YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)
What is truth?
The teachings of the Master covered in yesterday’s post concern, in part, the Nature of God and His relationship to us and to the Christ. This is a very important part of the overall message that the Master came to bring to the human family. Yet, in the more than 2000 years since, we have not been able to see what it is that He is really telling us. Closed off by the doctrines and the dogmas and the years we have lost sight of the reality of what He said. We discussed yesterday the idea of Christ being in the Father and the Father being in the Christ and this is the Truth of God Transcendent and Immanent in His creation; this is true, from the words of the gospel, of Christ Jesus and if true of Christ Jesus, it is true us as well. And the Apostle John tells us this Truth in saying that “because as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). As does the Apostle Paul tell us of our relationship to the Christ when he tells us “this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). The Master tells us too of our likeness to Him when He calls us Sons of God which He does through all of His teaching to us on the Fatherhood of God. This then is saying that we are like unto Him; He also ascribes His power to us who follow Him and doubt not. Though the idea of the ‘only begotten Son’ is reserved for Jesus, He gives us His sameness throughout scripture. But do we see it?
We have, in these chapters from the Gospel of John, much that tells us of the Transcendence and the Immanence of our God and these have always be controversial subjects in both religion and in philosophy. The view that God is everything should mean to all just that. For us to attempt to justify any other view cannot work and so, the idea that God is outside of His manifested universe cannot work either. It may stand in ecclesiastical thinking but it cannot stand in Truth and in real common sense. God is infinite and eternal and as Spirit He is not seen but through His manifested universe which can be viewed as simply the manifested Spirit of God. When we look around us we see this manifested universe. We see it in the Cosmos, in the galaxies, the constellations, the solar systems, the stars and the planets individually and we see it in this, our Earth. This is all God’s manifested universe and we see it and we are part of it…we are in it. And Jesus says of this “Believe me that I am in the Father” (John 14:11) and we know that “as He is, so are we in this world”. Now there are a multiplicity of effects here that we must understand; as Spirit we are in and part of the Great Spirit of God; we are part and parcel of the unmanifested Supreme Lord of the Universe if we can use such a term. As men in form and as conscious personalities we are part of this Earth and its existence which is a part of God’s manifested universe. We could add here some idea of the Soul and of Spiritual Substance but that would only serve to confuse us more and as it is, this is already difficult to comprehend with our finite minds.
Speaking spiritually, the Master says that He is in the Father; speaking as a man, He is saying much the same thing. This idea is attested to by the Apostle Paul in His dialogue with the Greeks. Speaking to the Epicureans and Stoics, philosophers of the day, he says that “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him , though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live , and move , and have our being …..” (Acts 17:24-28). Here we have our Transcendent God bigger than His created universe and all encompassing; in Him we live and we move and we have our being. The Bhagavad Gita says it this way “Having pervaded the whole universe with a fragment of myself, I remain” (Bhagavad Gita 9:4; Tibetan’s translation) which is to say that God, in His infinite nature, pervades ( defined as to pass or spread through the whole extent of a thing and into every minute part*) and yet He remains God beyond and including His manifestation.
This saying from the Gita brings us to the next point and that is the Immanence of God. Immanence refers to God being within each of us and within His created universe. Again we have multiple effects of this; Spiritually speaking and then speaking as men. Jesus says “…. but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John 14:10) and also, in completing the previous verse from John, He says “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me“. Spiritually speaking then what is the Master telling us but that the essence of the Father is in Him; The Father is Spirit, all Spirit, and He is Spirit and in this way is all this true; the Christ is part and parcel of the Father. If this were not so, how could He say that “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). Now bringing this idea to us is done in the words that we have been using regarding the Kingdom of God as well as in the words of the Master in this chapter. Spiritually we live in the Kingdom of God, with the Father and we are one with Him and, always remembering the words of the Master, “I and my Father are one” and also that we are His children as well and Sons of God, we should see this relationship as true. As men, the Spirit of God lives inside of this body; that is, our Spirit which is one with the Spirit of God and is the Christ Within through which we speak with the Father. Jesus tells us also, speaking of the Spirit of Truth, that “but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” and this saying we discussed yesterday and noted that the Comforter, the Paraclete, can be understood as both this Spirit of Truth and Christ and, then also, the Christ Within.
We must remember that God is One and not many; all these names are but names for aspects of that One God. When we talk of the Christ or the Spirit of Truth or if we call Him the Comforter or the Holy Spirit, it is all God being viewed from a different perspectives. Finally, on the Transcendence and the Immanence of our ONE GOD, the Master says: “…. I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:20) which can be seen to say it all. The Immanence of God, (which is understood as existing or remaining within; indwelling, inherent) is seen in this statement of “and I in you” and further to the understanding of “I am in my Father“. This is indwelling and this is existing within God. The Transcendence of God is seen to in this statement that “and ye in me” which is to say that He is beyond all and containing all. We are in Christ and we are within God; again, part and parcel of Him in whom “we live , and move , and have our being“. And we can say with the Master, because “as He is, so are we in this world” that “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me” (John 14:11).
“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24). This next part of the dialogue in Chapter 14 brings this all down to the level of man in the flesh. Jesus makes clear that keeping His commandments is the evidence that we Love Him and if we Love Him the Father will Love us as will the Christ and will be manifest in our lives. This is the message that we have had from the beginning. Doing the Master’s words is the result of our focus on Him and on the Kingdom and on His Presence; it is in this focus that the power of the spiritual life is brought to bear on the life in form. Then our Spirit selves, the Father in Heaven, and the Christ Within will be manifest in our daily lives.
The Master goes on to tell us plainly again that if we say we Love Him, we will keep (do) His words and here He tells us more plainly that the Father and the Son will come unto us and make their abode with us. This is the reality of being born again; it is the birth of the Christ within the cave of the Heart. It is taking that which is true spiritually and making it true in the personality life. Finally He tells us that none of what we need to do is directly from Him but from the Father, the Highest Source of the Good, the Beautiful and the True. The Father, the Spirit in man, speaking to the world through the power of the Christ Within.
This may be difficult to understand for those with no exposure to doctrines other that mainstream Christianity. In the next post we will continue with the discussion on Truth from John’s Gospel and in doing so we may be able to make this all a bit clearer.
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
It seems good to use some of the more esoteric sayings as our Quote of the Day in conjunction with the Gospel of John. John’s Gospel, unlike the synoptic gospels, is not a story but a gathering together of some of the deeper and more difficult to understand of the Master’s sayings regarding His nature and the Nature of God and the interrelationship of all. Today is a quote from the Bhagavad Gita and is the Lord Krishna, a Christlike figure in the Hindu Religion, speaking as God to Arjuna, an everyman figure who has found some degree of spirituality, about the Nature of God.
Having pervaded the whole universe with a fragment of myself, I remain. (Bhagavad Gita 9:4; Tibeten’s translation)
- * Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
