They said to him, We are the offspring of Abraham, and we have never been enslaved to any man; how do you say, You will be free people?

"Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever commits sin is a servant of sin.

"And a servant does not remain in the house forever, but the son remains forever.

"If therefore, the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.

"I know you are the descendants of Abraham; but still you want to kill me, because you have no room in you for my word.

"I speak what I have seen with my Father; and you do what you have seen with your father.

"They answered, saying to him, Our own father is Abraham. Jesus said to them, If you were the sons of Abraham, you would be doing the works of Abraham.

"But behold, now you want to kill me, even a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do.

"But you do the works of your father. They said to him, We are not born of fornication; we have one Father, God.

"Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded and came from God; I did not come of my own accord, but he sent me.

"Why therefore do you not understand my word? Because you cannot obey my word?

"You are from the father of accusation, and you want to do the lusts of your father, he who is a murderer of men from the very beginning and who never stands by the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks he speaks his own lie, because he is a liar, and the father of lies.

"But because I speak the truth, you do not believe me.

"Which one of you can rebuke me because of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me?

"He who is of God, hears God's words; for this reason you do not hear, because you are not of God.

"The Jews answered, saying to him, Did we not say well, that you are a Samaritan and that you are crazy?

"Jesus said to them, I am not crazy; but I honor my Father, and you curse me.

"I do not seek my glory; there is one who seeks and judges.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever obeys my word shall never see death.

"The Jews said to him, Now we are sure that you are insane. Abraham and the prophets have died; and yet you say, Whoever obeys my word shall never taste death.

"What! are you greater than our father Abraham who died, and the prophets who died? Whom do you make yourself?

"Jesus said to them, If I honor myself, my honor is nothing; but it is my Father who honors me, the one of whom you say, He is our God.

"Yet you have not known him, but I know him; and if I should say, I do not know him, I would be a liar like yourselves; but I do know him, and I obey his word.

"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it and was glad.

"The Jews said to him, You are not yet fifty years old, and yet have you seen Abraham.

"Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you. Before Abraham was born, I was.

"So they took up stones, to stone him; and Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, and he passed through the midst of them and went away."

Lesson: "In The Garden Of Eden"

Today's lesson is on the eighth of our "What we believe" statements.

Eighth: Our belief in separation from God causes us to lose sight of the Garden of Eden in which we reside; the garden is the full and total infinite expression of God.

This is a follow-up to the previous statement concerning the denial of the truth. I want to reiterate again that our scripture tells us that Satan or the devil or the incarnation of evil is actually lies. It's all lies. It's the father of lies. Satan is a lie. The devil is a lie. Evil is a lie. Lack and limitation is a lie. Believing that we are separate from God is a lie. The belief that we reside anywhere other than in the Garden of Eden is a lie.

What is the Garden of Eden? Let's see what Charles Fillmore has to say about that in The Metaphysical Bible Dictionary.

"The Hebrew 'Gan-heden' commonly rendered Garden of Eden is a compound of surpassing greatness. The word Gan means any organized sphere of activity, a garden, a body, a world, a universe. The word Heden, Eden, means a time, a season, an age, an eternity, as well as beauty, pleasure, an ornament, a witness. Thus it can be seen that only the most limited and restricted material acceptation would bring this remarkable word down to a small, hedged-in inclosure, a small area somewhere in Asia where the human race first emerged from the dust of this planet.

"Metaphysical: A pleasant, harmonious, productive state of consciousness in which are all possibilities of growth. When man is expressing in harmony with Divine Mind, bringing forth the qualities of Being in divine order, he dwells in Eden, or in a state of bliss in a harmonious body.

"The 'garden' symbolizes the spiritual body in which man dwells when he brings forth his thoughts after the original divine ideas. This garden is the substance of God (Eden) or state of perfect relation of ideas to Being. The Garden of Eden is the divine consciousness. Having developed a consciousness apart from his divine nature, man must "till the ground from whence he was taken," that is, he must come into a realization of God as the source of his Being and must express ideas in harmony with Divine Mind. Wisdom and love are joined in God, and a perfect balance is struck in consciousness between knowing and feeling when man spiritualizes his thoughts."

So, what separates us from this state of Eden consciousness? Well, the scripture which I chose for this lesson brought into our conversation the alleged entity, Satan, or the devil.

Let's look at what Charles has to say about these two characters, the devil and Satan.

The devil is "the same as Satan, which see. The 'devil' signifies the mass of thoughts that have been built up in consciousness through many generations of earthly experiences and crystallized into what may be termed human personality, or carnal mind. Another name of the 'devil' is sense consciousness; all the thoughts in one that fight against and are adverse to Truth belong to the state of mind that is known to metaphysicians as the Devil."

Satan is defined as "the deceiving phase of mind in man that has fixed ideas in opposition to truth (adversary, lier in wait, accuser, opposer, hater, an enemy). Satan assumes various forms in man's consciousness, among which may be mentioned egotism, a puffing up of the personality; and the opposite of this, self-depreciation, which admits the 'accuser' into the consciousness. This 'accuser' makes man believe that he is inherently evil.

"Satan is the 'Devil,' a state of mind formed by man's personal ideas of his power and completeness and sufficiency apart from God. Besides at times puffing up the personality, this satanic thought often turns about and, after having tempted one to do evil, discourages the soul by accusing it of sin. Summed up, it is the state of mind in man that believes in its own sufficiency independent of its creative Source.

"Rebellion against God under hard experiences is another form of this 'hater.' The personality that disbelieves in God and acknowledges no law save that of man is satanic.

"When the seventy returned, saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject unto us in thy name,' Jesus said, 'I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:17, 18).

"Heaven is conscious harmony. When this harmony is invaded by a thought adverse to the divine law, there is Satan, and 'war in heaven.' When the Christ declares the Truth, error thought falls away; that is, Satan falls from heaven as lightning.

"Lightning is a force that gathers and explodes and wastes its energy because it is not in harmony with the universal equilibrium. This well illustrates the mind that believes itself an independent and unrelated creation. When this kind of thought is allowed full sway in a man's consciousness, he becomes so egotistical and self-opinionated that he destroys himself. Thus error is its own destruction.

"The Greek word that is translated 'devil' in Luke 4:1-13 means accuser or the critical one. Personality describes the meaning more fully than any other word in the English language."

So here we have the major challenge of life: the battle between the true reality of who we are - creations of God, expressions of God, children of God - and our belief in our own separate self-importance.

It is when we believe ourselves separate and apart from God that we are ruled by our problems.

When we are aware of our oneness with God, then no problem can affect us. Though all around you the world may seem to be crumbling, yet you remain steadfast in the truth of your being and the comfort which that brings. This truly is residing in the Garden of Eden.

The Garden of Eden is a state of consciousness; it is not a place. As such, it is available to everyone at anytime. We can come and go, or we can stay. The choice has always been ours.

But the key to regaining entrance to that garden state of consciousness is to accept and acknowledge our oneness with God.

Several years ago I went to Italy with my mother. It's a long flight over a big ocean, and I found myself a little apprehensive about the trip. There was a part of me that detected death close around that visit to Italy, though I could never specifically identify that feeling with any part of the trip itself. But the uneasy feeling persisted. I thought several times about backing out.

Then something wonderful happened. I remembered how Larry, my brother who had died a year earlier, had always had $1,000 worth of tickets in his pocket. Tickets to the Symphony, and the Opera, and the Ballet, and plays, and the Hollywood Bowl. For as long as he was physically able to go to these events and enjoy them, he did. In fact, the last time I went to an event like those with him, he took massive amounts of pain killers before hand, knowing full well that he would spend the next two days in bed recovering from the ordeal. But he had a zest for life that refused to give in to the effects of the disease which wracked his body.

And I thought of mother, who was out traveling around the world enjoying her life here on this level of experience. Dozens of trips all over the world and she had no fear of flying.

And then I thought about why I was afraid, and I realized it was because I didn't feel like I had yet done what I wanted to do with this life experience. And I realized that if I was afraid to go to Italy, I would continue to be afraid to do anything which was important to me.

A sense of peace came over me. Suddenly I was no longer afraid of anything, not even dying. I realized that someone, anyone, maybe even myself, might still die on or around this trip to Italy, but that no longer disturbed me. The realization of the beauty of life and the excitement of living it overcame the fear of death.

In reality, five days after returning from Italy, mother died. Our last days together were some of the best we ever had, something which I would have missed if I had allowed my fear to rule my life.

That battle with fear is one which we fight over and over. But what are we truly afraid of? The fear, when we look at it rationally, has nothing to do with the truth of our being. The fear really has to do with our sense consciousness, the part of us which has developed the mistaken notion of its own self importance and therefore its separation from God.

And the difference in all of this is merely a thought, a perception. So just as quickly as we can change a thought we can change our reality.

My decision to change my mind about going to Italy and to release myself from the fear was just that quick (snap!). And I'm so grateful that I made that decision for it made things easier for me in dealing with mother's sudden death. That realization of life over death which I had for myself extended to include her, so that I could rejoice in her moving on in her ongoing journey instead of concentrating on my own feelings of loss.

The Garden of Eden is the full and total expression of God, and that is reality. That is all that there is. So we are all, at all times, living in the Garden of Eden, a garden of endless, unlimited possibilities.

Take time today to see and enjoy the garden in which you live. Give thanks for the weather, the people, the opportunities. Bless everything that you see and experience. Give your love and your blessings, and your life will be filled to overflowing.


posted by Charles DeTurk at 11:45 PM


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"WHAT WE BELIEVE THAT MAKES US DIFFERENT"
(7) ULTIMATE SIN IS DENIAL OF THE TRUTH

Last time we talked about the infinity of God's expression by realizing the incredible, special, individual uniqueness of each one of us. I like to call that "specialness you" that you are, and the "specialness I" that I am, the singularity. Three sessions ago we identified that uniqueness that each of us is as stemming directly from God. And we explained that our relationship to our creator has a special closeness similar to that between a parent and a child.

The institutional "churchianity" part of the Christian experience down through the centuries tried to take that individual spiritual uniqueness which each of us shares and make it an exclusive experience to Jesus and Jesus only. It was not the intention of Jesus that this should be a part of the teachings passed down from his ministry. That is why the early church organizers argued for several hundred years among themselves before the "only begotten" faction won out over the "all are God's creation" group.

I point these things out because many people have no clue about how the "church" developed its beliefs and rituals and traditions. A little insight into the origins of these matters often helps to bring a greater personal clarity to our understanding of our true nature and the teachings of Jesus and other master teachers. Many of the important foundation stones of the Christian church did not have their official beginning until decades, or even centuries after Jesus' crucifixion.

For example, God didn't become a trinity until the fourth century C.E. (AD). The idea of the fall of man and original sin is not a part of the actual text of the Torah (1st five books of the Old Testament or Jewish Bible). Although the text has remained the same, the twist of the fall, and evil sex, and God's curse weren't added as an official interpretation until long after the apostles were all dead and gone. Most people are not even aware that the early church (we're talking about 1st 500 years here) once had a meeting of Bishops and other church leaders to decide whether or not women are human. Fortunately, women secured their claim to humanity by a single vote. I don't know what would have happened if they would have had hanging chad.

The church is, by nature and by definition, an institution. It is not a person. It is not a creation of God. It is a creation of mankind, and like all of humanity's creations, it is open to improvement. In fact, it begs for improvement. Think of something, anything, that you've ever created. Don't you know that you could have done it better if given a second chance? Well, life is like that because we are not God. We are creations of God. We are manifestations of God. As God's creations, we are constantly growing and changing and unfolding in all aspects of our "being." Physically, mentally, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, relationally, we are evolving (I don't always like that word because of it's connections to Darwinism, but it is what is happening individually and collectively in our lives). We, you and I, are growing. We, all of us, are growing.

But the organized church threw a monkey wrench in the works. They declared, many years after Jesus departure from this physical plane, that Jesus was "special." He was a trick baby. He wasn't the same as the rest of us. He was different. He was THE son of God. Well, you know what that did to the rest of us: it made us subservient to HIS successor, the organized church. Jesus spoke of a church being built upon faith, but instead the church built itself upon self-condemnation and fear.

Attention, people. This was not Jesus' intention. He did not intend to imply that he was different or better than us. He did not intend that we should believe that he had a different relationship with our creator than we have. The apparent differences between Jesus and ourselves have their foundation in each person's awareness of the truth about themselves and their willingness to allow those truths to express in their lives and affairs.

Jesus did NOT claim to be the only begotten of God. Whoever wrote the book of John made that claim for him. How could I say that about the author of the book of John? Because it is only in the book of John that we find Jesus making "I am" statements. "I am the way, the truth, and the life…" "I am the light of the world…" "I am the vine, you are the branches…" "I am the bread of life." "I am the good shepherd …" "I am not of this world …" You won't find those statements in the book of Matthew. Look in Mark. You won't find them there either. Luke? Again, the answer is no. Jesus is not reported as having made any of these glorified "I am" statements which would appear to place him in a position somewhere above and/or separate and apart from us. Such statements are only found in the gospel of John. That's why I claim a unique agenda from the author of John.

In fact, the book of John was not accepted for several centuries by the church. When the church finally decided to incorporate John into the "official" accepted teaching, then John's unique take on Jesus and his ministry were used by members of the church hierarchy to create the belief that Jesus was different, that he was God made flesh, while the rest of us are merely made from the dust. In John 3:16, it is the author of John who claims Jesus as being the "only begotten" of God. It is not Jesus speaking.

Further examination of that verse reveals interesting commentary. Regarding translation from the Greek, "McCord's New Testament Translation of the Everlasting Gospel" contains the following footnote: "The word "begotten" in John 1: 14, 18; 3: 16, 18; Hebrews 11: 17; 1 John 4: 9 is eliminated (1) for the sake of accuracy and (2) for the sake of the honor that belongs to Isaac and to Jesus. ... . In none of the six citations mentioned above did the infallible Holy Spirit cause monos gennetheis, only begotten, to be written, but in every instance the word written is monogenes, the only one of a kind, the unique one."

Likewise, in looking at the original Aramaic, we discover in Dr. Rocco Errico's book, "Let There Be Light," http://www.noohra.com that "yeheedaya, does not mean 'only-begotten.' It means 'sole,' 'only,' 'precious,' 'beloved,' and the 'one of a kind.' This word also, by implication, refers to the 'firstborn son.'" Dr. Errico's book reveals much more for those interested in pursuing the subject. The bottom line here is that Jesus is divine, but for the same reasons that each of us is divine, for we were created by God in God's image and likeness.

As we stated several postings ago, we agree with Paul when he said, in his letter to the church at Corinth, "the mystery hidden from ages" is "Christ in you, your hope of glory." And that Christ expresses in an infinite number of ways. We have chosen to refer to each of those divine, unique, individual, infinite ways as a singularity. You are, therefore, a divine singularity.

Now, the seventh statement in our series is: "To question or doubt the divinity of our singularity is the ultimate sin of denial; it is denying the existence of, and the full and complete expression of, God."

The true definition of the word, sin, is to miss the mark. The way in which Jesus dealt with sin, time and time again, was to advise the "sinner" to stop doing it. No "hail Marys," no "our Fathers," no self-flagellation, just "don't do it again." The biggest mark which we can miss is the mark of accepting our own divinity. You are a child of God. You are therefore an heir to the kingdom of God. There's really no two ways about that. You can deny it if you choose. You can hide from the truth of those statements. You can run. But no matter what you do, you can't get away from that gut feeling that what we're talking about here is really the truth.

I recently learned the Lord's Prayer in Ancient Aramaic. Like Dr. Errico, I now open all of my classes and services with this prayer, as reportedly spoken by Jesus, in his native tongue. The prayer begins, "Awoon," also spelled "Awon" in English. That word means "Our Father." It is not, "My Father." It is "Our Father." It is not singular; it is plural. Jesus introduces the prayer with these words,

"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who like to pray, standing in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you that they have already received their reward.

"But as for you, when you pray, enter into your inner chamber and lock your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret shall himself reward you openly.

"And when you pray, do not repeat your words like the pagans, for they think that because of much talking they will be heard.

"Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need, before you ask him;

"Therefore pray in this manner; Our Father …"

And you know the rest. But he doesn't talk about "my" Father. He speaks, and this is to thousands during the "Sermon on the Mount," of "your" Father. And then begins the suggested prayer itself with, "Our Father." I don't see how our oneness, our brotherhood and sisterhood with Jesus, and therefore with one another, could be clearer. Our Father.

Next time we'll further explore the idea of denying the truth of our being. We'll look at it from a Biblical sense. We'll look at it from a practical perspective. We'll see what really happened in the Garden of Eden and why Judaism doesn't look at the story of the Garden as the "fall of man" or the source of "original sin." Until then, rejoice in the spirit of your divinity.

You can start simply by smiling, first to yourself, and then to others. Share a kind word, a good deed. Try dedicating each day to the expression of some positive word, positive concept, positive expression. Peace. Joy. Love. Gratitude. Sharing. Happiness. Forgiveness. There's a week's worth of words (7) to get you started.

If you're a child of God, why not begin to consciously act like it. Let God express more fully in your life, your thoughts, and your affairs, one day at a time.


posted by Charles DeTurk at 11:44 PM


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"WHAT WE BELIEVE THAT MAKES US DIFFERENT"
(6) YOU ARE UNIQUE

Last time we talked about the infinity of God's creation. And I steered you to some incredible photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope that should give you a broader appreciation of the vastness of this infinite creation in which we presently live. I talked with someone recently who proposed that the whole universe is falling. To do that would imply an up and a down. What we're talking about is beyond the limitations of appearance. The universe is not falling; it is being. The idea of it's "falling" is a rather outdated and primitive concept.

Two sessions ago, we talked about the realization that the Christ Spirit, that perfect idea human being creation of God, resides within each and every one of us. This time, I want to talk about what happens when we couple our inner divinity with the infinity of creation.

Our sixth statement is: "As an expression of God, each of us is unique, a singularity; Jesus is a unique expression of God; you are a unique expression of God; everyone and everything is a unique expression of God; no one individual expression is better or worse than any other expression; each is a singularity; each is absolutely, totally, uniquely, singularly, exquisitely, fully God in expression."

The infinity of God allows for an infinity of expressions. I like the term "singularity." It implies a uniqueness which is, nevertheless, a complete oneness and wholeness. It is such a beautiful paradox of life that each of us is, at our core, that single perfect creation of God, and yet each of us is absolutely, totally unique.

Recently, scientists working in the genetics of cloning have learned that although they can create a seemingly identical physical living being, that those beings develop their own uniqueness within their identicalness. So, although they start out from a physically identical blueprint, their development takes them in individually unique directions.

Arthur C. Clarke once said that behind each and every human being stand 30 ghosts. What he meant by that is that the current sum total of living humanity has been preceded by 30 times as many people. At the time Dr. Clarke made this claim, there were probably a couple of billion people on the planet. That means that we were preceded by 60 billion others. 62 billion people over the course of this planet's long history and no two alike. Each one individual. Each one unique. Each one different. Each one special. Each one a singularity.

Our purpose with this statement is to enter into a fuller realization of our own individual uniqueness and through that awareness come to understand how important each of us is. Important? Of course. God created you in God's image and after God's likeness. God breathed the breath of life into your nostrils. Think about that for a moment. Right now you are breathing. Be aware of your breathing. The air is pulled in. The air is expelled. In, out, in, out. Even when we're asleep or otherwise unconsciousness. In, out, in, out. How does it do that? Constantly. In, out, in, out.

Without that breath, you will cease to exist on this physical plane. And your ceasing to exist will be rather quick. And before you know it, the you as you have been identified since leaving the womb will join the long line of billions who have gone before. The you that you are has never been before now and will never, ever be again. Some might find that realization sad. But sad is merely a choice. One can also choose to feel privileged and blessed. And remember that beyond this experience on the physical plane of existence lies an infinite number of possibilities of new experiences of uniqueness.

Our uniqueness is a blessing. But it is a blessing which few recognize during their brief existence as the unique singularity. Instead we are seduced by the world of appearances into believing that we're all supposed to strive to be alike. Same food, same clothes, same houses, same schools, same jobs, same vacations, same likes and dislikes. And yet, the true singularity within is continuously struggling to make its presence known. I am unique. I am special. You are unique. You are special.

Now, here's where I sometimes get into trouble with my more conservative friends. It goes something like this:

THEM: "Do you believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ?"

ME: "You bet I do. I believe that Jesus was created in God's image and likeness."

I pause here while that sinks in. Then, before another word is spoken, I add,

ME: "But I also believe in your divinity. In fact, I believe in the divinity of every human being. I believe that God created all of us and has a personal relationship with each and every one of us like that of a parent and a child. That creation that we are is often called the Christ, and when Paul said, 'the mystery hidden for ages, but now revealed….is Christ in you, the hope of glory,' I take him at his word."

Deepak Chopra says that at our core we are each a field of all possibilities. I concur totally. I go on to state that anyone who denies or belittles this view is endeavoring to destroy the self-realization of divinity within others and should therefore be avoided. It is not the nature of God to tear down but rather to build up. For all the apparent destruction throughout the universe, the fact is, by evidence of observation, the universal creation of God has grown to a degree and a magnitude that is pretty much beyond our comprehension. I want to make certain that I am perfectly clear here. God builds far more than God appears to destroy. And the apparent destruction, when viewed on a grander scale, seems always to lead to new and more elaborate creations.

This was the underlying thrust of Jesus' teaching. His was a teaching of inclusion rather than exclusion. Those who promote exclusion in the name of Christian teachings are not truly Christians, for they are not following the example set by Jesus but instead are using pieces of church doctrine to promote their own agenda. They would better be called Churchians. In the kingdom of God which Jesus proclaimed, there is room enough for everyone. And that only makes sense when one recognizes the inherent divinity of every single human being.

It's funny, but sometimes when I am composing text like this, I can hear, in the back of my mind, various people whom I have known who, in response to what I am writing, in my imagination, start spouting scripture at me to contradict what I am writing.

Decades ago I realized that the scriptures can not be the "absolute revealed word of God," as some would propose, because there were so many contradictory scriptures within scripture. A website which points out an amazing number (several hundred) of these contradictions is located at: http://www.innvista.com/scriptures/compare/bibincon.htm

But just because there are inconsistencies in the scriptures doesn't mean that they must be totally discarded. To do so is just as senseless as declaring that they are the revealed word of God. People who embrace either of those extremes know little about scripture and even less about the history of the scriptures.

In spite of the literal inconsistencies there is ample evidence that there are a number of profound truths contained in the Bible. And our knowledge of these truths can contribute to our living happier, more fulfilling lives. And the desire to seek and share in this awareness of who and what and why we are is behind our motivation for presenting these postings.

Anyway, a large part of the thrust of Jesus' ministry and teachings was in describing, through direct teaching and through parables, the truth about our being, that we are children of God. And that truth expresses in a multitude of ways, each of which is a unique singularity.

This life which you are presently living, is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You are unique and this is a unique opportunity. What are you going to do with it? The same thing as always? The same thing as others? If either of your answers is yes, then you might occasionally want to ask yourself the question, "Why?" If God created you to be unique, why try so hard to be something that you are not.

Become still. Think about the breath of God, the breath of life, being blown into your nostrils at this very moment. What a special gift. What a unique opportunity. It won't last forever. Don't let it go to waste. Begin living life like the unique singularity which you are. Today is the best time there is to start.

Next time we'll examine what happens when we turn our back on the reality of our singularity.


posted by Charles DeTurk at 11:44 PM


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"WHAT WE BELIEVE THAT MAKES US DIFFERENT"
(5) GOD'S EXPRESSION IS INFINITE

Last time we talked about Paul's revelation that your hope of glory is in the realization and the release into expression of the Christ indwelling YOU. Moving along in our flow of ideas, this week's statement is: "What God does is to express itself; since God is all there is, then this expression is infinitely multitudinous."

It's difficult for many people to even begin to comprehend what this week's statement means. We are so used to judging by appearances that we're not going to give God credit for everything that appears to exist in the world. After all, if God were responsible for all of the stuff that's out there, if God were behind it all, then there'd be very little for us to hope for. After all, who would want to admit to themselves that they live in a universe designed and run by someone, or something, which would allow all of the negative which we see about us.

And yet, it all is God. And when we stop long enough to think about what the term, "all of it," really means, it can be somewhat overwhelming. All of it. All of the stuff that we can see, hear, taste, touch, and smell is God in expression. All that we can feel is God in expression. All that we can think and imagine is God expressing. Yes, thoughts, too, are expressions. That's why the Bible says even if you just think it in your heart it is the same as doing it.

And that's just scratching the surface, for it "always has been, is now, and always will be." Beyond the limitations of the concepts of time and space, God is expressing. Here's where I'm happy for the concepts of quantum physics and people like Deepak Chopra who help us to grasp the spiritual reality of the developing quantum scenario.

Deepak reveals that quantum physics tells us that all possibilities exist. Fred Alan Wolf expands upon that and says that those possibilities exist as an infinite number of parallel universes. Deepak then adds that each of us, you and me and every single human being, is, at our core, a field of all possibilities. What that implies is that we are the connection between the possibility and it's manifestation. And we'll be examining that awareness in greater detail next week.

But before we delve into the part we play in this infinite scenario, I want you to get a real feel for the unlimited infinity of God in expression. At another of our blogs, ZmajorDomo, http://zmajordomo/blogspot.com we have posted an article on August 18, 2002 entitled "In A Little Grain of Sand."

In the little grain of sand you will get a greater perspective on the enormity of the infinity of which we speak when we make up terms like "infinitely multitudinous."

"In A Little Grain Of Sand" tells what happened when they pointed the Hubble Space Telescope at an apparently empty spot in space. If you are a visually inspired person and want to skip the background commentary, the graphic results are at:

http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/96/01.html

If you don't have a clue how to go to the preceding Internet addresses, by all means, send me an email at revdeturk@yahoo.com and I'll be glad to help you expand your horizons. If you don't have Internet access, email me and I'll email the text of "…Little Grain…" to you, with a download graphic of what they found.

The bottom line is that the more we come to realize the overwhelming enormity of "God's kingdom," the less realistic the limitations of church doctrine become and the more meaningful the teachings of Jesus and other wise teachers becomes.

There is so much more to life than the mere limitations of our present physical expression and our myopic perceptions. God is all there is. God is all good. There is no evil, only gross misunderstandings of the truth which creates evil results. God's expression is infinite beyond even our wildest imaginations.

In 1976, Arthur C. Clarke, the author of "2001: A Space Odyssey" and the recipient of the original patent for the explanation of how to put satellites into geosynchronous orbit, published a book entitled, "Imperial Earth." It is a scifi story about earth 300 years in the future, on the 500th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

As Dr. Clarke made the rounds promoting his book, he appeared on Tom Snyder's TV show, "Tomorrow," where Tom asked, "Well, tell us, Dr. Clarke, what will the earth be like in 300 years?"

Arthur replied, "Well, as you might imagine, I have a lot of friends who are scientists and also a lot of friends who are science fiction writers, and we discuss questions like that quite regularly. And the only thing we can agree on is that within 75 to 100 years we will have accomplished everything presently imaginable. Beyond that, our imaginations have yet to develop."

Friends, that was 25 years ago. We're rapidly speeding towards a future which is beyond the capabilities of our present imaginations. That's the infinity of God's creation waiting for us. That's the kingdom of God in expression. And I'll tell you something: I'm excited.

Next time we'll take a deeper look at our incredible uniqueness and it's relationship to the Christ and the expression of God.


posted by Charles DeTurk at 11:43 PM


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"WHAT WE BELIEVE THAT MAKES US DIFFERENT"
(4) WE ARE ONE WITH GOD

Our statement this time is: "We are created in the image and after the likeness of God; the word for that creation is the Christ; it is the core of every one of us, without exception; we therefore cannot be separate from God for we are totally God in expression."

Shortly before his passing, Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, said that the greatest verse in the Bible was found in Paul's letter to the Colossians, chapter 1, verse 27. Now, remember, this is a letter that Paul is writing to a particular church regarding church issues. It is not written as doctrine. However, Paul has an interesting insight which he shares here. It is an insight which has far-reaching implications. I'd like to share with you verses 25 - 27:

"For which I became a minister, according to the dispensation of God which has been given to me for you, fully to preach the word of God everywhere, even the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now is revealed to his saints; to whom God wanted to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of our glory."

A fellow Unity minister once told me of a time when he was involved in a discussion about various scriptural passages with an extremely fundamentalist minister. Finally, when the conversation had escalated to the point of the fundamentalist's grilling of my friend over accepting the exclusive divinity of Jesus, my friend said, "But what about the scripture in John 14:12 where Jesus says, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes in me shall do the works which I do; and even greater than these things he shall do, because I am going to my Father.'" The fundamentalist minister replied, "Well, to tell you the truth, I wish that he hadn't said it."

Isn't that the way it often is when dealing with people who are so convinced that their opinion is right that they feel compelled to badger others into agreeing with them? They really don't want to hear about those ideas which are not in agreement with their own, even when it's reportedly the ideas of Jesus, himself. "I wish that he hadn't said it." There are a lot of things which Jesus said, and a lot of things which the Bible says, and a lot of things which many great religious and spiritual writings say, and a lot of things that just feel right, which many people would like to ignore.

From our original premise that God is all there is, it only follows that we, therefore, must be a part of that all that is, and therefore a part of God. We then couch that in the terms that we are "created" by God.

Dr. Rocco Errico recently pointed out in a class that God never created anything. You can bet that that stirred up some brain corpuscles. The brain cells were popping like popcorn. Never created anything? Well, as Dr. Errico pointed out, the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. So, if one thinks of creation as something appearing from nothing, that's just not realistic. Therefore, rather than creating the universe, God transforms itself, that which already is, into universe.

Likewise, in "creating" human beings, God transformed itself into the existence which we call human. We are, therefore, God in transformation, God in expression, God in manifestation. We are in the image and after the likeness. And that creation, in line with our second statement, "God is all good," must therefore be good. It is the highest aspect of its idea-self that it can be. That's what you are, at your core. And the word for that highest manifestation of our selves, what Deepak Chopra calls the "field of all possibilities," is the Christ. That Christ is in you and is you.

However, the chances are that you don't know it. The chances are that you have very little awareness of who you truly are. The chances are that you devote the overwhelming majority of your time, your experience, your thoughts, your feelings, your life, to dwelling upon the appearances, to trying to figure out the right and the wrong instead of just going on to Rumi's "field out beyond."

Think of it like this: Life is like a big wheel, the kind with spokes. Every one of us is a spoke on that wheel. Each one of those spokes is connected to the hub of the wheel. This is the commonality of our divinity which we all share. Whether we realize it or not, the hub is our source and also our destination.

At the opposite end of every spoke is the rim of the wheel. Each one of the spokes is connected to the rim in it's own unique place. The rim is representative of the world of appearance. It looks different to each one of us. This visual example lets us realize that every spoke on the wheel is different and unique and yet they are all the same, for they are all spokes on the wheel of life. Each appears to be pointing in a different direction from all of the other spokes, yet they all share the same hub and a connection to the outer rim.

One final observation on this image: when the wheel is in motion, rolling along, the closer one gets to the rim, the faster one is going. The closer to the world of appearance, the faster "things" appear to get. The closer to the hub, the smoother and easier the motion. It takes just as much time for the inner part of the spoke to make a complete circle as it takes the outer, rim-connected end of the spoke. The outer end just has to work harder.

Jesus tried to tell his followers of the Christ within when he continually referred to God as Father. He would say, "my father," because it is a personal relationship, but he taught us to pray, "our father," because that relationship is also personal for each and every one of us.

An early part of Christian Church history is the battle that took place between those who thought of Jesus as the "only begotten Son of God," and those who felt rather that Jesus was a wayshower who was setting the example for what each of us could recognize about ourselves: that each of us is the Christ. That battle rages on to this very day.

A cornerstone in this confrontation used by those who side with "only begotten" is, of course, John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him shall have eternal life." Of course, when looking at the original Aramaic, the word which has been translated all these years as "only begotten," could also be translated "like unto a firstborn." Which translation one chooses depends upon one's own perspective, not upon any cut-in-stone truth.

In other words, what I am saying here is, if you choose to think of Jesus as God's only begotten son, that's okay. But you see it that way because that's the way you choose to see it, not because that's the way it is.

One of the messages we can glean from the story of the Garden of Eden is that we have free choice. "And as Adam named it, so was it." The Adam part of us is constantly naming the various aspects of our reality. And as we name them, so they become to us.

After considering all of the options and all of the arguments, we must each come back to the realization that the ultimate decision rests with us. How are we going to "name it." Do we want to play the "worm of the dust" game? Or do we want to recognize the Christ indwelling each of us? Which perspective resonates with you. Which one feels right. Our choice is the later. We behold the Christ in you and within all people. Namaste.


posted by Charles DeTurk at 11:43 PM


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"WHAT WE BELIEVE THAT MAKES US DIFFERENT"
(3) THERE IS NO EVIL

This is the big one. This time we take a look at that big bugaboo - EVIL. But first, just a little recap. We're examining what we believe that makes others look at us as though we were different. We began two sessions ago with the fact that God is all there is. Specifically, "God is all there is; absolute, total, without exception."

We followed that up last time with the realization that "God is all good, therefore everything that is is good." Once we understand those two concepts, we are confronted with the question of what we're going to do about evil.

Our statement this time, therefore, is, "There is no evil; evil is actually a denial of the truth that there is no evil; evil's only existence rests in one's belief in its existence; therefore evil is the great lie of a belief in separation from God."

Because of our conditioning about evil, this is a pretty dramatic statement for many people to consider. After all, we all know that evil is rampant in the world. We only need to turn on the tube or pick up a paper to have confirmation of that fact. Yet how can evil exist if God is all there is and God is all good?

But what is evil? Where does it come from? Why is it here? And just what do I mean when I say that there is no evil? Well, to answer those questions, I'm going to throw some biblical scripture on you. Now, if you're not one who is into the Bible, don't let that disturb you. Just think of it as another ancient book with some interesting truths and mystical teachings. Take what works for you and don't worry about the rest.

In my growing up, the Bible was always there, but it didn't play the part of importance in my life that demanded the sacrifice that I saw in the lives of others around me. However, as I have grown older, I am drawn back time and again to the Bible as a reference tool because so many people have backgrounds in which the Bible plays a central position as a frame of reference for their lives. That's why I'm continuing to study three nights a week with Dr. Errico and his classes on the Bible. It helps to give me a way to relate to the perspective of others without having to get bogged down in the superficial mistranslations and misinterpretations which distort so many people's Biblical perspective thereby keeping them in bondage to ideas that often have little connection to what the Bible really has to say.

It is a misinterpretation of the Bible, several hundred years after Jesus walked the earth, which today gives us the mistaken impression that we are sinners, worms of the dust, and that our bodies should be shunned and condemned. This erroneous belief is mistakenly attributed to the Garden of Eden story in the book of Genesis. And it is further compounded in its distortions by a later claim that Jesus died "for our sins." In reality, a literal translation from original Aramaic text is that Jesus died "because of our sins."

Jews don't believe or teach "original sin" as portrayed by the Christian Church in the story of Genesis. And remember, Genesis is a book of the Jews, of the Israelites. They don't see the story as the "fall of man." Again, that's a later Christian Church spin on an old Jewish story that, in turn, is a twist on even older, more ancient stories.

So, with that in mind, in an effort to understand the true nature of evil, I direct your attention to the book of John, Chapter 8, verse 44. The setting is that Jesus is being questioned by the Pharisees. The Pharisees are a sect within Judaism which believed in absolute adherence to the letter of the law. It's interesting to note here that if you pull out a Thesaurus and look up the word "Pharisee" you will find that one of the synonyms is "hypocrite." Hypocrite is, of course, a word used often by Jesus, particularly in his confrontations with the attacks of the Pharisees. A hypocrite is one who puts on a false appearance of virtue and piety, who claims a belief in one thing but actually does another. Hypocrite is a word which always applies to those who insist upon demanding that others live by the letter of the law. This is impossible to achieve, however, because the law is static while human beings are ecstatic.

When we say that the Pharisees were a sect of Judaism 2,000 years ago, it's good to remember that Jesus and his followers also formed a Jewish sect while he was teaching. At the time it was probably thought of as the Jesus sect or the Nazarene sect. Only later, after Jesus' death, did the followers of the Jesus' teachings come to be known as Christians.

So the Pharisees are trying to verbally corner Jesus and reveal him to be a blasphemer. They believed in a God which had grown separate from His people, while Jesus taught a God accessible to all. He emphasized this by teaching that the kingdom of heaven is within you. And so Jesus responds to the Pharisees by telling them that he is merely doing what the Father has directed him to do. This angers the Pharisees. They claim that their Father is Abraham, and they wish to know who Jesus means when he speaks of Father. Jesus then responds that Abraham is not their Father. He continues by saying:

John 8:44: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."

That's the way the King James translation presents this scripture. A bit outdated with its ye's and speaketh's. And what about that last phrase: "and the father of it."

Well, let's look at the same verse as translated by Dr. George Lamsa from Jesus' language, Aramaic, directly into English:

"You are from the father of accusation, and you want to do the lusts of your father, he who is a murderer of men from the very beginning and who never stands by the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks, he speaks his own lie, because he is a liar, and the father of lies."

The "father of accusation." "A murderer of men from the very beginning … who never stands by the truth, because there is no truth in him." "He is a liar and the father of lies."

Now, "grok this," as Robert Heinlein's "Stranger In A Strange Land," might say. Imagine for a minute that this "liar" is not a "being" at all, but is, rather, the "act" of lying itself. "A liar, and the father of lies." The lie itself.

When Adam and Eve "ate" of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were entering into a state of consciousness in which they were judging things by appearances rather than by the underlying truth. This physical world of appearance in which we are briefly expressing, "living" if you will, is a world of constant apparent opposites. It is therefore a continuous challenge to see beyond the appearance of good and evil and to recognize the underlying truth. What truth? Well, we're told that God made everything and that everything that God made was good. Anything in opposition to that would be a variance from the truth.

We're also told that humanity was created in the image and after the likeness of God. The world of appearances lures us away from remembering that truth about ourselves. And when that happens, we slip into the abyss where we begin to think and feel that we are separate and apart from God. Separate and apart? How ridiculous. You were created by God, from God stuff, and are expressing God in a creation of God. You can not be separate and apart from God EXCEPT in your consciousness, in your beliefs.

If we choose to believe ourselves separate and apart from God, then we buy into the big lie. And from that lie, springs all of the other lies and deceptions. Just think about it. Think of any aspect of what we think of as evil and you'll see that underlying that expression of evil is a belief in separation from God. A belief in our oneness with God causes evil to disappear, for we cannot do evil when we recognize our oneness with God.

God created us in God's image. We created evil through judging by appearances rather than by the truth of our creation. Evil was created by our belief, and it is as strong as our belief, and it will continue as long as we believe in it and act accordingly. When we cease believing in evil by choosing, instead, to recognize our oneness with God, we act more Godlike and the former appearance of evil vanishes.

So, the bottom line is that there is no evil. However, evil will continue to be real and exist for us as long as we believe in it and continue to deceive ourselves into believing that we are not one with God.

By the grace of God, there is no evil. By the creative imagination of man, evil appears to exist, and therefore, for all intents and purposes, it does exist.

Next time we'll examine just what God created when God created us.


posted by Charles DeTurk at 11:42 PM