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"In
our own souls, in the silent processes of thought and understanding, do
we not sense another Presence? There is something Divine about us which we have overlooked.
There is more to us than we realize. Man is an eternal destiny, a
forever-expanding principle of conscious intelligence ... the ocean
in the drop of water, the sun in its rays. Man, the real man, birth-less,
deathless, changeless; and God, as man, in man, IS man! The highest God
and the innermost God is One and the same God.
”
- Dr. Ernest
Holmes, The Science of Mind (pg. 388)
Whether we see Jesus as the "only son of
God" or not determines whether we are Christian or not to most of
the world. But, just believing that Jesus is the only son of God
has not made all Christians more like Jesus than those who don't believe
it. The mystics have all agreed that Jesus was divine, but they
also agree that each of us are divine as well. We are Spirit
having a human experience and because Spirit is infinite, we are
infinitely individualized as images and likenesses of G-d. In
metaphysics we understand that "Son of
God" means that we are "a part of G-d" ... since
G-d is Life and we are part of Life how could we be anything else?
The term "son" was used in the ancient scripture because it
was written in a misogynistic culture. It was written by men for
men. And so we know that this culture may not have understood that
women too, are a part of G-d, it is true nonetheless.
All women are as much "daughters of G-d" as men are "sons
of G-d."
It does not take much understanding to realize why the authors of the
Gospels and New Testament would see Jesus as a "deity" rather
than a man fully enlightened and aware of the Presence of G-d within
him. Jesus was a spiritual genius and highly intuitive ... a
healer, a teacher, and a lover of both G-d and the people that he
believed were a part of G-d. There was no one else like him
previous to him and no one like him since. He taught that we are
to "love our enemies
and do good to those who hate and despise us"
and saw no reason why this should be difficult for us. No one has
ever depended on the Power of Love in the same measure as the Radical
Jesus. We will never fully understand him, until we understand
what he was teaching. And what he was teaching is that we are
divine, a part of G-d.
"God is always God.
No matter what our emotional storm, or what our objective situation may
be, there is always something hidden in the inner being that has never
been violated,"
we can read in The Science of Mind, page 33.
And so we understand that since G-d is always G-d, then we
are always a part of G-d ... a divine part of Spirit is always within us
waiting for us to "stir up the spirit within us." Or, as
the radical Jesus would say, "come
on people, don't you know that you are gods?" In
other words, we are not just having a human experience, but a divine
spiritual experience as well.
The important question for all of us, will always be, are we
identifying with our divine nature or just simply being human? The
answer will determine the quality of our life and the measure of good in
all things that concern us. To say that Jesus identified only with
his divine nature would be untrue since there are several examples in
the scripture that illustrate his human nature as well. But,
unlike most of us, he was aware of when he was identifying with the
human part of his nature rather than the divine. For he understood
that when our mind is stayed on G-d, we can access a Power Greater than
our human capacity for power and solutions. "I
can do all things through "Christ" which strengthens me,"
we can read in scripture and we can believe this for this
"Christ" that was within Jesus, is within each of us. It
is the Power, the Presence and the Intelligence of G-d that will not
only strengthen our resolve, but provide us with solutions and bring
within us a greater sense of peace and joy as our solutions unfold in
Divine Law and Order. As we turn to It, we will "know and
know that we know" ... that all is well, that whatever it is that
may be disturbing us will pass, that we will move through it, transcend
it, or eliminate it from our consciousness and in due time from
our experience.
To see a greater Good in our lives, whatever that may be for us, without
identifying with the Giver of All-Good, is foolishness. Can anyone
of us bring forth the desires of our hearts without G-d? We know
we cannot. It is this Great Invisible Power and Intelligence that
brings all things together for our Good. By looking to G-d and G-d
alone we can increase our wealth, our health, our success ... whatever
we desire to experience. There is a great joy in knowing that we
are not alone in our desire for a fuller, more abundantly good life
experience. The Intelligence that brought the desire to our
awareness, wants to share in the experience of having it with us ... It
will be present every step of the way ... for It is always present;
Omnipresent. This is why the Master Mind Jesus could say, without
doubting, "the Father
and I are One." He showed us what is possible.
To be "One with
G-d" we must be as much like G-d as we can possibly be ... that is,
we must observe all things in the world, with love and without judgment.
And not let the world distract us from the Truth that we are here to let
G-d use us to express the desires of our heart. Today and every
day forward.
AND
SO IT IS!
Keep
the faith!
Rev.
Dr. Henry Lee Bates
Visit Rev. Bates BLOG: Living
the Science of Mind
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Bates on the Radio
