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The Inseparability of God and ManIn this article the term "man" refers to the Son of God, one Christ, the Holy Ghost or divine Comforter, the absolute image and likeness of God, not to the human mind endeavoring to reach it. "In divine Science, God and the real man are inseparable as divine Principle and idea" (SH 476:4). Is it possible to define God and exclude man from that definition? No! The moment you begin to describe Principle or Soul, you need man to express it. Mary Baker Eddy defines God in the Glossary of Science and Health this way. "GOD. The great I AM; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence." (SH 587:5) "I" is identity, the One and only; but it takes man to announce "I", for man is God's mouthpiece. "Am" is to "be"; and being is the wholeness of man as objectified by God. The qualifying terms, which follow, are each coupled with the synonyms for God. Therefore, Principle is all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; and Mind is all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal etc. Now we ask, "Is not man the idea or object of understanding these qualities? Is not man the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal?" Therefore, Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit; Life; Truth; Love each express all these qualities as man. Mrs. Eddy continues her definition with "all substance; intelligence." Man is all the substance of God there is; he manifests all of God's intelligence. Once we recognize that God requires man in order to have Self-definition, we can move on to other sentences and decipher them similarly. For instance, in the sentence, "Mind, joyous in strength, dwells in the realm of Mind" we see that "Mind" is God, and "joyous in strength, dwells in the realm of Mind" is man. (SH514:6-7). Saint John scribed God's message this way. "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God" (Rev. 21:3). Isn't that reassuring? A wonderful word that includes both God and man is "Ego" -- that which knows nothing but itself. "That which knows" is both God and man -- "the conscious identity of being" knowing itself (SH 475: 16). "In this scientific reflection [man] the Ego and the Father are inseparable" (SH 70:8-9). Question, "Can God talk about God?" At the instant of Self-expression, man is manifest. "Can man talk about man without God?" He cannot, because without God he does not exist. God and man is not duality. "I Am" is oneness, one cause and effect, one being ? dual nature. Therefore, Ego is God as man in the likeness of God. This finishes the question. God's idea of Self is man -- the one all-knowing Ego. Man is not something that knows God's being, as if a separate entity could grasp the infinite and go on his merry way just thinking about God. Man is God's being. God has no partnership with the human intellect, so stop thinking that you can think God. At-one-ment is not God with a sidecar taking man for a joy-ride exploration of earth and heaven. Mind is the impetus; man is the view, the idea-form, Soul manifest, radiance, joy, expanse, color, fragrance, intelligence, halo, hug, life, energy, wisdom, ark, innocence, purity, Comforter, Science, and song. Mortal man, insisting on finiteness, does not affect reality; he cannot coax God into submission or convince Life to align itself with matter and death. Mortal man is not a real person or thing, but parades itself as a charade separate from God -- an impermanent, self-made, self-ordained declaration that "I will be like God" for a while, and then die. When disappointments, fear, and loss overwhelm us and we conclude that "all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit, and there [is] no profit under the sun" what are we to do (Eccl. 2:11)? First of all, stop trying to find your
way back to God. Start with God! Realize that by wanting to be
good, you have started with God already. Seeing the slightest
hint of goodness in yourself or others proves that unity with
God is present. In song, David declared, "if I make my bed
in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning,
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall
thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me" (Ps.
139:8-10). He knew that Christ keeps on loving as we pass safely
through the valley of the shadow of sin and tragedy unharmed.
"Behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21).
All you can be is what God is, and you are all that God is. God
is infinite; man is the infinite -- an inseparable union. |
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