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Nothing PersonalWe ask, "Who am I?" Then, we ponder our past, our education, our character, profession, and relationships, and unconsciously mold it into our personality. This is a trick! It assumes that we exist in our own place and time, gradually accumulating knowledge of our self-awareness. We hope that this knowledge will someday solve the mystery of life, but that mystery remains unsolved. Here we stagnate until Truth changes our standpoint. We must lift ourselves from a personal sense of self to an awareness of spiritual poise -- the priceless treasure that finally answers the question. The compound idea of Truth is the real man needing no material embodiment to be Truth's advocate or witness. "An infinite Mind in a finite form is an absolute impossibility" (SH 116:30). Man's personal sense of self is inadequate to understand or express the wholeness of God's creating. A person may believe himself to be young or old, sick or healthy, selfish or caring, ignorant or wise, simple or sophisticated depending upon his experience, however, the compound idea of Truth just is, uncontaminated by belief and undivided by many separate minds. Truth itself knows the Truth, not embodied by any material person, place, or thing. Accepting Truth as a metaphysical constant is perfectly reasonable, but the concept of man being Truth's idea and not a person knowing truth is more difficult to grasp. Why? Because we believe our personal selves to be valid, and we react to the world's circumstances accordingly. Jesus told the man who was ensconced by his possessions, to go and "sell all that thou hast … and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me" (Luke 18:22). To experience the fullness of Jesus' dominion over the things of this world, Christ consciousness needs to fully occupy thought. Partial obedience has no meaning to divine Mind. "A vessel full must be emptied before it can be refilled" (My 149:17-18). Babes in Christ vacillate between intellectual knowledge and actual spiritual insight because their mistaken sense of person is still attractive. They are like grains of sand on the sea shore, tossed about by the ocean of events. This is why we sometimes get momentary glimpses of our true being but find that we cannot sustain it. God's outpouring of Love is not intermittent or tossed about. When Jesus cried "Peace, be still" to the violence of the waves, he was drawing on a higher, more inclusive realm of consciousness. The compound idea of God, which Jesus manifested, included the sea and the waves. His mental stillness was confirmed by the sea's stillness, and the all-inclusive nature of Christ was scientifically proven: "He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still" (Ps. 107:29). The concept of many persons necessitates separateness, each with their own nucleus and boundary, but "Mind and idea" is not two things or many persons. Mind's image and likeness includes all ideas. The spiritual presence which Jesus demonstrated is Christ including the universe. There is no time, no separation, no person to discover, and no unanswered questions because the "all-knowing" has no necessity to inquire. Human personality cannot wholly obscure the presence of God. "Everything good or worthy, God made" (SH 525:20-21). Our cognizance of good is proof of God manifest. Harmony, happiness, joy, beauty, honesty, tenderness, unselfishness, and generosity are all proofs of Christ's presence; "behold, the kingdom of God is within you" -- within your capability to see, feel, and understand (Luke 17:21). Conscience is never in conflict. My conscience is identical to your conscience because conscience proceeds directly from Truth, and is always right. The real man's vantage point includes all vantage points, and is therefore one stupendous whole. "God has countless ideas, and they
all have one Principle and parentage. The only proper symbol
of God as person is Mind's infinite ideal. What is this ideal?
Who shall behold it? This ideal is God's own image, spiritual
and infinite" (SH 517:18). George Denninger © |
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