Metaphysical Bible Meditations - 8/24/17

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Hello again, readers! Today we'll begin our exploration of Luke Chapter 11 with verses 1-4, which detail Jesus' teaching the Lord's Prayer to the disciples.

"And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth."

"Our Father, which art in heaven..." Here, contrary to orthodox Christian belief, Jesus is not counseling us to pray to a personal God, dwelling far off in some remote corner of space, but rather is telling us to turn to the One Source, Power, Cause, and Substance, which indwells each of us in our subconscious mind.

"God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:24

Webster's defines Spirit as "an animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organisms." As research in psychology and neuroscience has increasingly revealed, the vast majority of our biological processes, behaviors, actions, ideas, thoughts, and emotions (good, bad, or indifferent) are governed by the imprints made upon the subconscious or unconscious mind by our environments and the beliefs and opinions of parents, teachers, relatives, and peers. It is this "vital principle" that we are to "worship in spirit and in truth" by being discerning in the thoughts, attitudes, concepts, and values that we entertain and form our philosophy of life around. To paraphrase the late Dr. Joseph Murphy, author of The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, the law of life is the law of belief: think good and good follows; think evil and evil follows.

With that established it logically follows that Heaven, rather than being a material realm where a personal God dwells, is symbolic of the state of conscious awareness of and union with the Divine Ideals of peace, harmony, love, compassion, wholeness, and vitality.  Even Saint Augustine, that most orthodox Church Father, thought as much, writing in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount that heaven is "in the hearts of the righteous, as it were in His holy temple."

Furthermore:

"...God is not contained in space. For the heavens are indeed the higher material bodies of the world, but yet material, and therefore cannot exist except in some definite place; but if God's place is believed to be in the heavens, as meaning the higher parts of the world, the birds are of greater value than we, for their life is nearer to God. But it is not written, The Lord is near unto tall men, or unto those who dwell on mountains...

And for the purpose of showing this, when we stand at prayer, we turn to the east, whence the heaven rises: not as if God also were dwelling there... but in order that the mind may be admonished to turn to a more excellent nature, i.e. to God."

And as Jesus himself said, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17: 20 -21, emphasis added).

"Hallowed be thy name..."

As written in the book of Exodus, God reveals his name to Moses from the Burning Bush as "I Am That I Am" (Exodus 3:14). A name is representative of the nature of the person, place, or object that it is affixed to. In this case, the name of "I AM" is indicative of unconditioned consciousness. We are to "hallow" the name of God (the subconscious) by meditating on "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report." (Philippians 4:8) We take this name "in vain" by wedding it with false and destructive beliefs such as "I am weak", "I am poor", "I am unwanted", "I am a failure", etc.

"Thy kingdom come..."

This represents the manifold blessings (physical, material, intellectual, spiritual) which are born of joining wholesome, constructive concepts and imagery to the creative, receptive mold of the I AM (subconscious mind).

"Thy will be done..."

The "will of God" here refers to the plan of growth, unfoldment, and evolution of the indwelling Word (Christ Consciousness) of every individual soul.

"But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." Deuteronomy 30:14

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men." John 1: 1-4

"As in heaven..."

Heaven, as we've discovered, refers to the mental state of conscious unity with the Divine Essence.

"So in earth..."

The realm of earth, metaphysically, refers to the objective, three dimensional plane on which the contents we impregnate our subconscious minds with are given physical manifestation on the screen of space. This is at the heart of the well known Hermetic axiom, "As within, so without."

"Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil."

"Our daily bread" is the bounty we receive when we tune in to the Infinite Storehouse, which "knoweth what things" we have need of and will bestow to us "pressed down, and shaken together, and running over" when we ask in confident faith. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." Psalm 23:1

"The forgiveness of sins", when stripped of the sense of wallowing guilt and self pity with which it has unfortunately been equated, is nothing more than the active cleansing and renewal of the subconscious mind, sifting out our false beliefs and perceptions, and cultivating new ones through dedicated and affirmative study, prayer, and meditation. We are also to "forgive" others who may have wronged us by changing our view of them, seeing them in a new light by wishing for them all the blessings of life. In doing this they no longer hold the "debt" of our previous judgment of them.

God, or Universal Spirit, being Love itself, does not "lead us into temptation." It is the metaphorical devils of ignorance, fear, and jealously which divert us from the path of perfection, leading us into limitation and calamity of all kinds (see James 1:12 - 15). Jesus, knowing this, was simply telling us to affirm and cleave to the good in thought, word, and deed, which "keeps us from evil."  

I hope you enjoyed today's content! Until next time, keep on keeping onward, upward, and God-ward.

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Metaphysical Bible Meditations - 8/23/17

Source: artbible.net

Good morning readers! Today's reading will focus on the last verses from the 10th chapter of Luke's Gospel, 38-42, which contain one of the shortest but richest troves of metaphysical insight in the New Testament, contained in the well known story of Jesus in the home of Martha and Mary.

"Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.

But Martha was cumbered about much serving..."

The Gospel writer, through this story, powerfully illustrates and contrasts two methods of devotion toward the I AM presence (personified in Jesus). Martha represents the active, service orientated state of conscious dedication to spiritual principles, which while starting from a place of sincere and and loving intention to unfold the faculties of the indwelling I AM (depicted in the story as Martha's rushing to and fro to minister to Jesus)  becomes caught up in the realm of physical action and effects. Losing its original spiritual compass, this attitude falls into the commonly held belief that only through great struggle and toil can illumination be reached.

Perceiving the receptive and engaged presence of her sister Mary (the still, assured soul), who sits attentively in the present moment at the feet of Jesus (I AM) to receive inspiration and strength, to be idleness, Martha petitions Jesus:

"Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me."

Jesus, knowing that Martha's steadfast devotion was a necessary step toward contacting the I AM, does not rebuke her, rather taking the opportunity to tell her that she would do well to emulate her sister's spirit of attunement to the now, and not let her works become mere rote habits and rituals, devoid of Divine Love and Inspiration:

"And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

May we all be mindful to always choose "that good part" by honoring the Divine in every moment, now matter how seemingly trivial or insignificant.

Stay tuned until tomorrow, when we will launch into Luke chapter 11!

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Metaphysical Bible Meditations - 8/22/17

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Hello again, dear readers! I hope you were able to enjoy yesterday's spectacular celestial event of the eclipse. For today's metaphysical meditation we'll pick up once more with chapter 10 of the Gospel of Luke, verses 25 - 37.

"And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?

And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?"

The lawyer seeking to "tempt" Jesus represents the legalistic consciousness, who only understands the workings of Universal Law on the material level, and considers anything outside of his limited purview to be heretical or blasphemous. Not satisfied with Jesus' affirmation of the Two Great Commandments, in which love of God (who is "above all, through all, and in all" Ephesians 4:6) is equated with love of neighbor, the lawyer demands to know, being rooted in his sectarian preferences and inability to see beyond the letter of the law, "who is my neighbour?"

"And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him."

Through the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus powerfully illustrates the inner meaning of the principle of "love thy neighbor". The priest and the Levite who go out of their way to avoid assisting the wounded traveler are personified aspects of the same self righteous state of mind as the lawyer who, while quick to preach and extol the virtues of obeying spiritual law to others, lack the conviction to abide by it themselves. 

"This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me." Matthew 15:8

It can also be inferred from the text that these "holy" men of the cloth, who as Jesus points out throughout the Gospels reveled in their sense of superiority, viewed the unfortunate traveler as a miserable sinner who got his just desserts from a vengeful, punitive God, for not obeying every last letter of the law. 

"Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers." Luke 11:46

It was a Samaritan, a member of a race whom the Jewish priestly caste viewed as ignorant and inferior, that stopped without reservation to bind and anoint the traveler's wounds and bring him to the inn, giving of his own substance to insure the traveler's speedy recovery, demonstrating his superior faith in God as healer and provider of all.  This illustrates that true charity is not and cannot be confined to the narrow confines of theological and sacerdotal dogma and theory. God, or Universal Spirit, is "no respector of persons", races, nations, and creeds, giving to all freely and lovingly.

"Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Luke 12:32

"Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise."

The attitude personified by the lawyer, now illumined by Jesus (divine reason) realizes the error of its previous thinking, is commissioned to "go, and do likewise," in emulation of the unconditional compassion of the Samaritan.

That's it for today, my friends! Tomorrow we'll pick up with verses 38 through 42.

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Metaphysical Bible Meditations - 8/21/17

Source: http://blog.peacelcmc.org/?paged=40

Good Monday morning, dear readers! After a break for the weekend, I'm happy to present you with the next installment of the Metaphysical Bible Meditations series, which started with our first post last Thursday, where we examined the deeper symbolism and meaning of the first twenty verses of chapter 10 of the Gospel of Luke. Today we'll pick up with verses 21 through 24.

"In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight."

Here, Jesus (illumined mind unified with the indwelling I AM) testifies to the fact that it is only through adopting the childlike sense of wonder and un-cynical belief in the underlying Good, Truth, and Beauty of Life that we shall see and enter into the realm of the Inner Kingdom.

"Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, you shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3

This simple yet profound truth is kept from those who place too much emphasis on the appearances of sense evidence and the rationalizations of the narrow intellect, who cannot grasp the deeper significance of material phenomena and the spiritual causes behind them. Saint Paul describes this dichotomy in his 1st letter to the Corinthians:

"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)

This is also true of those who cling to the literal letter of orthodox religious dogma and secular law:

"For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them."

These "prophets and kings", while they seek for the truth, cannot let go of their conditioned assumptions, perspectives, and sectarian beliefs.

"For if ye believe not that I AM he (the One Power, Cause, and Substance), ye shall die in your sins (false perceptions and beliefs)." John 8:24

"All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him."

"All things are delivered" to the one who confidently and implicitly believes, as Jesus did, in the responsive nature of "the Father" (Universal Mind).

 "For your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." Matthew 6:8

"No man knoweth who the Son is but the Father..."

No one who remains bound to material consciousness can perceive and commune with the indwelling Christ (the Son), or the omnipresent Universal Spirit (the Father "who is above all, through all, and in all"). 

"...and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him."

Only by having a receptive, trusting soul can we attain the state of illumined and anointed awareness (the Son), through which will be revealed to use the truth hidden from the foundation of the world, that "I (the Son) and my Father (Infinite Intelligence are one." John 10:30  

That's it for today, my friends! Tomorrow we'll pick up with verses 25 through 37.

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Is It God's Will?

Jesus in Gethsemane. Source: http://art-now-and-then.blogspot.com/2014/05/art-and-jesus-gethsemane.html

Today's post is an excerpt from chapter 5 of my metaphysical primer, Take Away The Stone: Resurrecting The God Within, available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback.

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42

After being introduced to the method of affirmative prayer – and experiencing its results firsthand – there can arise in us a feeling of sneaking suspicion: that somehow this is all too good to be true and we’re not deserving of all Life has to offer. Whether it is murmurings of the old ideas that we can only please God through continual suffering in this life, that there is some saintly virtue to be gained in poverty, sickness, and privation, or that we must toil, sweat, and compete in the jungle of the marketplace to earn our daily bread it leads us to ask, “Is it really God’s will for me to prosper?” This is reinforced when we hear politicians and pundits caricature the wealthy as heartless and greedy, as well as by prophets of doom who declare that opportunity is monopolized by an insidious cabal of elitists and that the world is in the clutches of evil.

Earnest study and observation will show such notions to be patently false. The Infinite crafted all things to provide for the continual advancement of Life. If another power or powers existed to hinder, oppose, or challenge this pattern of progression there would be as one writer put it “a chaos instead of a Cosmos”, undermining the march of evolution. This logical, scientific, and mathematical Unity is made clear in the opening words of the Jewish Shema prayer, taken from the Book of Deuteronomy: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deut. 6:4) It is, as the Roman Emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius wrote in his Meditations, “One living being, having one substance and one soul”, behind, through, and in all material forms. It cannot act contrary to its eternal commission to “be fruitful and increase” along all lines.

In the beautiful words of Lao Tzu:

“The Tao is called the Great Mother:

Empty yet inexhaustible,

It gives birth to infinite worlds.”

The belief that God takes perverse pleasure in our suffering is nothing more than humanity’s unfortunate tendency of projecting our own foibles onto the One Source. There is nothing inherently evil in the Universe; all destructive behavior and action are the effects of faulty psychological perceptions. As Shakespeare said through Hamlet, “For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

God, or the Life Principle, has “richly provided us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Tim. 6: 17), seeking ever new ways of unfolding and expressing its inexhaustible potential through us. The Laws of Life are based on growth, not stagnation, as all the processes of Nature testify. Our desire for radiant health, financial security, creativity, love, and fellowship is Life urging us forward to be, to do, and to have more. God’s will for us is that we “may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)

Evil, as both Plato and Buddha pointed out, is rooted in ignorance. To sin is to miss the mark and fall into a state of error regarding the nature of Life; i.e. by believing in a vengeful, critical, and testing God or a Devil seductively whispering into our ears. God does not tempt us; neither is there a physical devil, with cloven hooves and a pitchfork, roaming the earth, goading us to commit all manner of degradation. Satan in Hebrew means adversary or deceiver. Satan and his legion of devils as presented in the Bible serve as personifications of the false concepts which assail us daily by means of erroneous sense evidence, uninformed opinions, fatalistic headlines, and fear mongering propaganda, instilling in us a groundless sense of hostility and dread toward Life. They represent aspects of the egoistic attitude that keeps us in a state of spiritual immaturity, damming up the vital current of the Life Principle within us. It is the contrarian spirit of resistance which, in the words of Aristotle, “is the cause of every monstrosity” whether illness, loneliness, poverty, war, bigotry, etc.

The archetypal theme of good vs. evil, when stripped of its literalist trappings, represents the struggle that occurs in all of us as we grow and evolve, learning to properly adhere to the laws of life. We learn the correct use of spiritual laws just as we do the laws of the physical world. If we were to place our hand on a hot stove top or leap from a ladder we would suffer the subsequent pain and harm accordingly. The same applies for our attitudes: if we are constantly irritated, angry, cynical, sad, and bitter, then we shall see those states reflected back to us in our environments, relationships, and circumstances.

It would be just as foolish to attribute our ills to God’s wrath, the wiles of Satan, or the capricious whims of a cruel Universe as it would be to say that the stove top had bad intent in burning our hand or that the law of gravity had a grudge in bringing us to earth after jumping from the ladder. These forces are impersonal and responsive, producing an equal and opposite reaction to the manner in which they were applied. They should be utilized in a constructive fashion which promotes, rather than negates, not only our own well-being but that of others, society, and Nature as a whole. But, as volitional beings, we are given the tremendous gift and responsibility of choice in thought, word, and deed:

“The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction…

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.” (Deut. 30: 14 – 15, 19)

Yet we are counseled to “choose life, so that you and your children may live.” (Deut. 30: 19)

The suffering incurred as we discover natural and spiritual laws is valuable in so far as it acts as an aid to growing in wisdom. Pain is a necessary prerequisite for progress: mothers undergo the trials of pregnancy and labor to bring forth new life; the dedicated athlete, musician, artist, and scientist devote years of intense practice to learning and mastering their respective fields, and the medical patient endures the short term pain of surgery, knowing that with the removal of the physical block the body will heal itself. Likewise giving up our entrenched narratives, beliefs, and behavior patterns can be a painful – and at times downright agonizing – process; the influx of new ideas into our narrow consciousness can take on the appearance of an invading army. That is why Jesus said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34)

Opposing this necessary uprooting of the old beliefs will lead us to continue to sin, reengaging in the established cycle of destructive action where we suffer needlessly. It can delve into a psychological “war in heaven” between the new constructive concepts (represented by the Lord’s army of angels) and the resisting forces of limitation (Satan and his legions).

If we don’t succeed in casting out the devils born of our old ways of thinking we will find ourselves in a prison of our own making, from which we will not get out until we have paid the last penny of the coin of hard experience.

This process – a byproduct of our descent into the material world of illusory opposition from our original state of wholeness – is symbolized in the archetypal Fall from Grace. The quest, to use St. Paul’s terms, of “the natural man” to return to the estate of the “spiritual man” is as old as time, conveyed in the religious rites and myths of every culture and clime. Whether in the form of the countless tribulations which befell the children of Adam and Eve after the expulsion from Eden, the ordeals of mythic heroes such as Hercules, Odysseus, and the Knights of the Round Table, or the missions of great teachers like Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Muhammad, and Krishna, the method of return and reconciliation with our divine nature is laid before us.

Like the Prodigal Son of old we have, led by our ego driven wills and selfish appetites, fallen hard, pining for mere scraps among the swine herds of ignorance. However, having seen the depths to which our own limited understanding has dragged us, the proverbial light bulb will go off. In a contrite spirit we will begin the trek back to our Father’s house, anticipating a stinging rebuke for our utter thoughtlessness. But where we thought to find anger, there will be joy. Where we expected to encounter disappointment, there were be celebration. Anticipating a clenched fist we will be wrapped in outstretched arms, greeted with kisses, adorned with regal attire, feasted with the choicest food, and refreshed with the sweetest wine. This is the true nature of the Father’s will.

“‘You are always with me, and everything I have is yours.’” (Luke 15:31)

Knowing our true heritage as children of the Most High, we will cease to kick against the pricks of circumstance. Realizing that evil stems from misunderstanding the Laws of Life, we shall no longer actively resist it and thereby perpetuate it, but rather overcome it with right perspective, thought, speech, and action. “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” (Psalm 34: 14)

Then we can assume our rightful places as heirs to the Kingdom. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom… Behold, the kingdom of heaven is within you.” (Luke 12:32, 17:21)

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First Daily Installment of Metaphysical Bible Meditations

Greetings, dear readers! I hope your summers have all been relaxing and rejuvenating. I apologize for my long unintended sabbatical: between wrapping up writing, publishing, and promoting my latest book, Take Away The Stone, finishing an ongoing editorial collaboration with paranormal writer/investigator Joe Cetrone on his first novel entitled Mystic Winds, and some personal R and R , blogging unfortunately fell by the wayside. 

But fear not! Now that things are settling down as we prepare to move into September I'll be back to writing with a new daily series, Metaphysical Bible Meditations, of which this will be the maiden post. The content will be drawn from my own daily Bible readings, viewed and interpreted through a metaphysical lens to glean the underlying psycho-spiritual truths of Scripture, from both the Old and New Testaments. Today the focus will be on passages from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 9, verse 57 through to chapter 10, verse 20, and will continue in order from there for all future installments. Feel to follow along with your own Bible, whether it be print or in e-book/online format. While all quotes from the readings will be from the King James Version (the translation which I personally prefer), you by all means may stick to any and all translations of your choosing. Let's get started.

"And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."

The Son of Man (here referring to an attitude of conscious spiritual discernment, rather than the personality of the man Jesus) has no place to rest his head since, being able to grow and evolve in spiritual awareness and understanding, he continues to unfold in consciousness and expression, unlike the limited, narrow animalistic frames of mind (represented here by foxes and birds) who remain in their "dens" of mechanistic, instinctual thinking and acting.

"And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.

And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

When read symbolically (rather than literally) the Gospel writer, in powerful language, is telling us here that if we are to progress spiritually we must be willing to abandon our old conditioned beliefs and concepts of life (personified in the form of the father), letting them die out and be buried with all manner of false creeds, dogmas, superstitions, and prejudices imparted to us by the world at large. 

Once we have made the conscious, sincere decision to abandon those outmoded ways of thinking and believing ("those which are at home at my house"), we are not to look back, lest we relapse into our accustomed habits and views by putting our hands to the plough of dualistic thinking and feeling, to once more sow the same seeds of strife, contention, frustration, lack, etc.  Doing so only serves to keep us shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven (our new desired state of mind, being, and expression).

"After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come."

The sending out of the 70 disciples represents the cleansing and renewing spiritually (7 being the numerical symbol of perfect expression and function) of the entire human system: physical, mental, and emotional. These disciples (beliefs and energies) are to take up residence in the various homes and towns (centers of entrenched thoughts and their attendant objective manifestations such as sickness, depression, anxiety, poverty, etc.) They are sent out in twos (representing thought and emotion), the two necessary agents needed to bring about the needed renewal of both mental involution and physical evolution. 

"But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, 

Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.

Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes."

The unrepentant cities and towns here listed represent the centers of fixed belief and their objective manifestations, which refuse to entertain the new ideas and feelings and are therefore "cursed" by their stubborn refusal.

"And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.

And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you."

The disciples, out poured from the Divine archetypes of wholeness, love, perfection, etc., place the devils of doubt, fear, anger, ignorance, and prejudice under their dominion, leading to Satan's (the un-illumined state of consciousness) mighty "fall from heaven" (enlightened and cleansed consciousness). Nothing can hurt these pure ideas and energies, which have their source in God (Infinite Intelligence), which knows no opposition, strife, or resistance. 

That's it for today, my friends! Tomorrow we'll pick up from Luke chapter 10, verse 21.

First Chapter Preview of My New Book, Take Away the Stone

“Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said… ““Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” John 11:38 – 40
Wikimedia Commons

The first chapter of my forthcoming book, Take Away the Stone: Resurrecting the God Within

We are One with God

“I and the Father are one.” John 10:30

“Now that which is that subtile essence (the root of all), in it all that exists has its self. It is the True. It is the Self, and thou, O Svetaketu, art it.” Khandoyga Upanishad

“And indeed We have created man, and We know whatever thoughts his inner self develops, and We are closer to him than (his) jugular vein.” Quran 50:10

To the average religious person – reared in the traditions of orthodox belief – the idea that Divinity dwells in the human heart reeks of heresy. Having been brought up with a picture of the Infinite as an angry old man in the sky, dispensing rewards and punishments as he pleases, they regard with dogmatic suspicion the notion that Deity is “closer than breathing, nearer than hands and feet.” This sectarian attitude is personified vividly in the Gospel of John as the group who sought to stone Jesus for uttering the above quoted truth.

“Because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”  

To which the Master replied:

““Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods” ’?”

Referring to the sixth verse of the 82^nd Psalm:

“I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’”

This is only a reiteration of the allegory given in the first chapter of Genesis:

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

When we see through our eyes, not merely with them, we discover the true spirit of the Scriptures stretched in smiling repose, behind the stumbling block of the literal letter which kills true understanding; in this instance the lesson being that, despite the seeming differences of race, language, and religion, we are the progeny of “One God and Father… who is over all and through all and in all” whether we know this Power as Allah, Jehovah, Brahma, Tao, the All, the Absolute, Reality, Nature, or Life.

Science reinforces this idea, showing us that the myriad forms of life share the same fundamental building blocks biologically, chemically, and molecularly[1]. “We are all one” as Nikola Tesla observed, conduits of the same vital energy in which we “live and move and have our being.”

Beyond the bounds of biology, on every link of the Great Chain of Being, each form of manifested Life – from the smallest pebble to the boundless human genius embodied in an Einstein or Shakespeare – possesses, to varying degrees, consciousness; which modern science is increasingly identifying as the fundamental factor in how we experience the physical world.[2] It permeates every moment of time, point of space, and bit of matter. It is that innate awareness animating the vibrational orbit of the smallest particle, guiding the plant towards the nourishing sunlight, serving as the instincts of our animal brethren, and spurring humanity on to greater heights of creativity and ingenuity.

This intangible but potent power has been called Cosmic Consciousness, Universal Mind, Buddha Nature, Atman, the Superconscious, the Oversoul, and the subconscious mind, among other names, but was known to the ancient Hebrews as the great I AM or Yahweh, translated as Jehovah and rendered as the Lord and God in subsequent English translations of the Bible. The name most famously appears in Chapter 3 of the Book of Exodus, when Moses sees the essence of God in the burning bush in the wilderness and, being tasked with liberating the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt, asks, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

“God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” (Exodus 3:13-14)

Throughout the Gospels Jesus expressed his understanding of and relationship with this power, which he called “the Father within” and has been dubbed Christ Consciousness by some spiritual schools, to differentiate the man Jesus from the illumined state of consciousness he attained (Christ being a title rather than a surname, derived from the Greek Christos, meaning “anointed one”):

“Before Abraham was, I am!” (John 8:58)

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples… “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:13, 15)

As shown in the first example at the beginning of this chapter Jesus didn’t claim to have a monopoly on access to this Power, which he continually reinforced to his disciples:

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me (the I AM or Christ consciousness) will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these.” (John 14:12)

The Apostle Paul expounded upon this same point in his letters:

“God has chosen to make known… the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27, italics added)

“Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you?” (2 Corinthians 13:5, italics added)

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20, italics added)

It is clear that both Jesus and Paul are talking about an impersonal spiritual principle (Christ), rather than a human personality (the historical man called Jesus of Nazareth). Taking the above literally would leave us in the darkness of confusion, but thankfully “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.” (1 Corinthians 14:33, King James Version)

We shall discover further how the Biblical writers, using the person and story of Jesus, were trying to illustrate how every person could attain conscious contact with the indwelling I AM to realize “the freedom and glory of the children of God.” (Romans 8:21) Let us begin this eye opening process by delving deeper into the nature of this eternal, omnipresent principle.

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[1] http://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/topics_life_early.html

[2] https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/04/the-illusion-of-reality/479559/