Dear Rob,

 

[Please forgive the Data Dump, but your first lecture on Christian Thinking called it forth.   It is (and I am) still a work in progress -- isn't it all.  Still, I wanted to pass this along with the Heart Box  -- Ark of the New Covenant -- which is Christ in You!]

 

In the Spirit of the following Scripture, "Let us reason together..."

 

Eph 4:10-15

 

"He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

 

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: 

 

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 

 

But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:"

 

Rev Rob, I thoroughly enjoyed your teaching of 3 February.  What a revolutionary thought - an intellectual approach to Christianity!  Not that Christian's have any further need to intellectualized the "Mystery of Christ in You" (that can't be done, it can only be experienced), rather that Christianity needs to develop an inner capacity to know and express the ultimate reasonableness of man's prefect "Oneness with God through Christ."  For if not, Christians and their faith will ever remain subject to counter-attacks from within, from and through their own minds (re: carnal consciousness -- and to quote Pogo: "We have met the enemy and he is us."*)  Neither will Christians be able to speak the intellectual language necessary to "reason together" with their more worldly brothers, bind together in the "Unity of the Spirit", and realize the absolute logic [that faith knows (Moses) but cannot speak (thus his need for Aaron)] that lies behind the joyous, yet mysterious proclamation of "Christ in You the Hope of Glory."

 

In this regard , what is needed by all men, Christians and Pagans alike, is conscious union with God thru Christ -- a wedding (re-member-ance or re-collect-ion) of that which never could be parted in Spirit -- a divine healing (and whole-ing) of man's mind (a mental house divided) begotten of a false belief in separation from the One Absolute God.  This can only be done by putting to the Sword of Truth the original lie (sin: belief in separation from God) that arose and continues to arise in the face of man's now fallen, partial and incomplete sense of himself. 

 

For the Divine Marriage of Christ (Spirit/Head) and His Bride (Flesh/Body), at both a micro (individual) and macro (collective) level, cannot be made fully manifest until we Christians open our hearts and minds to the Whole Truth of: 

 

“One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Eph 4:6 (KJV); 

 

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” Acts 17:28  (KJV)

 

For that is the One and Only Truth that will ever make any of us whole and free.  The Kingdom (Truth) that Jesus prayed might come upon the earth his last prayer:

 

 “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.” John 17:11 (KJV) 

 

“And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” John 17:22-23  (KJV) 

 

As such, we Christians need to be willing to surrender our "thinking as a child", feast on the Spiritual Meat of Jesus inner (and yes higher) teachings, and so eventually come to "know even as I AM know".  Our only alternative is to continue to suck the weak pap of institutional Christianity -- dogma and doctrine (rationalized faith unable to stand on its own intellectual merits) of a by-gone day, whose lack of intellectual sophistication (though it served the un-ripened minds of its time very well) -- and so fail to counter the pseudo-intellectualization (both within and without today’s church) that must inevitably cripple our individual and collective faith in God and ourselves.  And this, not because the Gospel and Good News of Christ Jesus is not perfectly logical and reasonable but because so few Christians are able speak in words, that which they know in their hearts.

 

My personal cross, however, is probably the opposite of most Christians.  Having come to Christ through an intellectual search for Truth (unwitting pursuit of God), I have absolutely no intellectual doubt (at least in abstract or self-reflective terms) what the Truth that will set us free Is*  I say this with the greatest personal humility, as the gift of intellectual/spiritual discernment I have been blessed with came as a result of pleading with God to "show me the Truth" in 1978. 

 

In truth, said process merely involves my getting out of His way (and my own) long enough to hear His Truth -- of learning how to stop all my mental and verbal speaking, that I might be still and listen for and hear the "still small voice" of Spirit.  In the East thy call this "effortless doing"; in the Bible, "Standing fast and seeing the salvation of the Lord."  As such, said discernment (which I believe everyone has at heart, if they will only open our spiritual eyes and ears) may be characterized as  "adding by subtraction" (RE:"I must decrease that He may increase.") 

 

So it is that my particular difficulty has not been one of not knowing the Truth, but rather in actualizing that Truth in my daily life.  For as my intellectual understanding grew, experience of that understanding in my heart did not keep pace (perhaps for lack of other than intellectual works, though I believe primarily as  the result of an inability on my part for heartfelt surrender to the One I AM).   Clearly, both are needed.  For, just as one can not climb a stairway to heaven, neither can one climb a ladder of intellectual understanding (always partial, reflective and indirect) to God.  Direct access to and relationship with the Father Jesus loved so dearly can only come by heartfelt faith in and experiential knowledge of (and conscious union with) God through Christ, the Son of God I AM. 

 

Equally clear is the quantum leap (thou bridged in the "twinkling of an eye") between knowing truth and being true.  Obviously, carnal knowing (and doing) must ever fall short of Spiritual Being (the Glory of God). To paraphrase an old "50s song ("To Know Him is to Love Him and I Do!"), To KNOW God is to LOVE Him.  However, in our present fallen state of mind and consciousness, we must first LOVE God (Wholly), in order to KNOW Him (Perfectly)  This because Perfect Knowledge (100% -- the only Knowledge possible where God is concerned) can only come from the inside out, from a perspective of Oneness and Personal Identity with God through Christ (as the One I AM – RE: "..I live, yet not I but Christ in me").  This, of course, can only come to those who are "pure at heart" (100% empty of self and so 100% available to be filled with God -- a clear justification for the Old Testament characterization of God as being a "jealous God.") 

 

And just what is this Truth of All Ages of which I so boldly speak (at least within the reflective limits of the spiritual discernment I have been graced to receive) -- the Absolute Truth that will set, not only all men, but all creation free?  Why it is the same Truth Pilot asked Jesus about. The very Truth of God stood before him, and might easily have answered:  "Truth Is the One I AM!" or "You say that I AM!", when asked whether he was a king.  But in the face of the "carnal minded government" Pilot represented, Christ chose to answer with Silence (an implicit, "if you know me, you know the Father") - the Unspoken Answer lying at the very Heart of All.

 

My understanding of the Truth of "Christ in you, the Hope of Glory" is simply stated and clearly grounded in the Old Testament Hebrew revelation that, “The LORD our GOD is ONE Lord."  [Is there anything more profoundly simple or obvious than God's Absolute Oneness:  (RE:  “For I AM God, and there is NONE ELSE: I AM God and there is NONE LIKE ME." Is 46:9 or “I AM That I AM” (I AM = Subject; I AM = Object; ergo: I AM = ALL)]. 

 

Put in less poetic terms: God => Is => The One =>Absolute =>Infinite => Eternal => I AM => ALL

 

Put even more simply: GOD IS (=) ONE; ALL IS (=) ONE; GOD IS (=) ALL. 

 

(Note: ALL used in this context does not mean all creation (and just creation), but rather includes the Transcendent, as well as the Immanent and Incarnate aspects of the Godhead.  In this regard, it’s used as another Name for the Father (just as One may be) which precedes and so Transcends both the Spirit and the Son in the Order of Divine Being.)  

 

***

 

In truth, saying that "God is both One and All" is just another way of saying that God is Absolute.  That is the One and Only Truth -- The Truth of Absolute Oneness with God, of God and Through God; and any system of thought, logic or reason that, in any way, shape or form, divides or partializes the One God -- the only True Atom or Irreducible Stuff (The One and Only One) -- is logically flawed from inception and ultimately corrupt in any and all of it's conclusions (re: garbage in, garbage out).  Thus the Biblical admonition that a "double-minded man" (re: a man who believes in "God AND..." and so has faith in a god less than Absolute, is a "mental house divided") is unstable in all his ways"; why a man whose "...eye be single (sees only the ONE GOD in ALL) has a body full of light" (Please Note: evil is implicitly equated to double or dual and single with good).

 

In this regard, to worship any god seen, thought or felt to be outside oneself -- as a god essentially separate from and other than myself - is not worshipping the One God; but rather one of the many gods mankind ever self-projects into conscious being.  Worst yet, one who believes in such separation as the fundamental ground of his being is actually worshipping his own partial and limited conclusion to that effect and, ultimately, himself (as the one who willingly choosing to hold such a belief).

 

Put more simply, if I believe that God stops at the boundary of my own circumscribed, carnal sense of thought and being, then my god is too small; cannot be Absolute, Infinite, Eternal, or One; and certainly not the Omnipresent Lord of All, irrespective of any and all pious, self-righteous denials to the contrary.   Quite simply, if I believe that God Is, in fact, absolutely One (The Absolute One), then I must conclude that a Spark of His Divine Life and Being must exist within as the only real and true one I AM -- a Spark which not only allows God to be God (Absolute and One), but simultaneously declares the Divine Fatherhood of God and the Sonship of Man through Christ (as the fully flowered or mature One I AM extended in time and space through me.) 

 

Which leads me (finally) to your reference to Baba Meher's statement that "The only true Question is "Who am I?" and "The only true answer is "I AM God"'***.   Having considered the "seed" of truth (as indicated above) necessarily contained in any such personal (carnal minded) declaration, let us address the ultimate danger of the considerable misinterpretation and misapplication that you rightfully ascribe to many well meaning New Agers (and Old Pagans). In this regard, having considerable intellectual grounding in Eastern Philosophy in general and Vedanta in particular, I understand all to well how easy it is to mentally mix spiritual oranges with earthly apples.  The greatest danger of all, of course, is our taking the Name of God (I AM – and which of us does not mindlessly do that a 1000 times a day) in vein -- taking it out of its Absolute Context -- and ascribing less than absolute states of being to It.  Something each of us does when we, as relative and partial reflections (images and likenesses) of the "I AM that I AM", identify our spiritual being with the one "I think I am", instead of the One I AM (RE: ascribing absolute being to relative circumstance is not only the original sin, it is the ultimate blasphemy).

 

Interestingly enough, even Jesus Christ (the God-Man) did and would not say, "I am God". In this regard, he always made a clear distinction between himself and God. He would only go so far as to say, "I and the Father are One" [(which he knew perfectly well would be wrongly interpreted by the Priests as Jesus the man, not Jesus the Christ (the One I AM), saying he was God, and get him crucified accordingly)].  Even so, Jesus maintained that very, very clear distinction between the Father and the Son, between God and Himself.  Now, just what is this distinction anyway?  Is it not really only one of degree, and not kind; one of form, rather than substance; one of quantity and not quality; one of doing and not being?  

 

"Not I, but the Father in me”: “Why callest thou me good, for none are good, save One, which is God. etc.", are but two of Jesus' disclaimers to being the Absolute One Himself (The Transcendent Godhead or Father), but rather the Son of God (The Incarnate One) -- God the Father Man-I-fest in the Flesh as the Living One, Christ, I AM -- The Word Incarnate in the World of Time and Space (Relative Mind, Emotion and Body).  Seen in this light, if Jesus Christ, the Fully Flowered Seed of the Eternal Godhead, The Word made Flesh, deemed it inappropriate to claim "I am God", then those of us considerably less grown  "up into Him which is the Head, even Christ", should be even more cautious about usurping the "Divine Word/Name" (I AM) -- that is taking it personally by ascribing it to "egocentrically identified" states of mind and consciousness (personalities, egos or carnal selves) to it.

 

The divine paradox, of course, is that when the "old man" finally comes out of his mental closet and actually says "I am God" out loud -- something he has always thought within and acted without -- the light of day exposes it for the divine affront it was while in the closet.   Whereas, when "Christ in You" (the Great I AM) fully occupies the "New Man", the Word is made Flesh and dwells among us (RE: "I AM God and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee.") and the Great Affirmation that "I AM GOD" (that is, “I”,  who have died to myself, and been reborn in the Consciousness of God through Christ, living consciously in and through me as the One I AM, “AM God”) becomes the Ultimate Declaration of Absolute Truth.

 

Now, is there any possible way of relating (in thought, sense and feeling) to our Heavenly Father (which, by the way, is just such a perfect characterization -- Am I my Father?  Yes and no, for though not my Father Himself I AM an extension of my Father across time and space), that will keep us from falling into a trap of some kind of "messianic (psychological or otherwise.) complex."  Is there some way of describing our relationship to God (Godhead) as the First Cause, without dividing Him in the First Place?  Well, the only model I've ever found (after 10 years of seeking and 20 years of subsequent validity testing) that is consistent at all levels, that allows God to be God (Absolute) and man to be a local manifestation of God (Relative), is the Mental Model. (Note: The simplest metaphor/parable being the psycho-cybernetic version Alexander Maltz once used when he likened our mind/brain to the keyboard and/or CRT that hooks into a Cosmic Mainframe.)

 

This because relating to God as The Divine Mind and/or Consciousness, allows God's Perfect Idea/Plan to be Eternally done (Thought Out and Instantly Manifest) at the Level of God, while still working itself out into full conscious completion at Man's level -- the realm of relativity.  Thus the Biblical references to "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand", and  "..now is the appointed time."  This because God's Creation has been complete from inception!  From a God's Eye view it is all "Said and Done.” It Is!  And It Is Good!  Our problem as men, however, as spiritual beings identified with and stuck in an worldly (carnal) state of mind and consciousness, is that we have forgotten who and what we are in Christ.  Thus the other Biblical references to "in a twinkling of an eye", to "awakening..", to "letting those with eyes see", to "knowing the Truth, that the Truth may set us free."

 

Continuing in this vein, here are several metaphors -- the third actually makes the concept of the Divine Trinity intellectually comprehensible -- which actually allow God to be God, Man to Man (abet made in God's Image and Likeness), while never blurring the ultimate distinction between the God and Man in a prodigal state (even though He and we as Man are Eternally One in our Father's Mind, Consciousness or House):

 

(1)    Raise your open hand and look at it.  Look at it as a whole and then look at all it's individual components and parts.  Then look at and study one particular finger.  Having done so, ask yourself the following question:  "Is my finger, my hand?'  The answer to any such question is always perplexing (at least to left-brain sense and reason). The answer is "Yes and No" or "Yes/No" (with Truth represented as the "Slant" that joints them in the middle, as a stick joins two ends, or a coin two sides).  From one perspective (that of the part) it is the hand, and from another (that of the whole) it is not.  In truth, the finger is one with the hand, and so is the hand one with the finger.  But, since it is only a part and not the whole hand, it can be said that it is not the hand, but rather a limited and partial manifestation of the hand that we call a finger.  Taking a different slant on this, we may likewise ask ourselves, is the hand without any of its fingers (constituent parts) a whole hand.  Of course not!  This being true, then each and every finger is dearly important to the original oneness or wholeness of the hand.  They go together, the finger as part and the hand as whole, and neither finger or hand can or ever will make any ultimate sense, so long as we insist on seeing them as being apart, in thought, sense or feeling.

 

(2)  Ask yourself another question.  When the sun shines on still waters is the reflected image of the sun the sun itself?  To surface thought and sense the answer would seem to be quite obvious.  Of course the reflected image of the sun is not the sun.  But that is not entirely true if one chooses to adopt what might be called a higher perspective; because an essential constituent of both the sun and its reflected image is the light (and heat) that constitutes both the nature of the sun (higher nature of the image) and the image (lower nature of the sun).  As in the previous metaphoric question, the true answer lies in between as Yes and No (Yes/No).  For both the sun and its image are light forms, and as such, the image of light is, in fact, in constant union with the sun through the beam of light linking them; and any blockage whatsoever would cause a degree of distortion and complete blockage destruction of any particular image.   Once again we are faced with a difference in degree, rather than kind; of form rather than substance.  Clearly, the image is or is not the sun depending on the particular way one chooses to look at it -- through single or double eyes. (2003 Note: Through a single eye you will always see oneness; through a double eye duality.)

 

(3)  Escuing a more cosmology model****, start with One Central Universal Point and let it explode into infinite self-reproduction of that One Original Center (Life – centrally self- referenced conscious awareness); let it thus extend or ray out in an infinite number of directions, in the way the light of a sun or star rays out 360 degrees in all directions.  View each such individual ray as but one extension of that self-same Original One (Alpha Point) in time and space.  Further conceive that One, All Originating Point of Origin as stretching out in a potentially infinite number of particular directions, toward a potentially infinite number of particular locations.  This metaphor clearly allows an equally infinite number of rays (stretched points or centers) both in time and space, with each and all ever connected to and centered in that One All-Originating ALPHA Point (Point of Origin).  

 

(4)  Having thus conceived what is essentially a Sun model of Creation, let us go on to apply it to the Sun of Righteousness (The One I AM).  If we do so, Christ become the Central Self, Identity, or Center of All Being - the Great I AM (some have called Him The Great Central Sun).  Each individual Ray of Christ would thus becomes an Individual Spirit of that self-same Christ (Self or Center of God) projected and manifest locally into a particular Space-Time Continuum.  The end of each such Divine Ray, as defined by a particular space-time cross-section, might be viewed as an Individual Soul or Projected Center or Self of the One God localized as Particular Man in Time and Space.  The Collective Rays -- the Universal, Omnipresent Light of God (or Light of Divine Awareness) that occupies All Time and Space -- might likewise be viewed as The Holy Spirit or Comforter available to each and ever Soul the moment It looks to the One within, instead of the Many without.

 

Yours I AM in Him…A Brother in Christ…Richard

 

*In a very real sense, the Spirit may be said to join hands with the Flesh through "that Mind which was in Christ Jesus."- the Christ Mind (The Christ Consciousness I AM) the Mind of God (The God Consciousness I AM), the Executive Agent or Officer - Adonai, The LORD -- the Governor of All Creation -- who "Is All and In All!".

 

**Truth Is The One I AM (I AM = First Person Singular of the Present Tense to Be --The Word Speaks, Listen!) In a less personal light: The Ultimate Truth is Oneness with God -- The Allness of One; the Oneness of All. In either case, and in any event,Truth is Self-Authenticating.

 

***

Jeremiah 15:16  (KJV)  Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. 

 

Isaiah 4:1  (KJV)  And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach. 

 

Jeremiah 14:9  (KJV)  Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not. 

 

(****Note:  Start with Ayin (Absolute Nothing/Transcendent Godhead/Father), allow it to consciously contract a circular portion of Itself to One Point and beget Ayin Sof (Central Referent or Identity/Self/Christ/Son) and then (having created such an Explosive Potential to Be) let the Ayin Sof Or (Light/HolySpirit) explode into Conscious Being and thereby manifest the infinite potential of the Father to Be in Time and Space.  And just where are all of these implied centers or "Points of Light" going to except back to their original position in the Divine Sky.  And what has been gained?  Why consciousness awareness of the being the One I AM, of course.

 

Bonus Round Food for thought (following directly from a Principle or Premise of Absolute Oneness):

 

(1) If you can ever have Eternal Life, you must have it now and just not know it!  (Awake thou that sleepeth!”)

 

(2) Heaven is Here and Now or Nowhere (and since Heaven is where the Presence of God is, the same can be said of God). ("Nowhere = Now Here" Author Unknown)

 

(3) If you can't have an up without a down, an in without an out, an on without an off, a plus without a minus, than you can't have a relative without an Absolute (Man without God).

 

(4)  Every Point within an Infinite State, Condition or Being, is a Central Point.

 

(5) An Omnipotent God cannot create a rock He can't pick up, for if He created something outside of, or equivalent to Himself, he would cease to be Absolute (One without Another) and so Himself.  (Of course, such a God could always imagine and thus experience what just such a circumstance would be like.)

 

(6) There can be only ONE (I AM)!

 

(7)  The only real Philosophical or Theological Question:  Is the fundamental nature of being Absolute or Relative?

 

(8) God Consciousness and Consciousness of God are equivalent (2003 Note: state of mine/mind).

 

(9) Several Christ related haikus:

 

Lord Jesus Christ Is

The God Consciousness I AM

Living in All Hearts.

 

Being Here and Now

Still and Silent as I AM

One with the Father.

 

10) A couple of quotes from Paul, that strike me as appropriate: 

 

Gal 4:19  My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, 

 

Gal  5:1  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage

 

Bonus Question: (for Secular Humanist Atheist's):

 

"Regarding the "Big Bang Theory", I ask "What blew up?"