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Duality is the blight of mortals. It affects all that we see, do, touch, taste, smell, and hear. It permeates every institution developed for the advancement of humanity. It has so stained our lives that any attempt to call attention to its trickery is often met with ridicule. I am not here to rail either way about the pros or cons of this matter. No, this is simply a finger pointing at where it all began. And\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n This is rather a simple innocuous word you might think, however, this is where the whole debacle of duality beings. Back in the day when they used to teach grammar in an English class, teachers could be found instructing children how this word, \u201cand,\u201d is what is known as a \u201cconjunction.\u201d The purpose of this type of word is to join elements together into the same grouping or take two thoughts and join them together. (You know what they call two or more thoughts of anything? I\u2019m not going there.)<\/p>\n You might think that this is not a big deal, right? Consider what occurs when you connect two subject matters which are opposites with this little word. Hard pressed to do such a task? Let me help you. Sweet and sour. Fire and water. Rich and poor. There is a plethora of examples but let\u2019s not neglect the most important of all: Good and evil.<\/p>\n Have you recently read the first chapter of Genesis? In the 31 verses of that chapter, \u201cand\u201d appears in every single verse, often as the first word, followed by \u201cGod.\u201d Furthermore, the commission which God assigns to the man is peppered with \u201cand.\u201d What is interesting also is how in this chapter of the creation narrative, \u201cgood\u201d seems to be the standard for all things created. What can we gather from this?<\/p>\n The writer\/interpreter seems pretty certain that all the events described were joined together as One cause conducted by One Person, namely God. The entirety of creation, including the animals and man, are seen as being One in, and with, God in this description. God determined how all the works done were \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cvery good\u201d at the conclusion of the chapter.<\/p>\n Even into the first three verses in the second chapter, \u201cand\u201d plays a prominent role following the same format from the previous chapter joining the seventh day to the prior days; sanctifying it as a day of rest for God and all creation. At no point does the appearance of an \u201copposite\u201d<\/em> or \u201canother\u201d<\/em> enter into creation. Then comes the fourth verse of the second chapter where the entire narrative takes a turn.<\/p>\n In theological circle there are those who will expound on the opinion of how the writer of the first 34 verses in Genesis was written by someone different than the writer(s) who penned the remaining story line. There are those who will also claim that the second chapter is merely an expanded version of the sixth day of creation. Honestly, I don\u2019t care because once you start going down any of these roads, you soon find how you\u2019re more than lost in the land of \u201cAnd\u201d it\u2019s more like lost in \u201cAnd 2.0\u201d on steroids.<\/p>\n What I want to bring out from this point is how the \u201cnew\u201d writer is the first to form the conjunction between good and evil. Now this might not seem like a big deal until you consider how prior to the development of this association found in the seventeenth verse, everything was \u201cgood,\u201d there was no opposite present (this includes the woman). It seems this \u201cnew\u201d writer is shifting the reader from an OMNI-God to a God who is up-there and out-there somewhere during the day and can somehow be influenced by this new association of opposites.<\/p>\n We all know the story of how the woman is enticed by the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit and then the man partakes of it also. This confers upon them the knowledge of good \u201cand\u201d evil. Since all things prior to the bite were in the complete state of \u201cgood,\u201d it is probably safe to assume that they already had this knowledge established in their consciousness. In my opinion it was \u201cevil\u201d that became the new knowledge. This evil was simply the recognition of doing the opposite of what they had been told not to do, or in other words, not listening to and following what God said.<\/p>\n This very simple act of self-rule required God to place both the man and the woman out of the garden created by God and into land of wilderness. They were now lost in the land of \u201cand\u201d knowing that they once inhabited a place which was the opposite of their present habitat. Seared into their consciousness was the dichotomy of \u201cgood\u201d and the effects of self-rule.<\/p>\n Generation after generation would be told a dimmer and dimmer story about the land of \u201cgood\u201d as a foil to the hardships each generation faced in the wilderness of the multiplicity of self-rule. The deeper humanity succumbed to self-rule in the land of \u201cand\u201d the farther it appeared God departed from the very creation He founded. Eventually humanity would be deemed \u201clost\u201d needing to be \u201cfound\u201d and \u201csaved.\u201d (Notice the \u201cand\u201d there.) Yet are they truly lost?<\/p>\n I find it interesting how adults will play peek-a-boo with an infant for no reason than to try to set up the child into thinking somehow they can disappear. The infant is lying down or sitting up with the adult closely right in front it. The adult takes its hands and places them over their eyes for a brief moment and then quickly removes them while saying, \u201cPeek-a-boo, I see you!\u201d This may also be done with a cloth being placed over the eyes of the infant and then quickly being removed while exclaiming the same line, \u201cPeek-a-boo, I see you!\u201d This ritual will continue for several minutes much to the delight of the adult who is joyful how the infant laughed during the matter.<\/p>\n This same scenario is played out with God in the land of \u201cand.\u201d We treat God as the infant while we \u201chide\u201d ourselves behind anything we believe God can\u2019t see us. Then we go to some weekly religious service and for the briefest of moments exclaim joyously how God showed up. \u201cPeek-a-boo, I see you!\u201d But is God laughing with us or at us?<\/p>\n In the fourth gospel Jesus broke through the land of \u201cand\u201d when he exclaimed, \u201cThe Father and I are one. . .If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.\u201d<\/em> <\/strong>How, you might ask, does this \u201cbreak through\u201d the land of \u201cand?\u201d<\/p>\n The purpose of a conjunction is to join two or more parts together. In the land of \u201cand\u201d the parts come together but retain their individuality, their own self-rule. In the land of “and\u201d there is me and, you and, they and, we and, not me and, nor you and, nor us and.<\/p>\n To the religious leaders present when Jesus said that he and the Father are one, they believed that Jesus was saying he was equal with the Father. This is a typical reaction in the land of \u201cand\u201d where self-rule is the predominate belief. Each person is equal to another in every characteristic and capacity. \u201cEqual\u201d is the result of \u201cand\u201d just like in math. But that is not what Jesus was proclaiming.<\/p>\n In this one statement Jesus rips the veil from the land of \u201cand\u201d revealing how all along there has not been a multitude of beings lost in the land of \u201cand.\u201d Being \u201cone\u201d is not a declaration of self-rule but a broadcast of the reveal of a kingdom established by an omnipresent<\/a> God. There is no God \u201cand\u201d in this kingdom. There never has been or will be. Omnipresence<\/a> insures this. The moment there is an \u201cand\u201d there is no God.<\/p>\n Herein lies the horror of the land of \u201cand.\u201d Self-rule negates God\u2019s ability to function through the mechanism of one or more \u201cbeliefs.\u201d The primary belief is that there is \u201cme and\u201d God. From this belief springs forth a multitude of other beliefs about the relationship of \u201cme and\u201d God; \u201cme and\u201d my ability to see, hear, touch or know God; \u201cme and\u201d my walk with God versus those around me; \u201cme and\u201d how I get God to heal me, feed me, cloth me, prosper me, keep me in peace; and whole host of \u201cbeliefs\u201d about the nature of God crafted on the \u201cbelief\u201d that we are created in His image so He must act just like we do.<\/p>\n All of these beliefs<\/a>, and those not mentioned, stem from our experiences in the land of \u201cand.\u201d There is not a single truth found in any of them. How can I make such a claim? Simply because in the land of \u201cand\u201d we failed to comprehend the magnitude of omnipresence. Missing this crucial element required us to \u201cmake up\u201d beliefs on how it always appears that God is up-there, out-there, while focusing on the physical realm with all of its difficulties and the dichotomies of good \u201cand evil.\u201d<\/p>\n Jesus said that we need to worship the Father \u201c\u2026in spirit and truth.\u201d Never did he say in spirit and \u201cbelief.\u201d Yet every religious institution since those words were uttered has maintained that their \u201cbelief\u201d is truth. How lost we have become in the circle logic of such thinking! In this we wrestle with the thought of an Omnipresent spiritual Creator which still asks, \u201c\u2026WHO told you\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n The truth is, \u201c. . . for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Until you can remove your self-governing belief in and on \u201cand,\u201d this truth will evade you. Omnipresence demands you to be one. However, it will not force you into it, this action must be undertaken in the quiet desperation of needing ALL of Him more than any of you \u201cand\u201d what you\u2019ve clothed yourself in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Duality is the blight of mortals. It affects all that we see, do, touch, taste, smell, and hear. It permeates every institution developed for the advancement of humanity. It has so stained our lives that any attempt to call attention … Continue reading And it Begins<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Lost in the Land<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The Peek-a-Boo Syndrome.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
All of Thee<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Believing Truth<\/strong><\/h3>\n