Most Christian music these days is bogged down in dogma and doctrine which hasn’t been reconsidered for over 300 years. Whenever there comes a new sound with truth backing it, the gatekeepers of the Western church are quick to jump on their bandwagon and decree as potentially heretic because the sound is different!
This is one such example of how truth can touch a song of worship that the church is not prepared to fully embrace. Enjoy.
One of the most difficult things I have found in trying to convey the message of grace are in songs that are able to transcend the fortified message in the lyrics of the past. Here is something I hope will usher in a new, yet profound reality of truth. Enjoy.
There probably are not many times when you have heard someone claim that you are perfect. Consider all the baggage which needs to be overcome to make such a proclamation: personal judgment, societal norms, biases, and social customs. Yes, it is possible to make such a statement about someone, and yet, do they believe we mean it?
For me to proceed with this writing and ensure that you understand that I’m sincere it my acknowledgement of you, I would like you to hear something from Meister Eckhart, a 13-14th century German theologian and mystic, and an anonymous quote from Theologia Germanica, a mystical writing from the 14th century.
“To gauge the soul we must gauge it with God, for the Ground of God and the Ground of the Soul are one and the same.”
“Goodness needeth not to enter into the soul, for it is there already, only it is unperceived.”
Both of these passages speak to the nature of what I’m about to convey to you. You are perfect! Not only you, but everyone you know, everyone around you, even all the people on the entire planet! As a matter of fact, everyone who has ever walked upon this earth is good too! (Notice I didn’t use the past tense form here. More on that later.)
Now I recognize how my last claim there is going to send up alarms claiming that there have been people who committed such atrocities throughout history that to claim them being good is a sign of a deranged individual unworthy of giving any further attention. But if you can pause for a minute before you leave me and look at the title of this posting again, you might be able to proceed as I explore the “…Just Ignorant” portion of this writing.
I need to clarify something here as we proceed. Case matters. Upper case words represent divinely intuitive properties or entities. Lower case words represent sense-based (e.g. sight, sound, smell, taste, feeling) properties or entities.
Everything has a beginning, a starting point, a genesis moment. Every human begins at conception when a male sperm enters a female egg, and the creation event begins to unfold. At some point in this drama, the Soul enters the developing fetus. The Soul is the spiritual entity which is made “in the image and likeness” of God. It is the true you. It is eternal and divine. Your Soul is good, is love, is one with the Creator Spirit.
The “You” as the Soul never dies. Yes, it inhabits a mortal shell which travels the time spectrum from birth through childhood, into adulthood, the blossom of maturity, the decrepit march into old age until the final exhalation of life. While people mourn the passing of the shell, they remain ignorant of the upward return journey of the Soul to its divine home.
Just as people remain ignorant of the return journey of the Soul at death, they also remain ignorant of the return journey of the Soul at conception and subsequent fetal development. Yes, you read that correctly. This cycle is not just a one-off coincidence. The entire planet, even the galaxy, goes through the same cycle of birth, growth, maturity, decay only to begin it all over again.
It is ignorant to believe that mortal humans never follow the same cycle throughout time immemorial. Yet, it is also ignorant to believe that your soul is part and parcel of your mortal coil. Ignorance will claim that it is “my soul,” in the same way it will profession that it is good while someone else’s soul is evil. This is possible simply because we have never ventured into how our soul develops.
As I stated previously, everyone has a Soul. Everyone thinks they have a soul which is somehow “lost” when in reality they have a conscience construct created by their ego to justify their moral values. The development of our ego is similar to a protection device which helps us to navigate the world we are born into. It determines what is good or evil for us and then places us on the side which best suits our present condition.
The Soul only knows goodness, kindness, and love. The Soul can never be “lost” or unredeemable simple because it doesn’t originate from the earthly realm. Hence, It does not have an evil nature. What we might view as being evil is simply the matter of ignorance about the Soul and Its influence on our lives.
As we grow and our ego develops, the Soul is moved further and further from the interactions of our decision-making process until one day we proclaim we have a “good soul.” From that day onward we employ our soul’s moral authority during our daily activities never knowing that the Soul awaits our recognition of Its presence. The Soul will never interfere with the goings on in our lives. It understands that we are ignorant of Its presence and Its purpose within our body.
I have written previously how grace in the activating power of God’s love. When you bring into focus how we disregard our Soul in this present incarnation, you begin to recognize grace in a whole different manner. Grace is no longer a covering for sins as much as a divine acknowledgement of our ignorance of our true godlike Self in this material sense-based world.
The Soul needs to be perceived. You will not access It through reading about it or hearing someone talk about it. You can only come to It through deep meditation and contemplation. While this might seem doable for many people it regrettably is difficult because the ego does not want to give up any ground it has taken away from the Soul’s purpose. Your ego will create excuses and delays for you when you begin to meditate.
However, there is great reward for those who persevere in the meditative quest for Self-realization. Not only do you get to meet who you’ve always been, but you also begin to understand the true purpose of the Soul in this incarnation. The deeper you go into your Soul the more ignorance dissipates and the revealing of your divine nature manifests.
To discover your Self is a choice you will make sometime in the life cycle of your Soul. How about starting today?
For those of us on this spiritual journey there comes a point when we confront a roadblock we must circumnavigate – our expectations. For most people they believe that this is not important, hence, their inability to grow spiritually over their lifetime. They are seen as kindergarteners playing in the realm of the Spirit, happy one moment and throwing tantrums the next when they don’t get what they want.
Consider what the foundation of any expectation truly is: an egoic desire to shape reality outside of truth. Many haven’t even thought this far on the matter since they are so enraptured by the possibility of shaping their own destiny so to truly evaluate the reasons behind their desire frightens them.
We’ve all heard or commented, “What did you expect?” This often is offered during a time when results didn’t align with “expectations.” There is a judgment being made on the result as to whether it has met the goal or fell short.
Most often missed expectations revolve around the interactions of people. We judge people to be of a certain ilk and when they do not perform according to our standard, or expectation, we feel the need to distance ourselves from them or at least not put too much of our trust into them. Rarely do we take a position of grace to allow the individual to express their fullest God-given nature in order for us to live or work harmoniously.
One of the pillars to seeing your expectations dissolved is looking at how you handle trust. Sure, you know that people can trust you, right? However, can you offer the same level of trust to others? The greater the expectations you place on people, places, and even things, there is a diminishing level of trust associated with it.
Dealing with our expectations demands that we surrender our ego to a power higher than ourselves. We can’t be our own god determined to see that the world operates according to our whims and desires. If you suffer from the illusion that God is going to exact retribution for the eons of past mistakes of human existence, it is quite probable that you have issues with some egoic desires that you think need to be corrected for the world to function correctly.
“The just shall live by faith,” is a call to eliminate your expectations. You may never have thought about it in this manner but consider what is being put forth. Faith doesn’t have an expectation of time or specific result. Some seek God for healing and expect Him to answer their prayers of faith. However, often those prayers are laden with conditions about when it should happen and how it would benefit the individual. All these conditions are emblematic of an ego who still seeks to remain in control of their destiny.
How many times over multiple years have you prayed for something to happen, and it still has not manifested? How has your faith been impacted by this? How about your trust in prayer, or even trust in God? If either have waned, your expectations, your egoic desire, has hijacked the process.
At times like this, it is not best to say, “What did you expect?” but “Why did you expect?” Great grace is revealed in no expectations. God has no expectations for you because He is all-knowing. His Grace is sufficient. It’s time to be about your Father’s business without expectation.
In the world of golf there is a term called “the mulligan.” When a player makes a shot which is not to their liking in the early round of the game, they are permitted to call a mulligan, or a do-over shot without being penalized. This rule is typically practiced in casual golf play but is prohibited in tournament play.
The question which I want to place before you is this: Is your entire life casual or a tournament? Does grace give you a chance to do-over or does your religion take the position of what’s done is done, live with the consequences?
Today in most publicized sporting events, an interviewer will come to the winner of the event to get their perspective on the struggle they have endured to achieve their accomplishment. Many “believers” will begin their monologue with thanking God for directing them through their trails, deflecting any personal glory and accolades to Him first. Some will expand on this, claiming that their life is not their own and they are simply doing the will of the Father in the moment.
Rarely will there be an interview with those who have struggled but fell short of the victory where the vanquished will begin with the same thanks to God and the claim of doing the will of the Father in their defeat. This is the tournament of life after all – some win and some lose. Yet aren’t we all doing the will of the Father in the struggle?
We are told in 1 John that God is Love. We have no clue what this truly means. Claiming to be doing the will of the Father means demonstrating His love. However, we miss the mark in doing this time and again. The struggle of life is not the stuff we endure from birth to death; it is the inability to remain as love. This is our causal purpose not the casual manner we all strive to imitate.
Consider how when we arrive on this planet, we are unable to communicate with those around us. Our soul was in one moment basking in the kingdom of Love and then suddenly we are confronted with an environment that is so foreign to the very concept of Love we left from. Crying becomes a natural response as the beginning language in a Love-less habitat.
Have you ever pondered the divine reality of your soul’s presence here at this time and in this place is the will, the Love, of the Father? Your eternal soul chose to do this life in the finite mortal shell it inhabits to do and be the will of the Father. There is no randomness involved in you – that even includes the struggles.
Religion has done a masterful job of conditioning humanity on how it is finite. Your life is short lived and then you’re out of here forever. Live it perfectly and heaven is your reward; live it any other way and heaven is simply a dream vanquished.
So how are you doing with this life? If you’re brutally objective and honest with yourself there have been issues with being in the will of the Father throughout the course of your life. No need to sugar coat it, we’ve all been there (some even have elected to camp there). So, what do you do with this recognition of your infidelities to the will of Love?
Many religionists will claim the salvation found in the works of Jesus’s sacrifice for humanity. They will explain how man is born once and then dies to the thing of this world, only being redeemed by the blood of Christ through our faith.
Surely, we can all agree that God ways and thoughts are higher than ours. So, what if this present reality is merely the mulligan of your eternal life? Are you prepared to “do over” this life?
On this world there is one law which dominates: Sowing and reaping. Seeds are planted, they develop from immature to established plants, which in turn produce seeds after their own kind and then wither away to return back to the soil becoming the nutrients for the next generation. The cycle repeats season after season.
The apostle Paul claims that this same law applies to us. Accordingly, we sow seeds, or deeds, to the flesh or to the Spirit and a harvest occurs in each realm based upon the seeds we delivered. In today’s vernacular we call this the law of cause and effect.
But what if your harvest doesn’t occur in the linear fashion we are accustomed to? What if instead of things going from A (cause) to B (effect) the cycle goes from A (cause) to Z (effect) with twenty-odd steps required to be processed (and each of these steps is a seed in their own right) before reaching the end effect?
It is common for people to have a desire to know their destiny in life. We search tirelessly to unravel the purpose we have been placed here on this planet, and how our purpose relates to those around us. Rarely, if ever, do people consider the possibility how our destiny is not of our doing, but part of the seedtime/harvest time of the divine plan.
Jesus told us that all things are possible to God. However, we limit His possibility with our traditions. As an example, we limit God’s grace when we believe it only applies under certain parameters where separation from God has manifested in our lives. “I am saved by His grace,” is a common claim of this traditional religious viewpoint.
Consider however, what if your entire life as an example of God’s grace, is a mulligan, a do-over? What if the divine plan for each of our souls is, as dictated by the law of seedtime and harvesttime, to do-over our time on this planet to get the reflection of Love properly displayed across every instance from past errors to within present circumstances?
What if this self-correcting measure of our eternal soul didn’t just span the product cycle of our mortal coil? What if your eternal soul had to go through multiple iterations as a means of remedying the fractured display offered in its first, and every subsequent demonstration?
Yes, I recognize how what I am describing is commonly called reincarnation. However, the traditional approach to this endeavor, as we have understood it is either being an impossibility or, as a means for one to return as a different species as the penance we deserved for past misdeeds. In both cases I personally think this is a limit upon the nature of God as it overlooks the fundamental idea of a mulligan lifestyle.
I already dealt with the impossibility issue so let’s address the elephant in the room (pun intended). Your soul is made in the image and likeness of God, not an elephant, ant, cow or any other creature upon this planet. God, Divine Ultimate Consciousness only places an eternal soul operating under the auspices of the Christ Consciousness into a finite mortal shell restricted to the nature of the five senses to live and breathe as the expression of God’s Love and Goodness in this physical environment.
Now I recognize that this foolishness of thought goes contrary to the doctrine of practically every western religious establishment. Yet, reincarnation was a common belief in the first church fathers and wasn’t really thought of as a heretical teaching until the conveyance of the Nicene Council in the early 300’s AD. These pious priests believed that in order to persuade people to fall in line with the doctrines of the church, they needed to eliminate all teaching which promoted the ultimate grace event in life and strictly adhere to the notion that this is the one and only life you’re given so you better make the best of it.
Consider this passage in light of what I’m talking about.
Mat 16:13-17
(13) When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
(14) And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.
(15) He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
(16) And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
(17) And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
We have been taught how this is the revelation of Jesus being Christ. But what if it has a deeper meaning not only to Jesus but to all who it names? Notice in verse 14 as the disciples exclaim who the people think the Son of man is they name individuals who have already died. (John the Baptist is the exception to this narrative on another matter which I don’t have space and time to elaborate upon right now.)
If the first fathers of the church believed in reincarnation the disciples’ response here could be the validation for their belief. It could be that they were saying how the actions of Jesus reminded the people of how one of these people responded in the past. As an eternal soul travels through the field of time it is highly possible that the soul would demonstrate the same tendencies in each consecutive mortal life cycle. That generation would record those tendencies as being uniquely associated with the mortal who displayed them. Rarely would one generation connect their figures of prominence with those who have come before them and see the potential of a singular eternal soul in their midst.
This brings me to Peter’s revelation. It is quite possible that having seen the multitude of figures presented who have demonstrated similar tendencies, Peter connects the dots and arrives at the revelation that Jesus is the Christ. Just like we’ve been taught. But what if the confession of Peter is actually him recognizing that Christ has been active in all those who where mentioned?
What if Peter is saying Christ consciousness has been traveling throughout our history in an eternal soul who returns to us over and again? What if the revelation upon which the church is to be built upon is not specific to Jesus only being the Christ, but that every eternal soul has Christ consciousness embedded within it and is moving back and forth from the heavenly realm into the material realm?
The question that all this thought about the mulligan life brings up is what is the purpose or reason? This is something that I’ll be working on over the course of the next few postings. I hope that you’ll return as they become available and see where all of this is leading us to in our grace journey.
I have written numerous times about the “omni” nature of God. Many fail to extract the underlying truth behind these important truths: An Omni-God has a limit. Now that may shock your religious sensibilities because you have always believed of God as being “other” from you. Therein lies the trouble – being one with God does not support any “other” presence. So, let’s consider how this all plays out.
Warning! I am going to make several claims here which you may have never heard or refuse to believe. If I’ve already shocked your religious sensibilities and you have continued to read on, then you’re no worse for the journey. Let’s proceed.
God does not have a beginning. He is infinitely eternal. God is. It’s hard to wrap your head around this thought simply because you are surrounded by the cycle of living from birth to death. You recognize what a beginning is and what an end is. God is before the beginning and is after the end. This truth spans across the entire timeline of humanity past, present, and future. Until you can master this first truth, you have a limited understanding of God and your oneness with Him.
You should understand when I say, “master this truth” I am not claiming that you need to believe. To believe or have a belief is the greatest limit you possess to being one with God. Every single belief you have is based upon a choice between a pair of opposites. The extreme of these opposites is life or death, while the mildest is simply good or bad. If you doubt me on this matter, take any belief you have a strong sense about and tell me what the opposite of it is that you have refused to accept. Then ask yourself is God there either way.
You conduct this little experiment with enough of your beliefs and you’ll soon discover how being one with God does not require a belief. If you go deep enough, you’ll soon uncover how the “other” pretext of God and you never has existed.
This circles us back to the limit of an omni-God. For God to truly be God, He has to have triumphantly experienced ALL. That would make Him limitless, abounding in all things. But how does an unseen God experience the seen?
Experiencing the material means also functioning within the limits of the cycles it undergoes. How does someone who is infinitely all-present, all-powerful, all-knowing, abounding in love and grace experience being finitely absent, powerless, ignorant, hate-filled and spiteful? You intentionally place yourself in an environment where these traits can manifest and still be overcome.
In the unfathomable vastness of an infinite eternal consciousness the greatest desire of love is communion. So, from the thought of this Cosmic Consciousness a vibratory frequency is released to create the vessels of intimacy. Since there is no “other” available, God, the ground of all Being, draws from Himself the very heart of matter to create All.
All creation displays the loving glory of an unseen God craving spiritual union. God forms a being from the elements of His creation. Each of these elements has its own independent cycle of beginning and ending within an interdependent material form. The Cosmic Consciousness expresses through the vibratory frequency the need for the divine nature of God to be planted within the materially created form and thus breathes a divine soul – a fractal of God – into the man creating the spiritual union between the seen and unseen.
The soul of man is the everlasting kingdom of God. The purpose of the soul is to intuitively communes with the Creator and convey to the consciousness of man the thoughts and feelings through its the oneness with God. The soul is eternal, knowing no beginning or end. It comes from the unseen, or as the mystics call it, the astral realm, and resides in the material, or causal realm. When the material vessel of the soul has completed its life cycle, the soul returns to the astral realm.
Consider the story of the wandering in the wilderness of the children of Israel as an example of your material cycle. God wouldn’t move them into the promised land until all the dis-belief had been completely eliminated. A life cycle of forty years surely can work against a mind not able to commune with God. It matters little to God how many times you need to travel around the mountains of your dis-belief because He is waiting for you to one day enter into oneness.
Right now, you are limiting the expression, “one day.” In your finite way of thinking this is a day in your life to come. But what happens when you come to the end of your days and that “day” hasn’t arrived? The religionist will respond, “I’ll be one with the Father in heaven then!” Yes, but so is everyone else. It’s possible you missed the point of going around the mountain. The journey is not about what lies ahead of you but who you fail to ascend up to.
What if the purpose of coming from the astral realm into a material realm is to learn how to overcome the limitations of the world to be present in the world but not a part of it? What if the eternal nature of your soul knows this but your mind can’t hear it because you’re more concerned about how naked you feel? What if that “one day” of the Lord is a literal thousand years to your soul? How many material life cycles do you think grace will permit for the lesson to be learned? What if heaven is supposed to be on earth but can only be experienced by a soul who knows the lesson is oneness now not when your material form has reached its end use?
It is possible to be with Him in the limits of your life. He already is in you. You just need to connect with Him to rediscover none other.
There are a lot of people around who can’t wait to tell you what you’ve done wrong, but there aren’t many fathers willing to take the time and effort to help you grow up. It was as Jesus helped me proclaim God’s Message to you that I became your father. (1Co 4:15 MSG)
Not neglecting—as some habitually do—to meet together, but encouraging one another, and doing this all the more since you can see the day of Christ approaching. (Heb 10:25 WNT)
Across the spectrum of church culture there is an exodus of elders leaving their church environ due to the perceived lack of relevance toward the spiritual development senior aspire to. Many pastors, according to recent surveys, feel a lack of qualifications to address the needs which a senior congregation presents. Whether it is retirement, loss of a spouse, growing health issues, or the imminent transfer of a life cycle, seniors find themselves looking elsewhere to navigate the spiritual nature of these impending issues.
This poses a dilemma for many who have “grown up” in a church since their pattern for growth has been dictated by the very institution they left. Churches today, by and large, are young family focused. Their programs and pageants cater to youth, young adults, and families with children. Churches have developed the teacher role admirably but have forsaken the fathering roles which seniors excel at that these younger groups requires and hunger for.
Personally, I haven’t been to a church service in a number of years. I was in the ministry as one of these teachers and I was confounded on the lack of attention congregates held for the higher spiritual matters. Most were concerned about what their week had done to their perceived falling away from the Father, and to how can they have the peace to make it until the Wednesday night service.
Today, at my age, I find myself in the category of a senior. Therefore, I speak from experience on this matter. Church has forsaken the Spirit for the thing of the world. I don’t fault them for this simply because, despite what believers are taught, the leadership in churches today is spiritually bankrupt. Many don’t have a clue how to develop a spiritual life outside of the doctrine they were instructed in.
I have been seeking the Kingdom of God for decades now and no church has offered me a clear path towards it. They have prodded me with baptisms, communion, prayer, daily devotions, yearly bible readings, worship services, home groups, community service, and many other annual programs which look like a viable remedy to achieving entrance into the kingdom of God. However, all of these are work programs. If you didn’t get it the first time, work on it harder.
The void this has created within me has been on one aspect frustrating, but also on another a drive to discover the truth from sources outside of the usual channels offered by the church. I offer to you what I have been doing all these years as a method to move from being a Christian to a Son of God.
2. Learn to mediate. This above all else is vital to your connection with I AM. It takes practice to learn how to quiet the voices inside your head so that you can hear the voice of the One. Start with doing it for a minute every hour. You can lengthen it as you feel better adept at it. Just do it consistently every day. Understand how this is not prayer. You do this long enough and you’ll soon discover that prayer is not what you’ve ever been taught.
3. If you’re going to study, don’t read to accomplish a task – read to fully understand. My small group meets once a week and we have read a variety of spiritual books for almost a decade now. At first, we did it as something you might do in a book club. However, a number of years ago a shift happened. As an example, the last two books we read, both around 120 pages, each took us almost a year to read. We took time to unlock what they author had distilled into his work and use it as a magnifying glass into our journey. I can say that these past two years have been the richest times in my spiritual journey.
4. While I’m on the subject of reading, the greatest obstacle to spiritual growth is pride in what you read. You must first understand that you are not the first person who has every taken this journey. There are a multitude who have discover the truths of the Spirit. However, there are only a few who have brought those truths back to be shared with those who are likewise committed to the journey. Truth is universal – not denominational or religion biased! Seeking for the treasure of the kingdom requires sifting through the pantheon of human culture and philosophy in all its forms. Eat the meat and spit out the bones.
5. If you’re going to head out on this path understand that those closest to you will question the validity of all you’re doing and what you uncover. If you’re used to living in the accolades of your peers, this will come as shock to your self-image. As a rule of thumb, keep everything you discover on this journey close to the vest and only divulge a minimum even to the small group around you…
6. Your ego is not your amigo. A spiritual journey is a walk of innumerable small deaths. Humbly accept the death of your self at every junction along the journey. You can kick and scream, yell into the night or your pillow, or stomp around like a spoiled child, it’s okay because it’s part of the grieving process to death. Once you’re satisfied with the ego-filling tantrum, pick yourself up, dust off the last vestige of a burn-out ego complex and carry on. This will happen frequently – so don’t think it only happens once and awhile. You die daily.
7. If you’re going to be a spiritual devotee understand and recognize how everything is spiritual. From your morning coffee to your favorite movie. The life of the Spirit permeates everything! Your daily commute or taking out the garbage has the potential to be the most holy event you have ever experienced.
There are many more examples I could offer but this is a starting point which shows what the path you will travel upon. You will also see in this list a void lacking in the church to address these matters. In the hourglass on our lives, when there is more sand in the bottom than the top, the tendency of the soul is to know what we are really here for. The prevailing thought in church is that we are here to…
Spiritual people seek the communion with the divine, the oneness with the Father which Jesus spoke of. Senior congregants who see themselves closer to the veil than most, question their ability to enter into the kingdom – a kingdom which is inside them – since they have never been shown how to access it. Being too old for church simply means I’m more interested in being about my Father’s business of oneness with Him. If I need to cast the church aside to achieve this goal, so be it. Only my recognition in the kingdom as a Son of God matters more to me than to the One who already knows.
In 2012 I published my first book entitled Grace for Shame. I have often looked upon this book as a manifestation of a move of the Spirit during that time simply because a week before the book went to the printers, I was introduced to the works of Brene Brown and her study which was entitled Men, Women & Worthiness, The Experience of Shame and the Power of Being Enough. Her work was based on 12 years of clinical investigative work into the area of shame and the results she had uncovered in her many interviews with people who had been living with shame their entire life.
My writings were revelations I felt the Spirit had led me through showing the disconnect people have from the kingdom of God because of the shame they have endured or encountered. I’m not going to demean or promote either of our works simply because as I’ve stated I believe we were both being affected by a move of the Spirit in an area which was then, and still is today, a vitally important matter to the children of God.
My purpose today is to add to the message by way of the evolution of insight which I have grown into since I originally wrote the book. I mentioned in my last posting that it has been some time since I have actually attended an official “western” religious service. To the rank-and-file members of this type of community such an admission is “shameful.” Even to mention the readings and teachings which I have completed during this time could be classified as heretical and is a “shame” upon my Christian heritage.
I’m not fazed by such manipulations against me. I know the root cause of shame and thankfully, It has no root in me. What you might ask is the root of shame. Simply, it is the lack of knowing your oneness with the Father. I can assure you that what I am about to unveil is not heard much these days for reasons which will become very clear by the end of this message. But hang on because there is a reward if you can follow my details no matter how farfetched they seem from your orthodoxy.
The kingdom of God is. There is nothing else. God is omnipresent. Everywhere, always, forever, eternal, infinite. God is omnipotent. All power resides in and with God. There is no other power, lesser or greater. God is omniscient. All knowledge comes from God now, today, and eternally. Nothing is hidden which God does not already know and revealed to Itself now.
I do not follow the writing of the bible as literal historic writings. Allegories, parables, wisdom writings, and a spattering of history all designed to convey to those who have ears to hear and eyes to see the mystical meaning of the spiritual realm of the kingdom of God. Do I believe Jesus existed? Yes. That is as far as I am willing to go simply because to extend beyond that will take many into the tares of orthodoxy and dogma. Was Jesus the son of God. Yes. So is everyone else. Denying this makes God a liar.
The apostle Paul declared that Jesus was the second Adam. This means that Paul recognized the first Adam as a role model affecting all those who followed in his footsteps until they met the second Adam and then followed in his footsteps. Notice that this is a classification of duality. Duality has no basis in the kingdom of God.
Jesus declared that he and the Father are one, and that he can’t do anything on his own, but he only does those things he sees the Father doing. This truth also applied to the first Adam. As a matter of fact, everything which Jesus declared about his relationship with the Father also applied to Adam and all his descendants. Imagine the fear which runs through the hearts of believers when they picture Adam saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Oneness is the main factor which the church neglects to promote to their congregants. It is the prime item those who leave the confines of organized religion first encounter and greedily covet as the lost coin or lost sheep of a prodigal relationship restored. No minister tied to any denomination is willing to suggest, let alone support, the notion that the story of the prodigal son is really about the redemption of Adam. This is how deep the undercurrents of shame run – not even the first man should be able to be restored much to the disgust of the older brother.
“Let us make man in our image and likeness…” Gen 1:26
The Ground of All Being determines to make, form, shape, craft, create a being who appears to be just as the Creator is. Into the man God breaths the breath of Life and then later into the woman. Life animates the oneness of creation by and through the spoken word welling up from the Ground of all Being established in the eternal omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience of IS. God is. Man is. Female is. One. Not two. Not three. One and only one. All IS one. All creation is one with its Creator.
At this moment, all of creation is perfect, unadulterated, complete, harmonious, balanced in the unlimited now. This state has never changed! You may respond differently to this claim, however, the Father does not see it the way you do. It is His kingdom after all, not yours.
The Basis of Shame
I stated previously how the lack of oneness with the Father is what causes shame. I am going to expand on this here. The “naked” truth of the matter is that Adam experienced a conscious change in his identity from his creation to what people call his “fall.”
We are told at the end of Genesis 2 how the man and the woman were naked. It doesn’t matter how the person who wrote this passage is not the same person who wrote the creation story of Genesis 1. “Naked” in this description means not clothed with other thoughts, virgin in manifestation and action, newborn.
The next time the word “naked” appears within the text of Genesis is in chapter 3 when Adam confessed to God that he hid from God and made clothing from fig trees to hide their “nakedness.” The difference here with this description is rather telling. “Naked” now means to be viewed as a prostitute in the act of infidelity, unfaithful, compromised and self-indulgent.
Most of you will stop or rest on your laurels here. Adam is a blackguard, a scoundrel. Your spoon-fed doctrines have choked you with disgust for the action which you see has condemned humanity to torment and turmoil by the single action of a neophyte. This is the trouble caused by literal interpretation of scripture according to Hollywood’s standards. Duality – a good guy and bad guy fighting it out for…
“Who said you were naked?” has got to be the single greatest line of scripture ever written. Omniscience speaks. It confronts our innermost thoughts with truth. This is important to understand. Our thoughts typically are not based on truth but on our perceptions derived from the opinions and models projected upon us from our conditions, institutions, and people about us.
These factors will always deem us to be “naked” in their milieu simply because we do not conform to their standard. Once we assume the mental judgment of being “naked” we will desperately attempt to rectify the indiscretion at any cost – but to no avail. Once seen as shameful, the title sticks. Understand this: Shame, and the humility it creates, is purely a personal acceptance to a socially agreed deviation in what is presently considered to be the “norm.”
To put this in kingdom terms, shame is the attempt to create a code of conduct from an “other” which has separated itself from the kingdom of God for the purpose of being promoted into a reigning position which seeks to defy an omnipotent God. Read that again very carefully and meditate upon its ramification.
In the kingdom of an omnipresent God there is no other. All is one in the omnipresence. Anything contrary to this truth is merely a belief. A belief is the recognition that “oneness” is not truth. Duality, multiplicity is acceptable because everyone has the right to their own opinions and “beliefs.” Before you agree to this claim, consider how such a conviction places you outside the realm of God’s kingdom where all is considered as being one with the Creator.
In the next installment I’ll look at the grace factor and its affect on beliefs.
Every Christmas time we are confronted with those particular individuals who take great joy in reminding us, “Christ is the reason for the season.” Regrettably, those same folks are silent when it comes Easter time simply because they don’t know how to address the torturous reality of a rabbit passing out decorated eggs. It might be quite possible that their silence is also an indictment of the church pursuing a hypocritical social justice narrative for all these years. If that shakes you, good. It should. Yet it does require an explanation.
For most of the life of the western church the meaning of Easter has been lost to a variety of man-made religious traditions imported from the vast clans of humanity which celebrated the spring solstice. The desert fathers of the church attempting to stay true the origins of Jesus commemorated the Jewish event of Passover and associated Jesus in the role of the lamb slain before the foundations of the world.
The desert fathers were unfortunately declared heretics for their teaching and the truth was relegated to the backwaters of distant monastic traditions swept clean through the sands of time. A narrative was adopted by the mainline church which offered a better control mechanism over the masses: The Cross.
The cross became the vehicle where all sinners died in the trial of Jesus. The cross became the mantra for the burdens of the world. The cross became the symbol for conquest over the enemy, spiritual as well as human. The cross became the accessory which adorned the rich, the poor, the believers, and the unbelievers alike. In the rush to make an idol out of two sticks no one wanted to remember the truth of it purpose: Torture by death.
Simply put, the cross was the supreme tool of torture employed by Rome to guarantee order and control of THEIR realm. It wasn’t a one-off device which western religion has sanitized to being used on a day in history when everything changed, even the calendar (BC/AD). Historians of the era record massive crucifixions before, during, and after the life of Jesus. The only thing unique about the cross was that everyone knew what its purpose was and what led to being placed upon it.
However, the church figured that the cross needed to be re-branded. Well, not all of the crosses, just the one which Jesus hung on. Even the two thieves which were crucified nest to Jesus weren’t afforded the same luxury of the corporate trademark having their platform diminished in stature and appearance whenever displayed as the propaganda required.
Let me ask you a question: How would you feel if say a hundred generations from today people hung a pendant around their neck or a sticker on their vehicle which resembled an AK-47 and quipped, “Jesus saves?” I assure you, there is absolutely no difference in the meaning of the emblem! Even harder to swallow is the truth that Jesus does not save you from torture! According to the propaganda of the cross, Jesus only saves you in mortal death, not from it.
The church will tell you that Jesus died for the “sins” of the world. Interpreted correctly, Jesus died because the world “fell short and missed the mark of the target they were aiming for.” This is the failure of the church – they missed the spiritual to pursue the power of the world. No one likes to hear this, but truth doesn’t pander to feelings. So, what is truth, Pilate asks Jesus.
I have briefly written on this here and here, but it needs to brought out in better fashion in order to soothe the ruffled feathers you’re displaying. The doctrine of the church has focused its crosshairs on the wrong symbol. It is not death – it is life! The following are what Jesus had to say on the subject:
Joh 3:14-16
(14) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
(15) That whoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
(16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.Joh 11:25-26
(25) Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
(26) And whoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die. Believest thou this?Joh 10:10
(10) The thief cometh not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.Joh 2:19
(19) Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Life is the mission of Jesus toward humanity, not death. If you doubt this, then allow me to explain the reason for the crucifixion occurring on Passover and not on Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement.
The church would have you believe that Jesus is the lamb slain for the sins of the world. This goes completely against the Jewish customs. First a lamb was never to be used for a sin offering – it was always a goat. The wild randy character of the goat is a depiction of the nature of a fallen human. The offering of a goat for sins was specifically mandated to occur in a fall ceremony known as Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
The Passover celebration is a spring festivity commemorating the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. In the first occurrence of this, Moses instructed the children of Israel to slay a young lamb and place the blood from the lamb upon the doorposts and lintel of their homes. This was a sign to the angel of death which was to pass through the land enacting the tenth curse by slaying the first born of Egypt. When the angel came to a place where the blood was applied, it would “pass over” the house and all who resided inside would live.
Sin has nothing to do with Passover. Passover has everything to do with a life free from the shackles of bondage and living that life more abundantly. Jesus upped the ante by stating that believing in him will give everlasting eternal life. This is not for some time frame after your mortal coil passes from this world, but a truth this very moment. This truth does not hinge on any confession and repentance of sins. It merely requires your belief that he meant what he said. The guarantee of his word is clearly represented not in the cross but in the empty tomb. He said in three days after they destroyed his temple, he would raise it up and he did that very thing! Since Jesus did it, we all can do it too.
Now I recognize how there are some out there who revere what they call “the work of the cross” and encourage people follow after Jesus in his ordeal. But ask yourself, would Father God torture his child to demonstrate His love for him? Jesus asked a similar question about us giving a stone or snake to our child as proof of our love. Since we know what an act of love is like, surely torture, particularly the kind which intends to kill, cannot be seen as an act of love from the God who is love.
This season there are going to be a multitude of pageants presented across the church spectrum idolizing the passion and crucifixion of Jesus. Very little mention will be made of a vow endorsed by a vacant rented tomb which is ultimately the symbol of a fully lived life. Easter is supposed to be about an abundant life, not torture leading to death. There is no good found anywhere in the cross. There is only love found in a stone that rolled to reveal the mystery of life.
If there is one thing which anyone knows about me, it is how I love to read. This is rather funny considering that when I was in Mrs. Johnson’s third grade class, I fought tooth and nail with her and my parents not to read. I dabbled a lit bit when I was teenager, but the reading bug never hit me until I graduated from tech school. Today my library holds over 1,000 books on a variety of subjects from business and economics to American history, construction and woodworking to psychology and personal development.
The largest section in my library encompasses the area of religion/spirituality. I have over the course of the past 7 years actually purged this section quite a lot, probably down 200 books from its height. I am a firm proponent in that if it doesn’t align with your current view after 6 months, it needs to go.
However, spirituality is an evolving reality in most of us and to toss something out on a contrived date really isn’t a proven system yet. Yes, there have been instances when I purged a few books then I went and purchased them again sometime later because their message resonated with the place where I was currently at.
Being an avid reader, my friends have tried to stay abreast with me in what I am currently reading. I must admit that it is not easy for them since I often am in the middle of several books at one time covering multiple areas of interest. Often when they ask, I try to determine what they are seeking in a book and whether they are prepared to entertain what I am currently reading or whether an older book better fits their interests.
I have had a number of people recently ask what my favorite book is, or which one has had the greatest impact on my world view. Answering this question is difficult because each one that I have read has left a mark on my development. So, to provide you with my favorite isn’t going to further this discussion any further either.
However, I am going to offer an alternative. Since I don’t know what your perspective is in this arena we call life, I am going to provide you with somewhat of a review of books from various authors which touch on a number of matters within a range of abilities. To some of you these books may seem humdrum or way over your head. I leave the decision up to you on how you wish to proceed with the information I will provide.
As a teacher, my entire purpose is to explore different interpretations of insight expecting the Spirit to highlight the flesh of truth and discard the bones. I know that this has been the case with me in selecting the books I read. Spirit knows what I need at each particular moment of my life and has brought the right book into my path time and again. So, while you may pass over a certain book or author on what follows, it may come back to you at a later date.
There is a path here that I must divulge to. Actually, you stand at a fork and must determine which course you are going to take. One path before you is clearly trodden by the masses of historic theological rhetoric. Denominations of all kinds have taken this route and so trampled the spiritual landscape that it is difficult to see how there could even be a spiritual presence on the trail. It’s safe – but the end of the destination is mired by a languished robotic plodding throughout a lifetime of dullness of the senses.
The second path is dark and wild looking from the get-go. It too is a safe trail but the appearance of a sign of heresy has been planted by those who decided to take the first path. The spiritual terrain is always fresh and rejuvenated daily, possibly by the few numbers who throughout history have traversed the land. Whereas the first path has signposts almost every few feet describing the achievements from past generations, along this path the markers are more like an oasis that nurtures the soul on an extended journey.
On the first path there are billboards promoting the destination of a faith hoped for. The same destination on the second path seems like a mirage fading in and out of focus with no reminder except through a rested assurance. Herein is where many falter through uncertainty on the second path feeling that they made a mistake and scurry about looking for any route to certainty which will return them to the first path.
There are a rare few, who having traveled a distance along the first path, halted their journey and elected to reverse course to enter onto the second path. These unique individuals express this move as a “calling from the deep.” Their revised journey awakens their true identity and magnetizes their resolve to allow them to be pulled onward and upward.
I offer this description to you as a warning because, whether you recognize it or not, you’re already on one of these paths. Yes, each path has authors who have assembled their collective diaries and journals to present a snapshot of what they perceive to be reality. As you might expect the published works from the first path are numerous as a whole, not to mention even within the denominational terrain. The published works from the second path, while fewer in number, are indicative of the nature of the oasis they linger at: inviting, refreshing and inspiring.
Grace has been my focus since 2012. I’ve written extensively on the subject both here and in the many books I have authored. To embark on this assignment with me, I am extending grace to you since I recognize how some of these books will challenge your faith tremendously which will change how you interact within your faith community. Some will dismiss these books due to their own tightly held doctrinal beliefs (first path sojourners) while there is silence from others (second path sojourners).
As a sidebar to this endeavor, I must let you know that I receive no monies from the endorsement or promotion of these books either from the author, publisher, or affiliated retailers and their links. Any bias I have is simply mine and is not swayed by any monetary gain.
Any project you undertake must start somewhere. Some will recognize that progress is built on the shoulders of those who have been before us. The Apostle Paul stated that everything must be founded on the rock of Christ. I could start by offering books that I began reading on my journey, however, most of those have been purged over the years. Therefore, I am going to start with where I’m at now since “now” is really all that matters.
In case you haven’t realized it yet, I’m a second path traveler. Hence, I could offer to you a series of books from the likes of Meister Eckert, Brother Lawrence, George MacDonald, Jacob Boehme, St. Teresa of Avila, and many more but those are voices from the distant past and is a foreign as Shakespeare is to rap music because we don’t have ears attuned to it. So, I am going to offer voices which are more current, who speak the language of the recent generations and yet recognize the valuable truths of a foundation built on Christ. To this end, let me begin.
Joel S. Goldsmith (1892-1964) is the founder of the Infinite Way, a spiritual teaching with principles which anyone can follow and practice without any religious affiliation. The office for the Infinite Way was established in 1951 and still offers materials, internet classes, books and teaching from the vast archive of lectures which Joel recorded during his ministry. His monthly letters to his ministry supporters have been collected into books which are a treasure trove of insight into the practice of the Infinite Way.
Of the 56 books published by Goldsmith, I have read and reread 43 of them. For me to make a recommendation as to where to start is difficult, but If you’re new to Joel’s writings the best place would probably be the book The Infinite Way where Joel lays out the basis for the teachings he uncovered.
In this writing you will be introduced to Christ consciousness; meditation and prayer; the source of all supply; metaphysical healing; and the immortality of being. There is a chapter devoted to the wisdoms of the Infinite Way also. The following are a few gems from this chapter:
“To an advanced student: You have reached the place where you know every truth that can be known, understood, or received humanly. Now you must reach higher for the Truth what reveals Itself through spiritual means – without human means of communication.”
“There is no such thing as ‘my harmony,’ ‘my health,’ or ‘my supply.’ His peace passeth all understanding. His grace is sufficient.”
“Consciousness lives Itself – you do not live It.”
“Any response on a lower plane than pure consciousness is from one’s self rather than one’s Self.”
While this has been a glimpse into the beginning of Joel’s first writings on the Infinite Way, it is foundational to all the writings which follow it in the evolution of the Infinite Way message. This is one book you will reread time and again with fresh eyes.
When I first encountered the writings of Joel Goldsmith, I was profoundly struck by the simple spiritual truths conveyed through his insights. Time after time, page after page I would stop, scratch my head and exclaim, “Where has this been all my life?” or “Why hasn’t anyone ever brought this out until now?” I quickly realized that highlighting a passage or making notes in the margins wasn’t going to hack it in the wealth I was discovering. The least intrusive method became dog-earing the bottom of the page for a great passage and the top of the page for the entire page or section.
The one book with the most dog-eared pages is entitled, Consciousness is what I Am. It is a collection of Joel’s messages given in multiple venues during the last few years of his life in this realm. Having read this more times than I can count, only 20 of its 143 pages aren’t dog-eared – yet! This book, more than any other book I have suggested to friends, has wrecked the spiritual house of cards people have built up around themselves.
If there is one item I can directly connect to these writings of Joel, it must be a deep and profound appreciation and understanding of what I have described as the Omni-God. Our western religious institutions are simply bankrupt from any teaching of this fundamental nature of God. Meditating on this nature of God is an endeavor I wholly recommend if you are serious about advancing your spiritual journey. If you doubt the veracity of this advice, then you’re probably not ready for the next series of books.
Paul Gorman, author of The Miracle Self and 22 other books, credits the very existence of his writings to the Infinite Way writings of Joel Goldsmith. Gorman has taken the principles of Goldsmith and updated their use in a way which applies to the various issues which confront humanity today. Rather than relying on a preponderance of biblical citations to drive home his point, Gorman has the faith to allow his reader to adapt the meaning of a single biblical reference into their daily lives by demonstrating the many facets such a reference might reflect.
My go-to book by Gorman is entitled, One. This book will plunge you deep in a dive into an expansive understanding of the Omni-God and the claim made by Jesus, “My Father and I are one.” I can assure you that while this is written in simple language, it does not read swiftly since insights, which must be pondered upon, jump off each turning of the page. In the end, you are One with what you have read. Here is a sample of what I am referring to:
“It is a strange thing that as we seek God for corporeal good, we cannot find it, but as we seek God for God alone, we find God everywhere as corporeal good.
The reason is that God is one. If we bring even one additional idea or name to one, if we add even one belief, then we have two, which is not one. One cannot be two; one can only be one, and is only evident in a conscious state of oneness.”
From these two authors I could spend quite some time reviewing the 79 total books they offer. However, this is not about what I’ve read more than what you intend to do to begin the second path journey you face. I have present to you just two authors who are more than eager to assist you in this venture. There are more authors and I will unveil them over the next few writings. For now, you need to find a book or a teaching that can challenge your perceptions of reality and meditate on it. There is a reason the path you’re on is less traveled – discovery awaits only those of a strong heart.
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