| Home | Listen to this article | Return to Articles |
 previous
/ next article |
The Family of ManI bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named … that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. (Eph. 3:14-15, 19) Imagine for a moment, that whatever you desire is yours just by thinking it. You desire to be a certain age with an attractive physique, and it is yours. You desire to go places, and wherever your mind wanders you see and feel it, from landscapes to galaxies. Beautiful objects appear on command. This satisfies for a while. Then, a more mischievous desire arrives; "Can I be multiple people at the same time, and should they each have their own desires, or should they all have my desires?" If I direct each one to have his own desires, how is that different from the world I live in now? I have become a parent of many minds where, sooner or later, "ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars" (Matt. 24:6). If I will that they all have my mind, how is that different from just being me on a huge scale? I have made clones to glorify myself. Do you see how quickly fulfilling personal desires can turn into a quagmire, patterned after Lucifer? "For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation … I will be like the most High" (Isa. 14:13, 14). Shall we subsist in a world that is egocentric -- always desiring, dominating, competing, destroying, surrendering, and dying ? or shall we search for something else? Shall we have chaos or harmony, lawlessness or Principle? Lawlessness has no basis with which to develop. It is a self-consuming tragedy where nothing can grow and prosper; every attempt to succeed is doomed to failure. Setting aside Lucifer-mentality, we realize that intelligence must manifest wisdom if anything productive is to come of it, but "But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?" (Job 28:12). We recognize that no scenarios of human indulgence are wise. Only an underlying principle or law of goodness can thrive. We may ask, "Can there be multiple laws acting as clarifying agents?" Humanly, this may seem supportive and necessary, but additional, descriptive laws must all be of one accord, aligned with the guiding principle. Finally, we have arrived at the law of goodness that we call God. From the divine perspective, everything that is created, every idea, is under the jurisdiction of this one harmonious God, and these ideas constitute one harmonious family ? the family of man. "Man is the family name for all ideas, -- the sons and daughters of God. All that God imparts moves in accord with Him, reflecting goodness and power" (SH 515:21). The kingdom of heaven within, called spiritual man, is the product of all these ideas -- God loving man loving Good. In other words, the creative Principle that is God is manifest as ever-expansive man. The genuine family of man is infinite and universal, without locality, time, or restriction. So, by God's definition, you do not have a material lineage with a limited status derived from a particular human family. You are derived from the creative principle of Mind alone. Infinite knowing is not a hive-mentality of many controlled minds, but is one infinite Mind knowing itself. We are as ever-present as God and as related as divine Love loving. Perfect Love has no favorites, no agenda, no opinion, no passion, and no death, but is found singing in unison with all creation. Love expresses one stupendous whole, and, as reflection, you are not part of the whole; you are the image or fullness of whole. Spirit is not localized: it is infinite, always present, and there is no other place or presence. Have you ever met someone and immediately felt like soulmates? That is a hint of the nature of the spiritual family of man. Every idea of God has a soulmate-attraction with every other idea. Think of it: you are soulmates with every mental molecule and grand idea in the universe of Soul. That is what man made in the image and likeness of God feels. Human families may reflect the divine to some degree, and harmonious relationships are natural and good, but remember, family is divine manifestation. If you do not see perfect manifestation in your fellow man, you need to become more aware of your beloved universal family under the control of the one underlying Principle, God. You must love your neighbor as yourself, not as your neighbor. "With one Father, even God, the whole
family of man would be brethren; and with one Mind and that God,
or good, the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth,
and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which constitute
divine Science." (SH 469:30-5) |
| Home | Listen to this article | Return to Articles |
previous
/ next article |